There hasn’t been a manned lunar landing since 1972 - but according to NASA, under the Artemis Program, that will soon change.
A NASA announcement on Nov. 24 stated that in preparation for the Artemis I launch next year, the first of 10 segments of the Space Launch System rocket has been stacked on the mobile launcher, located at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The announcement revealed that on Nov. 21, engineers lowered the piece into place, for the twin solid rocket boosters that will power the first flight of NASA’s new deep space rocket.
NASA will send Artemis I as an uncrewed flight “to test the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the moon with the Artemis program,” the announcement said.
The booster segments, each weighing 180 tons, were manufactured at the Northrop Grumman facility in Utah, and were transported by train to the Florida spaceport in June, in specially outfitted railcars, to undergo final launch preparations, NASA said.
On Nov. 19, engineers transported a booster segment from the Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility to the 525-foot-tall Vehicle Assembly Building, NASA said, marking the beginning of the stacking operations.
Once assembled, the rocket will be humongous.
NASA explained that when assembled, each booster - consisting of five segments each - will be about half the length of a football field. “They will provide 7 million pounds of thrust for the liftoff from Launch Pad 39B” NASA stated, and together the thrust generated will be more than 14 four-engine jumbo commercial airliners.
NASA said the SLS rocket, when stacked, will stand taller than the Statue of Liberty. In comparison to the thrust of the Apollo program Saturn V rocket, NASA said this rocket will have about 15% more thrust at liftoff, “making it the most powerful rocket ever built.”
This first stacking marks a milestone.
The announcement cited Andrew Shroble, an integrated operations flow manager with Jacobs, who said: “Stacking the first piece of the SLS rocket on the mobile launcher marks a major milestone for the Artemis Program.” He added, “It shows the mission is truly taking shape and will soon head to the launch pad.”
What is scheduled to happen next?
The solid rocket boosters - the first components of the SLS rocket to be stacked - will help support the remaining rocket pieces and the Orion spacecraft, NASA explained.
Using an overhead crane that can hold up to 325 tons, over the next several weeks, workers will lift the remaining segments and carefully place them, one by one, “onto the 380-foot-tall mobile launcher - “the structure used to process, assemble, and launch the SLS rocket,” the announcement said.. “The cranes are precise enough to lower an object onto an egg without cracking it,” NASA said.
The first booster segments to be stacked - the bottom sections known as the aft assemblies - “house the system that controls 70% of the steering during initial ascent of the rocket,” NASA explained. The aft motor segment and skirt, and the nozzle that directs the hot gas leaving the motor, are included in this section.
After the other four segments have been stacked, “the final pieces of the boosters are the forward assemblies, which includes the nose cone that serves as the aerodynamic leading edge of the boosters,” NASA stated, and these will attach to the core stage when it arrives next year.
NASA said its goal under the Artemis program is to land the first woman and the next man on the moon in 2024, and by the end of the decade, to establish sustainable lunar exploration.
“SLS and Orion, along with the human landing system and the Gateway in orbit around the moon, are NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration,” the announcement concluded.
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The Link LonkDecember 01, 2020 at 03:04AM
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NASA starts assembling the Artemis Space Launch System - we’re headed back to the moon - PennLive
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