NASA announced on Friday that it has successfully conducted a test launch for an experimental rocket engine that will power future spacecraft to Mars and even farther regions of the galaxy.
The American space agency conducted the test of the RS-25 rocket engine on Thursday, which saw the high-powered device blast continuously for 500 seconds.
When NASA fires the rocket again at such a length of time, it will be to power a manned deep-space rocket in the next four decades and a half.
"What a great moment for NASA and Stennis," Director Rick Gilbrech of the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, said.
"We have exciting days ahead with a return to deep space and a journey to Mars, and this test is a very big step in that direction."
Space Launch System
The RS-25 rocket engine is an integral part the Space Launch System (SLS) program being developed by NASA. The system features a new four-rocket spacecraft design that will have enough propulsion to power it to deeper portions of space.
Previous SLS missions made use of flight engines that were left from NASA's Space Shuttle Program. These old but fully-functioning rockets helped propel 135 space shuttle missions for the space agency from 1981 to 2011.
The new SLS spacecraft will use engines capable of firing thrust levels of up to 109 percent. When combined, the four rockets will give the vehicle with as much as 2 million pounds of thrust.
Steve Wofford, NASA's engines manager at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, explained that the successful rocket test on Thursday not only serves as a crucial step toward their goal of proving the design for the initial flight of the SLS, but it also fills them with optimism to know that the same engine that helped launched many astronauts into space will now be used to power new spacecraft.
NASA worked together with rocket manufacturer Aerojet Rocketdyne in carrying out developmental test for the RS-25 rocket blast in 2015. Aerojet Rocketdyne was the one in charged with validating the capabilities of the rocket engine's new controller and identifying various operating conditions that will be required for the creation of the SLS spacecraft.
