SLS Core Stage Green Run validates propulsion system performance and modeling
May 11, 2021
Engineers with NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) program and prime Core Stage contractor Boeing continue to review terabytes of data from the now-complete, once-in-a-generation Green Run design verification test campaign. A series of eight test cases were completed, culminating in a 500-second long, full-duration static firing of the stage in the B-2 Test Stand at Stennis.
The Core Stage was the major new piece developed for the agency’s SLS launch vehicle, and both NASA and Boeing are pleased with results seen so far. Initial analysis and reviews of the test-firing data show that actual Main Propulsion System (MPS) performance was close to most predictions by analytical models and the system demonstrated operating margin during stressing tests conducted during the static fire.
NASA decides to redo SLS Green Run Static Fire
January 30, 2021
As expected, but now official, NASA has announced the decision to redo the Green Run Hot-Fire test of the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The Core Stage was fired for 67 seconds on January 16 in the B-2 Test Stand at Stennis before the test was ended early.
The SLS Program, Core Stage prime contractor Boeing, and RS-25 engine prime contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne are continuing to refurbish their vehicle hardware and Stennis is recycling their ground systems for a second attempt to fire the stage for a full eight minute flight duration near the end of February.
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.