Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

Watch NASA’s mega moon rocket blast its engines in prelaunch test

By
NASA's Second Hot Fire Test for the Artemis Moon Rocket

NASA has completed a successful test of the core stage of its powerful next-generation Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

Recommended Videos

The ground-based event took place at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, on Thursday, March 18.

Related

All four of the rocket’s RS-25 engines blasted at full power for 8 minutes and 19 seconds, simulating a real launch.

Known as a “hot fire,” Thursday’s test marked a critical milestone ahead of NASA’s upcoming Artemis I mission that will send an uncrewed Orion spacecraft on a test flight around the moon and back to Earth. Artemis I will pave the way for a crewed mission taking the same path, and then a moon landing that will put the first woman and next man on the lunar surface. In the longer term, the rocket could also be used to launch astronauts to Mars.

The test, which you can see in the video at the top of this page, will provide NASA engineers with important data for validating the core stage design for the rocket’s first launch to space.

John Honeycutt, manager for the SLS Program at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, said Thursday’s event “provided the wealth of data we needed to ensure the SLS core stage can power every SLS rocket successfully.”

This week’s full-length fire tested a range of operational conditions, including moving the four engines in specific patterns to direct thrust, and throttling down and back up, as they will during flight.

“Today is a great day for NASA, Stennis, and this nation’s human space exploration program,” said Stennis Center Director Richard Gilbrech. “This final test in the Green Run series represents a major milestone for this nation’s return to the moon and eventual mission to Mars. So many people across the agency and the nation contributed to this SLS core stage, but special recognition is due to the blended team of test operators, engineers, and support personnel for an exemplary effort in conducting the test today.”

Thursday’s four-engine hot fire test is the first since NASA conducted the same procedure in January 2021, which marked the first time that all four SLS rocket engines were  fired at once. An apparent anomaly prompted engineers to end that test after about one minute.

The data from the latest test will allow NASA to determine whether it can stick to the provisional November 2021 date for the Artemis I moon mission. Digital Trends will be sure to report the news as soon as it’s announced.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
NASA agreement with oil company BP could see its technology used on moon
An artist’s concept of an Artemis astronaut deploying an instrument on the lunar surface.

While its technology is most often used to drill for oil here on Earth, oil company BP has entered into an agreement with NASA that could see its technology used to drill for resources on the moon.

The agreement was announced this week, and says the company will work with NASA to "support common goals in space exploration and energy production." That involved sharing technology and technical expertise, particularly about how energy production can operate in extreme environments. This could be applicable to future NASA plans for exploration of the moon and Mars, both of which will require significant power generation.

Read more
NASA’s axed moon rover could be resurrected by Intuitive Machines
An illustration of NASA's Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) on the lunar surface.

Lunar scientists were shocked and dismayed last month when NASA announced that it was canceling work on its moon rover, VIPER. The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover was intended to search the moon's south pole for evidence of water there, but NASA said that it had to ax the project due to increasing costs.

This week, an open letter to Congress called the cancellation of the mission "unprecedented and indefensible," and questioned NASA's assertion that the cancellation of the mission would not affect plans to send humans to the moon. Scientists argued that the mission was fundamental to understanding the presence of water on the moon, which is a key resource for human exploration, as well as an issue of scientific interest.

Read more
Watch NASA astronauts use VR to ‘explore’ upcoming lunar space station
A NASA astronaut uses VR to explore the Lunar Gateway.

NASA has shared footage showing astronauts using VR headsets to learn what it will be like aboard the Lunar Gateway space station.

The Lunar Gateway will orbit the moon and be used mainly for getting astronauts and cargo to and from the lunar surface during the upcoming Artemis missions. It'll also be used as a space-based laboratory similar to how the International Space Station, which is in low-Earth orbit, operates today.

Read more