Friday 18 August 2023

Launcher set

According to the NASA blogs, the new launch tower for the Artemis missions is in place. A few days ago the launch tower was all set up. It solves problems I never knew existed. They have to pump lots of liquid hydrogen into the space launch system but the hydrogen starts to boil when it is injected into the rocket. When the hydrogen boils, the gas hangs around for a while and could cause an explosion when the rocket starts up so the tower pumps the excess gas away. The tower also has clamps that hold the rocket up in the wind but they have to pull away as soon as the rocket turns on, I think the whole tower leans away from the rocket during launch. The tower injects large amounts of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into the rocket; when the rocket is loaded onto the launch tower, it is empty. It is filled up while it is mounted on the tower. 
The Space Launch system for the Artemis missions works like the space shuttle system and resembles it in some way. Large tanks filled with liquid hydrogen and oxygen are burnt and two smaller booster rockets on either side help to lift the Orion space ship at the top out into deep space. 

Very soon, people will go to the moon to keep a constant human presence there, I'm guessing they will build a space village on the moon. 

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Bus Day

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