No menu items!

COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

HomeNewsNASA Rolls out its Mega Moon Rocket

NASA Rolls out its Mega Moon Rocket

by Issam Ahmed with Gregg Newton at the Kennedy Space Center

NASA’s massive new rocket eased onto its launchpad Friday, ready for a battery of tests that will clear it to blast off to the Moon this summer on an uncrewed flight.

It left the Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building Thursday evening and began a nearly 11-hour journey on a crawler-transporter to the hallowed Launch Complex 39B, arriving at 4:15 am.

Around 10,000 people had gathered to watch the event.

Huge Rocket = Huge Cost

With the Orion crew capsule fixed on top, the Space Launch System (SLS) Block 1 stands 322 feet (98 meters) high — taller than the Statue of Liberty, but a little smaller than the 363 feet Saturn V rockets that powered the Apollo missions to the Moon.

Still, it will produce 8.8 million pounds of maximum thrust (39.1 Meganewtons), 15 percent more than the Saturn V, meaning it’s expected to be the world’s most powerful rocket at the time it begins operating.

Having reached the iconic launchpad, where 53 Space Shuttles took off, there are roughly two more weeks’ worth of checks before what’s known as the “wet dress rehearsal.”

The SLS team will load more than 700,000 gallons (3.2 million liters) of cryogenic propellant into the rocket and practice every phase of launch countdown, stopping ten seconds before blast off.

“From this sacred and historical place, humanity will soon embark on a new era of exploration,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement Friday.

A symbol of US space ambition, it also comes with a hefty price tag: $4.1 billion per launch for the first four Artemis missions, NASA Inspector General Paul Martin told Congress this month.

To the Moon and beyond  

NASA is targeting May as the earliest window for Artemis-1, an uncrewed lunar mission that will be the first integrated flight for SLS and Orion.

SLS will first place Orion into a low Earth orbit, and then, using its upper stage, perform what’s called a trans-lunar injection. 

This maneuver is necessary to send Orion 280,000 miles beyond Earth and 40,000 miles beyond the Moon — further than any spaceship capable of carrying humans has ventured.

On its three-week mission, Orion will deploy 10 shoebox size satellites known as CubeSats to gather information on the deep space environment. 

Its “passengers” will include three mannequins collecting radiation data, and a plush Snoopy toy, long a NASA mascot.

It will journey around the far side of the Moon, using thrust provided by the European Space Agency (ESA) thruster, and finally make its way back to Earth, where its heat shield will be tested against the atmosphere.

Splashdown takes place in the Pacific, off the coast of California.

Artemis-2 will be the first crewed test, flying around the Moon but not landing, while Artemis-3, planned for 2025, will see the first woman and first person of color touch down on the lunar south pole.

NASA wants to build a permanent presence on the Moon, and use it as a proving ground for technologies necessary for a Mars mission, sometime in the 2030s, using a Block 2 evolution of the SLS.

SLS v Starship

NASA calls SLS a “super heavy lift exploration class vehicle.” The only currently operational super heavy rocket is SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, which is smaller.

Elon Musk’s company is also developing its own deep space rocket, the fully reusable Starship, which he has said should be ready for an orbital test this year.

Starship would be both bigger and more powerful than SLS: 394 feet tall with 17 million pounds of thrust. It could also be considerably cheaper. 

The tycoon has suggested that within years, the cost per launch could be as little as $10 million.

Direct comparisons are complicated by the fact that while SLS is designed to fly direct to its destinations, SpaceX foresees putting a Starship into orbit, and then refueling it with another Starship so it can continue its journey, to extend range and payload.

NASA has also contracted a version of Starship as a lunar descent vehicle for Artemis.

Other super heavy rockets under development include Blue Origin’s New Glenn, China’s Long March 9 and Russia’s Yenisei.

Trending Now

Salvadoran Lawyers Fight for Rights of Trump-Deported Migrants in Secretive Prison

A small group of overstretched and outmatched lawyers is fighting for the rights of men deported by the Trump administration and held in a...

Costa Rica Overturns Management Plan for Gandoca-Manzanillo Refuge

Costa Rica’s Constitutional Court has ruled that the General Management Plan for the Gandoca-Manzanillo Mixed Wildlife Refuge is unconstitutional. The decision annuls both the...

Costa Rica’s Olympic Hero Claudia Poll Alleges Abuse by Famed Swim Coach

Claudia Poll, Costa Rica's only Olympic gold medalist, and two other former swimmers from the country, alleged on Monday that they suffered psychological, physical,...

Rural Costa Rica Adopts Ecosystem-Based Approach to Climate Resilience

As climate change intensifies, rural communities across Costa Rica are taking concrete steps to reduce risks and adapt to increasing climate pressures. With support...

Costa Rica Shines Once Again in This High-Quality Travel Video

A new 4K video now circulating online offers a fresh view of Costa Rica’s natural settings—one that captures our country's popular as well as...

Costa Rica Dismantles Human Trafficking Ring Linked to Tren de Aragua

Costa Rican authorities dismantled a human trafficking network linked to the criminal gang Tren de Aragua, which financed the travel of women from Venezuela...
spot_img
Costa Rica Tours
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Travel Insurance
Costa Rica Rocking Chait
Costa Rica Travel

Latest News from Costa Rica