NASA engineers effectively completed a subscale solid rocket motor test June 1, 2022, at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. NASA engineers effectively completed a subscale strong rocket motor test June 1, 2022, at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The subscale motor tests are an essential step in discovering how the BOLE motor will perform at full-scale. The team is working to complete the last style for a test of the full-blown motor in the spring of 2024 at Northrop Grummans test facility in Utah.
NASA engineers effectively finished a subscale solid rocket motor test on June 1, 2022, at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
The Space Launch System (SLS) is NASAs super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle that has actually been in development because 2011. It will be capable of introducing heavy payloads into orbit, along with providing the foundation for human exploration beyond Earths orbit.
SLS is created to be evolvable, so it can support a plethora of mission types in the future. These bigger and more effective versions of the SLS will need larger and more effective boosters.
As part of this updated booster development, engineers successfully fired a 2-foot-diameter, subscale strong rocket booster on June 1, 2022, at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
The test, conducted in Marshalls East Test Area, produced 92,000 pounds of thrust and was done as part of the booster obsolescence and life extension (BOLE) program, providing an updated booster design for the evolved configuration of the Space Launch System rocket for Artemis IX and beyond. The BOLE booster will be a larger and more effective solid rocket motor to make the SLS rocket efficient in sending heavier payloads to the Moon and beyond.
NASA engineers successfully completed a subscale solid rocket motor test June 1, 2022, at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The subscale motor produced 92,000 pounds of thrust during the hot fire test. This was the second test supporting development efforts for a brand-new motor design for Artemis objectives after Artemis VIII. Credit: NASA/Samuel Lott
The test was the second in the series to assess the brand-new motor design with an included half sector, a brand-new propellant, a new aft dome style, and a brand-new nozzle design. The first test was completed on December 2, 2021, and produced 76,400 pounds of thrust.
For this second test, lead booster contractor Northrop Grumman used a different propellant than in the very first test to put the motor under the maximum anticipated operating pressure it could experience on launch day. Engineers will use information from the test to analyze how the motor carried out under this pressure, which could be reached on an actually hot day on the launch pad at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA engineers successfully completed a subscale strong rocket motor test June 1, 2022, at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The subscale motor produced 92,000 pounds of thrust throughout the hot fire test.
A third subscale test of the new design, set up for next year, will evaluate alternate products for both the nozzle and insulation for the motor. The subscale motor tests are a crucial action in discovering how the BOLE motor will carry out at full-blown. The team is working to finish the last design for a test of the full-blown motor in the spring of 2024 at Northrop Grummans test facility in Utah.
