NASA SLS: Space Launch System Will Take Humans To Mars (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

NASA announced on Wednesday the design of the Space Launch System, or SLS, a rocket that will carry humans to destinations that include asteroids and Mars.

"This new, heavy-lift rocket will be America's most powerful since the Saturn V rockets that carried Apollo astronauts to the moon," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a video released before the announcement.

From The Associated Press:

The idea is to launch its first unmanned test flight in 2017 with the first crew flying in 2021 and astronauts heading to a nearby asteroid in 2025, the officials said. From there, NASA hopes to send the rocket and astronauts to Mars – at first just to circle, but then later landing on the Red Planet – in the 2030s.

According to USA Today, the rocket will be 34 stories tall and take off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA said in a statement that the SLS will initially carry payloads of between 70 and 100 metric tons with plans to later carry up to 130 metric tons. By comparison, the space shuttle that was retired in July could carry about 27 tons, the AP reports.

The Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV), a six-person capsule aboard the rocket, will be used to carry astronauts.

NASA said that in an effort to reduce cost, the rocket will use the same fuel system -- liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen -- for both the core and the upper stage propulsion.

PC Mag reports that the rocket will cost around $18 billion over the next five years.

WATCH: Animation of SLS:

LOOK: Images of SLS:

Comments

[terz81]

09:56 PM on 09/21/2011

this new program calle the space launch system is a load of hog wash.
the Ares V and the space launch system for all intents and purposes are the exsact same booster
they both are designed to lift the same wieght into space.
they are calling this new booster the Mega Booster that is a load of crap the only reason its being caled that is because Obama Killed the Ares Boster program for political purposes not because of cost. General Dynamics proposed a mega booster calle nexus that would have lifted
between 1,000 to 2,000 short tons in to space, Obama's renamed program is going to cost
35 BILLION DOLLARS WITH ONLY TWO MISSIONS< IF WERE TO restart the saturn program
right now with al twelewve astronauts landing on the moon it would cost 44 billion, so who has this guy bought off!

[wmann]

12:57 AM on 09/20/2011

It is absolutely clear that NASA has lost its ability to think outside the box.
There is no reason to believe that the SLS will help with colonizing space, if there was; Apollo would have never been canceled because it would have ushered a new era in space colonization. What is the so called "new" SLS but not another gigantic rocket with a tiny capsule on the top? It has been shown that this kind of technology is no good for sutainable space exploration. After Apollo, NASA tried to make manned space more reliable and cheap with the Space Shuttle using tech similar to Apollo's but with a reusable spacecraft--It didn't work. The new SLS will create very little innovation and it will put us no closer to colonizing space than we are now. The problem isn't even that it will be expensive to develop; the problem is that is is not sustainable, it will be very expensive to maintain for what it will do. As a result it will be shelved. .
It is time for NASA to be upfront and admit to the fact that manned space exploration will get nowhere with tried and proven technology, and that a major breakthrough is required if we are to colonize space. instead of spending 30+ billion dollars on resurrecting the archaic Apollo space program under a different name--it should spend 30+ billion dollars to fund research projects that are needed for us to become a truly spacefaring society!

[tssent]

06:28 PM on 09/19/2011

I would still prefer the much cheaper, much safer idea of practicing how to build and live in outer space by colonizing the Moon. Everything logical, less expensive and more practical points to this idea, not to mention someone really ill is 3 days from home rather than 3 years. I believe in the spirit of youth, who see few gambles and aren't afraid of anything. We should encourage them to join a (perhaps new and special) branch of the military that allows them to do "Active Duty" on the moon, say, for 6 months, then return to Earth for another 6 months, then maybe back to the Moon for a final 6 months and the return to Earth to finish out their last 6 months (debriefing and etc). I believe many of these young spirits would re-up (re-enlist). I mostly believe that there is simply too much still to learn about living in outer space that can be much more quickly learned and benefited from if we entertain a Moon base first. After all, no object in the heavens that we know of is ever going to be the gateway to Earth that the Moon is. Whether for strategic or military reason, as a body on which to perhaps store our nuclear wastes and on which to park all the space trash (about 30,000 pieces now) that we need to somehow clean up, the Moon is going to play a much bigger early role (for the next 10-15 years) than Mars. Maybe longer. My worry is that there are countries (like North Korea) who wouldn't give a second through to get there with the first camp and declare ownership of the whole thing. And I'm not talking about what international agreements have or haven't already been reached on such colonizations, I'm talking about the number of mad minds we have who will say and do just about anything anymore.

[jrwest78]

05:59 PM on 09/21/2011

Mars, at least has some atmosphere...

We would be exposed to too much radiation on the moon for it to be considered viable, long-term

[Howard Scott Pearlman 59]

03:02 PM on 09/19/2011

Nasa wants to send Humans to Mars !

It takes 6 months to get to Mars !

Then you have to wait 18 months for the Earth and Mars to realign so you can come back !

It takes another 6 months to get back to Earth from Mars !

Nobody has spent two and a half years in Space.

One bad Solar Storm outside of the Earth's protective belts in the 2 1/2 years and you're dead.

This is a very, very, very bad idea !

[weepiggie]

03:29 PM on 09/19/2011

Clearly they're not going to take any of this into account when planning these missions.

