Reductions Achieved Through SLS Scale Model Acoustic Testing

NASA engineers recently went on an auricle ride as a scale model of the Space Launch System (SLS), including solid rocket motors, was fired -- giving an "earful" of information about how low- and high-frequency sound waves will affect the rocket on the launch pad.

When completed, SLS will be capable of taking a crew and cargo on deep space missions, including to an asteroid and eventually Mars.

"This test is unique because it's like going through the steps of a true launch, only on a much smaller scale," said Jeremy Kenny, acoustics engineer at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where the test series is being conducted. "The noise the engines and boosters generate is so great that it can impact the rocket, and the crew, during liftoff. We have to ensure we have the proper suppression system to basically turn that noise down to a safe level."

The scale SLS model hosts more than 200 sensors, which take data representative of the predicted SLS acoustic environments. The data collected from the tests will be used to help direct and verify the design of the rocket's sound suppression system.

(Image provided by NASA. A 5-percent scale model, including solid rocket motors, of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) is ignited to test how low- and high-frequency sound waves will affect the rocket on the launch pad)

FMI: www.nasa.gov