We Like Big Rockets And We Cannot Lie: Saturn V Vs. SLS
We Like Big Rockets and We Cannot Lie: Saturn V vs. SLS
On this day 50 years ago, human beings embarked on a journey to set foot on another world for the very first time.
At 9:32 a.m. EDT, millions watched as Apollo astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins lifted off from Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, flying high on the most powerful rocket ever built: the mighty Saturn V.
As we prepare to return humans to the lunar surface with our Artemis program, we’re planning to make history again with a similarly unprecedented rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS). The SLS will be our first exploration-class vehicle since the Saturn V took American astronauts to the Moon a decade ago. With its superior lift capability, the SLS will expand our reach into the solar system, allowing astronauts aboard our Orion spacecraft to explore multiple, deep-space destinations including near-Earth asteroids, the Moon and ultimately Mars.
So, how does the Saturn V measure up half a century later? Let’s take a look.
Mission Profiles: From Apollo to Artemis
Saturn V
Every human who has ever stepped foot on the Moon made it there on a Saturn V rocket. The Saturn rockets were the driving force behind our Apollo program that was designed to land humans on the Moon and return them safely back to Earth.
Developed at our Marshall Space Flight Center in the 1960s, the Saturn V rocket (V for the Roman numeral “5”) launched for the first time uncrewed during the Apollo 4 mission on November 9, 1967. One year later, it lifted off for its first crewed mission during Apollo 8. On this mission, astronauts orbited the Moon but did not land. Then, on July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 mission was the first Saturn V flight to land astronauts on the Moon. In total, this powerful rocket completed 13 successful missions, landing humans on the lunar surface six times before lifting off for the last time in 1973.
Space Launch System (SLS)
Just as the Saturn V was the rocket of the Apollo generation, the Space Launch System will be the driving force behind a new era of spaceflight: the Artemis generation.
During our Artemis missions, SLS will take humanity farther than ever before. It is the vehicle that will return our astronauts to the Moon by 2024, transporting the first woman and the next man to a destination never before explored – the lunar South Pole. Over time, the rocket will evolve into increasingly more powerful configurations to provide the foundation for human exploration beyond Earth’s orbit to deep space destinations, including Mars.
SLS will take flight for the first time during Artemis 1 where it will travel 280,000 miles from Earth – farther into deep space than any spacecraft built for humans has ever ventured.
Size: From Big to BIGGER
Saturn V
The Saturn V was big.
In fact, the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center is one of the largest buildings in the world by volume and was built specifically for assembling the massive rocket. At a height of 363 feet, the Saturn V rocket was about the size of a 36-story building and 60 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty!
Space Launch System (SLS)
Measured at just 41 feet shy of the Saturn V, the initial SLS rocket will stand at a height of 322 feet. Because this rocket will evolve into heavier lift capacities to facilitate crew and cargo missions beyond Earth’s orbit, its size will evolve as well. When the SLS reaches its maximum lift capability, it will stand at a height of 384 feet, making it the tallest rocket in the world.
Power: Turning Up the Heat
Saturn V
For the 1960s, the Saturn V rocket was a beast – to say the least.
Fully fueled for liftoff, the Saturn V weighed 6.2 million pounds and generated 7.6 million pounds of thrust at launch. That is more power than 85 Hoover Dams! This thrust came from five F-1 engines that made up the rocket’s first stage. With this lift capability, the Saturn V had the ability to send 130 tons (about 10 school buses) into low-Earth orbit and about 50 tons (about 4 school buses) to the Moon.
Space Launch System (SLS)
Photo of SLS rocket booster test
Unlike the Saturn V, our SLS rocket will evolve over time into increasingly more powerful versions of itself to accommodate missions to the Moon and then beyond to Mars.
The first SLS vehicle, called Block 1, will weigh 5.75 million pounds and produce 8.8 million pounds of thrust at time of launch. That’s 15 percent more than the Saturn V produced during liftoff! It will also send more than 26 tons beyond the Moon. Powered by a pair of five-segment boosters and four RS-25 engines, the rocket will reach the period of greatest atmospheric force within 90 seconds!
