NASA TV
Two days ago, NASA officially announced that a second Green Run hot fire test will be conducted on the Space Launch System's (SLS) core stage booster that will take flight on the Artemis 1 mission no earlier than the end of this year. As stated in the NASA update, the hot fire will last at least 4 minutes...the minimum duration needed for the space agency to collect all of the data required to certify the SLS booster for launch. The core stage and its four RS-25 engines are in excellent condition, with technicians at the Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, planning to adjust the conservative control logic parameters that caused the first hot fire to end after only 67 seconds (far short of the 485 seconds needed to simulate an actual ascent to orbit) over two weeks ago. The RS-25 engines will also need at least 3 weeks to dry and be refurbished before they are ignited again—with minor repairs made to the thermal protection system on the core stage booster itself.
The second hot fire test is tentatively scheduled for the fourth week of February, while it will take another month after that (should this test be successful) to refurbish the SLS booster before it is finally transported via the Pegagus barge to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to begin Artemis 1 launch preparations. Stay tuned.
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