When NASA’s new rocket blasts off in 2018, it will heat up on its way to space.
This first launch of the rocket, Space Launch System (SLS), will send a spacecraft designed to take humans on deep space missions beyond the moon. The new spacecraft is Orion. After launching in 2018, Orion will return to Earth approximately three weeks later.
How will SLS heat up during launch?
To help understand how SLS’s heating, a scale model of the rocket was built. The model has undergone some aerodynamic heating tests and will be tested more soon.
SLS scale model. Image Credit: NASA/CUBRC Inc.
What can a model that’s only 3% of the actual rocket size teach us how it will heat up during launch? A whole lot, thanks to a collaboration between engineers at NASA and CUBRC Inc. of Buffalo, New York. Here, the model will be tested inside CUBRC’s shock tunnel.
The source of aerodynamic heating as the rocket flies through the air is the friction between the surface of SLS and the atmosphere. The shock tunnel where the model of SLS will be tested will produce airflow at the speed, temperature and pressure that the actual rocket will experience. The wind tunnel is able to generate speeds that SLS will experience – faster than the speed of sound, supersonic, and speeds higher than 5x the speed of sound, hypersonic.
During launch, the most heating will occur during the second minute. Why? At this time, SLS will go from traveling at about the speed of sound to 4.5 times the speed of sound, or Mach 4.5.
How long is each test? Only about 40 milliseconds!
Sensors on the highly-detailed model collect measurements. A technique to see supersonic flow around the model is used, and crucial regions are imaged which have a temperature-sensitive paint on them. The testing will also vary the model’s orientation relative to the oncoming airflow prior to and after the model’s boosters are separated. The tests are essential to make sure SLS will be protected from the heat of launch.
In September, the first series of tests was finished. These tests used the first configuration of SLS, Block 1. In the upcoming series, the next configuration of SLS, Block 2, will be used.
SLS Configurations. Image credit: NASA/MSFC
As the rocket evolves into future configurations, it will support more and more ambitious missions. Testing helps ensure that the rocket’s thermal protection system will be effective.
SLS will accelerate toward space in the near future and propel the nation toward human deep space exploration. This first mission is called Exploration Mission-1, or EM-1. The new spacecraft, Orion, will be unmanned on this flight and in the future, will send humans to multiple deep space destinations.
Learn more about the new rocket at NASA.gov.