Teams Prepare Artemis IV Intertank for Thermal Protection System 

Teams at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans move the 21.8-foot-tall intertank for the core stage of the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket into one of the factory’s high bay production cells May 29. The flight hardware will help power NASA’s Artemis IV mission. Inside the production cell, NASA and Boeing, SLS core stage prime contractor will apply the hardware’s outer thermal protection layer through an automated process. The thermal protection system safeguards the rocket from the extreme temperatures and prevents the super-cooled propellant within the rocket’s massive propellant tanks from boiling off too rapidly during launch and flight. The intertank houses avionics and electronics, serves as an attachment point for the solid rocket boosters, and is one of five major elements that make up the 212-foot-tall rocket stage. The core stage, along with its four RS-25 engines at its base, produce more than two million pounds of thrust to help launch NASA’s Orion spacecraft, astronauts, and supplies beyond Earth’s orbit and to the lunar surface for Artemis.    Image credit: NASA/Michael DeMocker

Location: NASA Michoud