NASA to build monstrous sized rocket for deep-space travel - iTWire
By William Atkins
Thursday, 15 September 2011 23:05
Page 1 of 3
The design of the new NASA rocket that will take astronauts out beyond low-Earth orbit has been selected by the U.S. agency. It's a whopper, eventually being the most powerful rocket ever built. NASA calls the entire program the Space Launch System.
The SLS (Space Launch System) rocket will eventually exceed the power generated by the gigantic Saturn 5 rocket, which propelled Americans to the Moon in the 1960s.According to the NASA article NASA Announces Design for New Deep Space Exploration System, "NASA has selected the design of a new Space Launch System that will take the agency's astronauts farther into space than ever before, create high-quality jobs here at home, and provide the cornerstone for America's future human space exploration efforts."
Checkout the above web link for a simulation of what this Space Launch System (SLS) will look like as it blasts off into the wild, blue yonder.
NASA adds, "This new heavy-lift rocket-in combination with a crew capsule already under development, increased support for the commercialization of astronaut travel to low Earth orbit, an extension of activities on the International Space Station until at least 2020…."
The SLS will propel astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit – to asteroids, possibly the Moon, and Mars, -- in a space capsule called the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV).
The rocket itself will (eventually) use a liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuel system. The first-stage rockets will be RS-25D/E engines, made by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, and the J-2X engine, also made by Rocketdyne, engine will provide second-stage power for the system.
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15 Sep, 2011
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Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNF80QZudcobrub_h3m3eYxvCCC3ig&url=http://www.itwire.com/science-news/space/49787-nasa-to-build-monstrous-sized-rocket-for-deep-space-travel
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