Payload Accommodations in NASA's Space Launch System, Block 1 and Beyond

Abstract

As part of NASA's new deep space exploration system, the Space Launch System (SLS) will provide the United States with guaranteed access to deep space and an unparalleled capability for launching primary and co-manifested payloads beyond Earth's orbit. Planned missions for the new SLS family of vehicles include launching the Orion spacecraft and elements of the new Gateway astronaut-tended outpost to lunar orbit and sending robotic probes deep into the solar system, such as to Jupiter's moon Europa. If mission parameters allow, secondary payloads in 6U, 12U or larger sizes will also have rideshare opportunities, providing CubeSats with access to deep space. The SLS vehicle will evolve into progressively more powerful variants with fairings in several sizes available to meet an array of mission needs. Superior mass, volume and characteristic energy (C3) enable sending larger, heavier payloads to a variety of destinations. Several elements of the Block 1 vehicle for the first mission, Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) are complete and have been delivered to the Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) Program at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), which has responsibility for integrating and launching the vehicle. Contractors are already at work manufacturing the second Block 1 vehicle and incorporating numerous lessons learned in manufacturing America's first super heavy-lift deep space rocket since the Apollo Program's Saturn V enabled humankind to take a giant leap forward.