This may look bad to the untrained eye, but don’t worry — NASA says it’s on purpose.
The space agency has released slow-motion footage of a June 28 test run in Promontory, Utah, showing a booster for its new rocket, the Space Launch System.
The device fires up to a whopping 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit, obliterating the booster’s nozzle plug. Or as NASA calls it, “intentionally breaking apart.”
The purpose of the nozzle plug is to prevent bad stuff like heat, dust and moisture from finding its way into the booster before it is set off. Following the test, fragments of the plug were found as far as 1,500 to 2,000 feet away from the ignition site.
NASA hopes __that future missions of the Space Launch System will reach destinations such as an asteroid or Mars.
