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The combined rocket and spacecraft will move out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for testing not earlier than mid-February 2022. NASA is currently reviewing the exact date for the move. SLS and Orion will journey to Launch Pad 39B atop the transporter-2crawler in preparation for the agency's Artemis I mission.
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https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/cove … on-rocket/
NASA will hold a media teleconference on Monday, March 14 to discuss the upcoming debut of the agency’s Mega Moon rocket and integrated spacecraft for the uncrewed Artemis I lunar mission.
Roll out of the integrated Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft to Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is slated for Thursday, March 17.
https://techcrunch.com/2022/03/14/nasas … -thursday/
rollout Thursday, which is expected to take 11 hours,
wet dress could take place on April 3, should the rollout go as expected.
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NASA expanding heat shield technology this fall
https://www.spaceflightinsider.com/orga … this-fall/
Elon Musk confirms a prediction for when humans will go to Mars
https://interestingengineering.com/elon-musk-mars
NASA's fully stacked 365ft SLS moon MEGAROCKET is ready to roll out to the launch pad today
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech … today.html
SLS Program Manager provides update on Artemis I
https://www.spaceflightinsider.com/miss … artemis-i/
'NASA's monstrous moon rocket is an overpriced, political beast'
https://mashable.com/article/nasa-rocke … emis-space
NASA Officials Reportedly Horrified That SpaceX’s Starship May Succeed
https://futurism.com/nasa-horrified-spacex
SLS vs Starship
https://www.newsweek.com/sls-vs-starshi … is-1688962
In the 1980s the Soviet Union developed a copy of Shuttle, they called it the Burya program, the first orbiter was named Buran. The launch vehicle to lift Buran was Energia. Instead of a pair of SRBs, Energia used 4 liquid boosters. Each booster was a first stage of a Zenit rocket. Each booster was equiped with a parachute and air bags for landing. Intended to land on the steppes of Kazakhstan. You could use a similar landing system for SLS block 2B liquid boosters. Parachutes and air bags would take away from launch mass, but that's the trade-off of reusable rockets.
On the topic of Russia
Some of this news is taken from social media and of course you have the whole 'fog of war' thing so it might not be totally accurate
Decisions by ESA's ruling council today on ExoMars and other space activities with Russia.
https://twitter.com/SpcPlcyOnline/statu … 4133907456
ExoMars is "suspended" and a
"fast track industrial study" will define available options to carry out the rover mission.
'Russian forces have struck the Antonov aircraft plant in Kyiv.'
https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1503286624934928386
Gazeta Ru informed that Sweden has refused to launch their MATS satellite as a secondary payload on a Russian Soyuz2.1b rocket, with a link to the press service of the SNSA
. Roscosmos press service said, they have been not informed about this decision.
https://twitter.com/katlinegrey/status/ … 4252877826
UPD. Dmitry Rogozin confirmed it and added a Russian analog of “Good riddance to bad rubbish”:
OneWeb board has formally voted to suspend all future launches from Baikonur.
https://twitter.com/bbcamos/status/1499314224664825859
After two weeks of war, the International Space Station flies on
https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/03 … -flies-on/
Censorship?
Space Conference Censors Name of First Human in Space Because He Was Russian
https://futurism.com/space-conference-c … ri-gagarin
Biden: Sanctions will “degrade” Russian space program
https://spacenews.com/biden-sanctions-w … e-program/
Ex-NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly Ends Twitter Fight Vs. Roscosmos Head Dmitry Rogozin
https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/3 … ogozin.htm
Kelly Chooses Not To Engage in Another Twitter Fight
Kelly told CNN that after receiving the email from the NASA official, he has chosen not to engage in another Twitter spat with Rogozin, as he implied in an op-ed on Tuesday.
"In the early 1990s, our countries' space agencies were willing to work together to ease Cold War tensions, and so the United States and Russia agreed to embark on a shared space station," Kelly wrote in an op-ed published in The Washington Post.
"To me," he added, "it has always been one of the great achievements of our nations that we came together to build and operate an orbiting station as a peaceful cooperation, and I was privileged to serve there."
But, as Kelly highlighted in the op-ed, subsequent remarks by Rogozin and Roscosmos have jeopardized the collaboration.
Rogozin "threatened to de-orbit the space station and smash into the United States," Kelly wrote. He emphasized that the rocket reboosts that sustain the station at its appropriate height are Russia's responsibility, while NASA ships may take over if required.