[tssent]

06:18 PM on 09/19/2011

...just as the first explorers didn't take into account falling of the edge of our square world.  =)  #3

[wontbfooledagain]

12:53 PM on 09/19/2011

This is astonishing and wonderful. This could be the impetus for Americans becoming more interested in studying science and engineering. We should take the lead on this and not hesitate to invest (not gamble). It should be required for any government contracts involved with this endeavor to employ American manufacturing, factories, and workers. When that space launch system lifts off - I want to see a "Made In America" stamp under it.

[Kald]

11:39 AM on 09/19/2011

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes!

[Ramkshrestha]

09:12 AM on 09/19/2011

Before that we need another huge concrete step to keep the earth safe until then

[indsereng]

05:58 AM on 09/19/2011

To FPWilson.. I agree with others point out of your post that it is disengenous to downplay the REAL benefits of space exploration investment. Let me add another... Survival. Near Earth impacts by comets etc.. are real. They have been observed and have actually happened in the past. We HAVE to stay in the game of technology advancement to learn more about orbital mechanics and other sciences because our efforts now may someday put us in position to "save the world" and mankind. Plus along the way, we might find a cure for cancer, the common cold and a really delicious steak sauce...

[wontbfooledagain]

12:44 PM on 09/19/2011

Remember Tang?

[rotorhead1871]

12:35 AM on 09/19/2011

about 5X of the shuttle payload (27T vs 130T)= 5X the thrust...!!!! the shuttle was about 7M lbs so this is truly a massive increase....since they dont give thrust parameters, it is truly in the blue sky range at this point, as building a rocket with 35 Million lbs of thrust would be monumental!!!....so lets go for it!!

[pakaal]

01:38 AM on 09/19/2011

Well, considering that instead of going to the Moon, which is (avg) 385,000 miles away from earth, it's eventually going to Mars, which is (avg) 142 million miles from Earth, a measly 5x seems quite cost-effective, eh?

[butdoyou]

09:31 PM on 09/19/2011

Yes, lets go for it, that is what Americans do.

[almdunadan]

11:22 PM on 09/18/2011

I always wondered why NASA did not take the Russian Energia rocket and update it. The rocket launched from a far northern latitude therefore it carried less payload because of the physics of the launch. But even launching from there, it could carry over 100 tons into orbit. But then NASA could not claim to have built the rocket. From NASA-Use a Russian rocket and launch from the Cape, NO WAY!

[Sean Lucas]

05:39 PM on 09/18/2011

And they'll be getting this money, where?

[butdoyou]

09:32 PM on 09/19/2011

Its called printing. Thats how we pay for things.

[Winston Grant]

05:37 PM on 09/18/2011

STILL BS'ing---Where's the SSTO we were promised ?oh, right--we're still fighting over who has the rights to OBSOLETE technologies--like OIL.
When the 10-year(so FAR) distraction ends, maybe we can get back to progress.

[alblonie116]

11:11 AM on 09/18/2011

why is this being approved now,,for re-election purposes?...was this approved before,,we just didnt hear about it?....Why go back to the old system,,when they already developed the 'SpaceShuttle"?.....Is there really any long range planning in what they do? seems like not.....It does not seem,,like they can pick one good system,,,and expand on it...It takes 5 to 7 years,,,to develop a new system and implement it.....If I were running things ,it would be done different...
when the space shuttle first flew,,you would know what would be running now,,,which would be a more advanced-cheaper space shuttle,,,cheaper to make,cheaper to run....safer....

[JasonWS]

03:53 PM on 09/18/2011

The Ares system was a bad idea. NASA doesn't have the funding to keep doing bad ideas, so they have to push into long term planning on better ideas. 27 tons is not enough to sustain 3 astronauts to Mars and Back. It's a one way ticket. The plans discussed seem to require a 200+ ton device loaded with fuel for the return trip to even make the trip feasible. Our trips further and further out, however, cost in inflated dollars, more and more, not because we don't plan well, but because the risks are so much greater and the demand for performance is so much more important.

[Zutroy]

04:57 PM on 09/18/2011

The Shuttle was NOT more advanced and it had outlived its life expectancy. It was cripplingly expensive to maintain, and three decades of Shuttle experiences have proven conclusively for the entire world that expendable rockets are more efficient. The amount of work that went into prepping a Shuttle for a launch was more than that required just for an expendable rocket to perform the same tasks, which is why nobody else in the world uses shuttles. It was a paperweight, and winding the Shuttle program down was probably the only right thing that BUSH did when he made the initial decision in 2004.

[Husaria]

10:00 AM on 09/18/2011

Saturn V and Apollo on steriods!

Cool.

[Denright]

09:32 AM on 09/18/2011

This is a joke, the banks have thru stealth become GSE's just like Fannie and Freddie which has allowed them to foist off their bad gambeling debts off on the American taxpayer by a complicit congress and you want me to believe that all of our industrial technology that was moved to China by that very same congress and paid for by the very same taxpayers is all going to come back here to "we is gonna be green America even if it kills us" deindustrialized bucking for most famous third world nation USA? In the words of Bill Cosby... buck buck number one come in!

[Rafael Perez]

04:27 PM on 09/19/2011

....I think you're in the wrong page dude...

[Denright]

02:16 PM on 09/21/2011

Let me put it in clearer terms, the USA is Broke and headed to third world status which will eliminate these types of projects. The USA doing something like this is akin to Hati becoming a world leader in MagLev Train Technology.