NASA will conduct its second nuclear phase Green Run fire test for its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.
In a Monday release, the agency announced that it will open a two-hour test window in NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, rig.
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Engineers will push the core stage systems, load more than 700,000 liters of cryogenic propellant into the tanks and fire the four RS-25 engines of the SLS rocket at the same time to simulate the launch and generate 1.6 million pounds of thrust.
The 212-foot-long nuclear stage – installed in the revamped B-2 test standard – gives the SLS rocket the highest rocket stage the agency has yet built. It consists of engines, a liquid hydrogen tank, a liquid oxygen tank and electronics, aviation and computers.
The core stage design will be used for all configurations of the SLS rocket, which is why Green Run tests – of which there are eight – are crucial to the success of NASA’s next lunar missions.
The term “green” refers to the new hardware used to power the stage and “run” refers to all components that work together simultaneously for the first time.
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The fiery test is the eighth and final test of the Green Run series that will ensure that the nuclear phase is ready to launch NASA’s Artemis missions to the moon.
“The SLS core stage is an engineering achievement that includes not only the largest rocket-propelled tanks ever built, but also sophisticated aerospace and main propulsion systems,” SLS Deputy Stage Manager Lisa Bates said in a July 2019 release. “Although the rocket is designed to evolve over time for different mission objectives, the core stage design will remain basically the same. The Green Run acceptance test gives NASA the confidence it needs to know that the new core stage will work again and again as it is meant to be. “
The complex nuclear phase was built and manufactured earlier that year in NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.
“Green Run is a historic moment for NASA and Stennis for a number of reasons,” Richard Gilbrech, director of the Stennis Space Center, said in the same issue. “For the first time in NASA’s history, a launcher will use the flight hardware for the first test, and the Stennis test stalls will once again test the core phase for lunar missions.”
The John C. Stennis Space Center is the land of the land biggest rocket engine test complex.
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Once the confirmation of the stage is complete, the stage will be refurbished as needed and sent to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the Artemis 1 launch.
NASA plans to launch live coverage of Thursday’s fire test on NASA Television, the NASA app, social media and the agency’s website, and an information session on the test is also scheduled for about two hours later.