NASA's newest and loftiest goal since putting the first men on the moon:



Getting humans to the moon, to Mars, and beyond. All starting in less than 5 years from now. By 2023, NASA hopes to have the Space Launch System, or SLS, taking humans to where we've been before, to where only robots have gone, and hopefully to places still to be explored.



But first, we have to test the system itself.



Just this past week up at the Cape, the Water Deluge System went under a test of functionality. What does all this water do? What water does during a launch has really nothing to do with putting out a fire, it has everything to do with noise suppression.



Launches are loud, launches are violent, and with SLS and the Orion capsule, this will be the most powerful rocket ever built and will be powered by 4 very big engines. So lots of noise has to be dampened.



Hence, the Water Deluge System, which sends water over 100 feet into the air and will release over 450,000 gallons of water across the launch pad: