QM2

Orbital ATK and Nasa has installed the second Space Launch System (SLS) booster qualification motor in a specialised test stand in Utah, US, ahead of a static-fire test to be conducted next month.

QM-2 is the second of two motors developed by Orbital ATK and will support booster qualification for Nasa’s SLS, a heavy-lift rocket designed to enable new deep space exploration missions.

The first qualification motor, QM-1, completed a successful test last year, which validated motor performance at the upper end of the propellant temperature range.

Orbital ATK is currently cooling QM-2 to 40°F to test its lower temperature capabilities against the required temperature range.

When fired, the 154ft-long QM-2 will produce 3.6 million pounds of maximum thrust.

The design of the SLS five-segment motor is based on the solid rocket boosters on Nasa’s space shuttle, while incorporating new technologies and improved materials.

"Testing before flight is critical to ensure reliability and safety when launching humans into space."

Orbital ATK propulsion systems division vice-president and general manager Charlie Precourt said: "Testing before flight is critical to ensure reliability and safety when launching humans into space.

"This ground test is an important step in qualifying Nasa’s new five-segment solid rocket motor, the largest solid rocket motor ever built for flight, for planned SLS missions to deep space."

Orbital ATK and Nasa expect to use measurements from more than 530 data channels to evaluate motor performance, acoustics, motor vibrations, nozzle modifications, insulation upgrades, booster separation motor structural dynamic response and nozzle vectoring parameters.

The full-scale motor test will also improve the safety, technology and knowledge of solid rocket motors.

Along with Nasa’s Orion spacecraft, the SLS provides a deep space exploration platform to take humans and cargo to various destinations across our solar system.

Orion witnessed its first flight test in December 2014, orbiting twice around the Earth and flying 3,600m, which is more than 15 times farther than the International Space Station and farther than a human spaceflight vehicle has travelled in 40 years.

To be launched in 2018, the Exploration Mission-1 or EM-1 will use two of Orbital ATK’s five-segment solid rocket boosters. The mission will mark the first test flight of SLS and Orion together.

Orbital ATK has 29 key SLS booster suppliers across 16 US states.

Image: When fired, QM-2, with a length of 154ft and 12ft in diameter, will produce 3.6 million pounds of maximum thrust. Photo: courtesy of Orbital ATK.

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