The American Space Agency, NASA, recently rolled out the already completed division of its new rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS). The core of the rocket manufactured at the Michoud Assembly Facility. NASA is taking the massive part to the Mississippi for further testing before its launch.
The upcoming Space Launch System (SLS) is instrumental for NASA’s highly anticipated Artemis program. Through the Artemis program, the American Space Agency will retake human beings on the lunar surface by 2024. NASA revealed that SLS is going to be the most powerful rocket in human history.
However, the SLS is yet to fly. In the last decade, the SLS program saw multiple delays, and experts raised concerns over the rising cost of the program. Initially, the space agency planned to launch the SLS by 2017, but currently, the program is not on the card until at least 2021.
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The core of the SLS will transfer to the Stennis Space Center located in Mississippi. In the space center, the rocket will undergo some major steps essential before the launch. Scientists are calling it the Green Run Test. In the test, scientists will fill the core of SLS with the required amount of fuel and ignites all the four main engines. The process is going to be exactly similar to the actual flight. But, the only difference is during the test, the rocket will place in a test stand, not on the launchpad. The ignition will take place for as many as eight minutes, similar to the actual test.
Boeing and NASA are the major contractors for the Space Launch System program. They expect the Green Run Test to schedule sometimes around the summer in 2020. Once the test is over, they will shift the core of SLS to the Kennedy Space Center located in Cape Canaveral.
