The most powerful rocket NASA SLS will be launched in 2018

A powerful rocket for deep space, owned by the US space agency and known as the Space Launch System (SLS), will take off for the first time in 2018. This was announced by NASA on Wednesday, August 27.



SLS has been in development for three years and, when completed, will have to take spacecraft beyond Earth’s orbit, and will most likely go to Mars by 2030.

NASA has completed a thorough review of the project, the 70 metric tons version will cost $7 billion from 2014 to 2018.

“The program is making real and substantial progress,” said William Gerstenmeier, associate administrator for research missions at NASA. We will support team collaboration and will announce a more precise date later, but the launch will not take place until November 2018.

Prior to that, last month, the General Accounting Office (GAO) published a report that questioned the agency's current plan for SLS, arguing that the program "could be $400 million cheaper." The GAO also raised concerns about the development schedule and how engineers would integrate hardware that was developed during the cancelled Constellation program. Gerstenmeier said NASA is taking these concerns into account and will try to take GAO recommendations into account.

The SLS is NASA's first heavy-lift rocket in 40 years, and the space agency estimates the total cost of developing the first three SLS variants at $12 billion. The SLS will have an unprecedented load-bearing capacity of 143 tons (130 metric tons), allowing the mission to go even further into our solar system. Of course, the priority is missions to the asteroid and Mars.

Separately, a multi-purpose Orion crew vehicle is in development, which will be placed on top of the SLS and transport people on a multi-month journey to the Red Planet.

The first test flights for Orion are scheduled for December. NASA is going to fulfill its promise and get people to Mars by 2030.



Source: hi-news.ru

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