Boeing’s test of the largest rocket in U.S. history ended earlier than expected on Jan. 16 because a hydraulic-system setting exceeded a preset limit, dealing another setback to the company’s space ambitions. From a report: The first firing of all four RS-25 engines on the Space Launch System rocket ended just 67.2 seconds into the planned eight-minute test. The so-called hot…
Tag: space launch system
NASA test of mega Moon rocket engines cut short
NASA conducted a test firing of the engines for its giant Space Launch System (SLS) lunar rocket on Saturday but they shut down earlier than planned, the space agency said. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-01-nasa-mega-moon-rocket-short.html…
6 space missions to look forward to in 2021
Here are some of the space missions to keep an eye out for in 2021. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/6-space-missions-2021-artemis-chandrayaa3-jameswebb…
‘Major Component Malfunction’ Ends SLS Rocket Test Early. NASA Considers New Timeline
“NASA’s rocket charged with taking the agency back to the moon fired its four main engines Saturday afternoon, but the test in Mississippi was cut short after a malfunction caused an automatic abort,” reports Florida Today… “We did get an MCF on engine four,” a control room member said less than a minute into the test fire, using an initialism that…
Watch NASA Test-Fire Its SLS Mega-Rocket Engines
“The date is set,” NASA tweeted yesterday, thanking its partners Boeing Space and Aerojet Rocketdyne for Saturday’s “hot fire” test of the SLS’s core stage. “One of NASA’s main goals for 2021 is to launch Artemis I, an uncrewed moon mission meant to show the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket can safely send humans to our lunar neighbor,” reports…
Aiming for the moon with NASA’s Artemis I
Artemis I is the first in a series of NASA missions that will enable human exploration on the moon again, and ultimately Mars, scheduled to launch in 2021. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/all-about-nasa-artemis-1-mission…
Component Failure Found in Crew Capsule NASA Hoped to Launch in 2021
The Verge reports that a power component failed on the Orion deep-space crew capsule that NASA hopes to launch (unmanned) from its Space Launch System (or SLS) in late 2021, in a mission called Artemis 1. The problem? It’s buried deep within one of the spacecraft’s power/data units (or PDUs) within the adapter that connects the capsule to its power/propulsion trunk…
NASA to test its SLS megarocket in the coming weeks
The ongoing pandemic has slowed testing for NASA’s Space Launch System megarocket, but the process is resuming and has checked off a key milestone: powering up the core stage. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/nasa-megarocket-sls-tests-core-green-run-hot-fire-test…
Officials Raise Concerns About Software for the Most Powerful Rocket Ever Flown
NASA’s 322-foot rocket “Space Launch System” rocket “would be the most powerful rocket ever flown, eclipsing both the Saturn V that flew astronauts to the moon and SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy,” reports the Washington Post. But “it’s not the rocket’s engines that concern officials but the software that will control everything the rocket does, from setting its trajectory to opening individual valves…
Safety Panel Has ‘Great Concern’ About NASA Plans To Test Moon Mission Software
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: An independent panel that assesses the safety of NASA activities has raised serious questions about the space agency’s plan to test flight software for its Moon missions. During a Thursday meeting of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, one of its members, former NASA Flight Director Paul Hill, outlined the panel’s concerns after…