SLS engineers installed two Jupiter OLS high-speed video lightning monitoring systems at the John C. Stennis Space Center in southern Mississippi.  The Jupiter OLS systems will provide vital lightning monitoring for the B2 rocket engine test stand, where the massive core stage of NASA’s new Space Launch System rocket will be tested starting in early 2019.  The Space Launch System core stage stands 212-ft in length, 27.6-ft in diameter, and is the largest rocket stage ever built. 

The two Jupiter OLS stations deployed at the B2 test stand utilize facility power and direct fiber-optic communication links to a local data server.  Unlike most other Jupiter OLS units, which are designed to be portable, the systems installed at the B2 test stand are permanently mounted.

A hydrogen vent stack immediately adjacent to the B2 test stand was directly struck by lightning (see image below) the day after Jupiter OLS was installed.