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NASA has once again scuttled an attempt to launch the new moon’s massive rocket on an unmanned test mission due to technical problems. The scrub was called at 11:17 am. ET, three hours before the start of the launch window.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said mission managers will hold a meeting to discuss next steps and determine whether a Monday or Tuesday launch is possible or whether the rocket stack must return to the Vehicle Assembly Building.
If it returns to the building, Artemis I won’t have another launch opportunity until October, with mid-October likely due to timing at the launch site, Nelson said.
That’s because NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission is set to launch on October 3rd, and the early October launch window for Artemis I closes on October 4th. The next window opens on October 17.
Top NASA leadership addressing VIPs at the Kennedy Space Center told those gathered they believe the Artemis rocket may need to be returned to the building to fix the problem that caused the cleanup of Saturday’s launch attempt, sources told CNN.
This would mean the team would not be able to attempt another launch for several weeks. It takes at least three and a half days to roll the rocket back into the building before they start working on it and then rolling it back onto the pad.
The agency will hold a press conference at 4 p.m. ET to share an update.
Artemis I was scheduled to lift off Saturday afternoon, but those plans were scrapped after team members discovered a liquid hydrogen leak that they spent most of the morning trying to fix. Liquid hydrogen is one of the propellants used in the large core stage of the rocket. The leak prevented the launch team from being able to fill the liquid hydrogen tank despite trying various troubleshooting procedures.
It is the second time in a week that the space agency has been forced to halt the countdown to launch due to technical problems. The first launch attempt, on Monday, was canceled after several issues arose, including a system meant to cool the rocket’s engines before launch and various leaks that appeared as the rocket was being refueled.
The liquid hydrogen leak was discovered at 7:15 a.m. Saturday. ET in the quick disconnect cavity that feeds the rocket with hydrogen in the engine section of the core stage. It was a different leak than the one that occurred before Monday’s launch.
The launch controllers heated the line in an attempt to make a tight seal, and liquid hydrogen flow resumed before leaking again. They stopped the flow of liquid hydrogen and proceeded to “close the valve used to fill and drain it, then pressurize a ground transfer line using helium to try to reseal it,” according to NASA.
This troubleshooting plan was not successful. The team tried the first design again to heat the line, but the leak reappeared after they manually restarted the liquid hydrogen flow.
There was a 60 percent chance of favorable weather conditions for the launch, according to meteorologist Melody Lovin.
The Artemis I stack, which includes the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft, continues to reside at Launchpad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The Artemis I mission is just the beginning of a program that will aim to return humans to the moon and eventually land crewed missions on Mars.
There is still a backup opportunity for the Artemis I mission to launch on September 5 and 6.
Here’s how NASA wants to send people back to the moon
In recent days, the launch team spent time addressing issues such as hydrogen leaks that appeared before Monday’s planned launch before it was cleaned up. The team also completed a risk assessment of an engine air conditioning problem and a foam crack that also appeared, according to NASA officials.
Both were considered acceptable risks for the launch countdown, according to Mike Sarafin, Artemis mission manager.
On Monday, a sensor on one of the rocket’s four RS-25 engines, identified as engine #3, reflected that the engine could not reach the proper temperature range required to start the engine during launch.
Engines must be thermally conditioned before running very cold propellant prior to start-up. To prevent the engines from experiencing temperature shocks, the launch controllers gradually increase the pressure of the liquid hydrogen tank in the center stage in the hours before launch to send a small amount of liquid hydrogen to the engines. This is known as ‘bleeding’.
The team has since determined it was a bad sensor providing the clue — they plan to ignore the faulty sensor moving forward, according to John Blevins, Space Launch Systems chief engineer.
Once Artemis I is launched, Orion’s journey will take 37 days as it travels to the moon, orbits it and returns to Earth – covering a total of 1.3 million miles (2.1 million kilometers).
Although the passenger list does not include humans, it does have passengers: three mannequins and a Snoopy plush toy will ride on the Orion.
The crew on Artemis I may sound a bit unusual, but each one serves a purpose. Snoopy will serve as a zero-gravity marker – meaning he will begin floating inside the capsule once he reaches the space environment.
The mannequins, named Commander Moonikin Campos, Helga and Zohar, will measure the deep-space radiation future crews might experience and test new suit and armor technology. A biological experiment carrying seeds, algae, fungi and yeast is also placed inside Orion to measure how life reacts to this radiation as well.
Additional science experiments and technology demonstrations also lead to a ring on the rocket. From there, 10 small satellites, called CubeSats, will detach and go their separate ways to gather information about the moon and the deep space environment.
Expect to see views of Earthrise similar to those first shared during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968, but with much better cameras and technology.
The inaugural Artemis mission will begin a phase of NASA’s space exploration that aims to land different crews of astronauts in previously unexplored regions of the Moon – in the Artemis II and Artemis III missions, scheduled for 2024 and 2025 respectively – and eventually will deliver manned missions to Mars.
