NASA and aerospace company ATK Aerospace Systems successfully completed the second test of a next-generation solid rocket motor Tuesday, but the rocket it was designed to send into space faces an uncertain future, according to dpa. The rocket motor sent a plume of fire into the Utah desert in the two-minute test of the largest and most powerful solid rocket motor designed for flight. The rocket motor is a more powerful version of the one used to send the space shuttle into orbit and was designed as part of the Constellation programme to send astronauts back to the moon aboard the Orion spacecraft. It was the second test on the rocket and was designed to make sure it can work at different temperatures with the motor cooled to about 4 degrees Celsius. -- SPA
