Introduction

It’s been 49 years since the success of the first moon landing. As a result, NASA since
then has been trying to set the bar even higher. Their solution? The Space Launch System and
the Orion. While we’ve already proven that we can land on the moon, NASA is planning on their
new Orion spacecraft to reach Low earth orbit, and someday they are even expecting land on
Mars. It’s an ambitious project; and NASA knows they’ll need to work hard, but they have a
game plan, and they are determined to make it happen.

The Space Launch System (SLS)

​The SLS is a heavy-lift launch vehicle. Capable of carrying over 440,000 pounds, 8.4
million pounds of thrust, weighing at 5.5 million pounds, and bringing over 154,00 pounds of
payload, the SLS will carry humans into Low earth orbit.​ ​With the rocket having 30 percent more
thrust than the Saturn V; the moon missile that was a giant leap for mankind; NASA is hoping
the SLS will provide the transportation to reach further into the solar system. ​NASA is planning
on the first SLS mission in 2019, launching an uncrewed Orion spacecraft into space to display
the integrated system performance of the SLS and Orion foregoing a crewed flight. ​Moreover,
the second SLS mission will be slated for 2020. The purpose of the spacecraft is to explore
near-earth asteroids, libration points, the moon, and even Mars. ​Overall, the power of the SLS
should bring NASA to new leaps, but they are going to need to overcome other obstacles before
they do.

The Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle

​ he SLS is only half the battle, the Orion is where the real magic happens. The Orion is
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the spacecraft that is actually attached to the SLS.​ ​The Orion is a Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle,
which means that is can carry up to four astronauts. ​Because the Orion spacecraft will be
carrying up to 4 astronauts, the Orion will be designed to accommodate and protect the crew
when launching and coming down from space. As a result, the Orion is the biggest spacecraft
NASA has built to date, being 15 feet wide in diameter. To put these capabilities to the test, the
Orion had its first test flight on December 5th, 2014 with no crew. ​With the Orion attached to the
Delta 4 Heavy, the Orion flew two whole orbits around the Earth, with the flight lasting 4.5 hours.
When the Orion entered space, it reached an altitude of 3,600 miles above Earth, and reached
about 20,000 miles per hour when it re-entered Earth’s orbit. Not only was the landing fast, but
the Orion’s heat shield also withstand 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit when the spacecraft entered
the Earth’s atmosphere. ​Taking this all into consideration, it’s obvious by now that the SLS is
only half the battle, and the Orion is where the real magic happens, the spacecraft seems more
than capable by now.

Problems With the Space Launch System

 ​ hile the SLS doesn’t seem to be facing any problems itself, the launch tower the SLS
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will launch off of is leaning. On top of that, the tower also costed about nearly $1 billion dollars.
This could lead to huge complications, as the tower leaning means that it could only be used
once. NASA has said that the tower doesn’t need immediate fixing, but they have a plan to fix it
if the mobile launcher’s tilt becomes worse; which is to have the engineers replace the
discordant lightweight fiberglass with heavier steel grating. ​Additionally, the launcher wouldn’t
only be heavier, but it would be more costly to modify as well. Construction of the ML began in
2009, when the Ares I rocket was being constructed. Sadly, when that project was ultimately
scrapped, NASA then decided to modify the tower for the new Space Launch System. ​NASA
has said that the modifications made to the tower was what caused the tower to lean. As they
converted the Ares 1 launch tower to a SLS launch tower, the combination of welding each level
one by one, the changes introduced, and the additional mass was what made the tower lean
overtime; which NASA feels is a normal occurrence with a large scale project. On the other
hand; the modifications made were expected to only come out to 45 million, but due to plans
that didn’t go accordingly, NASA had spent a total of $912 million on the mobile launcher.​ For
these reasons, NASA having to scrap the tower completely could be a huge waste of resources
for them, as the tower costed about nearly $1 billion dollars.

Conclusion

​At the end of the day, despite the hurdles NASA will need to face, the SLS succeeding
could have a big impact our future. NASA is planning on reaching low orbit, but one day they
could even land on Mars.​ ​Landing on Mars would prove quite the challenge, but​ ​also thriving on
Mars would be just as difficult. Much of the atmosphere is made up of carbon dioxide, it’s
extremely cold, and even if there is water on Earth; nobody knows how were going to collect it
yet. On top of that, the gravity is also floatier than it is on Earth. ​On the other hand, space
agencies have come to the realization that to populate Mars, they are going to have to envision
our fantasies of the future and build Biodomes, or as NASA likes to call them: “lifeboats”. ​So, if
the SLS ever becomes successful, this is the impact the rocket could have for our future. It’s the
dream of many people that maybe one day we could live a futuristic dystopian future on a
different planet, extended the life long survival of the human race. Besides that, going to other
planets could offer a lot of other cool discoveries as well, such as evidence of new lifeforms, or
maybe even some evidence to questions we had since our existence, such as: Where do we
come from?