Artemis 1 mission scrubbed again, but rocket remains on launch pad

The primary launch try for NASA’s Artemis 1 mission on Monday, Aug. 29, resulted in a scrub. That day, NASA managers briefed the press, citing a number of glitches, together with a tetchy hydrogen leak, a lightning strike that delayed gasoline loading, and a valve downside. The primary showstopper, nonetheless, was one of many rocket’s 4 core-stage engines apparently not cooling to the temperature required for blast off.

Though that temperature studying may need been as a result of a sensor error, even when all the opposite points had been resolved final week, there have been nonetheless climate issues that might have seemingly stalled any try and take flight. Artemis 1’s deliberate launch was delayed till the weekend — however issues didn’t enhance.

Whereas loading the rocket’s supercooled liquid hydrogen gasoline on Saturday, Sept. 3, NASA’s next-gen Space Launch System (SLS) encountered a brand new and “massive” leak that introduced a hearth hazard, company officers mentioned in a press convention. Engineers had been compelled to change their procedures to attempt to get the leak to self-seal. (Hydrogen is the smallest atom, so it needs to flee closed techniques with alacrity, particularly in liquid kind.) In the end, when the leak endured, the launch management staff scrubbed their second try and shoot for the Moon.

The precise reason for the leak is unclear, nevertheless it has been traced again to the “fast disconnect” interface that connects the SLS core stage to the propellant line of the rocket’s cellular launch tower. The Artemis 1 launch staff just lately determined to exchange the seal on the misbehaving interface, according to a NASA update on Tuesday, Sept. 6. However whether or not or not the rocket will in the end have to return to the storage stays unsure.

“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 situations, however allows engineers to check the restore beneath cryogenic, or supercold, situations,” officers wrote in Tuesday’s replace.

“Performing the work on the pad additionally permits groups to assemble as a lot knowledge as potential to grasp the reason for the difficulty,” they added. “Groups might return the rocket to the Car Meeting Constructing (VAB) to carry out extra work that doesn’t require use of the cryogenic services obtainable solely on the pad.”

Whether or not Artemis 1 stays on the launch pad or have to be returned to the VAB, NASA Administrator Invoice Nelson reminded the world final week that “the price of scrubs is so much lower than failure.” And that declare is actually past dispute.

Assuming SLS does should be despatched again to the store, the following seemingly launch window for Artemis 1 will run from Oct. 17 to Oct. 31.