Test technicians at ATK’s facility in Promontory, Utah, examine the booster aft skirt, which is set up for final validation testing of its avionics command and control system. The new system will be used on a ground static firing of the full-scale booster, Qualification Motor-1 (QM-1), for NASA’s Space Launch System. SLS will be the most powerful rocket ever built for deep space missions, including to an asteroid and eventually Mars.
NASA and ATK successfully completed that testing Aug. 26 with an off-motor aft skirt hot-fire test. This last phase of testing serves as the final validation that planning, engineering, scripts, equipment and people are all ready for the upcoming static test, using this newly-developed command and control system. ATK is the prime contractor for the boosters for SLS. The test team stands ready to receive the aft segment in preparation for QM-1, targeted for early 2015.
Image credit: ATK