NASA’s Space Launch System for High-C3 Science Missions

摘要

NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) is the agency’s new evolvable, super heavy-lift launch vehicle for human exploration of the Moon and Mars and robotic exploration of the solar system and beyond. While the baseline 2.5-stage vehicle is optimized for NASA’s Artemis lunar missions (C3 = -.99 km2/sec2), that configuration also shows substantial benefits for science missions, including probes to the outer solar system, ultra-large observatories and more. Recent analyses show the benefit for missions to the outer solar system and beyond by configuring the launcher with additional an upper stage(s) encapsulated in the evolved Block 1B/2 8.4 m-diameter payload fairing. Studies from the Advanced Concepts Office (ACO) at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), which manages the SLS program, show that using additional stages with the vehicle can achieve ultra-high C3 (above 300 km2/sec2) missions. This provides the science community with a unique launch capability to enable a new generation of transformative missions. In fact, the SLS Program has been engaged in discussions with several groups investigating utilizing the unique capabilities of SLS and alternative staging options for missions to the ice giants, the Kuiper Belt and the Very Local Interstellar Medium (VLIM).