Following Block 1, the SLS will evolve five more times to reach its final stage, Block 2 Cargo. At this stage, the rocket will provide 11.9 million pounds of thrust and will be the workhorse vehicle for sending cargo to the Moon, Mars and other deep space destinations. SLS Block 2 will be designed to lift more than 45 tons to deep space. With its unprecedented power and capabilities, SLS is the only rocket that can send our Orion spacecraft, astronauts and large cargo to the Moon on a single mission.
Build: How the Rockets Stack Up
Saturn V
The Saturn V was designed as a multi-stage system rocket, with three core stages. When one system ran out of fuel, it separated from the spacecraft and the next stage took over. The first stage, which was the most powerful, lifted the rocket off of Earth’s surface to an altitude of 68 kilometers (42 miles). This took only 2 minutes and 47 seconds! The first stage separated, allowing the second stage to fire and carry the rest of the stack almost into orbit. The third stage placed the Apollo spacecraft and service module into Earth orbit and pushed it toward the Moon. After the first two stages separated, they fell into the ocean for recovery. The third stage either stayed in space or crashed into the Moon.
Space Launch System (SLS)
Much like the Saturn V, our Space Launch System is also a multi-stage rocket. Its three stages (the solid rocket boosters, core stage and upper stage) will each take turns thrusting the spacecraft on its trajectory and separating after each individual stage has exhausted its fuel. In later, more powerful versions of the SLS, the third stage will carry both the Orion crew module and a deep space habitat module.
A New Era of Space Exploration
Just as the Saturn V and Apollo era signified a new age of exploration and technological advancements, the Space Launch System and Artemis missions will bring the United States into a new age of space travel and scientific discovery.
Join us in celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing and hear about our future plans to go forward to the Moon and on to Mars by tuning in to a special two-hour live NASA Television broadcast at 1 p.m. ET on Friday, July 19. Watch the program at www.nasa.gov/live.
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.
More Posts from Mousoudi20 and Others
packin’ up
TESS’s first-year of planet-hunting was out of this world
Have you ever looked up at the night sky and wondered … what other kinds of planets are out there? Our Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) just spent its first year bringing us a step closer to exploring the planets around the nearest and brightest stars in the southern sky and is now doing the same in the north.
TESS has been looking for dips in the brightness of stars that could be a sign of something we call “transits.” A transit happens when a planet passes between its star and us. It’s like when a bug flies in front of a light bulb. You may not notice the tiny drop in brightness when the bug blocks some of the light from reaching your eyes, but a sensitive camera could. The cameras on TESS are designed to detect those tiny drops in starlight caused by a transiting planet many light-years away.
In the last year TESS has found 24 planets and more than 900 new candidate planets. And TESS is only halfway through its goal of mapping over three-fourths of our skies, which means there’s plenty more to discover!
TESS has been looking for planets around the closest, brightest stars because they will be the best planets to explore more thoroughly with future missions. We can even see a few of these stars with our own eyes, which means we’ve been looking at these planets for millions of years and didn’t even know it.
We spent thousands of years staring at our closest neighbor, the Moon, and asking questions: What is it like? Could we live there? What is it made of (perhaps cheese?). Of course, now we can travel to the Moon and explore it ourselves (turns out, not made of cheese).
But for the worlds TESS is discovering, the commute to answer those questions would be killer. It took 35 years for Voyager 1 to cross into interstellar space (the region between stars), and it’s zipping along at over 38,000 mph! At that rate it would take more than a half-a-million years to reach the nearest stars and planets that TESS is discovering.
While exploring these distant worlds in person isn’t an option, we have other ways of learning what they are like. TESS can tell us where a planet is, its size and its overall temperature, but observatories on the ground and in space like our upcoming James Webb Space Telescope will be able to learn even more — like whether or not a planet has an atmosphere and what it’s made of.
Here are a few of the worlds that our planet hunter discovered in the last year.
Earth-Sized Planet
The first Earth-sized planet discovered by TESS is about 90% the size of our home planet and orbits a star 53 light-years away. The planet is called HD 21749 c (what a mouthful!) and is actually the second planet TESS has discovered orbiting that star, which you can see in the southern constellation Reticulum.
The planet may be Earth-sized, but it would not be a pleasant place to live. It’s very close to its star and could have a surface temperature of 800 degrees Fahrenheit, which would be like sitting inside a commercial pizza oven.
