Space activity is increasing and with it the demand for cryogenic liquids, equipment and tanks.
NASA began 2021 with the hot fire test (the last of a series of eight tests over a year) of the core stage for the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that will launch the Artemis I mission to the Moon. For the test, the 212-foot core stage generated 1.6 million pounds of thrust, while anchored in the B-2 Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The hot fire test included loading 733,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen – mirroring the launch countdown procedure – and igniting the engines. The test completed pressuring the tanks, delivering propellant to the engines and demonstrating performance of the core stage’s main propulsion system.
“We are estimating that launch of the SLS will consume over 800,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and over 350,000 gallons of liquid oxygen,” Eric Dirschka, NASA Propellants Management at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), told gasworld.
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