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If I want to get safely
from point A to point B,

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I need precision, dexterity, and control.

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See?

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Let's talk about the
brain behind the brawn

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of the Space Launch System.

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- [Neil Armstrong] That's
one small step for man.

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(upbeat music)

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- Traveling through space is hard.

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That's why NASA's Space Launch System

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will have to be the most
powerful rocket in the world.

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How is SLS able to meet the challenges

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of exploring deep space?

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Well, when it comes to our
journey to Mars and beyond,

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there are no small steps.

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So, what made the difference
with our skateboard?

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It was built for speed and it had weight

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to pull it in the direction
that we wanted it to go

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but it was missing a brain
and a complex nervous system

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to guide it.

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The Space Launch System
may be the biggest rocket

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in the world, but its
successful journey depends

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on combining its power with
well-reasoned decisions

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and actions.

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The thing that turns a big
powerful machine like SLS

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into a smart, precise vehicle capable

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of interplanetary travel is avionics.

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Behind me are the Core Stage Avionics.

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Avionics, which literally means
aviation plus electronics,

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is the computers, the
routers, the power systems,

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the processors, and the software
that tell SLS what to do.

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Avionics is a lot like
our body's nervous system.

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And that begins with the brain.

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This is the mind of SLS.

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It's three identical flight computers,

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which makes split-second decisions

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about trajectory and navigation.

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The cool thing about
these powerful computers

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is that when they receive information,

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they each process it independently
and decide on an action.

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They compare the results
and in the unlikely event

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that one of them decides
differently than the other two,

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it's outvoted.

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The SLS avionics are so important,

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that the entire system
has already been running

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simulated missions in A.R.T.E.M.I.S.,

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a virtual launch environment.

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SLS will have imagined its
journey hundreds of times,

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so every decision it makes
will be the right one.

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To get information to make decisions,

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the flight computers rely on
sensors all around the rocket

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in the same way that our
brain gets sensory information

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from our eyes, our ears,
our fingers, and so on.

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SLS' avionics controller boxes

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and over 55 miles of cabling

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act as its nerve and nerve endings,

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carrying information to and
from the flight computers.

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As you can see, getting
where we want to go

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requires so much more
than strength and speed.

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It also requires an
intelligent complex system

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to get us to deep space.

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To pull off a trick like that,

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I'm gonna have to use my brain.

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But, right now my brain is telling me