Water World?
The other planet discovered in that star system, HD 21749 b, is about three times Earth’s size and orbits the star every 36 days. It has the longest orbit of any planet within 100 light-years of our solar system detected with TESS so far.
The planet is denser than Neptune, but isn’t made of rock. Scientists think it might be a water planet or have a totally new type of atmosphere. But because the planet isn’t ideal for follow-up study, for now we can only theorize what the planet is actually like. Could it be made of pudding? Maybe … but probably not.
Magma World
One of the first planets TESS discovered, called LHS 3844 b, is roughly Earth’s size, but is so close to its star that it orbits in just 11 hours. For reference, Mercury, which is more than two and a half times closer to the Sun than we are, completes an orbit in just under three months.
Because the planet is so close to its star, the day side of the planet might get so hot that pools and oceans of magma form on its rocky surface, which would make for a rather unpleasant day at the beach.
TESS’s Smallest Planet
The smallest planet TESS has discovered, called L 98-59 b, is between the size of Earth and Mars and orbits its star in a little over two days. Its star also hosts two other TESS-discovered worlds.
Because the planet lies so close to its star, it gets 22 times the radiation we get here on Earth. Yikes! It is also not located in its star’s habitable zone, which means there probably isn’t any liquid water on the surface. Those two factors make it an unlikely place to find life, but scientists believe it will be a good candidate for follow-up studies by other telescopes.
Other Data
While TESS’s team is hunting for planets around close, bright stars, it’s also collecting information on all sorts of other things. From transits around dimmer, farther stars to other objects in our solar system and events outside our galaxy, data from TESS can help astronomers learn a lot more about the universe. Comets and black holes and supernovae, oh my!
Interested in joining the hunt? TESS’s data are released online, so citizen scientists around the world can help us discover new worlds and better understand our universe.
Stay tuned for TESS’s next year of science as it monitors the stars that more than 6.5 billion of us in the northern hemisphere see every night.
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.
hi everyone! it has been a while since i last posted, and i apologise for that! today was my last day of uni (i still have exams, but classes ended today), so i decided to go out and spend the afternoon reading at @commacafe_ 🧡 it was nice to sit outdoors, because the weather was so lovely today! . i’m still currently reading the starless sea, and i’m looooving every page of it!🥰 i hope to read more over the break! have a great weekend everyone✨ (at Comma Cafe) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4C-9oSHghW/?igshid=yki1hnb07p91
🔎 Lava Lake Discovery
🌋 Raikoke Volcano Eruption
🔥 Uptick in Amazon Fire Activity
2019 brought many memorable events on Planet Earth, and NASA satellites and astronauts captured a lot of the action! From new discoveries to tracking natural events and capturing amazing scenery, here are a few highlights from around the globe.
Read more about the images in this video, here.
outer banks → places: heyward’s seafood
THE POGUES — THE PERFECT PLAN
TRANQUILITY
chapter three
The waves crashed against her body, as she tried to find a wave to ride out, both her she JB being completely beat by the waves. She saw into the distant, him looking toward a boat, both kids looking at each other then back at the death wish of a boat.
xxx
She decided to wait out the storm at John b's house, and walking in to see jj, she assumed he had the same idea.
"Why are you here." He didn't look toward Alex, but knew it was her.
"She's staying here, and sharing a bed with your ass so better cheer up." John b responded before alex could
"No no no no, i'm not sharing a bed with her, i'll sleep on the floor." He complained.
She simply sat down on the bed, as John b went into his room.
She soon realized she had no clothes to change into, which meant she either slept in her underwear or wet clothes.
"Why are you thinking so hard?" JJ questioned.
She snapped out of her thoughts and looked toward the boy who was snuggled up in the bed he just said he wasn't sleeping in.
"I have nothing to change into." She mumbled, not breaking eye contact.
"Well doesn't that suck." He replied, turning away from the girl.
So she slipped out of the wet bathing suit and clothes, and put on her underwear and sports bra. The boy turned around, realizing she had just changed into the slightest amount of clothes.
His jaw clenched as she climbed in bed. He sat up and roughly pulled his crew neck of his body, throwing it toward the girl.
