The aerodynamics team at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia tested a model of the 70-metric-ton Space Launch System in Langley's Transonic Dynamics Tunnel.
The aerodynamics team at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia tested a model of the 70-metric-ton Space Launch System (SLS) – NASA’s heavy-lift launch vehicle that will carry crew, cargo and science missions into deep space. The model was tested in Langley’s Transonic Dynamics Tunnel (TDT) where engineers measured unsteady aerodynamic pressures and forces exerted on the SLS vehicle. Wind tunnel testing will help engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama fine tune the performance of the vehicle to better understand how it will fly on the Exploration Mission – 1, which will launch an uncrewed Orion spacecraft beyond low-Earth orbit to test the performance of the integrated system.
Image Credit: NASA/David C. Bowman