NASA moves up static fire test of SLS core stage
NASA today announced that it has rescheduled the full duration static fire engine test of the core stage of SLS’s first stage, moving it up one day to this coming Saturday, January 16th.
During the test, engineers will power up all the core stage systems, load more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic, or supercold, propellant into the tanks and fire all four engines at the same time.
If all goes right, that test will last about 8 minutes, the full time those engines are intended to fire during launch.
For SLS a lot rides on this test. Should anything go wrong, it will likely delay the launch, presently scheduled for November (though there are rumors this date is no longer likely). And since we now have a new administration taking power that is also linked politically with the previous Obama administration that was generally uninterested in SLS, a failure during this test could very well signal the death knell for this vastly over-budget and far behind schedule project.
For SLS to survive, this test must succeed, and fire for its full duration.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
NASA today announced that it has rescheduled the full duration static fire engine test of the core stage of SLS’s first stage, moving it up one day to this coming Saturday, January 16th.
During the test, engineers will power up all the core stage systems, load more than 700,000 gallons of cryogenic, or supercold, propellant into the tanks and fire all four engines at the same time.
If all goes right, that test will last about 8 minutes, the full time those engines are intended to fire during launch.
For SLS a lot rides on this test. Should anything go wrong, it will likely delay the launch, presently scheduled for November (though there are rumors this date is no longer likely). And since we now have a new administration taking power that is also linked politically with the previous Obama administration that was generally uninterested in SLS, a failure during this test could very well signal the death knell for this vastly over-budget and far behind schedule project.
For SLS to survive, this test must succeed, and fire for its full duration.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Dare we hope that NASA is capable of rubbing two neurons together, and there will be a livestream of this event?
Side note: apparently they began stacking of the Artemis 1 SRB elements a few days ago. There is a hard limit of one year on how long those can remain stacked before they have to be disassembled and rebuilt. So either it launches before next January, or it faces a delay that I would have to think would kill the program at last.
David Eastman: If your source is correct and stacking of the solid rockets has begun, than that makes it even more imperative that this core stage test goes flawlessly. They have no margin for any issues.
Two to one there are enough anomalies in the test to slide the schedule to the right.
I actually realized after making that comment that I had gotten the information from non-public sources and might have made an oopsie. But here is a comment to an article on ArsTechnica today with a photo showing the boosters getting stacked in the VAB, so it’s confirmed.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/01/spacex-hot-fire-tests-its-starship-vehicle-three-times-in-four-hours/?comments=1&post=39572851
Spoiler: It didn’t.
Now what? The announcer was reading off the script like the next step, no matter what, was to ship it and launch it. Who makes that call, and will it wind up being a political decision by the Glorious Leader’s new Administration?