NASA's SLS rocket looks ready for crewed Artemis 2 mission
NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket appears ready for the next big mission that will land astronauts on the Moon. It made its debut launch with Artemis 1 mission. Initial investigations have confirmed that the rocket "met or exceeded all performance expectations" during its maiden flight. The team is conducting deeper investigations of the rocket's performance to prepare for the first crewed Artemis mission.
Why does this story matter?
Artemis 1, which lifted off on November 16, 2022, for a 25-day long mission, was an uncrewed test flight of the Orion capsule and the SLS rocket. The Orion spacecraft safely made its way back to Earth on December 11. With its debut launch, SLS became the most powerful rocket to launch successfully, a record that was formerly held by NASA's Saturn V rocket.
Preliminary post-flight data indicates "all SLS systems performed exceptionally"
Based on the assessments conducted shortly after the launch of the SLS rocket, NASA said that the "preliminary post-flight data indicates that all SLS systems performed exceptionally" and that the "designs are ready to support a crewed flight on Artemis 2." "The post-flight analysis team will continue reviewing data and conducting final reporting's," wrote the space agency in a blog post.
The success of SLS gives way to future Artemis missions
"The correlation between actual flight performance and predicted performance for Artemis 1 was excellent," said John Honeycutt, SLS Program manager. "There is engineering and an art to successfully building and launching a rocket, and the analysis on the SLS rocket's inaugural flight puts NASA and its partners in a good position to power missions for Artemis 2 and beyond."
The imagery data sums up to approximately 31 terabytes
The team analyzed a large amount of data to conclude SLS' performance and preparedness for crewed missions. Around 31 terabytes of imagery data was collected from ground cameras, cameras on the rocket, and aerial cameras that were focused on SLS. For reference, the information represented by the printed material in the U.S. Library of Congress is much lesser at approximately 20 terabytes.
The Artemis 1 test flight helped assess the rocket's performance
"The numerous views of the Artemis 1 rocket, including the solid rocket booster separation and interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS) separation, provided imagery data that helped us assess how SLS performed from liftoff through the ascent and separation events," said Beth St.Peter, SLS imagery integration lead. Artemis 1 was the only way to "gather real data" during events like booster separation, said the team.
The hardware on the SLS rocket functioned well
Engineers also monitored the extreme temperatures and sound experienced by SLS right after liftoff. SLS's ICPS is powered by a single RL-10 engine while the core stage features four RS-25 engines. Post-flight data reveals the RS-25 engines' thrust and mixture ratio control valves were within 0.5% of predicted values while other key engine internal pressures and temperatures were within 2% of pre-flight predicted values.
SLS' core stage successfully executed all of its functions
Further, SLS' core stage successfully executed all of its functions and inserted the ICPS and Orion spacecraft into an initial Earth orbit of 1,564.4 kilometers by 25.7 kilometers. According to NASA, the insert was just 4.6 kilometers short of the perfect bullseye target of 1,569 kilometers by 25.7 kilometers but was well within acceptable parameters.
Artemis 2 is expected to take off in 2024
Artemis 1 is just the beginning for SLS and Orion. If everything goes according to plan, Artemis 2 will carry astronauts on a roughly 10-day mission around the Moon in 2024. Via the Artemis expeditions, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon. Artemis 3, currently planned for 2025, will land astronauts on the surface of the Moon.
