Posted on 01/17/2022 3:37:55 PM PST by BenLurkin
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been preparing the giant Space Launch System (SLS) for its maiden flight, set for March.
Last month, it identified a glitch with an onboard engine controller.
But the component has now been replaced and all four engine controllers performed well in tests last week.
They act as the "brains" for each of the powerful RS-25 engines, which help propel the SLS into orbit, communicating with the rocket to provide precision control of the engine and diagnose any problems.
When the Orion spacecraft is stacked on top, the full system stands 98m (322ft) high - taller than the Statue of Liberty.
This version of the SLS will generate a whopping 8,800,000lb (39.1meganewtons) of thrust.
This is 15% more than the powerful Saturn V launcher that lofted people to the Moon in the 1960s and 70s.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
After 53 years they can only muster 15% more thrust than the Saturn 5???
i agree. 53 years to make more powerful than Saturn 5 engines????
first, xuring these 53 years, we have had many probes, some still working. the epitomy of engineering was a suborbital, go up ccome down space glider!
what the heck happened to all the tv broadcast von brauun space designs we saw on tv in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s??
why aren’t we colonizing the moon, as was forecast back then?
we had spacelab. we have an aging ISS, with no future plans for a true station, at a point between earth and moon.
didd we scrape the budget to pay porch monkeys, welfare baby mommas, and an occasional illegal bastard or two?
Congress mandated nasa reuse as much of the shuttle infrastructure. And the engines are just that.
Starship has for then double the thrust of a saturn 5. And the first test flight is in 6 weeks
I read somewhere a company couldn’t duplicate the old F1 engines on the Saturn V but they offered and improved version which was smaller, easier to produce and had a substantial increase in thrust and of course NASA rejected it. They had government contractors to pay billions in over runs and for the SLS to be delivered decades late.
If the SLS flies they may can orbit the moon like Apollo 8, but they have no lander or even space suits ready for EVA’s. NASA has been in a death spiral since the Skylab program ended. NASA=government jobs program for bureaucrats.
Hey who cares that it takes NASA decades to recreate Apollo type technology .
At least NASA can tell us about climate change.
It’s why SpaceX, Rocket Lab, Astra Space and a host of others are growing as NASA stagnates.
Science in the U.S. shut down in the 1970’s and has never recovered...
Engineering, alone, cannot do the job...
AND diversity. Mustn’t forget diversity.
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