NASA Rocket Flight Software program for Artemis II Moon Mission Meets Testing Checkpoint

Orion spacecraft will produce over 8.8 million kilos of thrust

(NASA) – The primary Artemis astronauts have begun crew coaching for his or her Artemis II mission across the Moon, and groups at NASA’s Marshall Area Flight Heart in Huntsville, Alabama, are testing and configuring the flight software program for the mega Moon rocket that can launch them on their journey.

When NASA’s SLS launches NASA’s Artemis II crew aboard the Orion spacecraft, it can produce greater than 8.8 million kilos of thrust.

The SLS rocket’s flight software program acts because the “brains” of the rocket, activating 48 hours previous to launch to command all that energy and power for the primary eight minutes of the mission via the separation of its in-space propulsion stage.

Contained in the SLS Software program Improvement Facility (SDF) at Marshall, software program engineers lately accomplished the primary a part of formal qualification testing for the Artemis II SLS flight software program.

The rocket’s flight software program consists of roughly 50,000 traces of code. To check the SLS laptop techniques and flight software program forward of launch, a staff contained in the SDF simulates a sequence of regular and off-nominal SLS- rocket and environmental situations, referred to as check circumstances.

SLS flight software program qualification testing contains a number of check procedures to confirm software program necessities. By the conclusion of the two-week check interval on Might 15, engineers had accomplished 179 check procedures with roughly 58,000 check circumstances.

As compared, the primary part of qualification testing for Artemis II accomplished in 2022 had 72 check procedures consisting of 9,500 check circumstances.

“The SLS flight software program staff built-in operational enhancements and new check situations in preparation for Artemis II based mostly on classes discovered from the profitable launch of Artemis I in November 2022,” mentioned Dan Mitchell, NASA’s lead SLS built-in avionics and software program engineer.

“The check amenities at Marshall Area Flight Heart have the aptitude to supply hundreds of check circumstances the SLS flight software program is required to detect and reply to appropriately on launch day, providing us the chance to evaluate and certify all the key software program parts and techniques on the rocket earlier than the primary crew flies on SLS.”

The second and remaining part of formal qualification testing for the SLS flight software program within the SDF is ready to start in July. Starting within the fall, engineers will start built-in system testing within the SLS System Integration Lab (SIL) utilizing the total suite of SLS avionics {hardware} and flight software program.

Collectively, the check outcomes from the SIL system and the flight software program SDF will present groups with key proof to help mission readiness for Artemis II.

By the point the SLS rocket launches Artemis II, flight software program engineers may have “flown” the SLS mission greater than 100,000 instances inside the numerous SLS avionics and software program improvement and check amenities.

NASA is working to land the primary lady and first individual of coloration on the Moon below Artemis. SLS is a part of NASA’s spine for deep area exploration, together with the Orion spacecraft, superior spacesuits, and rovers, the Gateway in orbit across the Moon, and business human touchdown techniques.

SLS is the one rocket that may ship Orion, astronauts, and provides to the Moon in a single mission.

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