Nasa asks astronauts to dial back criticism of Russia
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nasa-ask … 33745.html
Former Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly has said he will back off his Twitter feud with Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, following a request from US officials.
A former US navy pilot, Capt Kelly took to social media following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to denounce the war, often in fluent Russian.
He also traded barbs with the bellicose Mr Rogozin, who himself threatened to pull Russia out of the International Space Station program and allow the station to lose altitude. Russia is responsible for maintaining the station’s orbit.
But in an email leaked to US news network CNN and addressed to all former US astronauts, Nasa officials asked Capt Kelly and his colleagues to measure their words when addressing Russian officials.
“As Americans, each of us enjoys freedom of speech and you are all empowered to speak your mind," CNN reports the email read.
“However, please know that as former NASA astronauts, your words carry additional weight and attacking our Russian partners is damaging to our current mission.”
The ISS is possibly the only point of cooperation left between Roscosmos and its Western counterparts, Nasa and the European Space Agency.
While both ESA and Nasa stated aspirations to continue working with Roscosmos and numerous space-related projects, Russia began pulling back in retaliation for western sanctions laid on Moscow over its war in Ukraine.
Roscosmos has halted the sale of rocket engines to the US, stopped launches and pulled staff from the European spaceport in French Guiana, and canceled commercial space launches for western clients such as satellite internet company OneWeb. ESA officials have said the joint ESA-Roscosmos Mars mission, ExoMars, once scheduled for 2022 is now unlikely.
Both Nasa and Roscosmos have confirmed, however, that Nasa astronaut Mark Vande Hei will return home on 30 March as scheduled aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
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R&D development launch costs come in at a staggering NASA's dress rehearsal for $4.1 billion Artemis I rocket launch is delayed ouch.....
https://mashable.com/article/nasa-rocke … -sls-facts
6 things to know about NASA's moon-bound megarocket
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If its not one thing its seems to be everything as NASA rolls back SLS Moon rocket for repairs after multiple failed fueling tests
After multiple attempts to complete a critical fueling test of its next-generation Space Launch System, NASA has decided to finish the rocket’s “wet dress rehearsal” at a later date. On late Saturday evening, the agency announced it would move the SLS off from its launch pad and back to the Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building to give one of its gaseous nitrogen suppliers time to complete a critical upgrade. Nitrogen supply issues had delayed two previous countdown rehearsals, according to Space News.
NASA will also use the opportunity to replace a faulty helium check valve and repair a minor hydrogen leak technicians found in one of the “umbilical” fuel lines running from the rocket’s mobile launch tower. “During that time, the agency will also review schedules and options to demonstrate propellant loading operations ahead of launch,” NASA said.
I guess the preferred contractors should be giving a refund....
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NASA Is Sending Artificial Female Bodies to the Moon to Study Radiation Risks
https://gizmodo.com/nasa-is-sending-art … 1848861579
A discussion on the Gateway Station and CEV?
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=4680
If you want to land cargo on the Moon, you would get far more cargo mass with a dedicated lander.
A figure of 4.1 Billion?
Prices Skyrocket? 8 times higher than NASA's original estimate
https://rumble.com/v12wcxn-why-nasas-mo … elled.html
Orion spacecraft: NASA's next-gen capsule to take astronauts beyond Earth orbit
https://www.space.com/27824-orion-spacecraft.html
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NASA makes progress fixing SLS moon rocket
A jammed valve in the rocket's second stage has been replaced, the probable cause of a launch platform hydrogen leak has been identified and an off-site vendor is working to complete upgrades to a pipeline system that will deliver enough flame-suppressing gaseous nitrogen to the pad to "safe" the rocket during fueling.
Three earlier attempts to load the rocket with propellants were interrupted by a variety of mostly ground-system problems including insufficient gaseous nitrogen, a jammed helium check valve in the rocket's second stage and the hydrogen leak in an umbilical fitting attached to the first stage.
The helium valve failed to work properly because of a small bit of rubber debris was lodged in the mechanism. The valve has been replaced, but engineers are still trying to determine the source of the debris.
Seems like a lot of valve issues....
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Seems that Nasa contractors have fixed the leaking issues.
SLS readies for roll back to VAB; final launch preparations to begin
Either sensors or computer code stopped engines from firing once fuel was onboard.
