Engineers are preparing to push a test article identical to the world’s largest rocket fuel tank beyond its design limits and find its breaking point during upcoming tests at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. This will be the largest-ever controlled test-to-failure of a NASA rocket stage fuel tank. Earlier this year, a NASA and Boeing test team subjected a test version of the Space Launch System (SLS) liquid hydrogen tank to a series of 37 tests that simulate liftoff and flight stresses. Inside a 220-foot-tall test stand, they used large hydraulic pistons to push and pull on the test tank with millions of pounds of force. The test article aced these tests and showed no signs of cracks, buckling or breaking and qualified the design for flight. Now, the team will test the tank’s limits. The test article’s structure is identical to the hydrogen tank that is part of the SLS core stage. This tank will store 537,000 gallons of super cooled liquid hydrogen to help power the four SLS core stage RS-25 engines for the 8-minute climb to orbit at more than 17,000 miles per hour.
Image Credit: NASA/MSFC