NASA blasts off SLS rocket engine for Artemis Program in latest test; WATCH

With a tenacious resolve of launching humans to the Moon, NASA conducted another test this week wherein it fired a subscale solid rocket booster at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The agency revealed that the booster had a 2-foot-diameter but generated 92,000 pounds of thrust during the tests.

According to NASA, the test was conducted as a part of the booster obsolescence and life extension (BOLE) program, and it provided an upgraded booster design for Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for Artemis IX and beyond.

"The test was the second in the series to evaluate the new motor design with an added half segment, a new propellant, a new aft dome design, and a new nozzle design. The first test was completed Dec. 2, 2021, and produced 76,400 pounds of thrust", the agency said in a statement.

NASA will soon conduct a third sub-scale test of the new design likely next year and will evaluate the materials needed for the SLS rocket's engine. "The team is working to complete the final design for a test of the full-scale motor in the spring of 2024 at Northrop Grumman’s test facility in Utah", NASA further revealed.

Current status of Artemis Program

Under this program, NASA will send humans back to the Moon and land the first woman and person of colour on the lunar surface. Notably, NASA and its international partners are currently working on Artemis I, which is scheduled to launch later this year, possibly in August. On June 6, the SLS rocket for Artemis I will be rolled out to the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center for the "wet dress rehearsals".

It is called the "wet dress rehearsals" because supercooled liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen will be loaded into the SLS rocket's tanks just as they will be on the actual launch day. As for the entire Artemis Program, NASA recently shared an entire schedule of launch windows that open on July 26 and extends until December 23.