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While NASA has yet to launch an Artemis mission to the moon, the agency is already performing engine tests for upcoming missions.
NASA completed its sixth hot-shot test of the RS-25 engine on Thursday August 5, demonstrating the advanced capabilities of a type of engine that was used for decades during the space shuttle program that ran from 1981. to 2011.
Engineers fired the RS-25 engine, manufactured by California aerospace company Aerojet Rocketdyne, at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi for 500 seconds (over eight minutes) to duplicate the time it will take four engines to boost the first stage of the enormous space launch system (SLS) at altitude.
“NASA has already tested engines for the first four Artemis rocket missions to the moon, allowing operators to focus on collecting data to demonstrate and verify various engine capabilities for future engines,” NASA said. in a statement, adding that the test allowed the team to examine new engine components to reduce costs, reduce operational risks and “improve engine production.”
Video: NASA tests SLS rocket engine in Mississippi
Related: NASA’s new SLS moon rocket takes shape in a giant hangar
Thursday’s RS-25 test also aimed to see how well the new manufacturing processes are doing in preparing the engines for flight, NASA said.
“NASA verified new manufacturing processes while evaluating the performance of the engine’s low-pressure fuel turbopump,” the agency said in the same statement. “The pump dramatically increases the pressure of liquid hydrogen supplied to the high pressure fuel turbopump to help prevent cavitation, the formation of” bubbles “or” voids “, which can collapse or cause shock waves. likely to damage machinery. “
The Artemis 1 unmanned mission aboard an SLS – marking the rocket’s first space trip – is slated for a trip around the moon by the end of 2021. The Artemis II crewed missions in lunar orbit and Artemis 3 are expected later in the decade, but when, the Biden administration has yet to confirm. (NASA previously set 2024 for the landing.)
Artemis represents NASA’s efforts to establish a long-term presence on the moon and open up exploration to more types of people than in the previous crewed effort in the 1960s and 1970s called the Apollo.
The agency is committed to putting the first woman and person of color on the moon, following the 12 white men who landed on the surface between 1969 and 1972. International astronauts will also participate, unlike Apollo; a Canadian astronaut whose name has yet to be named is expected to join Artemis 2, for example.
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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