SLS Green Run Update

Green Run Update: Data and Inspections Indicate Core Stage in Good Condition
“The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket Green Run team has reviewed extensive data and completed preliminary inspections that show the rocket’s hardware is in excellent condition after the Green Run test that ignited all the engines at 5:27 p.m. EST at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. After analyzing initial data, the team determined that the shutdown after firing the engines for 67.2-seconds on Jan.16 was triggered by test parameters that were intentionally conservative to ensure the safety of the core stage during the test.”
Keith’s note: I am hearing that within NASA that many people think that it is almost a given that they need to try the Green Run test again. Its that whole 2024 deadline thing that is pushing them right now. Well, the impetus for that deadline – widely seen as impossible to meet – will evaporate at noon on Wednesday. There is broad consensus that a landing date along the lines of 2028 is considered to be more likely – as noted below. The reasons are simple – the whole Artemis program is woefully behind schedule and Congress did not give NASA the budget needed to try and make it happen. Yet if you read this tweet or heard the NASA PAO announcer during the test the agency and Congress are still holding to the 2024 date in spite of admitting the obvious.
I asked about this at the SLS -post test press event – rather, I tried to ask about this. Despite sending an emailed question to NASA PAO during the SLS post-test press event – exactly like all other media did – PAO decided not to let my question be asked. But they allowed every other question through. So I complained. I had originally asked “Sen. Wicker tweeted today that NASA is going to land on the Moon in 2024 and on Mars in 2029. Can you explain how this is possible given the budget NASA has been given?”. This was in response to a tweet that Wicker issued right after the test:

I commend @NASA Administrator @JimBridenstine for his stewardship of NASA & the SLS program. We are still on track to take the first woman to the moon by 2024 & complete a Mars landing by 2029. I know that bipartisan support for this program and space exploration will continue.

— Senator Roger Wicker (@SenatorWicker) January 16, 2021

This is the reply NASA PAO just sent me:

“We’re grateful for the strong bipartisan support for the Artemis program as reflected in the FY 2021 Omnibus Appropriation passed and signed last month. Congress continues to recognize the value in America’s Moon to Mars plans, providing funding for human landing system (HLS) development. As you’ve heard me say before, funding is one of the challenges we have to navigate as we continue our work toward a sustainable exploration program that lasts a generation. Landing the first woman and next man on the Moon in 2024 remains our goal, but NASA will work with the incoming Biden Administration to do it smartly and get it done right.”

In other words yet another non-answer answer.