(Image source from: economictimes.indiatimes.com)

NASA has disclosed the claimed ‘most powerful rocket ever built’ which aims for a launch in 2024 and is designed as a part of Nasa’s Artemis mission that aims to send humans to the Moon.

The Space Launch System has a towering 212 feet being the tallest and the most powerful. It is designed to break the records of speed of Mach 23 prior to the separation from its upper stage which is the Onion crew capsule.

This rocket experienced delay in its development and cost overruns as its first flight was scheduled for November 2018 and its price tag has increased from $6.2 billion to $8 billion considering the June audit report. NASA spent approximately $34 billion for the SLS, Orion and Exploration Ground Systems Program programs through 2019 and the total can be increased to $50 billion by 2024.

Administrator of NASA, Jim Brideston said that, significant progress has been made to achieve the mission to send a first woman and the next man to the Moon.

Jim Bridenstine, an Administrator of NASA calls it a “very important day” for the agency of space “when we get to announce core stage complete for in fact the SLS rocket. We are making significant progress towards achieving that Artemis 3 mission and getting our first woman, and next man to the south pole of the Moon in 2024.

According to the audit report, mission Artemis 1 will likely take off by June 2020. NASA plans to land on the south pole of the Moon to explore the water ice that was discovered in 2009 for both the purposes of life support and usage as rocket propellant by splitting into hydrogen and oxygen. The agency views this as a stepping stone to its next mission to Mars in 2030s.

By Shrithika Kushangi