NASA s SLS rocket faces new setback that could delay astronauts return to the moon
Less than a minute into a recent test, the SLS engine experienced a major component failure – a considerable setback in the rocket s developmental timeline.
Jan 18, 2021 11:06:48 IST
After billions of dollars and a decade of work, NASA’s plans to send astronauts back to the moon had a new setback Saturday. A planned eight-minute test firing of the four engines of a new mega rocket needed for the moon missions came to an abrupt end after only about a minute. As engineers disentangle what went wrong, the first launch of the rocket is likely to slip further into the future, and NASA astronauts may have to wait longer before setting foot on the moon again. NASA officials, however, said that it was too early to predict delays, if any.
NASA conducted a hot fire Saturday of the core stage for the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that will launch the Artemis I mission to the Moon. The hot fire is the final test of the Green Run series.
The test plan called for the rocket’s four RS-25 engines to fire for a little more tha
Critical Test of NASA s Giant Moon Rocket Cut Short by Major Component Failure
MORGAN MCFALL-JOHNSEN & DAVE MOSHER, BUSINESS INSIDER
17 JANUARY 2021
NASA s mega-sized moon rocket encountered an engine issue during a critical test on Saturday, and the error could further delay the agency s effort to send astronauts back to the moon.
The rocket, called Space Launch System (SLS), is designed to eventually stand 365 feet (111 meters) and ferry astronauts to the moon sometime in the mid- to late-2020s.
The system is an essential piece of a larger program called Artemis, a roughly $US30 billion effort to put boots back on the lunar surface for the first time since 1972. NASA has spent about US$18 billion developing the rocket.