ATK rocket booster review

ATK’s five-segment solid rocket booster (SRB), intended to power Nasa’s Space Launch System (SLS), has successfully completed its critical design review (CDR), paving the way for scheduled qualification testing.

Scheduled for its first unmanned flight in 2017, the SLS vehicle will eventually launch humans deeper into space than ever before.

ATK is also working on booster avionics qualification efforts, which would then be integrated into the vehicle qualification efforts that are scheduled for completion in 2016.

ATK’s Space Launch division vice-president and general manager Charlie Precourt said: "Achieving this milestone is a tremendous accomplishment for ATK and Nasa as we continue building the boosters for America’s Space Launch System.

"Deep space exploration requires a heavy lift vehicle, and SLS is the only vehicle with the mass, volume and speed required for human missions to destinations such as the moon, an asteroid or Mars."

"Deep space exploration requires a heavy lift vehicle, and SLS is the only vehicle with the mass, volume and speed required for human missions to destinations such as the moon, an asteroid or Mars."

ATK will also carry out ground static firing of the full-scale booster Qualification Motor-1 (QM-1) later this year or early next year at its facility in Promontory, Utah, followed by design certification review scheduled for fall of 2016.

Precourt added: "ATK’s technology innovation, process improvements and lean manufacturing will enable SLS to deliver humans and cargo to deep space faster, safer and more affordably than any other existing or planned vehicle.

"It is exciting to see that the teams working on SLS and the Orion crew capsule are all making steady progress toward Nasa achieving a human mission to Mars by the 2030s."

Other future SLS and Orion programme milestones include firing the upgraded RS-25 engine this fall and the launch of the SLS Vertical Assembly Center to weld the rocket’s core stage fuel tanks.

Scheduled for launch this December, Orion’s first flight will be the farthest a human-rated spacecraft has trekked into space in over 40 years.

In addition to providing the SRBs for at least the first two SLS flights in 2017 and 2021, ATK has also been tasked with the providing liquid-fueled boosters that would power later missions on the evolved SLS, capable of carrying 286,000lb into orbit.


Image: ATK’s five segment rocket would power Nasa’s new space launch system, scheduled for launch in 2017. Photo: courtesy of Alliant Techsystems.

Defence Technology