June 26, 2025Watch live as Northrop Grumman fires the next-gen BOLE (Booster Obsolescence and Life Extension) solid rocket booster, set to power future Artemis missions to the Moon. This is a key test for NASA’s upgraded Space Launch System (SLS) hardware. NSF will also provide unique camera views of the test.
Jun 26, 2025Artemis Solid Rocket Booster made by Northrop Grumman - named the Booster Obsolescence and Life Extension (BOLE), and the largest SRB ever fired, suffered an anomaly during its test firing at the Promontory test site in Utah. During the final part of the two minute firing, the booster's nozzle suffered a major failure, liberating entirely from the motor.🎥 4K Video from Jack Beyer (@JackABeyer).✂️ Edited by Thomas Hayden (@_thomashayden).Timestamps:0:00 NASA BOLE Booster Test Firing0:34 Nozzle Gimbal is Testing Positions1:37 Nozzle Anomaly2:36 Aft CO2 Quench Tool Activated3:04 Ignitor Firing3:09 Nozzle Plug Blowing Out3:18 Slow Motion3:50 Anomaly in Slow Motion4:47 Aft CO2 Quench Tool in Slow Motion5:29 Before/After Comparison5:45 Surrounding Brush Fires
It would be interesting to hear from NASA what effect a failure like this would have on an SLS flight.- What stress would this put on the rest of the SLS vehicle?- What, if any, stress would this put on the Orion spacecraft and the crew inside?- How much control authority would still be left after the SLS has to make corrections to the output of the failed SRM?And most importantly, would this constitute a failure of the mission, and trigger the Orion to abort?This is not a theoretical situation, so NASA should be doing a study to understand what a failure like this means to the vehicle, the crew, and the mission. Is the Trump Administration going to do such a study, or will they not want to for some reason?
Quote from: Coastal Ron on 06/27/2025 06:13 amIt would be interesting to hear from NASA what effect a failure like this would have on an SLS flight.- What stress would this put on the rest of the SLS vehicle?- What, if any, stress would this put on the Orion spacecraft and the crew inside?- How much control authority would still be left after the SLS has to make corrections to the output of the failed SRM?And most importantly, would this constitute a failure of the mission, and trigger the Orion to abort?This is not a theoretical situation, so NASA should be doing a study to understand what a failure like this means to the vehicle, the crew, and the mission. Is the Trump Administration going to do such a study, or will they not want to for some reason?Yes, it is a merely theoretical situation. Why waste time and money on such an analysis?
The probability that BOLE will ever fly is near zero.
An analysis that finds that such a failure would result in a loss of mission would be very valuable for the Trump Administration at this point in time, because Senator Cruz wants to continue the SLS program, but if it turns out that a failure like this would result in a costly mission failure, that could help seal the end of the program."Never let a good crisis go to waste"
