The core phase of NASA’s giant space launch (SLS) lunar rocket is in good condition despite its early shutdown during a major test this past weekend, officials said.
The four-engine SLS core came to life Saturday (January 16) during a fire test at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The engines were supposed to fire for 485 seconds – the length of time they would travel during a lunar mission – but shut down just after 67 seconds.
After analyzing the data from the test, NASA determined that the problem was not related to the engines or other hardware, which “remains in excellent condition”, agency officials wrote in an update today (January 19). The shutdown “was rather caused by test parameters that were deliberately conservative to ensure the safety of the core phase during testing.”
Video: How NASA’s SLS Mega Rocket Engine Test Works
The parameters relate to hydraulic engines – specifically the system designed to jog or turn each engine during flight. On Saturday, the predetermined parameters for Engine 2’s system were exceeded, and the core phase’s flight computers ended the test automatically, NASA officials wrote in the update. If the same problem arises during an actual flight, the SLS will be able to fly through it, they added.
The core also caused a “major component failure” (MCF) reading during Saturday’s test. The reading, which took place about 1.5 seconds after the engines started, did not contribute to the downtime and could be a problem with the instrumentation for Engine 4, NASA officials said.
The SLS team will continue to investigate the MCF lecture. Team members will also dig deeper into the reports of a bright flash observed near the engines during shutdown, although sensor data and visual inspection of the area have so far not been abnormal.
SLS is crucial to NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to land two astronauts near the south pole of the moon by 2024 and establish a permanent presence on and around the moon by the end of the decade. The core, which was tested on Saturday, will launch the Artemis 1 mission, an unmanned test flight from the agency’s Orion capsule around the moon.
Artemis 1 will currently depart from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in late 2021. It’s not yet clear how Saturday’s events will affect the proposed timeline; the SLS team is considering whether or not a second fire test is needed at Stennis, NASA officials wrote in the update.
Mike Wall is the author of “Out there“(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.