Marshall Space Flight Center tests sound suppression system for world's most powerul rocket

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAAY) The world's most powerful rocket undergoes design testing in Huntsville.

NASA'S new Space Launch System, designed for deep space exploration, has engines strong enough to create dangerously powerful noise.

When you are designing the world's most powerful rocket ever there are a million different things to think about, said Jeremy Kenny, Acoustic Engineer in a Marshall Space Flight Center interview.

Marshall Space Flight Center has developed a way to test an acoustic sound suppression system on a 5% scale model of the rocket.

The very loud sound can be very damaging both to the rocket vehicle and the crew. Our scale model rocket system is amazing, Acoustic Engineer, Janice Houston said.

The system could make takeoff safer, but first engineers had to make sure they could safely simulate such a powerful rocket launch.

During my design I had to hold approximately 25,000 pounds of thrust in place to make sure it doesn't fly away and injure somebody, said Mechanical Design Engineer, Micah Embry.

Once that design was made, the scale model could be ignited for five seconds at a time to test the sound suppression system through use of microphones located on the rocket.

Marshall Space Flight Center in coordination with other centers such as Langley and Kennedy space centers have designed this set up in order to answer the questions of; What are the lift off environments produced here in the vehicle? What are the lift off environments seen by the tower and mobile launch pad? What are the water sound suppression systems needed in order to mitigate these sound levels?, Kenny said.

According to Marshall Space Flight Center, water is the main component of the suppression system because it helps protect the rocket from damage caused by energy produced in takeoff. Marshall will be simulating the tests to collect data on how the suppressed levels of noise generated may affect the rocket and crew during liftoff. After testing is completed on the scale rocket, the system will be adjusted as needed and then tested on the actual rocket later this year.

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Marshall Space Flight Center tests sound suppression system for world's most powerul rocket

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