NASA’s Megarocket engine is ready to fire. NASA will begin a new RS-25 test series, before producing an updated set of engines for the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket.
NASA’s Megarocket engines will help power future Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond.
A series of 12 tests stretching into 2024 will occur on the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The tests are a key step for lead SLS engines contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company, to produce engines that will help power the SLS rocket, beginning with Artemis V.
Johnny Heflin, liquid engines manager for SLS at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, said:
“NASA and our industry partners continue to make steady progress toward restarting production of the RS-25 engines for the first time since the space shuttle era as we prepare for our more ambitious missions to deep space under Artemis with the SLS rocket. The upcoming fall test series builds off previous hot fire testing already conducted at NASA Stennis to help certify a new design that will make this storied spaceflight engine even more powerful.”
Image credit NASA / Danny Nowlin
