NASA s Second Space Launch System Qualification Motor Test Scheduled for Late June

The five-segment solid rocket motor that will be used for
Testing before flight is critical to ensure reliability and safety when
launching humans into space, said
While last year s QM-1 test validated motor performance at the upper end
of the propellant temperature range,
The SLS five-segment motor is based on the design heritage of the flight-proven solid rocket boosters used on NASA s Space Shuttle and incorporates new technologies and updated materials.
Throughout the Space Shuttle Program, we regularly monitored and enhanced our motor design, and we have made further modifications to our booster for NASA s new SLS, said Precourt, a four-time space shuttle astronaut and former chief of the astronaut office. Having personally experienced the power of these motors and been a part of these modifications, I can attest to their reliability.
The SLS, along with NASA s Orion spacecraft, provides a flexible deep
space exploration platform to take humans and cargo to multiple
destinations across our solar system. Orion successfully experienced its
first flight test in
The first test flight of SLS and Orion together, called
A network of hundreds of suppliers representing 49 states supports the
SLS and Orion programs.
Recent SLS and Orion milestones include:
-
In April,
Orbital ATK completed casting propellant into the first of ten segments (the left-hand aft) for the 2018 EM-1 launch -
The EM-1 Orion crew module is about to undergo pressure testing at
NASA s
Kennedy Space Center , and the EM-1 service module structure is now inBremen, Germany , for integration operations -
Launch Abort Motor (for Orion Launch Abort System)
- Motor Structural Qualification Test completed in January
- Case Structural Qualification Test completed in March
- Structural Test Article Inert Casting completed in March
-
In March,
Aerojet Rocketdyne andNASA test-fired the first RS-25 flight engine, E2059, for 500 seconds at NASA sStennis Space Center inMississippi - Last year, the RS-25 program completed the first development engine series of tests at NASA Stennis to confirm the upgraded engines can withstand the demanding operating conditions of SLS
-
Boeing is welding flight hardware for the massive Space Launch System core stages at the Michoud Assembly Facility inNew Orleans , and collaborating withNASA on testing of the SLS avionics guidance and control systems at NASA s Marshall Spaceflight Center inHuntsville, Alabama
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