{"id":194036,"date":"2015-03-22T04:58:37","date_gmt":"2015-03-22T08:58:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/uncategorized\/nasas-space-launch-system-booster-passes-major-ground-test.php"},"modified":"2015-03-22T04:58:37","modified_gmt":"2015-03-22T08:58:37","slug":"nasas-space-launch-system-booster-passes-major-ground-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/space-flight\/nasas-space-launch-system-booster-passes-major-ground-test.php","title":{"rendered":"NASA&#39;s Space Launch System Booster Passes Major Ground Test"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><p>    The largest, most powerful rocket booster ever built    successfully fired up Wednesday for a major-milestone ground    test in preparation for future missions to help propel NASA's    Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft to deep    space destinations, including an asteroid and Mars.  <\/p>\n<p>    The booster fired for two minutes, the same amount of time it    will fire when it lifts the SLS off the launch pad, and    produced about 3.6 million pounds of thrust. The test was    conducted at the Promontory, Utah test facility of commercial    partner Orbital ATK, and is one of two tests planned to qualify    the booster for flight. Once qualified, the flight booster    hardware will be ready for shipment to NASA's Kennedy Space    Center in Florida for the first SLS flight.  <\/p>\n<p>    \"The work being done around the country today to build SLS is    laying a solid foundation for future exploration missions, and    these missions will enable us to pioneer far into the solar    system,\" said William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate    administrator for human exploration and operations.  <\/p>\n<p>    \"The teams are doing tremendous work to develop what will be a    national asset for human exploration and potential science    missions.\"  <\/p>\n<p>    It took months to heat the 1.6 million pound booster to 90    degrees Fahrenheit to verify its performance at the highest end    of the booster's accepted propellant temperature range.  <\/p>\n<p>    A cold-temperature test, at a target of 40 degrees Fahrenheit,    the low end of the propellant temperature range, is planned for    early 2016. These two tests will provide a full range of data    for analytical models that inform how the booster performs.    During the test, temperatures inside the booster reached more    than 5,600 degrees.  <\/p>\n<p>    \"This test is a significant milestone for SLS and follows years    of development,\" said Todd May, SLS program manager. \"Our    partnership with Orbital ATK and more than 500 suppliers across    the country is keeping us on the path to building the most    powerful rocket in the world.\"  <\/p>\n<p>    During the test, more than 531 instrumentation channels on the    booster were measured to help assess some 102 design    objectives. The test also demonstrated the booster meets    applicable ballistic performance requirements, such as thrust    and pressure. Other objectives included data gathering on vital    motor upgrades, such as the new internal motor insulation and    liner and an improved nozzle design.  <\/p>\n<p>    When completed, two five-segment boosters and four RS-25 main    engines will power the SLS on deep space missions. The    177-feet-long solid rocket boosters operate in parallel with    the main engines for the first two minutes of flight. They    provide more than 75 percent of the thrust needed for the    rocket to escape the gravitational pull of the Earth.  <\/p>\n<p>    The first flight test of SLS will be configured for a    70-metric-ton (77-ton) lift capacity and carry an uncrewed    Orion spacecraft beyond low-Earth orbit to test the performance    of the integrated system. The SLS will later be configured to    provide an unprecedented lift capability of 130 metric tons    (143 tons) to enable missions farther into our solar system.  <\/p>\n<p><!-- Auto Generated --><\/p>\n<p>View post: <\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.spacedaily.com\/reports\/NASAs_Space_Launch_System_Booster_Passes_Major_Ground_Test_999.html\/RK=0\/RS=4fJbFIVkvnl51YHSEbU2OVY72vI-\" title=\"NASA&#39;s Space Launch System Booster Passes Major Ground Test\">NASA&#39;s Space Launch System Booster Passes Major Ground Test<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> The largest, most powerful rocket booster ever built successfully fired up Wednesday for a major-milestone ground test in preparation for future missions to help propel NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft to deep space destinations, including an asteroid and Mars. The booster fired for two minutes, the same amount of time it will fire when it lifts the SLS off the launch pad, and produced about 3.6 million pounds of thrust. The test was conducted at the Promontory, Utah test facility of commercial partner Orbital ATK, and is one of two tests planned to qualify the booster for flight <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/space-flight\/nasas-space-launch-system-booster-passes-major-ground-test.php\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"limit_modified_date":"","last_modified_date":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-194036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-space-flight"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194036"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194036\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}