1. It’s the only rocket that can send Orion to the Moon
The SLS is the only rocket capable of taking the Orion spacecraft (the capsule on top of the booster stack) to the Moon and beyond. Think of the Orion capsule as an RV in the sky. It is not only a vehicle, but also a place of residence for up to four astronauts. To travel long distances in deep space, people will need to be able to eat, sleep, work and pass the time on board for several months.
See you later. National Aeronautics and Space Administration astronauts on the Artemis can talk to the spacecraft’s computer
For Artemis I, an Orion with no crew would fly over and around the moon for thonds of miles. Three weeks after liftoff, the capsule will splash down on the Pacific Ocean. One of the main objectives of the first Artemis missions was to test its ability to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere safely and land it in the correct position for naval recovery.
2. It’s not the size that matters, it’s the thrust
At 322 feet, the giant rocket is taller than the Statue of Liberty and the city’s Big Ben. Compared with the 184-foot-tall Space Shuttle rocket, it blasted astronauts into a space station in low-earth orbit.
Although taller than its predecessor, the SLS is actually shorter than the Saturn V, National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s last rocket designed to carry people to the Moon. Apollo rockets were 41 feet tall.
But the new rocket is clearly more powerful. The SLS will generate 8.8 million pounds of thrust during lift-off and ascent-the amount of power the engine provides for the rocket. That’s 15 percent more thrust than Saturn V. The future configuration of the new rocket will have more impact.
The four main SLS engines, powered by 700,000 gallons of cryogenic or Cryogenic fuel fuel, will generate enough thrust to keep eight Boeing 747 aircraft aloft.
3. The socket is the most advanced technology of the 1980s
SLS is literally and figuratively built on the legacy of the Space Shuttle. NASA has incorporated key components of the Space Shuttle that ran between 1981 and 2011 into the new rocket.
Engineers replaced the iconic space plane with a cargo ship or Orion. The central orange core is an elongated shuttle external fuel tank powered by four shuttle engines. Instead of reusing the engines, however, National Aeronautics and Space Administration threw them into the sea. During the first phase of the flight, the two shuttle Solid rocket booster will assist the core, providing 75 percent of the initial lift-off power.
But this is not all old technology. NASA upgraded its hardware and used new tools and manufacturing techniques to do the job. Some parts have been modernized to meet the needs of deep space travel, but Congress won’t allow NASA to design the latest Megarocket from scratch.
4.Sorry, environment. This is not reble.
Keep in mind that the new moon rocket is built from spare parts of the space shuttle. National Aeronautics and Space Administration designed the space shuttle to ferry astronauts and supplies back and forth to the space station, which is in orbit about 250 miles from Earth.
To modify the rocket so that it can go deeper into space, engineers need to lighten the load. After all, the Moon is about 239,000 miles from Earth, about 1,000 times the distance from the space station.
Engineers stripped the shuttle’s reble boosters, Parachutes, reserve fuel and landing sensors from its design-a system that allows the agency to use it again. That gives National Aeronautics and Space Administration about 2,000 pounds of extra payload capacity to travel to the moon. Doing so would help Orion reach the speed needed to put it into orbit around the moon, at 24,500 miles per hour.
But that means SLS needs new rockets for every mission.
At least the engine exhaust is relatively“Clean”, superheated water vapor. The fuel of the engine is liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. And National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s upgrade of booster insulation from asbestos to rubber is also an environmental improvement.
5. Giant outlets have an all-n price tag
Many in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Congress refer to the SLS as a “National rocket”, a “Flagship rocket” or an “American rocket”. It is considered a national asset, unlike the military’s custom-built aircraft carrier, designed to serve a national interest: Exploring the Solar System.
That’s the main reason it’s considered the most expensive rocket ever built. While the booming commercial space sector may soon prove it can build a more cost-effective space transportation system, economics has never been a priority for the SLS.
When Congress passed NASA’s spending bill in 2010, it directed the agency to build rockets, even specifying which parts to use and which companies to contract with, and what business arrangements to make use of. At the time, during the Great Depression, these lawmakers sought to support thonds of jobs in their region. Artemis Fowl is not just a space program, but a jobs program.
About 3,800 suppliers in all 50 states contributed to the rocket and Orion programs, said Tom Whitmire, National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s deputy director for co-discovery systems.
“It’s a symbol of our country and our community, our aerospace economy, and the partnership behind it,” he said in a march phone call with reporters. “When you see this rocket, it’s not just a piece of metal that’s going to be on the launch pad.”. It’s a bunch of people, rocket scientists from all over the country, in our entire organization, working on this project.”
At a congressional committee in March, Paul Martin, the Inspector General who oversees the federal government’s space agencies, estimated that each launch would cost $4.1 billion, half of which would be covered by the SLS. From this perspective, that’s about a fifth of NASA’s total budget. By 2025, Martin expects NASA to spend $93 billion on the Artemis Fowl program.
6. Rockets are the ultimate transformers
SLS designed by engineers will evolve into ever more powerful configurations as their Artemis Fowl tasks become more complex.
The first component, called“Block 1,” will use a central (orange) core booster with four main engines. It can send more than 59,500 pounds into orbit beyond the Moon. In addition, a pair of Solid rocket booster and liquid-fueled engines will provide most of the thrust. After leaving Earth’s atmosphere, the last booster, the temporary cryogenic propulsion stage, sent the Orion capsule to the Moon. This is the configuration National Aeronautics and Space Administration plans to use on its first three Artemis Fowl missions, including one to the Moon.
Future missions, which will carry astronauts, will have a different rocket configuration, including a powerful exploration upper stage. The rocket design, known as the“Block 1B,” can carry crews and a lot of cargo — up to 83,700 pounds.
The next iteration of the SLS, known as“Block 2,” will provide 9.5 million pounds of thrust and will be the primary vehicle to deliver cargo to the Moon, Mars and other deep-space destinations, an 8 percent increase over Artemis I, the rocket will lift up to 101,400 pounds.
In the harsh places where NASA astronauts go, they will need a lot of supplies.
