NASA to fire huge SLS moon rocket for latest ‘Green Run’ test

NASA has big dreams for 2021, with one of its main goals to launch Artemis I, an unequipped lunar mission meant to show that its Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket can send humans to our lunar neighbor. But first, NASA plans to make some noise with a fiery SLS test this month.

NASA is nearing the end of the Green Run test series that puts the heart of the stage – which the agency describes as “the backbone of the SLS rocket” – to the test before actually launching this boulder into the future.

The eighth and final part of the series of tests could take place as early as Saturday, January 16, when NASA starts a scorching fire. The agency originally planned to run the test on January 17, but moved the next day after completing a readiness exam.

“The next hot-shot test will simultaneously fire all four RS-25 engines on the stage for eight minutes to simulate the performance of the main stage at launch,” NASA said in a Jan. 5 statement.

SLS has experienced delays during its development, but it is still at the heart of NASA’s ambitious plans to bring humans back to the moon by 2024 through the Artemis program. A report from last year questions this date based on program costs, SLS setbacks, and planning for the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

Test fires are a lot of fun, as we saw last year when a The SLS booster lit up the Utah desert and turned the sand into glass.

The SLS Green Run test will take place at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, and it comes after NASA fixed an unexpected issue with a previous test, a wet dress rehearsal that “marked the first time the cryogenic or super liquid thruster cold was fully charged and drained from the two huge tanks in the SLS center stage. “

The wet dress rehearsal was halted a bit early, but NASA traced the problem to a timing issue which was corrected later and should not affect the burning fire. If all goes well, NASA will still be on track for a possible late 2021 launch of Artemis I.

Each successful test puts the moon a little closer to human hands.