Posted on 08/20/2016 10:57:31 AM PDT by BenLurkin
RS-25 engines were used as the main engines for space shuttle flights, but they will need to fire at higher performance levels for use with the SLS, NASA officials said in a statement. This test collected data on how the engine works at that level, and also tested an engine controller unit that will allow it to communicate with the rest of the SLS setup.
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This was the third test in a six-test series; NASA will keep gathering data on the engine's performance in more tests this fall. NASA will also install four engines on the SLS core stage and blast all four at once.
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"SLS is going to be the most powerful rocket ever built when it's done several years from now," he said. "It's going to have to throw up all this hardware into low Earth orbit so we can then take it to the moon and beyond, all the way to Mars."
Mastracchio discussed how SLS' powerful engines and the Orion spacecraft would open up more of the solar system to astronauts and how it would change the way spaceflight works.
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"We're going to have to change the way we do business," Mastracchio said. "When we go beyond low Earth orbit, it's going to be days, weeks, months and even years before we get home. The crew's going to have to be much more independent. We're going to have to have things like additive manufacturing, or 3D printing. We're going to have a lot smarter vehicles, and we'll have a lot smarter crewmembers, too."
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
So they are going to pick the crews by merit instead of diversity?
More powerful than the Saturn V?
Negro, please.
They’ll be so smart that they’ll be able to point toward Mecca no matter where they are in the solar system.
How much of what we want to do in space can not be done by robotics? Other than the novelty of humans in space, why spend double or triple or more on the costs of manned space flight just to call it ‘manned’?
IOW, how much more exploration of the solar system and beyond could be accomplished by not spending money on human habitability in space?
Payloads will be measured in tons.
They need to use EM rails up a mountainside to achieve launch velocity without all the extra weight of fuel and tanks.
260,000lbs to Low Earth Orbit per launch.
Or have they started already.
The Saturn V lift capacity was measured in tons, too.
130 of them to low earth orbit, for example.
“They need to use EM rails up a mountainside to achieve launch velocity without all the extra weight of fuel and tanks.”
Seems like a good idea. Also they could use an air-breathing, winged vehicle to get up aways in the atmosphere and get some initial velocity.
“Saturn V “
My all time favorite rocket. Did it ever fail to do its job?
Re: “EM rails”
How long would the EM rails have to be so the acceleration won’t harm a human body?
I’m guessing miles?
Unless you want to go the way of the dino’s, we need to be spreading across the solar system & beyond. it is only a matter of time before we experience an extension level event/s. [whether natural or man made, it’s coming]
I worked for the head manager for the Space Shuttle production. Smartest man alive.
He said an engine firing test would create earthquake ripples across the desert floor.
He also said that Astronauts would tell wild stories of their many women. Tell how you walked on the moon, probably attracted many female fans.
But the top Shuttle manager, should have been studied at top management schools. He was absolutely brilliant. He was a one of a kind.
Cape cookies :)
When you need something steam cleaned in a hurry...
Kinda like Guam tipping over.
5.56mm
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