Mankind has always been obsessed with conquests of foreign lands. And what could be more foreign than planet Mars? NASA announced a test this week of the Space Launch System which is a modified and souped-up version of the engine used for the Space Shuttle programs. Should the rocket launch simulation progress into a real mission, human astronauts could be on their way to Mars in the 2030s, as popsci.com explained in its post.
The test was done at the Stennis Space Center in Missouri. It lasted 9 minutes, which is about the same time it takes in an actual rocket launch for the RS-25 engine to work. A total of 512,000 pounds of thrust was recorded, well enough to reach 200 miles. It all went according to plan which got NASA folks excited for its future but they still have to carefully dissect all the data from the test which could take at least a weak to finish according to the same report in popsci.com.
In a separate post from wired.com, NASA confirmed that the project is aimed at powering the Orion space crew into deep space missions, with the possibility of a manned mission to Mars. It also described how the space agency plans to use its latest system. When the Space Launch System sends the Orion spacecraft into orbit, its first stage will be powered by four RS-25 engines. It's an old design used as the main engine for NASA's shuttle program and it has undergone a number of changes to work with the SLS. It was also redesigned to deal with higher propellant inlet pressure, lower temperatures, and a new engine controller unit. It was the sixth of seven planned static fire tests of the updated engine. It's only a matter of time until mankind's dream of reaching new frontiers in space is realized by NASA.