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Against All Odds, SLS May Beat Starship to Orbit in as little as two months, it may finally fly. When NASA first announced the SLS project in 2010, it set an ambitious schedule for development that assumed a first flight as early as 2016 -- but obviously, that didn't happen. For more than a decade, NASA has been building a new mega-rocket, the Space Launch System or SLS, a $2 billion-plus, bright-orange rocket ship that can carry 70 tons of cargo to orbit. NASA can declare itself vindicated on the $35 billion cost of developing SLS.
It looks like this race will go down to the wire. While the FAA has signed off on Starship launching to orbit from Texas, the approval comes with caveats: 75 separate remedial actions SpaceX must complete before an orbit launch can happen.
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Can NASA launch two Artemis missions to the moon per year?
The suggestion would solve a problem driven by the previous NASA plan to launch the SLS once a year, a pause-in approach to lunar surface expeditions while the massive, heavy-lift rocket is used to build the Lunar Gateway. If the SLS could be launched twice a year, then one could be dedicated to the Lunar Gateway and the other to sending astronauts to the moon’s surface. Considering the enormous cost of launching the SLS, can NASA actually do what Congress wants it to do?
NASA’s Office of the Inspector General has estimated that an SLS/Orion mission to the moon will cost $4.1 billion at least through Artemis IV. NASA thinks it can lower that cost on subsequent flights to something between $1.5 billion to $1 billion per flight
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Artemis Lunar Landings Will Be Rare Events
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initial test
NASA’s most powerful rocket is nearly ready to send an uncrewed Orion capsule on a 42-day journey to the Moon and back, but this deceptively straightforward plan involves a ton of moving parts—including a harrowing 5,000-degree reentry through Earth’s atmosphere.
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Flight 1 has not happened yet and NASA selects potential lunar landing sites for Artemis 3
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Op-ed | The Space Launch System is America’s Space Program
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What About Those Fading Batteries On SLS CubeSats?
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NASA Reviews Options For Artemis 1
https://spaceref.com/science-and-explor … artemis-1/
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The continuing saga of how we have lost the ability to build with the old regime.
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To the Moon, and Beyond: The Realities of Commercial Space Travel
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All space vehicle manufacturers have come a long way from the Apollo era rockets but we need to do so fast and at less cost....
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NASA Tests Upgraded Artemis Moon Rocket Engines at 113% Power Level
https://scitechdaily.com/nasa-tests-upg … wer-level/
NASA's Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft aced moon mission despite heat shield issue
https://www.space.com/artemis-1-orion-m … ield-issue
The Swamp Works team at NASAKennedy is turning innovative concepts into reality as NASA prepares to return to the Moon through Artemis.
https://twitter.com/NASA_SLS/status/1635732540865609734
Teams from NASAKennedy completed testing of the Crew Module Test Article, a mock-up of NASA_Orion, which helps recovery crews prepare to retrieve astronauts after future crewed Artemis missions.
https://twitter.com/NASAArtemis/status/ … 5277114370
Digital creators – join our NASASocial April 3-4 at NASA_Johnson as we name the four astronauts who will travel around the Moon with Artemis II. The second NASAArtemis mission is key to establishing a long-term presence on the Moon.
https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1634264535820279821
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NASA’s first robotic lunar rover is officially coming together!
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One of the issues for the Orion capsule is the heat shield was slightly damaged though the craft survived the trip that must be taken care of before man can make use of it for any lunar missions in the future. So with that said make a trip to the ISS instead would be called for and shift it to being a module support lofting with supplies in prep for the gateway would seem to be the right direction.
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For SpaceNut re #199
Can I tempt you to take a deep dive into the actual facts about the performance of the ablative heat shield for the Orion capsule. I understand you often have just a few seconds to spend on a topic, as you scan the great number that come in on a given day.
In this case, for those rare occasions when you have time, please spend as much time as is needed to insure this forum has an accurate picture/understanding of the impressive performance of the heat shield.
My understanding is the shield experienced more ablation than the engineers expected, but that the shield did it's job because it was built with tolerance for the extreme conditions it encountered.
You may be able to find specific data on performance, if NASA was willing to publish it.
You may ** even ** be able to find recommendations for the next version of the shield, although I would be surprised. Those may not be released ahead of the next flight.
(th)
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