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NASA Guide Outlines Deep Space Rocket’s Unprecedented Capabilities

Illustration of Space Launch System.
NASA

The Space Launch System (SLS) provides America with a unique capability to launch more than double what any current vehicle can carry on the first SLS mission and up to four times as much on subsequent SLS launches. The rocket can send humans on exploration missions, carry large cargos, such as habitats, and still have room for exploration supplies and small and large scientific payloads. The vehicle’s unprecedented accommodation of payload mass and volume and unrivaled performance allow SLS to send missions to deep space and reach distant destinations faster than before.

A new SLS Mission Planner’s Guide provides an in-depth overview of different possible rocket configurations, payload capabilities and technical specifications. It supplies mission architects and spacecraft designers with data needed to understand how the launch vehicle offers a range of payloads from small satellites to exploration systems complementing the Orion crew spacecraft. The guide explains how SLS can launch a robotic science mission to the moons of Jupiter years more quickly, carry a much larger space probe than is possible today, or deliver small secondary payloads along with the Orion crew spacecraft.

To download a copy of the guide, visit:

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20170005323.pdf

Tracy McMahan
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
tracy.mcmahan@nasa.gov