NASA's next advanced launch vehicle is called the Space Launch System (SLS). Once complete, it will count as the world's most powerful rocket and will be used in conjunction with the Orion spacecraft to transport up to four astronauts into deep space. Trips with and without a human crew to an asteroid, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter are all possibilities.
In order for any of those missions to go ahead, though, NASA needs to finish developing SLS, and that means lots of testing. The latest test is the firing of one of the four RS-25 engines that will eventually be used to help clear Earth's atmosphere. Each RS-25 engine produces 512,000 pounds of thrust, meaning that when four are attached to SLS they will produce over two million pounds of thrust.
NASA recorded the smoke and fire engine test using multiple 360-degree cameras. You can watch and interact with the view below:
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The complete rocket firing test took 6 minutes and 20 seconds, with the video above being the highlight reel. If nothing else, it gives you a good idea of the forces that will be at work around the launch pad when four of these engines fire up at once. And that isn't counting the two solid rocket boosters, each of which will add another 3.6 million pounds of thrust.
I can only imagine what it will feel like sitting in the Orion spacecraft at lift off with all that thrust underneath you.
Last month, NASA initiated a study to assess the feasibility of adding a crew to Exploration Mission-1, which combines SLS and Orion. The aim of the study is to find out if it's possible to accelerate adding a crewed flight to the new rocket-spacecraft combo and heading off into deep space.
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