By IANS, Washington: NASA has successfully completed the first developmental test series on "super" engines that will power its mega Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on missions deeper into space than ever before, including Mars. The test series wrapped up with a seventh hot fire test of a developmental RS-25 engine at NASA s Stennis Space Center in Bay St Louis, Mississippi, on Thursday. The test ran for a full-duration of 535 seconds. "The completion of this test series is an important step in getting SLS ready for the journey to Mars," said Steve Wofford, engines manager at NASA s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, in a statement. The RS-25 engine gives 77-tonnes SLS a proven, high performance and affordable main propulsion system. "It is one of the most experienced large rocket engines in the world, with more than a million seconds of ground test and flight operations time," he added. The test series was designed to collect valuable data on performance of the RS-25 engine. Of particular interest is data that will aid in development of a new engine controller, or "brain" to monitor engine status and communicate programmed performance needs. "These are extremely reliable engines. We are testing them because we want to mitigate any risks on the ground before flight," Wofford noted. Four RS-25 engines will help power the SLS core stage during launch. Firing simultaneously at 109 percent of its operating level, the engines will provide approximately two million pounds of thrust. The engines will operate in conjunction with a pair of five-segment solid rocket boosters for a total of 8.4 million pounds of thrust to lift the SLS off the launch pad. The SLS eventually will evolve to a 143-tonnes configuration that will enable missions to such deep space destinations as an asteroid and Mars. Source: Article, Source: flickr.com
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NASA's Juno spacecraft successfully executed a second Deep Space Maneuver, called DSM-2 last Friday, September 14. The 30 minute firing of its main engine refined the Jupiter-bound spacecraft's trajectory, setting the stage for a gravity assist from a flyby of Earth on October 9, 2013. Juno will arrive at Jupiter on July 4, 2016. The maneuver began at 3:30 p.m. PDT (6:30 p.m. EDT), when the Leros-1b main engine began to fire. The burn ended at 4 p.m. PDT (7 p.m. EDT). Based on telemetry, the Juno project team believes the burn was accurate, changing the spacecraft's velocity by about 867 mph (388 meters a second) while consuming about 829 pounds (376 kilograms) of fuel. The burn occurred when Juno was more than 298 million miles (480 million kilometers) from Earth. Juno executed its first deep space maneuver (DSM-1), one of comparable duration and velocity change, on August 30. Together, both maneuvers placed Juno on course for its Earth flyby, which will occur as the spacecraft is completing one elliptical orbit around the sun. The Earth flyby will boost Juno's velocity by 16,330 mph (about 7.3 kilometers per second), placing the spacecraft on its final flight path for Jupiter. The closest approach to Earth, on October 9, 2013, will occur when Juno is at an altitude of about 348 miles (560 kilometers). "It feels like we hit back-to-back home runs here with the near-flawless propulsion system performance seen during both DSM-1 and DSM-2." said Juno Project Manager Rick Nybakken of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "These successes move us closer to being ready for our most critical mission event, the Jupiter Orbit Insertion main engine burn in July 2016. We're not in the playoffs yet, as that will come in 2016 when we arrive at Jupiter, but it does feel fantastic to have hit both of these DSMs out of the park." Juno was launched on August 5, 2011. Once in orbit, the spacecraft will circle Jupiter 33 times, from pole to pole, and use its collection of eight science instruments to probe beneath the gas giant's obscuring cloud cover. Juno's science team will learn about Jupiter's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere, and look for a potential solid planetary core. Juno's name comes from Greek and Roman mythology. The god Jupiter drew a veil of clouds around himself to hide his mischief, and his wife, the goddess Juno, was able to peer through the clouds and reveal Jupiter's true nature. Illustration credit: 
WASHINGTON: Encouraged by the success of “Curiosity”, NASA has announced to launch a new Mars mission in 2016 to take a better look into the guts of the Red Planet. The mission called “InSight” will investigate why Mars’ crust is not divided into tectonic plates that drift like Earth’s. Detailed knowledge of the interior of Mars in comparison to Earth will help scientists understand better how terrestrial planets form and evolve, the American space agency said. “The exploration of Mars is a top priority for NASA, and the selection of ‘InSight’ ensures we will continue to unlock the mysteries of the Red Planet and lay the groundwork for a future human mission there,” said NASA administrator Charles Bolden. “The recent successful landing of the Curiosity rover has galvanised public interest in space exploration and today’s announcement makes clear there are more exciting Mars missions to come,” he said referring to the success of Curiosity. The 12th selection in NASA’s series of Discovery-class missions, ‘InSight’ is build on spacecraft technology used in the space agency’s highly successful Phoenix lander mission, which was launched to the Red Planet in 2007 and determined water existed near the surface in the Martian polar regions. “Our Discovery Programme enables scientists to use innovative approaches to answering fundamental questions about our solar system in the lowest cost mission category,” said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. “’InSight’ will get to the ‘core’ of the nature of the interior and structure of Mars, well below the observations we’ve been able to make from orbit or the surface,” Grunsfeld said. 
