Engineers are conducting tests on a model of NASA's next-generation heavy lift rocket in Huntsville.
Workers at the Marshall Space Flight Center will perform acoustic tests on a small version of NASA's Space Launch System vehicle on Thursday.
The model is only 5 percent of the size of the actual vehicle. But engineers will be able to tell how sound waves will affect the structure on the launch pad once it's ignited.
Information from the test will be used to verify the design of a system that uses water to suppress the noise from the rocket's engines.
The full-size rocket will be more powerful than the Saturn V that carried astronauts to the moon. Its first test flight is scheduled for 2017.
