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June 19, 2020NASA Prepares to Complete Artemis SLS Rocket Structural TestingNASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) Program is concluding its structural qualification test series with one upcoming final test that will push the design for the rocket’s liquid oxygen tank to its limits at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.In the name of science, engineers will try to break a structural test article of the tank--on purpose. The liquid oxygen tank’s structure is identical to the tank that is part of the SLS core stage, which will provide power to help launch the Artemis missions to the Moon. The tank is enclosed in a cage-like structure that is part of the test stand. Hydraulic systems will apply millions of pounds of force to push, pull and bend the liquid oxygen tank test article to see just how much pressure the tank can take. The forces simulate what the tank is expected to experience during launch and flight. For the test, the tank will be filled with water to simulate the liquid oxygen propellant used for flight, and when the tank ruptures, the water may create a loud sound as it bursts through the tank’s skin.“We take rocket tanks to extreme limits and break them because pushing systems to the point of failure gives us a data to help us build rockets more intelligently,” said Neil Otte, chief engineer for the SLS Stages Office at Marshall. “Breaking the propellant tank today on Earth will provide us with valuable data for safely and efficiently flying SLS on the Artemis missions to the Moon.”Earlier this year, NASA and Boeing engineers subjected the tank to 23 baseline tests that simulate actual flight conditions, and the tank aced the tests. The tank is fitted with thousands of sensors to measure stress, pressure and temperature, while high-speed cameras and microphones capture every moment to identify buckling or cracking in the cylindrical tank wall. This final test will apply controlled forces stronger than those engineers expect the tank to endure during flight, similar to the test that ruptured the liquid hydrogen tank and created noise heard in some Huntsville neighborhoods near Marshall.This is final test in a series of structural qualification tests that have pushed the rocket’s structures to the limits from top to bottom to help ensure the rocket is ready for the Artemis lunar missions. Completion of this upcoming test will mark a major milestone for the SLS Program.The Marshall team started structural qualification testing on the rocket in May 2017 with an integrated test of the upper part of the rocket stacked together: the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, the Orion stage adapter and the launch vehicle stage adapter. Then the team moved on to testing the four largest structures that make up the 212-foot-tall core stage. The last baseline test for Artemis I was completed in March 2020 before the team’s access to Marshall was restricted because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The NASA and Boeing team returned to work the first week in June to prepare for conducting the final liquid oxygen test to failure. The structural qualification tests help verify models showing the structural design can survive flight. Structural testing has been completed on three of the largest core stage structures: the engine section, the intertank, and the liquid hydrogen tank. The liquid oxygen tank has completed baseline testing and will now wrap up core stage testing with the upcoming test to find the tank’s point of failure."The liquid oxygen tests and the other tests to find the point of failure really put the hardware through the paces," said April Potter, the SLS test project manager for liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen structural tests. "NASA will now have the information to build upon our systems and push exploration farther than ever before."The SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft, Gateway and human landing system are part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration. The Artemis program is the next step in human space exploration. It is part of America’s broader Moon to Mars exploration approach, in which astronauts will explore the Moon and gain experience to enable humanity’s next giant leap, sending humans to Mars.Last Updated: June 19, 2020Editor: Jennifer Harbaugh
The liquid oxygen tank structural test article, shown here, for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s core stage was the last test article loaded into the test stand July 10, 2019. The liquid oxygen tank is one of two propellant tanks in the rocket’s massive core stage that will produce more than 2 million pounds of thrust to help launch Artemis I, the first flight of SLS and NASA’s Orion spacecraft to the Moon. Now, the tank will undergo the final test completing a three-year structural test campaign at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Tests conducted during this campaign put the rocket’s structures from the top of the upper stage to the bottom of the core stage through strenuous tests simulating the forces that the rocket will experience during launch and flight. All four of the core stage structural test articles were manufactured at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and delivered by NASA’s barge Pegasus to Marshall.Credits: NASA/Tyler Martin
The SLS structural qualification test campaign concluded on June 24 as @NASA_Marshall engineers purposely pushed a liquid oxygen tank test article to its limits. Water gushed out of the tank as it buckled within 2% of the predicted failure value. MORE >> https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/nasa-completes-artemis-sls-structural-testing-campaign.html
Check out the 2nd @NASA_SLS core stage that will launch the crewed #Artemis II mission around the moon. It’s making progress at #NASAMichoud.
To support future flights of NASA’s powerful Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, NASA and Northrop Grumman, the SLS booster lead contractor, will conduct a full-scale Flight Support Booster (FSB-1) test in Promontory, Utah, on Sept. 2. The SLS rocket utilizes two, five-segment solid rocket boosters to help launch NASA’s Artemis missions to the Moon. NASA and Northrop Grumman have completed testing for the boosters used for the first three Artemis missions of the agency’s lunar program. FSB-1 builds upon prior tests of the rocket’s five-segment solid rocket booster to evaluate improvements and new materials in the boosters for missions beyond Artemis III. The test will be broadcast live on NASA TV and the agency’s website at 2:40 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, Sept. 2.
