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qm-2

A spectacular exam is scheduled for today at Orbital ATK'due south Utah rocket facility where the earth's largest solid rocket booster (SRB) will be fired. NASA has all the pieces in identify for its return to human spaceflight in the coming years with the Space Launch Organisation (SLS), but all those pieces still demand to be tested before any people will be strapped in. This volition be the second such test, the offset having taken place back in 2022.

The exam is expected to happen at 10:05 AM eastern fourth dimension today, June 28th. The NASA live feed is embedded below so you can catch all the action when the Qualification Motor ii (QM-2) lights upwards.

The SLS boosters are based on the SRBs that flew on the Space Shuttle missions. Like those boosters, these are designed to exist jettisoned from the craft after they're spent. The QM-2 has a fifth segment that wasn't present in the Shuttle boosters, allowing it to comport more than fuel. The 177-pes rocket can put out iii.6 million pounds of thrust, which is more than 75% of the SLS' total power at liftoff.

Solid rocket boosters like the QM-2 are required for heavy lift vehicles similar the SLS. This differs from a rocket like the standard Falcon nine, which is designed to deliver small payloads into low-Earth orbit — it tin can manage that with just liquid fuel. SRBs can provide a huge amount of thrust for a curt fourth dimension, only different liquid-fueled engines, they can't be turned on and off. Once they ignite, they burn until all the fuel is gone. The QM-ii engine has a mode to vary ability output even without a throttle, though. Each segment is bandage in a different shape that changes the burn rate, thus altering the thrust.

NASA says there are 82 pattern objectives for today'due south launch, and more 530 instrumentation channels will exist monitored to make sure the QM-2 booster hits all of them. The test will last two minutes, the length of time the SRBs volition fire for a SLS launch. This volition all take place on the footing, with the SRB locked into identify so it tin be studied after.

One of the main goals of this exam is to validate the booster'south operational temperature range. The 2022 test checked how the SRB worked at the top of that rage — 90 degrees F. Today'southward exam requires the booster be cooled to twoscore degrees F with giant air conditioning units. It took weeks to cool the booster to the necessary temperature, and Orbital ATK took information technology past that to but 25 degrees F. The cooling will stop before long earlier launch, allowing the temperature to come to the desired 40 degrees.

If this and other SLS-related tests get as planned. The commencement unmanned flight of the full launch vehicle could take place in late 2022. The Infinite Launch System should carry astronauts in the early 2022s.

Update: The exam went perfectly, and a full video has been posted in case you missed it.