[ad_1]
NASA’s Artemis 1 moon rocket is staying on the launch pad, at the very least for now.
Artemis 1 will use NASA’s new House 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 enormous rocket’s cellular launch tower. After analyzing the problem for just a few days, the Artemis 1 group has determined to interchange the seal on the misbehaving fast disconnect, company officers introduced in an replace on Tuesday night (opens in new tab) (Sept. 6).
Associated: NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission: Stay updates
Extra: NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission defined in images
This work might be completed at Pad 39B at Kennedy House Middle (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 permits engineers to check the restore beneath 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 problem,” they added. “Groups could return the rocket to the Automobile Meeting Constructing (VAB) to carry out further work that doesn’t require use of the cryogenic services accessible solely on the pad.”
And a rollback to the VAB could also be required whether or not or not the group desires to carry out extra repairs there. The U.S. House Pressure has licensed Artemis 1’s flight termination system (FTS), which might destroy the rocket if it veered off target throughout liftoff, for only a 25-day stretch. (The House Pressure oversees the Jap Vary, the large rocket-launch area that features KSC.) That deadline can have handed by Sept. 19, when the subsequent Artemis 1 launch window opens.
Recertification requires testing the FTS, which might solely happen within the VAB. NASA officers have mentioned they may apply for one more waiver to increase the certification interval, which might permit 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 right prelaunch temperature. The Artemis 1 group shortly concluded that the studying was attributable to a defective temperature sensor and determined to press forward with a Saturday try.
The group additionally troubleshot an LH2 leak through the Aug. 29 try, however that one was a lot smaller than the leak the group is engaged on now.
Artemis 1 has two launch home windows accessible 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 virtually 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 concerning the seek for alien life. Comply with him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Comply with us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Fb (opens in new tab).
[ad_2]