NASA dedicated October to lifting a 103-ton simulator section on a test bench to prepare for the upcoming lunar mission.
This month, NASA lifted a 103-ton component and installed it in a simulator for future missions to the Moon. The teams placed the interstage simulator at the Thad Cochran Test.
NASA has been busy over the past two weeks installing a 103-ton component in a simulator, part of the preparations for upcoming missions to the Moon. The team mounted the interstage simulator at the Thad Cochran Test Stand, located at the Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. This connection component replicates the part of the SLS (Space Launch System) that serves to protect the upper stage of the rocket, which will propel the Orion spacecraft in future Artemis launches.
The Thad Cochran Test Stand is where NASA assembles the SLS components and conducts thorough testing to ensure they operate correctly and safely in the versions that will be sent to space. The new section was installed in position B-2 of the test center and is already equipped with all the necessary piping, ducts, and electrical systems for future tests.
This interstage component is tasked with safeguarding electrical and propulsion systems, as well as providing support for the EUS (Exploration Upper Stage) in the latest design iteration of the rocket, known as Block 1B. It is expected to replace the current Block 1 version, offering a 40 percent increase in payload capacity. The EUS will be able to handle 38 tons of crewed payload or 42 tons of uncrewed payload, compared to the 27 tons that could be managed in the Block 1 iteration.
Four RL10 engines, manufactured by contractor L3Harris, will be responsible for propelling the new EUS. The interstage simulator section installed in mid-October weighs 103 tons and measures 31 feet in diameter and 33 feet in height. The top of this section will absorb the thrust power generated during the EUS hot fire tests, transferring that return force to the test stand to prevent it from collapsing under the pressure of over 97,000 pounds of thrust from the four engines.
The tests being conducted at the Stennis Space Center are part of the SLS preparation for the Artemis IV mission, during which four astronauts will travel aboard the Orion spacecraft to the Lunar Gateway space station to install a new module. They will then descend to the lunar surface using the Human Landing System Starship HLS.
