NASA reached a key milestone in its Space Launch System program this week by passing a preliminary design review of the new mega-rocket intended to drive humans into deep space, the agency said Thursday. The major components of the rocket are being constructed at the Michoud Assembly Facility in eastern New Orleans.
Experts and engineers at NASA concluded that the design, production and ground support plans for the heavy-lift rocket are capable of fulfilling the launch vehicle's mission, according to a news release from the agency. The Space Launch System is designed to transport astronauts on the Orion spacecraft to destinations such as asteroids and Mars over the next 15 years, an Obama administration goal. An unstaffed test mission is scheduled in 2017.
"In two short years from the first announcement of the Space Launch System, we are at a milestone that validates the details design and integration of the system," said Dan Dumbacher, deputy associate administrator for the Human Exploration Operations Mission Directorate. "You can feel the momentum of the workforce as we produce test hardware today. We are creating a national capability, and we will get this country, and the world, exploring deep space."
Contributing to the review were Chicago-based Boeing Co., Bringham City, Utah-based ATK and Sacramento, Calif.-based Aerojet Rocketdyne.
Meanwhile, NASA released a photo and video of a towering segment of the Space Launch System's core stage inside the Michoud Assembly Facility. The cylinder is the first liquid hydrogen tank barrel segment, which will help power the mega-rocket out of Earth's orbit. It stands 22 feet tall, weighs 9,100 pounds and is made of an aerospace aluminum alloy.
The core stage as a whole will store both cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen to feed the engines.
NASA officials said the new segment is considered a "confidence" barrel segment because it affirms that the tool used to build the core stage, the vertical weld center, is working properly. The equipment is three stories tall and weighs 150 tons. It uses friction stir welding to piece together the core stage, which is designed at more than 200 feet tall with a diameter of more than 27-1/2 feet.
NASA has planned a 2017 test flight to launch an unmanned Orion spacecraft. A crewed flight is scheduled in 2021.
Cost estimates for the program have ranged into the billions over the next decade, with an estimated $500 million per launch.
Michoud is owned by NASA and managed by the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
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