NASA just hauled its massive heavy-lift rocket to a launchpad at Kennedy Space Center for some crucial testing ahead of its first moon mission.
It’s been a long time since the U.S. space agency had a rocket of this magnitude, capable of sending large payloads — astronauts and cargo — into deep space. Not only is the Space Launch System, or SLS, built to travel to the moon, it’s expected to one day put millions of miles on the odometer during the first crewed flight to Mars. Robotic scientific journeys to Saturn and Jupiter also could be in its future.
Here are some key facts about the megarocket as it prepares for its maiden voyage, the Artemis I mission to lunar orbit, which could come as soon as May 2022 (though, in typical NASA fashion, this might happen later this summer).
1. It’s the only rocket that can send the Orion spacecraft to the moon
NASA’s SLS is the only rocket that can send the Orion capsule directly to the moon. Credit: NASA / Aubrey Gemignani
SLS is the only rocket capable of sending the Orion spacecraft, a capsule that sits atop the stack of boosters, to the moon and beyond. Think of the Orion capsule as the RV of the sky: It’s not only a ride but a habitat for up to four astronauts. In order to travel long journeys into deep space, people will need to be able to eat, sleep, work, and pass time aboard for months.
In a NASA test, the four main rocket engines fired for eight minutes in March 2021 and generated 1.6 million pounds of thrust. Credit: NASA / Robert Markowitz
Standing 322-feet high, the megarocket is taller than the Statue of Liberty and London’s Big Ben. Compare that to the 184-foot Space Shuttle rocket, which blasted astronauts to the space station in low-Earth orbit.
Despite towering over its predecessor, SLS is actually a bit shorter than Saturn V, the last rocket NASA used to take people into deep space. The Apollo-era rocket was 41 feet taller.
But the new rocket is demonstrably more powerful. SLS will produce 8.8 million pounds of thrust — the oomph an engine provides for the rocket — during liftoff and ascent. That’s 15 percent more than Saturn V offered. Future configurations of the new rocket will pack even more punch.
The four main SLS engines, fueled with 700,000 gallons of cryogenic, or super cold, propellant, will produce a thrust powerful enough to keep eight Boeing 747s aloft.
3. The megarocket is state-of-the-art 1980s technology
Engineers and technicians at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans attaching the first of four RS-25 engines to the core stage of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. Credit: NASA / Jude Guidry
SLS is literally and figuratively built upon the Space Shuttle legacy. NASA incorporated major components of the shuttle, which operated between 1981 and 2011, into the new rocket.
Engineers swapped the iconic space plane out for either a cargo or Orion crew spacecraft. The central orange core is an elongated shuttle external fuel tank, powered by four shuttle engines. Rather than reusing those engines, though, NASA will ditch them in the ocean. Twin shuttle solid rocket boosters will assist the core during the first phase of the flight, providing 75 percent of the initial skyward push.
It’s not all old tech, though. NASA upgraded some hardware and used new tooling and manufacturing techniques to get the job done. Some parts have been modernized to meet the needs of deep-space travel, but Congress didn’t allow the space agency to start completely from scratch to design the latest megarocket.
4. Sorry, environment. It’s not reusable.
During Artemis I, the uncrewed Orion spacecraft will launch on the most powerful rocket in the world and travel farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown. Credit: NASA
Remember that the new moon rocket is built with shuttle parts. NASA designed the shuttle to haul astronauts and supplies back and forth to the space station, which orbits some 250 miles from Earth.
In order to modify the rocket so that it could travel much deeper into space, engineers needed to lighten the load. After all, the moon is roughly 239,000 miles from Earth, around 1,000 times the distance of the space station.
Engineers gutted the Shuttle’s reusable boosters, parachutes, reserve fuel, and landing sensors from the design — the system that allowed the agency to use it again. This gave NASA back about 2,000 pounds of extra weight capacity for lunar trips. Doing so will help Orion reach 24,500 mph, the speed needed to send it on a moon-bound trajectory.
But this means SLS will need new rockets for each mission.
NASA’s Artemis missions will cost about $4.1 billion per launch, according to an inspector general report. Credit: NASA
Many folks at NASA and in Congress refer to SLS as “the nation’s rocket,” the “flagship rocket,” or “America’s rocket.” It’s considered a national asset, not unlike a bespoke aircraft carrier for the military, intended to serve a national interest: exploring the solar system.
That’s the major reason it’s thought to be the most expensive rocket ever built. While the burgeoning commercial spaceflight sector may soon prove it can build a more cost-efficient space transportation system, affordability was never the priority for SLS.
When Congress passed a NASA spending bill in 2010, it directed the space agency to build the rocket, even specifying what parts to use, which companies to contract, and what kind of business arrangements to leverage. At that time, amid the Great Recession, those lawmakers sought to support thousands of jobs in their districts. Artemis is not just a space program, but a jobs program.
About 3,800 suppliers in all 50 states have contributed to the rocket and Orion projects, said Tom Whitmeyer, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for common exploration systems.
“When you see this rocket, it’s not just a piece of metal that’s going to sit at the pad. It’s a whole bunch of people, rocket scientists throughout this country, throughout our agencies, that have worked on this.”
“It’s a symbol of our country and our communities, our aerospace economy, and what’s in partnership behind it,” he said on a call with reporters in March. “When you see this rocket, it’s not just a piece of metal that’s going to sit at the pad. It’s a whole bunch of people, rocket scientists throughout this country, throughout our agency, that have worked on this.”
At a March congressional committee, Inspector General Paul Martin, who serves as the space agency watchdog for the federal government, estimated each launch would cost $4.1 billion, with half of the tab attributed just to SLS. For perspective, that’s about one-fifth of the entire NASA budget. By 2025, Martin expects NASA will have spent $93 billion on the Artemis program.
6. The rocket is the ultimate Transformer
NASA designed the Space Launch System as the foundation for a generation of human exploration missions to deep space. Credit: NASA
Engineers designed SLS to evolve into increasingly powerful configurations as its Artemis missions become more complex.
The first assembly, called “Block 1,” will use the central (orange) core booster with four main engines. It can send over 59,500 pounds to orbits beyond the moon. Additionally, a pair of solid rocket boosters and liquid fuel-fed engines will provide much of its thrust. After leaving Earth’s atmosphere, a final rocket booster — the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage — sends the Orion capsule onward to the moon. This is the configuration NASA plans to use for the first three Artemis missions, including a moon landing.
Later missions, which will carry astronauts, will have a different rocket configuration, including the powerful Exploration Upper Stage. Known as “Block 1B,” this rocket design can transport crew and large amounts of cargo — up to 83,700 pounds.
The next iteration of SLS, aka “Block 2,” can provide 9.5 million pounds of thrust and will be the workhorse vehicle for sending cargo to the moon, Mars, and other deep-space destinations, an eight percent increase over Artemis I. This rocket will lift a whopping 101,400 pounds.
In the harsh places NASA astronauts are going, they’ll need bounties of supplies.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
