NASA announces world’s biggest-ever rocket to take man to Mars and beyond

With the curtain coming down on the Space Shuttle Program, NASA has set its sights on the future with the announcement of a heavy-lift launch vehicle that is designed to take man beyond the moon to explore near-Earth asteroids, Mars and its moons, and beyond. Dubbed the Space Launch System (SLS) its configuration harks back to the Saturn V rocket-based systems employed to propel Apollo astronauts to the moon but also incorporates technology developed in the Shuttle Program.
The SLS will use a liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propulsion system, which will include the RS-25D/E from the Space Shuttle Program for the core stage and the Saturn V-derived J-2X rocket engine for the upper stage. However, initial development flights will also use solid rocket boosters. The SLS will have an initial lift capacity of 70 metric tons (154,324 lbs), which NASA points out is roughly the weight of 40 SUVs. An evolved SLS will then see lift capacity increased to 130 metric tons (286,600 lbs), which by NASA's logic would be roughly the weight of 75 SUVs.
The initial SLS will weigh 2,500 metric tons (5.5 million pounds) and stand taller than the Statue of Liberty, at 97.5 m (320 ft) high. At liftoff it will generate 8.4 million pounds of thrust, which is 10 percent more than the Saturn V. The subsequent evolved SLS will weigh 2,950 metric tons (6.5 million pounds) and stand 122 m (400 ft) high. At liftoff it will generate 9.2 million pounds of thrust, which is 20 percent more than the Saturn V at liftoff.

NASA says the SLS's architecture provides a launch vehicle that can be adapted to suit different missions through the use of different core stage, upper stage, and first-stage booster combinations. This flexibility is designed to allow it to more economically carry the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, as well as cargo, equipment and science experiments to as low as Earth's orbit and as far as Mars and beyond. While NASA is looking to save money by having private companies ferry astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), the SLS will also serve as a backup for commercial and international partner transportation services to the ISS.
The SLS was unveiled by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and several members of Congress on Wednesday, with Bolden saying, "President Obama challenged us to be bold and dream big, and that's exactly what we are doing at NASA. While I was proud to fly on the space shuttle, tomorrow's explorers will now dream of one day walking on Mars."
Dreaming big is fine, but with an estimated cost of US$18 billion just for the next five years and the U.S. Government constantly modifying NASA's budget, it remains to be seen whether NASA will be able to make its dream reality. NASA stresses that the SLS architecture benefits from significantly reduced development and operations costs as it leverages existing capabilities resulting from the Space Shuttle and Constellation Programs. NASA says the early developmental flights may take advantage of existing solid boosters and other existing hardware, while a competition will be held to develop the boosters.
"NASA has been making steady progress toward realizing the president's goal of deep space exploration, while doing so in a more affordable way," NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said. "We have been driving down the costs on the Space Launch System and Orion contracts by adopting new ways of doing business and project hundreds of millions of dollars of savings each year."
The first SLS unmanned developmental flight is targeted for the end of 2017 with the first manned flight penciled in for 2021. NASA then aims to follow up with a manned mission to a nearby asteroid around 2025 and one to Mars in the 2030s.

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SpaceX to Build 'Grasshopper' Rocket

The rocket is likely a test to chase the elusive holy grail for rocket scientists -- reusable launchers.

THE GIST

• SpaceX is planning to build a reusable suborbital launch vehicle called Grasshopper.
• Up to 70 launches a year are planned at new launch site in McGregor, Texas.
• The flights are expected to pave the way toward a fully reusable orbital launcher.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lift off from Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.  NASA

SpaceX, the company started by PayPal co-founder and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, is stepping up its pursuit of a reusable rocket with a suborbital craft named "Grasshopper"
Based on the company's Falcon rocket, the 106-foot tall launcher will have an extra motor to practice cushioning its return trip to Earth, with the aim of landing on the launch pad, a draft environmental assessment issued by the Federal Aviation Administration shows.
From a launch site in McGregor, Texas, Grasshopper will fly as high as about 11,500 feet above ground, and as often as 70 times a year. In addition to a Falcon 9 first stage and a Merlin engine, Grasshopper would be outfitted with four steel landing legs and a steel support structure, the FAA document shows.
The Grasshopper could hold as much as 6,900 gallons of propellant, but most would serve as ballast.
The California-based company is seeking government clearance to build a launch pad at its 650-acre rocket test facility in McGregor for flying the Grasshopper. The program is expected to last three years.
SpaceX declined to disclose details of the Grasshopper program, but rather than developing a new suborbital launch vehicle for sale, Grasshopper most likely is a testbed for SpaceX to chase the elusive holy grail of rocket scientists -- reusable launchers.
Musk has repeatedly said rocket reusability is the key to making huge cuts in the cost of space launches, which currently carry a price tag of about $10,000 per pound to orbit.
The company has flown its Falcon 9 rocket twice, and plans to launch a third time before the end of the year on a practice cargo run to the International Space Station. Both Falcon 9s splashed back into the Pacific Ocean after the successful flights and were recovered, but could not be reused.
"There's a reason that no one has invented a fully reusable rocket before. It's super damn hard," Musk said after a speech last month at an industry technical conference in San Diego.
When asked about SpaceX's progress on reusable rockets, Musk replied,"Well, so far, it has sucked...but we have learned a lot."
The Falcon 9's last flight sent a Dragon capsule into orbit. It was recovered in good condition and ready to fly again with just new parachutes. Adding that level of shielding to the rocket, however, would make it so heavy it couldnŦ deliver the capsule into orbit, Musk said.
"The real tricky thing here is essentially constructing a suit of armor that is just exactly tailored to the forces (the rocket) is going to need to resist on re-entry, and those forces are higher than we anticipated,¨he said.
Among the tricks in SpaceX's design team's bag is restarting the Falcon 9 engines to slow the rate of descent, which would cushion its landing.
But that would mean the rocket would have to carry more propellant.
"It's a tough trade on propellant versus dry mass," Musk said. "We've got something that on paper closes and we'll see if that turns out to be reality as well."
Although NASA's recently retired space shuttles flew repeatedly in orbit, each required a standing army of thousands to refurbish before flight. The Air Force is calling for its next generation of heavy-lift rockets to be reusable as well. The military figures it can cut launch costs by at least 50 percent based on a flight rate of eight missions per year. The savings comes from reusing the first-stage booster which would be designed to land itself on a runway near the launch site.
The Grasshopper would join a menagerie of SpaceX-developed spacecraft being tested at McGregor, including Merlin rocket engines and the Falcon 9 expendable launch vehicles.
SOURCE: DISCOVERY NEWS

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