In order to explore the deep reaches of Space, astronauts will need powerful rockets and a lot of fuel.
Over the past week, Nasa has taken great strides toward this achievement, marking the completion of welding on hardware for the massive liquid oxygen tank for the Space Launch System (SLS).
Once built, the SLS will be the most powerful rocket in the world, and the agency has plans for it to launch the Orion spacecraft to deep-space missions.
As one of two tanks necessary to power the SLS, the liquid oxygen tank will be part of the core stage, which stands more than 200 feet tall with a diameter of 27.6 feet.
Liquid oxygen coupled with a separate tank of cryogenic liquid hydrogen will feed the powerful rocket’s Rs-25 engines.
As of last week, welding for the confidence hardware of the liquid oxygen tank has been completed.
Photos of the massive structure show just how big one of these tanks really is.
