Are we going to the moon? NASA tested the most powerful rocket booster in history
NASA has published a video of a test launch of the SLS rocket accelerator, which is being developed for the Artemis lunar mission in 2024. The most powerful accelerator in history ran for about two minutes.
With the success of Elon Musk’s SpaceX company over the past few years, many users have forgotten about the achievement of the US National Aerospace Administration – NASA.
NASA engineers will have a good chance to prove themselves in the next few years – in 2024, the launch of the Artemis mission is planned, which should “return humanity to the moon”.
The main vehicle for delivering people to the moon will be the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, which has been under development since the late 1990s. Various US presidents have addressed NASA’s budgets and goals, so the construction of the SLS was greatly delayed.
But it seems that this time the rocket will still be completed, and NASA will be able to launch its giant into space.
On September 2, 2020, a video of the test launch of the SLS accelerator, which is called “the most powerful rocket accelerator in the history of mankind”, appeared on the NASA website.
NASA said that the full-size booster worked for exactly two minutes – exactly the same amount of time it would take to lift the rocket into orbit.
“The landing of the first woman and the next man on the moon is just the beginning of NASA’s Artemis program. The launch of the SLS booster is an important part of supporting missions to the moon. The goal of NASA is to take what we have learned from living and working on the Moon and use it to send people on the first missions to Mars”, – said NASA chief Jim Bridenstine.
The accelerator of the future rocket, which consists of five segments, was tested at the NASA base in Utah, and in total it created a thrust of almost 13.5 million Newtons.
The total length of the SLS rocket will be just over 98 meters, and it will be 15% more powerful than the Saturn V rocket, which was used for previous manned missions to the moon.
The first test launch of an SLS rocket without people on board should take place in November 2021.
Source: nv.ua
