NASA conducts first rocket engine test for new Space launch system

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MASCOW: The evidence shows that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is gearing up for the future, the US space agency recently conducted its first rocket engine test for its New Space Launch System.
The SLS will feature a massive, 6.5 million pound rocket that towers 384 feet high in order to ferry the spacecraft that will be the successor to NASA’s space shuttle into orbit. Four hefty RS-25 engines working together will drive the rocket into space; the engine design is the same as the main engine on the space shuttle, though this was the first time since 2009 that an RS-25 was fired for any length of time.
The engine was tested at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, burning for 500 seconds straight in an effort to take some crucial measurements on engine control and inlet pressure conditions. The first SLS test flight is slated for 2017; the US space agency hopes that the rocket will be able to launch astronauts to the further reaches of the solar system such as asteroids and possibly even Mars.
NASA is actually going to use the RS-25 on two different rockets in the future. The larger rocket, which stands at 384 feet high, will provide 9.2 million pounds of thrust at launch in order to carry its 286,000 pound payload into space. The smaller rocket, which will weigh only 5.5 million pounds and will only carry a payload of 154,000 pounds, will provide just 8.4 million pounds of thrust instead.
The US space agency has plans to use both rockets in different roles, such as supplying astronauts and equipment to the International Space Station or conducting exploration efforts in deeper space past the ISS. Once the SLS system is complete, it should be capable of carrying something close to 143 tons into orbit.
NASA says that the RS-25 engine will be tested a total of eight times. The next scheduled test is for April, giving space agency engineers plenty of time to upgrade its high pressure industrial water system. An additional RS-25 engine will undergo ten tests in order to ensure that the modifications being made to them will be successful.