NASA’s Artemis 1 moon rocket is staying on the launch pad, a minimum of for now.
Artemis 1 will use NASA’s new Area Launch System (SLS) megarocket to ship an uncrewed Orion capsule to lunar orbit and again. NASA tried to launch the epic mission on Saturday (Sept. 3) however stood down when it could not troubleshoot a leak of supercold liquid hydrogen (LH2) propellant in time for liftoff.
The leak occurred at a “fast disconnect,” an interface connecting the SLS core stage with a propellant line coming from the large rocket’s cell launch tower. After analyzing the difficulty for a couple of days, the Artemis 1 crew has determined to switch the seal on the misbehaving fast disconnect, company officers introduced in an replace on Tuesday night (opens in new tab) (Sept. 6).
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This work will likely be executed at Pad 39B at Kennedy Area Heart (KSC) in Florida, the place the Artemis 1 stack has been perched for the previous three weeks.
“Performing the work on the pad requires technicians to arrange an enclosure across the work space to guard the {hardware} from the climate and different environmental circumstances however allows engineers to check the restore underneath cryogenic, or supercold, circumstances,” NASA officers wrote within the Tuesday replace.
“Performing the work on the pad additionally permits groups to assemble as a lot knowledge as doable to know the reason for the difficulty,” they added. “Groups could return the rocket to the Car Meeting Constructing (VAB) to carry out extra work that doesn’t require use of the cryogenic amenities out there solely on the pad.”
And a rollback to the VAB could also be required whether or not or not the crew needs to carry out extra repairs there. The U.S. Area Drive has licensed Artemis 1’s flight termination system (FTS), which might destroy the rocket if it veered off beam throughout liftoff, for only a 25-day stretch. (The Area Drive oversees the Jap Vary, the large rocket-launch area that features KSC.) That deadline could have handed by Sept. 19, when the subsequent Artemis 1 launch window opens.
Recertification requires testing the FTS, which may solely happen within the VAB. NASA officers have stated they could apply for one more waiver to increase the certification interval, which might enable Artemis 1 to remain on the pad longer, but it surely’s unclear at this level if they’ll accomplish that. (Artemis 1 has already acquired one such waiver, from 20 days to 25.)
Saturday’s scrub was the second for Artemis 1. The primary, which occurred on Aug. 29, was spurred by a measurement indicating that one of many 4 engines on the SLS core stage wasn’t cooling to the correct prelaunch temperature. The Artemis 1 crew shortly concluded that the studying was brought on by a defective temperature sensor and determined to press forward with a Saturday try.
The crew additionally troubleshot an LH2 leak throughout the Aug. 29 try, however that one was a lot smaller than the leak the crew is engaged on now.
Artemis 1 has two launch home windows out there within the subsequent two months. The primary runs from Sept. 19 to Oct. 4, and the second is open from Oct. 17 to Oct. 31. A rollback to the VAB would nearly definitely put the Sept. 19-Oct. 4 window out of attain.
Mike Wall is the writer of “Out There (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a guide in regards to the seek for alien life. Observe him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Observe us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Fb (opens in new tab).
