Larger version of solid rocket booster used on shuttle will form part of Space Launch System propelling astronauts beyond Earth’s orbit

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Nasa has successfully tested a huge rocket motor that will one day propel astronauts out of Earth’s orbit and towards Mars.

It was the second and final test-firing of the solid rocket booster designed for Nasa’s Space Launch System (SLS). The debut launch from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center in 2018 will not carry people, but a few years later astronauts are scheduled to climb aboard for a flight near the moon.

Tuesday’s ground test, lasting a full two minutes, was conducted by Orbital ATK, the Nasa contractor that also made the smaller shuttle boosters for Nasa. This 47-metre (154ft) booster was mounted horizontally and pointing towards a mountain near Promontory, Utah, when it spewed out flames and smoke — producing 3.6m pounds of rocket thrust – in the test on Tuesday, watched by crowds on a nearby ridge.

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Each SLS rocket will have two boosters along with four main engines. There would ultimately be 9m pounds of thrust at liftoff, considerably more than the now-retired shuttle, said former astronaut Charles Precourt, an Orbital ATK vice-president.

Precourt said the team had worked nonstop over the past five weeks to prepare for Tuesday’s milestone. “Really a delight,” he said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest People watch the Mars rocket test from a safe distance. Photograph: ZUMA Wire/REX/Shutterstock

The rocket first had to be chilled to temperatures of 4.5C (44F) over the course of several weeks to confirm it works at the lower end of its operating range.

Nasa human exploration chief William Gerstenmaier said after the test: “We should all enjoy this moment.”

NASA plans to use the mega-rocket for trips to Mars in the 2030s.



With Associated Press

