NASA is ready to make another attempt to certify its lunar crane for space travel.
The agency is planning a test of its Space Launch System (SLS) core stage at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. on Thursday (March 18). Louis, Mississippi, during a two-hour window that 3 hours EDT (1900 GMT or 14:00 local time at Stennis).
The live coverage of the test should begin about half an hour before the fire test on NASA Television, although the agency says it will “refine the timeline as it continues through operations.” The latest timing information will be available on NASA’s Twitter Feed on test day. You can watch the webcast live in the window above, with permission from NASA, or directly via NASA TV.
Video: How NASA’s SLS Mega Rocket Engine Test Works
‘Engineers will push up all the core stage systems, load more than 700,000 liters of cryogenic – or super-cold – propellant into the tanks, and fire the four RS-25 engines from the rocket at the same time to simulate the operation of the stage during launch, with the generation of 1.6 million pounds, ”NASA said in a description of the test procedure.
This is NASA’s second attempt to do a hot fire test of SLS, after the first test was unexpectedly shut down in early January. The agency is close to getting this SLS rocket ready to fly the Artemis 1 mission unmanned, but the “Green Run” series of tests has experienced several delays and technical issues in recent months.
Artemis 1 is so far supposed to fly to the moon at the end of 2021 to get the agency ready for manned missions. But determining the flight date will depend on SLS passing these tests and being sent to the Florida launch site in time. The young Joe Biden government has not yet committed to placing humans on the moon, but previously NASA planned an Artemis 3 landing in 2024.
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