NASA may not be a culinary institute, but it understands that you’ve got to crack a few eggs to make an omelette.
Engineers at the Marshall Space Flight Center last week deliberately blew up the world’s largest rocket fuel tank to “really understand its breaking point.”
The test version of the Space Launch System rocket’s liquid hydrogen tank, when pushed beyond its design limits, withstood more than 260 percent of expected flight loads over five hours.
Then it popped like an overinflated balloon.
“We purposely took this tank to its extreme limits and broke it because pushing systems to the point of failure gives us additional data to help us build rockets intelligently,” Neil Otte, chief engineer of the SLS Stages Office, said in a statement.
The Dec. 5 trial used a combination of gaseous nitrogen for pressurization and hydraulics for loads to push the tank to its limits, exposing it to higher forces that caused it to break—just as predicted.
“This final tank test marks the largest-ever controlled test-to-failure of a NASA rocket stage pressurized tank,” according to Mike Nichols, Marshall’s lead test engineer for the tank. “This data will benefit all aerospace companies designing rocket tanks.”
The prototype—fitted with thousands of sensors to measure stress, pressure, and temperature—aced earlier assessments, withstanding forces expected during Artemis lunar missions.
High-speed cameras and microphones captured every moment, to help identify any incidences of buckling or cracking in the tank wall.
See for yourself in the dramatic video NASA administrator Jim Bridenstile posted to Twitter on Monday:
As functional testing of the assembled SLS core stage for the Artemis I mission wraps up, engineers have already begun building the core stage for Artemis II.
At 212 feet tall, this is the largest, most complex rocket stage NASA has built since the 1960s, when its Saturn V launch vehicle powered Apollo missions to the Moon.
SLS is the only booster that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to Earth’s satellite in a single trip.
“We will be flying the Space Launch System for decades to come,” Otte said. “And breaking the propellant tank today will help us safely and efficiently evolve the SLS rocket as our desired missions evolve.”
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