Artemis II Rocket Core Stage Moved, Prepped for Shipment
Artemis IV RS-25 Engines Modernization Completed
A couple of milestones have been reached in the Artemis program. NASA is preparing the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket core stage that will help power the first crewed mission of NASA’s Artemis campaign for shipment. On July 6, NASA and Boeing, the core stage lead contractor, moved the Artemis II rocket stage to another part of the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The move comes as teams prepare to roll the massive rocket stage to the agency’s Pegasus barge for delivery to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in mid-July.
“The new universal stage adapter above the exploration upper stage provides 24% more volume for a co-manifested payload than an industry-standard five-meter-class payload fairing.”
Kristin Houston, Aerojet Rocketdyne
Prior to the move, technicians began removing external access stands, or scaffolding, surrounding the rocket stage in early June. NASA and Boeing teams used the scaffolding surrounding the core stage to assess the interior elements, including its complex avionics and propulsion systems. The 212-foot core stage has two huge propellant tanks, avionics and flight computer systems, and four RS-25 engines, which together enable the stage to operate during launch and flight.
The stage is fully manufactured and assembled at Michoud. Building, assembling, and transporting is a joint process for NASA, Boeing, and lead RS-25 engines contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company.
Looking ahead to future missions, the modernization of the four flight-proven RS-25 engines that will help power NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on the Artemis IV mission has been completed by Aerojet Rocketdyne. Artemis IV will be the first flight of the enhanced Block 1B configuration of the super-heavy-lift rocket, and the last to use the engines remaining in inventory from the space shuttle program.
The L3Harris company has upgraded the Artemis IV engines with modern flight computers that will allow them to withstand the higher temperatures due to being located next to the SLS solid rocket motors. NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne completed testing of the flight computers and former space shuttle main engines for the first four Artemis missions at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.
Artemis IV marks the debut of the upgraded SLS Block 1B rocket featuring the exploration upper stage powered by four Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10 engines. The first three Artemis missions are using the SLS Block 1 configuration that uses the interim cryogenic propulsion stage powered by a single RL10.
“The SLS Block 1B upgrade is a game changer that will enable the most ambitious missions ever attempted,” said Kristin Houston, President, Space Propulsion and Power Systems, Aerojet Rocketdyne, L3Harris. “The new universal stage adapter above the exploration upper stage provides 24% more volume for a co-manifested payload than an industry-standard five-meter-class payload fairing.”
Crewed versions of the SLS Block 1B with the exploration upper stage will be capable of delivering 38 metric tons of payload to cislunar space in a single mission, versus 27 metric tons for the SLS Block 1. This means more than 10 metric tons of additional cargo can fly with every crewed mission. Cargo-only versions of the enhanced vehicle will be able to deliver 42 metric tons to cislunar space.
Beginning with Artemis V, the SLS deep space exploration rocket will use newly manufactured versions of the RS-25 engines that take advantage of production efficiencies and advances in manufacturing to reduce unit costs by more than 30% from the shuttle versions, while also flying at a higher thrust level.