NASA's Giant SLS Rocket: A Guide (2023)

NASA has developed a giant rocket called the Space Launch System (SLS) to launch astronauts to the Moon and eventually to Mars. The SLS, which will make its debut in early 2022, is the most powerful launch vehicle built since the 1960s.

NASA plans to put a man and a woman on the lunar surface this decade. This will be the first human landing since Apollo 17 in 1972.

For twenty years, astronauts have made routine trips to and from the International Space Station (ISS).

But the moon is almost a thousand times further away than the ISS; To get the astronauts there, you need a monster rocket.

The SLS is the modern equivalent of the Saturn V, the giant launch vehicle built during the Apollo era. Like Saturn, it is divided into segments, or stacked stages. But the rocket also contains space shuttle technology.

The first version of the SLS will be called Block 1. Over the next few years, it will undergo a series of upgrades that will allow it to carry heavier payloads to destinations outside of low-Earth orbit.

The Block 1 SLS will be 23 stories taller than the launch pad, taller than the Statue of Liberty.

“It's really a huge rocket. It's just impressively big," said John Shannon, vice president and SLS program manager at Boeing, the rocket's prime contractor. He told BBC News in 2019: "When you see the SLS assembled, you haven't seen anything like it since the Saturn V." .

The rocket will launch astronauts.NASA's next-generation crewed vehicle: OrionThis will get you up to the speed needed to exit Low Earth Orbit and continue on to the Moon.

The SLS consists of a giant center stage flanked by two Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs). At the core are two large storage tanks: one for liquid hydrogen, the fuel, and one for liquid oxygen, an "oxidant" that burns the fuel.

Collectively, they are known as thrusters.

The core stage is based on four RS-25 engines, the same engines that power the spaceplane-like Space Shuttle that was decommissioned in 2011.

When liquid hydrogen and oxygen are introduced into the engine chambers and ignited with a spark, the chemical reaction produces enormous amounts of energy and steam.

Steam is released from the engine's nozzles at a speed of 10,000 mph (16,000 km/h) to create thrust, the force that propels a rocket through the air.

SRBs give the rocket extra power to escape the clutches of gravity. These twin boosters are over 17 stories tall and burn six tons of solid fuel per second. They deliver 75% of the total thrust in the first two minutes of flight.

If we take thrust as a measure, by 2022 the SLS will be the most powerful rocket ever to fly into space. The Block 1 SLS will generate 8.8 million pounds (39.1 meganewtons) of thrust at launch, 15% more than the Saturn V.

In the 1960s, the Soviet Union built a rocket called the N1 to reach the Moon. The first stage could produce 10.2 million pounds (45.4 meganewtons) of thrust. But all four test flights failed.

A future version of the SLS, called the Block 2 Cargo, should come close to the level of oomph of the N1. Buta vehicle called Starship, developed by Elon Musk's SpaceX company, is said to outperform both, generating up to 15 million pounds (66.7 meganewtons) of thrust. Starship is currently in development, but there is no set date for its first orbital flight.

The SLS core stage is based on the space shuttle's foam-covered outer tank. This tank powered three RS-25 engines at the rear of the orbiting shuttle. Solid rocket boosters play virtually the same role in both vehicles.

But the SLS is an entirely different beast. Several components and structures derived from the Shuttle underwent significant design changes due to the different loads imposed on them by the SLS.

As an example of these different voltages, the space shuttle's RS-25 motors were angled upward, away from the solid rocket propellants. Placing them next to the SRBs will expose them to more vibrations. As a result, each system in the complex area of ​​SLS engines had to be rigorously tested to ensure that it could withstand vibration.

Some lawmakers on Capitol Hill were outraged. At the time, Richard Shelby, a Republican senator from Alabama,sayingCongress would not "sit back and watch the ruthless rejection of sound principles, a proven track record, a firm path to success, and the destruction of our manned space program."

As a compromise, state lawmakers have been pushing for a single super-heavy rocket to replace the Constellation launchers that the White House cancelled.

The SLS design was unveiled in 2011.. Once work began, delays and inflated munitions costs drew criticism that NASA should rely on rockets operated by commercial suppliers.

But without significant modifications, none of the existing launch vehicles have enough power to send Orion, astronauts, and large payloads to the moon in a single flight, as the SLS would have.

An estimated $18 billion has been spent on SLS since the beginning of the last decade.

John Shannon, who has been responsible for SLS at Boeing since 2015, explains: "I suspect that once SLS is available nationwide, there won't be a need for such a heavy-duty vehicle for years to come. It's really a unique solution." -Opportunity of life”.