NASA’s Artemis 1 moon rocket is staying put on the launch pad, at least for now.
Artemis 1 will use the new one from NASA Space launch system (SLS) to send an unmanned Orion capsule into lunar orbit and back. NASA tried to launch the epic mission on Saturday (September 3) but pulled out when it couldn’t fix a problem. supercooled liquid hydrogen leak (LH2) thruster in time for takeoff.
The leak occurred at a “quick disconnect,” an interface connecting the SLS’s center stage to a propellant line coming from the giant rocket’s mobile launch tower. After analyzing the problem for a few days, the Artemis 1 team has decided to replace the misbehaving fast disconnect seal, agency officials announced in a Tuesday evening update (opens in a new tab) (September 6).
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This work will be done in Pad 39B a Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, where the Artemis 1 stack has been in place for the past three weeks.
“Doing the work on the platform requires technicians to set up an enclosure around the work area to protect the hardware from weather and other environmental conditions, but it allows engineers to test the repair in cryogenic or supercold conditions,” NASA officials wrote in Tuesday’s Update.
“Doing the work on the platform also allows the teams to gather as much data as possible to understand the cause of the problem,” they added. “Teams can return the rocket to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to perform additional work that does not require the use of the cryogenic facilities available only on the platform.”
And a rollback to the VAB may be required whether the team wants to make further repairs to it or not. The US Space Force has certified Artemis 1’s Flight Termination System (FTS), which would destroy the rocket if it veered off course during liftoff, for just one stretch of 25 days. (The Space Force oversees the Eastern Range, the huge rocket launch region that includes KSC.) That deadline will have passed on September 19, when the next Artemis 1 launch window opens.
Recertification requires testing the FTS, which can only occur at the VAB. NASA officials have said they could apply for another waiver to extend the certification period, which would allow Artemis 1 to stay on the pad longer, but it’s unclear at this point if they will. (Artemis 1 has already received one such exemption, from 20 days to 25.)
Saturday’s bush was the second for Artemisa 1. The first, which It happened on August 29, was spurred by a measurement indicating that one of the four engines in the SLS center stage was not cooling to the proper pre-launch temperature. The Artemis 1 team quickly concluded that the reading was caused by a faulty temperature sensor and decided to go ahead with an attempt on Saturday.
The team also fixed an LH2 leak during the August 29 attempt, but that was much smaller than the leak the team is working on now.
Artemis 1 has two launch windows available over the next two months. The first runs from September 19 to October 4, and the second is open from October 17 to October 31. A rollback to VAB would almost certainly put September 19 in October. 4 window out of range.
Mike Wall is the author of “Over there (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in a new tab). follow us on twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in a new tab) or enabled Facebook (opens in a new tab).