{"id":27890,"date":"2022-01-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=27890"},"modified":"2022-02-02T15:10:10","modified_gmt":"2022-02-02T15:10:10","slug":"shooting-for-the-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/2022\/01\/20\/shooting-for-the-moon\/","title":{"rendered":"Shooting for the Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
NASA\u2019s newest rocket, the Saturn V-sized Space Launch System, will take human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit once more<\/p>\n\n
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When the Space Shuttle programme shut down in 2011, NASA was left unable to launch heavy payloads into orbit. But that will soon change as the agency prepares to launch its Space Launch System (SLS) in March or April of this year. The SLS will eventually carry payloads of up to 45 tonnes to lunar orbit and is a key part of the Artemis programme, NASA\u2019s endeavour to send the first woman to the lunar surface by 2025.<\/p>\n\n
Initially, the SLS\u2019s first test launch was due in 2016, but the system proved more challenging than expected. Even after six years\u2019 delay, the 2022 SLS is not the final version. The first three launches will use the Block 1 design shown here, followed by a Block 1B version with a more powerful upper stage, before being replaced by a Block 2 design with even more thrust. But even in Block 1, SLS will produce 15 per cent more thrust than the Saturn V.<\/span><\/p>\n\n
Currently, NASA\u2019s budget allows one SLS a year to be produced at most. The first three have all been earmarked for the Artemis programme and, with a successful test this spring, NASA will begin to stage increasingly ambitious deep space missions \u2013 both human and robotic \u2013 to the Moon, Mars and beyond.<\/p>\n\n
How the SLS measures up<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n
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SLS Block 1 by numbers<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Height:<\/strong> 98m Weight: 2.6 million kg Payload weight to low-Earth orbit:<\/strong> 95 tonnes Payload weight to the Moon:<\/strong> 27 tonnes Thrust: <\/strong>39 million newtons Solid fuel: <\/strong>Polybutadiene acrylonitrile Liquid fuel: <\/strong>Oxygen and hydrogen Top speed:<\/strong> 39,500km\/h<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NASA\u2019s newest rocket, the SLS, will take human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit once more<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":28341,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"40","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"40","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_40-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_40-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"February-2022","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"February-2022","purple_external_id":"February-2022-40-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"February-2022-40-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000086549||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000086549||","purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.201","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.201","purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.201","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.201","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"075fab74-0a21-4201-866a-899d6c41c40c","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[14],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/01\/Screenshot-2022-01-13-at-15.21.00.png","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/01\/Screenshot-2022-01-13-at-15.21.00.png",1308,1118,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/01\/Screenshot-2022-01-13-at-15.21.00-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/01\/Screenshot-2022-01-13-at-15.21.00-300x256.png",300,256,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/01\/Screenshot-2022-01-13-at-15.21.00-768x656.png",768,656,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/01\/Screenshot-2022-01-13-at-15.21.00-1024x875.png",800,684,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/01\/Screenshot-2022-01-13-at-15.21.00.png",1308,1118,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/01\/Screenshot-2022-01-13-at-15.21.00.png",1308,1118,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"NASA\u2019s newest rocket, the SLS, will take human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit once more","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27890"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27890"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28740,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27890\/revisions\/28740"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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