NASA SLS Core Stage aborts high-stakes Green Run static fire
January 16, 2021
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) program and Core Stage prime contractor Boeing were ready for the big moment of the rocket’s Green Run campaign and the biggest moment in the 10-year old program, a static firing of the stage. After a year of test cases at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, visits from hurricanes, and waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, an eight-minute long, flight-duration Hot-Fire test was planned for January 16 to demonstrate the readiness of the new rocket stage for its first launch.
The firing lasted only 67.7 seconds, well short of full-duration and the minimum two minute duration firing NASA said was necessary to complete the test. The abort was triggered by a Major Component Failure indication on Engine 4.
NASA Sets Date for First Hot Fire Test of Space Launch System Core Stage
STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss., Jan. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) Four Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 engines are being targeted to hot fire in unison for the first time on Jan. 17 as part of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) Green Run test series. These engines will power the SLS rocket as the U.S. prepares to return humans to the Moon to stay and then on to Mars.
The upcoming 493-second hot fire test will mirror the engines’ thrust profile in flight and is the main event of the SLS Core Stage Green Run test series that has been underway since January 2020.
SLS, Stennis working on colder LOX for next Green Run WDR attempt
December 11, 2020
Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage Green Run team members are working on new procedures to supply liquid oxygen (LOX) to the vehicle at lower temperatures in the next Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR) attempt. The first attempt on December 7 at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi was scrubbed because the temperature of the LOX was a few degrees higher than design requirements as it entered the vehicle; NASA did not want to continue loading with the temperature out of limits.
The problem is not with the Core Stage itself; engineers with the SLS Program, Core Stage prime contractor Boeing, and NASA Stennis are looking at ways to reduce the temperature of the cryogenic liquid before it reaches the stage from barges docked next to the B-2 Test Stand. In the meantime, the test team is recycling the stage and other equipment to be ready to start a new Wet Dress Rehearsal attempt no earlier than the week of