NASA: general rehearsal for the SLS before its launch to the Moon

The objective of returning to the Moon approximate. The United States makes it a priority and is convinced that the Nasa will succeed in returning there in 2025, in just three years. If the astronauts are ready, the same cannot be said for the equipment that should allow this return! Of course, the vehicle Orion and its European service module are in place but what about the Starship lunar of SpaceXthe lander that must take the astronauts between theorbit and the surface of the Moon? Also what about the mighty launcher SLS that Boeing has been developing for almost 10 years?

Regarding the SLS, we should be fixed fairly quickly. The launcher is currently on its Kennedy Space Center launch pad to perform a test scheduled to last from 1^er to April 3. Its purpose is to check several points such as the refueling procedures of theoxygen and hydrogen, and perform several countdown scenarios to check the behavior of the launcher. Whatever it is, the countdown will stop at T-10 seconds, before the ignition of the engines.

If this “last design check before launch” goes as planned, NASA should announce the launch date around April 15. A first briefing is scheduled for April 4 which should present the preliminary results of the test.

Several possible launch dates

That said, NASA has already made public several launch dates between now and July 12. If the pitcher is unlikely to be ready for the first window envisaged launch — the one that opens on May 7 and closes on May 21 and moreover, NASA hardly believes in it –, the chances of a launch during the next launch window, between the June 6 and 16, are very high. If this firing opportunity is missed, NASA has the option of launching it between June 29 and July 12.

Without ignition of the engines, there is ultimately not very much interest in following this test, especially since, even if NASA broadcasts it, it will do so without audio and without commentary. NASA explains this decision to avoid disclosing information about the timing and the sequencing data related to everything related to the cryogenic technology the SLS (the propulsion system to sum up) which could provide information to countries wishing to acquire ballistic technologies, or even improve them cheaply.

At least that is the opinion of Tom Whitmeyer, deputy associate administrator for the development of exploration systems at NASA, who sees a certain analogy between the SLS, due to its size and capabilities, and the missile ballistics. Rather surprising as reasoning although a launcher can obviously be converted into a missile and vice versa.

That said, the SLS must all the same contain some industrial secrets although this launcher is a modernized heritage of the Saturn launcher of the missions Apollo and space shuttles.

In pictures, the SLS launcher seen from space

Article of Remy Decourt published on 03/22/2022

An Airbus Pleiades Neo satellite passed over NASA’s Kennedy Space Center a few hours after the SLS launcher was transferred to its launch pad. The images acquired are remarkably precise and clear for a civilian observation satellite!

After being transferred to its launch pad (roll out, in English), Airbus’ Pléiades Neo satellite has acquired a series of satellite images of the SLS launcher (Space Launch System) and Orion vehicle from NASA with a resolution of only 30 centimeters and a level of contrast raised. Developed by Airbus DS, Pléiades Neo is a constellation of four satellites, two of which are currently in orbit. They were launched in April and August 2021.

This constellation has several remarkable features including that of offering images of the ground with a resolution of 30 centimeters per pixel over a (mowed) surface of 14 kilometres. A record for this image quality. This explains why it is possible to see on the same picture, the 39B launch pad, the assembly building (Vehicle Assembly Building or VAB), and the 6.4 kilometer road between them. You can also see the crawler (tracked transporter) used to drive the launcher from the VAB to its launch location.

In pictures, the first outing of NASA’s giant SLS rocket

Article of Nathalie Mayer published on 03/18/2022

NASA released yesterday its Space Launch System (SLS) from the hall in which it was assembled at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral (Florida, USA). The powerful launcher that will carry the next human missions to the Moon.

Yesterday, Thursday, March 17, 2022, at the end of the afternoon — around 6 p.m. local time — the Space Launch System (SLS) from NASA — the powerful launcher whose mission will be to bring astronauts on the moon — has finally left the hall of the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral (Florida, USA) in which it was assembled. Head to launch pad 39B, a little over six kilometers away.

Six kilometers to the launch pad

Six kilometers is not much. But for a 98.3 meter high SLS launcher, harnessed in a vertical position on its “crawler”this kind of mythical tractor which had been imagined within the framework of the Apollo program and whose speed point does not exceed 1.5 kilometers per hour, it’s quite an adventure.

It will therefore have taken no less than 11 hours of a cautious expedition to carry the SLS launcher and its more than 1,300 tons – with only its boosters loaded powder — on the no shooting which it could be launched from June 6th. It will be based on the results of the tests he will now take for the next two weeks.

This is the big day ! Nasa’s powerful SLS launcher finally shows itself tomorrow in full

Preparation for the maiden flight of the SLS, NASA’s launch vehicle to return to the Moon, continues. Tomorrow, he will be transferred to his launch pad with the vehicle on board. But only for testing. Its launch for a flight around the Moon could take place in June or July.

Article by Rémy Decourt published on 03/16/2022

The return of the Americans to the Moon is being actively prepared. The delays in the construction of the very powerful and very large SLS launcher are today a bad memory. All the lights seem to be green despite the delay on the initial schedule which provided for a first flight in 2017!

The launcher, with the Orion vehicle on board for the Artemis 1 mission, is currently in its assembly building (Vehicle Assembly Building or VAB), the same one used by space shuttles for their assembly and preparation. After a final review, NASA authorized the installation of the launcher on launch pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center, located several kilometers from the VAB. The operation is scheduled for March 17 and will be broadcast live on Nasa.tv.

This transfer to the launch pad does not mean that the launch is near! Before launching Artemis 1, NASA has planned several weeks of checks and tests that will end with a complete repetition of the countdown, that is to say, the filling of the main stage with hydrogen and oxygen liquids until the update fire of the four RS-25 engines which, of course, will not take place.

Uncertainty on the launch date

This dress rehearsal should begin on April 3 with the filling operations of the main floor tanks. Assuming all went well, NASA would be considering a launch in June or July. The option of an earlier launch, during the firing window which will open on May 7 and close on May 21, is also being studied.

At the end of this test and its analysis, NASA should be able to announce the launch date.