She didn't say anything, but simply smiled and put it on, before snuggling into the comforter.
The truth is, he couldn't stand knowing she was half naked right next to him, and definitely didn't want anyone else to see her like that.
xxx
Alex was woken up by john b opening the front door, and jj grunting, She sat up and stretched before following him out the door.
"Damn." She whistled
John b turned to face her before laughing.
"Nice shirt." He joked.
She quickly looked down, and was about to respond before jj spoke from behind her.
"agatha did some work huh?" He asked
"Yeah she did."
Alex walked back inside to change, and wanted to call kie, but there was no service.
"shit."
"come on fizzy, we're going fishing." jj yelled from the porch.
She sighed and packed her bag to go on the boat.
"Who first?" She asked walking down the dock.
"Pope, kie's probably shitting bricks cause you didn't go home." JB responsed
"then maybe you shouldn't of let her stay." jj mumbled.
"Well it seems you didn't mind that much because she woke up in your hoodie."
Alex's face went red, and jj's jaw clenched once again. He didn't know how to respond, so he just turned around.
The boys made comments to the other islanders, while alex stayed quiet in thought on the way to popes dock.
She didn't understand why he hated her, but was starting to get tired of it.
"well look who we have here." John said toward pope washing off the dock.
"We are declaring a pogue meeting, attendance mandatory" Alex yelled.
"I cant my pops got me on lockdown." He pouted
"oh come on pope." alex called
"Your dad's a pussy over" jj replied pretending to be talking into a radio.
"I heard that you little bastard." Hayward appeared behind his son.
Alex waves quickly to the man, she always loved hayward, and she was definitely his favorite out of popes friends.
"We need your son." john b spoke to pope's dad
"day after hurricane is a free day." jj chimed in.
"Ouuu yeah, we have security clearance." Alex added
"Get in the boat." John b mouthed toward pope
Pope frantically jumped in the boat apologizing to his dad and the boat drove away.
"Okay, she's gonna be pissed, so be prepared." Alex told the boys.
"Hey boys." Kiara called while walking down the dock. "Hey sister who doesn't know how to let me know if she's alive or not."
"Oh kie i love you, and i was with JB of course i was safe." Alex responsed.
"whatcha got, you got some juice boxes?" John b asked.
"you know, just some yogurt and carrot sticks." Kie laughed
"How about my kind of juice box?" jj smirked
She passed out the beers, alex shrugging her off, having brought her own drink.
"Alex what's in this?" Pope asked the girl, sniffing the water bottle
"Nothing." she mumbled trying to take it out of his grasp.
"Is this straight vodka?" Everyone paying attention now, popes face turned into a worried glare.
"It's just a boat day drink. it means nothing."
"Alex?" jj said, making her turn. He never called her that.
"Guys it's fine."
Kie and JB shared worried looks. She walked over to her sister and grabbed her arm.
"are you drinking again?" Kie whispered into Alex's ear
She swiftly walked past her "no." She turned "jj what the fuck!" She yelled watching the blonde poor the drink out into the water.
"oops." He laughed.
xxx
"hey you guys wanna see a party trick?" jj climbed to the front of the boat.
"Oh god i'm moving." John b quickly sat behind pope who was driving.
"go a little faster pope." jj commented
"Ou i wanna try." Alex walked toward jj
He looked at her with annoyance and sighed.
They both lifted the bottles to their mouths trying to catch the beer.
"Ew you're getting beer in my hair." Kie screamed, but was cut off, as the boat lunged forward, throwing JJ and alex off and into the water.
"what the hell pope?"
Alex hit the surface of the water with a cough.
"fizzy, you good?" jj asked beside her.
"Yeah i'm good."
Did he actually care? she thought.
"jj you okay?" pope called from the boat
"I'm think my heals touched the back of my head."
"Sand bar. the tide changed."
"Thank you captain obvious." alex swam toward the boat.
"Guys, i think there's a boat down there?"
If #NationalCheeseDay has you thinking about the Moon, you’re not alone. 🧀
In 1965, the Ranger 9 probe captured these sharp images of a cratered lunar surface just moments before its planned impact. What we learned paved the way for Apollo. #Apollo50th
ig: studylustre
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