Service Platforms for Powerful SLS Boosters Arrive at KSC

New service platforms for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) booster engines arrived recently at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, marking another milestone in the ongoing post-shuttle era transition for the spaceport. The platforms were brought in on two flatbed trucks, then offloaded and stored inside the cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), where the SLS and Orion spacecraft will come together for launch.

The platforms will be used for processing and checkout of the engines for the SLS’ twin five-segment solid rocket boosters for Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1). The boosters, in combination with the rocket’s four RS-25 engines, will produce more than 8 million pounds of thrust at liftoff.

Developed and manufactured by Orbital ATK, the 154-foot-long boosters are the largest of their kind in the world, and will burn for the same amount of time as the old space shuttle boosters—two minutes—but they will provide 20 percent more power, while also providing more than 75 percent of the thrust needed for the skyscraper-size, 300-plus-foot-tall SLS to escape the Earth’s gravity.

Five of the fully developed boosters have been fired up on Orbital ATK’s Promontory, Utah, T-97 test stand since 2009, with the most recent being the Qualification Motor-2 test fire (QM-2) in late June 2016. Prior was QM-1 (March 2015). The first three tests, known as the Development Motor test series (DM-1, DM-2, and DM-3), helped engineers measure the new SRB’s performance at low temperature, verify design requirements of new materials in the motor joints, and gather performance data about upgrades made to the booster since the space shuttle program.

The first SLS mission, EM-1, is scheduled to launch in early 2019, to put an uncrewed Orion spacecraft on a shakedown flight to the Moon and back to prove it all works as designed, before NASA will put crews of up to four onboard starting in 2021 (at the earliest).

The final of 10 giant steel work platforms to support operations to process the SLS and Orion for launch in the VAB was installed earlier this year too.

When launched, the SLS (in its initial “block 1” configuration) will produce 8.8 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, equivalent to more than 160,000 Corvette engines; 15 percent more thrust at launch than the Saturn V rockets that sent men to the Moon.

.

Be sure to “LIKE” AmericaSpace on Facebook and follow us on Instagram & Twitter!

.

Posts associated with the SLS missions NASA Awards Contracts to Northrop Grumman for Additional SLS Boosters Lockheed Unveils Plans for Orbiting Mars Base Camp and Lander Within 10 Years Busy Summer of SLS Engine Testing on the Stennis A1 Test Stand Service Platforms for Powerful SLS Boosters Arrive at KSC Lockheed’s Prototype Habitat Plans for NASA’s Lunar Orbiting Deep Space Gateway Watch Orbital ATK Test Fire NASA’s Orion Launch Abort System PHOTOS: Final SLS Work Platform Installed in KSC’s Vehicle Assembly Building Orion, SLS Development Continues to Take Shape for Inaugural Late 2018 Launch Orion EM-1 Taking Shape at KSC, Spacecraft’s LAS Jettison Motors Continue Testing Mammoth SLS Booster Test Fired in Utah One Final Time Before Inaugural Orion EM-1 Launch First SLS Orion Completes Pressure Tests, Prepares for Install of Secondary Structures Second SLS Qualification Booster Test Fire Scheduled for June 28 First SLS Flight Engine Roars to Life for Testing at Stennis Space Center NASA Shows Off Orion EM-1 Structure at KSC for Inaugural SLS Lunar Flight Test NASA Announces Payloads for First SLS Mission Super Guppy Delivers Orion EM-1 Structure to KSC for 2018 Inaugural SLS Flight First SLS Work Platform Installed in KSC’s Vehicle Assembly Building High Bay 3 One Year After EFT-1: What’s Been Learned, What’s Ahead for NASA’s Orion in 2016 NASA Contracts With Aerojet Rocketdyne to Restart RS-25 Engine Production for SLS Orion Heat Shield Receives Upgrade, Ahead of EM-1 Mission NASA Seeks American Industry Ideas on Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission Spacecraft Design Lockheed Martin Moves Into Full-Scale Assembly of NASA’s SLS EM-1 Orion Spacecraft Capping A Milestone Year, NASA Announces Completion of SLS Critical Design Review Astronauts Practice Orion Crew Recovery as Aerojet Completes Major Subsystems Review for EM-1 Spacecraft NASA Seeks Public’s Help Designing Ways for Astronauts to Live off the Land on Mars NASA Makes Improvements to Orion Heat Shield With Data Gathered From EFT-1 Next Qualification Booster for NASA’s SLS Rocket Taking Shape for Spring 2016 QM-2 Test Fire NASA Passes Orion Key Decision Point (KDP)-C, As ‘No Later Than’ EM-2 Date Shifts to April 2023 Seventh RS-25 Test Fire of 2015 Closes Out First SLS Main Engine Test Series SLS Development RS-25 Engine Ignites for Successful Full Duration Test Fire #6 Clarifying NASA’s Budget Regarding Orion, SLS, and SpaceX / Boeing Commercial Crew Orbital ATK Signs Contract to Provide Launch Abort Motor for Orion SLS Development Engine Test Fire #4 Ignites With Longest Duration Firing Yet NASA to Test Orion’s European Service Module Starting This Summer NASA and Aerojet Fire Up Stennis With Full Duration SLS Engine Test Fire #3 SLS Main Engine Test Fire Round Two Ignites With 450-Second Burn at Stennis Space Center NASA Presses on With SLS Development as Launch Vehicle Undergoes Critical Design Review Congress Seeks Significant Shift in NASA Budget Priorities McCollister’s Transportation Supports Orion on Journey to Mars After EFT-1, Orion Crew Module Subjected to Intense Heat Shield Inspections Orbital ATK and NASA Release Initial Findings From SLS Booster QM-1 Test Fire NASA Partners With Commercial Industry to Advance Deep Space Exploration Capabilities NASA Goes With ‘Option B’ for Future Asteroid Redirect Mission Lockheed Proposes Dual Use ‘Jupiter’ Space Freighter for Station Resupply and Deep Space Exploration Picture-Perfect Booster QM-1 Test Fire Marks Big Milestone for NASA SLS Development Solid Rocket Booster for NASA’s Space Launch System Ready for Wednesday Test Fire in Utah NASA, Orbital ATK to Debut ‘Flight-Like Avionics’ During Upcoming SLS Booster Firing NASA’s Upgraded Crawler Transporter-2 Takes Test Drive With SLS Modifications NASA Undecided on Asteroid Redirect Mission Concept as Near-Earth Asteroid Approaches for Flyby Stennis Space Center Roars to Life With First NASA SLS Development Engine Test Fire