NASA Shakes & Fires Rocket Engine Without Blowing Pad Up

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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) tested the RS-25 rocket engine at its facilities in Mississippi earlier today. The test was part of certification tests of an engine upgrade for the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for the Artemis program. NASA has conducted several of these tests as part of a new campaign that started in December 2022. The tests are for the RS 25 engines that use new components and manufacturing processes, and they aim to certify the engines for production. They come as the agency is already building the rockets for the next Artemis missions in its different facilities, and today was the first time that NASA tested the engines' maneuverability - also known as gimballing.

NASA's previous tests have seen the space agency scale the engine's power up from the levels it will reach during the SLS' flight to exceed that. The latest RS-25 test, which took place in late March, saw the space agency push its engine to 113% of its power level, higher than the 111% during the mission.

However, all tests conducted before today did not test the engine's gimballing systems. These are necessary to maneuver the rocket during its flight and place it on the correct flight path by moving the engine while it's attached to the rocket. To date, the test stands have successfully withstood all nominal tests.

During the test, the RS-25 generated a peak thrust of 418,000 pounds, equal to the power required during an Artemis flight. However, the test's duration was longer than the mission profile, as the engine was fired for 720 seconds. On an Artemis mission, the