NASA Tests Hospital-25 Engine To Get Production Certification

Test the RS-25 engine to become the main engine of the Space Launch System (photo: twitter @NASA_Marshall)

JAKARTA - The United States Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) stated that it had conducted its first trial for RS-25, the Main Space Shuttle Machine (SSME), on 17 October.

NASA's first trial was carried out to obtain production certification so that RS-25 could be used as the main engine for the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, a replacement for Space Shuttle.

The presence of the RS-25 itself is very important for NASA because this machine will support SLS on the Artemis mission, namely the mission to the Moon. Later, once NASA gets the certification, they will start producing a new suite of engines for SLS.

From the results of its tests, NASA stated that the operator managed to turn on the RS-25 engine for more than nine minutes or 550 seconds, 50 seconds longer than the time the engine had to use during the Artemis mission.

In addition, the operator also managed to turn on the engine according to the level of power needed at launch, which was 111 percent. During the testing, NASA has collected performance data from several new main engine components, namely nosels, hydraulic actuators, flexible channels, and turbo pumps.

With the success of this first phase of testing, NASA will take another 11 tests by 2024. Most likely, the final testing for the RS-25 engine will be carried out in Mississippi in June next year.

The main contractor for the SLS engine, Aero Rocketdyne, is in dire need of this test. They need to know the right engines to move the SLS rocket before it is produced.

The SLS will be used on the Artemis V mission which is not yet known when it will launch. The reason is, NASA has only detailed details from the Artemis I to Artemis III missions. Artemis I was launched in November last year and Artemis II will launch before November next year.

Meanwhile, the Artemis III mission is planned to take place in December 2025. This mission is an important milestone as NASA will land humans on the Moon after the success of the Apollo 11 mission in 1969.