Ramona Adams
Orbital ATK has set up the second qualification motor for NASA‘s Space Launch System boosters ahead of a ground test to assess the boosters’ performance against low temperatures on June 28.
The company said Monday the static-fire test of the second motor called QM-2 follows the ground test of QM-1 in 2015.
“Testing before flight is critical to ensure reliability and safety when launching humans into space,” said Charlie Precourt, Orbital ATK vice president and general manager of the propulsion systems division.
Precourt added QM-2 will help qualify NASA’s five-segment solid rocket motor that is designed to support SLS’ deep space missions.
Test facilitators will lower QM-2’s temperature to 40 degrees Fahrenheit to gauge motor performance amid low temperature while the QM-1 conducted tests against a higher temperature range, Orbital ATK noted.
QM-2 was installed horizontally atop the test stand at a Utah facility.
The company said two of its five-segment solid rocket boosters will help launch SLS and Orion spacecraft’s joint test flight in 2018 called Exploration Mission-1.