On Aug. 6, a 22-second hot fire test in the East Test Area at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, helped NASA and Northrop Grumman Corporation in Promontory, Utah – the solid rocket booster prime contractor – evaluate a new nozzle material for the Space Launch System (SLS) solid rocket boosters. These boosters produce more than 75 percent of the power to launch the rocket.Helps Evaluate New SLS MaterialsA test firing with a 24-inch solid rocket booster on Aug. 6 at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama will help engineers evaluate a new cleaning solvent for Space Launch System (SLS) booster nozzles. Tests with the smaller motor segment provides data so that engineers can determine if the new material warrants further pursuit for use on future SLS rockets. (NASA/Tyson Eason)Every detail that goes into space exploration matters. While habitat design or making sure a rocket is powerful enough to launch supplies are obviously important, what may be less apparent are the smaller things, including the solvents used in manufacturing materials for spaceflight.On Aug. 6, a 22-second hot fire test in the East Test Area at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, helped NASA and Northrop Grumman Corporation in Promontory, Utah – the solid rocket booster prime contractor – evaluate a new nozzle material for the Space Launch System (SLS) solid rocket boosters. These boosters produce more than 75 percent of the power to launch the rocket.The nozzle construction enables the boosters to provide consistent performance while withstanding the 5,000 degree Fahrenheit flame produced as the solid fuel is burned to launch the rocket. Such material changes are checked out in phases from sub-scale to full-scale tests and this 24-inch motor was a significant step in that process. Using a 24-inch-diameter, 20-foot-long sub-scale test motor that burned nearly 1,800 pounds of propellant and produced 23,000 pounds of thrust, the team collected data to help verify use of the solvent on future SLS flights beyond Artemis III.“This 24-inch motor test is to evaluate the material in a solid rocket motor environment and make sure that we don’t get any unexpected changes in how it performs,” said Tim Lawrence, manager for motor and booster separation motor systems at Marshall.
This video shows how crews in Promontory, Utah, transported and installed the Flight Support Booster (FSB-1) for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket into Test Stand T-97 ahead of a full-scale test on Sept. 2. The Flight Support Booster is structurally identical to each of the five-segment solid rocket boosters on SLS. Unlike previous booster tests, this Flight Support Booster test will ensure the boosters can be improved and sustained for SLS rockets needed to power Artemis missions following Artemis III when the first woman and next man land on the Moon in 2024. The FSB-1 booster will produce more than 3 million pounds of thrust during the test. Engineers with NASA and Northrop Grumman, the SLS booster lead contractor, will use the data from the test to evaluate new materials and processes for boosters used for future flights of the SLS rocket through NASA’s Artemis program. (Northrop Grumman)
The RAMPT project's success has garnered the attention of NASA’s Space Launch System, or SLS, rocket team. NASA’s SLS, along with the Orion spacecraft, are the backbone to our deep space exploration plans, including sending the first woman and next man to the Moon in 2024 and establish sustainable exploration by the end of the decade. The SLS Program is investing in RAMPT's blown powder directed energy deposition fabrication process with the goal of certifying it for spaceflight. Together with RAMPT, the team is using the technique to build and evaluate a channel-cooled nozzle that is up to 5 feet in diameter and almost 7 feet tall.“Producing channel wall nozzles and other components using this new type of additive manufacturing would enable us to make the SLS engines at the scale required with a reduced schedule and reduced cost,” said Johnny Heflin, Liquid Engines Office manager for the SLS Program.
SLS partnership with STMD to 3d print large nozzles with internal cooling channels...QuoteThe RAMPT project's success has garnered the attention of NASA’s Space Launch System, or SLS, rocket team. NASA’s SLS, along with the Orion spacecraft, are the backbone to our deep space exploration plans, including sending the first woman and next man to the Moon in 2024 and establish sustainable exploration by the end of the decade. The SLS Program is investing in RAMPT's blown powder directed energy deposition fabrication process with the goal of certifying it for spaceflight. Together with RAMPT, the team is using the technique to build and evaluate a channel-cooled nozzle that is up to 5 feet in diameter and almost 7 feet tall.“Producing channel wall nozzles and other components using this new type of additive manufacturing would enable us to make the SLS engines at the scale required with a reduced schedule and reduced cost,” said Johnny Heflin, Liquid Engines Office manager for the SLS Program.https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/releases/2020/future-rocket-engines-may-include-large-scale-3d-printing.html
