WATCH: NASA to launch world's biggest rocket in 2018

The world's biggest rocket may be launched in late 2018 and will be designed for deep space missions, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said.

 

A report on Space.com said the rocket is part of the Space Launch System (SLS), which will catapult astronauts and heavy payload.

 

With a launcher measuring 400 feet (122 meters) tall—bigger than three MRT trains stacked end to end—the SLS could be powerful enough to send astronauts to Mars.
 

NASA associate administrator Robert Lightfoot said the US is embarked on an ambitious space exploration program, "and we owe it to the American taxpayers to get it right."

 

"After rigorous review, we’re committing today to a funding level and readiness date that will keep us on track to sending humans to Mars in the 2030s – and we’re going to stand behind that commitment," he added.

 

SLS derives much of its technology from the US moon program and the space shuttle.

 

NASA said the SLS may require funding of $7 billion from February 2014 to November 2018.

 

It envisions the SLS' first test flight to be out of low-Earth orbit with an unmanned Orion space capsule.

 

"There are probably some other problems that aren't even identified by the Standing Review Board that will come up... Our job as a management team is to look at those problems, figure out ways to work those ahead of time, and proactively work those as they come about," said William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for the Human Explorations and Operations Mission Directorate.

 

 

 — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News