Image Cache: Don’t even ask how much this fuel tank will cost to fill. The giant cylinder is just one of the two tanks that will hold the fuel used to power NASA’s new Space Launch System when it blasts off to take missions to Mars and deep space.
Browse through the cool photos, animations and diagrams in Gizmodo’s Image Cache here.
NASA engineers completed the final welding of the liquid oxygen tank this month. The huge component measures 61m tall and 8m wide. It will store oxygen, while another tank will hold liquid hydrogen — together, they will feed the vehicle’s powerful RS-25 engines.
These wide-angle images, shot through a 16mm fish-eye lens, let you see an awful lot of the Vertical Assembly Center at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans where the tanks are built. Construction involved a 52m-tall, 24m-wide state-of-the-art welding toolkit — that’s the big blue structure below.
NASA/Michoud/Steven Seipel
NASA/Michoud/Steven Seipel
NASA/Michoud/Steven Seipel
NASA/Michoud/Steven Seipel
NASA/Michoud/Steven Seipel
[Marshall Space Flight Center/NASA]
Top image: NASA/Michoud/Steven Seipel