The projected launch of NASA's Space Launch System at the Kennedy Space Center. Congress promises to give NASA $19.3 billion dollars, $1.23 billion than the agency received last year. (via NASA)
NASA is always at the forefront of space exploration and innovation, but what some people don't realize is it takes a lot of money to conduct the research the organization needs. There's some good new for NASA as the Republican-controlled Congress has promised to give the organization an estimated $19.3 billion dollars next year as part of its 2016 omnibus spending bill. This is a huge deal for NASA as it's almost a billion dollars more than the $18.5 billion the Obama administration previously requested and will be $1.23 billion more than they received last year.
The US Congress and President Obama reached a compromised and passed the omnibus spending bill for the 2016 Fiscal Year, which funds the government and NASA for the remainder of this year's budget season through September 2015 making it an early Christmas present for the organization. This means almost all of NASA's programs, like the SLS, Orion, Commercial Crew, and Planetary Services will have extended funded. With this large boost in funding the big goal of sending people to Mars by the 2030s doesn't seem as impossible as it once was.
To help achieve this goal, NASA has developed the Space Launch System (SLS) heavy lift rocket and the Orion deep space crew capsule. The SLS is being dubbed as the most powerful rocket in the world and will see its first blastoff carrying an unmanned version of Orion no later than November 2018. Aside from this, $85 million of the SLS funding will be used to develop a new, enhanced cryogenic upper stage to replace the Interium Cryogenic Propulsion Stage that will be utilized on SLS-1.
These major space programs aren't the only things NASA is currently working on. The organization did a recent test which will get them one step closer to building an entire 3D printed rocket engine. To get a rocket airborne the engine needs turbopumps, injectors, and valves, all of which teams have 3D printed and tested individually with great results. The team conducted a new test this month at the Marsha;; Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. There they connected all the 3D printed parts together to get them to work like they do in a real rocket engine.
What were the results? The 3D printed engine actually produced more than 20,000 pounds of thrust and withstood temperatures of 6,000 Fahrenheit. A video of the test was recently posted to Youtube. Of course it'll be a while before the 3D printed engine will be used in real rockets, but as long as test continue to be successful this could be a huge innovation for NASA. The 3D printed parts actually used fewer parts than usually needed. As you can imagine this saves a lot of time and a lot of money. With so many projects under way and funding on their side, the next year seems like it'll be a big one for NASA.
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