NASA reveals super rocket to take humans to Mars
The Mars super rocket will be the most powerful rocket ever built, with its fuel tank alone reaching 61 meters high.
Images recently revealed by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of a giant fuel tank and a simulation of a super rocket show important steps forward in their plan to send humans to establish a base on Mars.
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A small man next to the 61m high fuel tank of the super rocket - (photo: NASA). |
Mars spacecraft and many other future space travelers are expected to leave Earth thanks to the super-powerful thrust ofSpace Launch System (SLS), a huge and powerful rocket, using four RS-25 engines, 15% more thrust than NASA's famous Saturn V rocket, the device that has carried the most famous spacecraft away from Earth.
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Mars super rocket simulation. |
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Another part of the rocket is being produced in NASA's workshop. |
In photos of NASA's factory, a cylindrical device as large as a skyscraper has been revealed. This 61 m tall cylinder is actually just... the fuel tank of the SLS super rocket. This giant tank holds up to 2,033 liters of liquid hydrogen, providing 8.8 million pounds of thrust, equivalent to 3,992 tons.
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Kennedy Space Center was flooded after a test, as the rocket system required more than 1,700 liters of water during ignition and liftoff. |
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Giant water column in NASA test |
According to NASA, this fueling device is still being tested at Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama.
The entire SLS rocket system is expected to be completed and tested for the first time in 2020, propelling a 70-ton spacecraft called Orion, carrying four astronauts, from the Kennedy Space Center. Orion will have to surpass the record of all Apollo spacecraft to date by traveling to a place 442,570 km from Earth during the 22-day mission.