NASA Says Megarocket Could Launch Friday as Engineers Race to Resolve Engine Issue

NASA’s first try and launch its Space Launch System megarocket didn’t go as deliberate, with officers declaring a scrub due an “engine bleed” situation. Sounds ominous, however NASA officers mentioned Monday afternoon that a re-attempt on Friday will not be out of the query.

At 8:34 a.m. ET, and with the countdown clock caught at T-40 minutes, launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson declared an official finish to the primary SLS launch try. The unplanned maintain started greater than an hour earlier, as floor groups struggled to resolve a problem with one of many rocket’s 4 core stage RS-25 engines. Simply put, engineers couldn’t make the engine—particularly engine quantity three—chilly sufficient for the launch, ensuing within the scrub.

As floor groups ready for launch, “we got to a problem that needed time to be solved,” Bill Nelson, NASA administrator, instructed reporters throughout a day press briefing. “This is a brand new rocket that’s not going to fly until it’s ready.” Nelson took the chance to remind reporters that his trek aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1986 was prefaced by 4 scrubs that transpired “for the better part of a month,” he mentioned. SLS is extremely advanced, he added, saying this complexity turns into all of the extra “daunting when you bring it all into the focus of a countdown.”

The Artemis period should wait, however hopefully not for lengthy. Mike Sarafin, Artemis mission supervisor at NASA, mentioned “Friday is definitely in play,” in reference to the following accessible launch window that opens on August 2. The rocket continues to face on Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the place groups are holding SLS in its countdown configuration, he mentioned. Early indications counsel it’s unlikely the engine would should be changed, Sarafin added.

The downside pertains to the “hydrogen kickstart” of the 4 RS-25 engines, wherein liquid hydrogen chills the engines previous to launch. “We need to be at cryogenically cool temperatures” such that the engines are “not shocked by the cold fuel that flows through” throughout launch, Sarafin defined. Three of the 4 RS-25 engines have been sufficiently chilled, however engine quantity three refused to abide; the circulate of liquid hydrogen via this engine was lower than anticipated, and measures to extend the circulate did not treatment the issue. In whole, engineers spent two and half hours attempting to resolve the problem with the engine’s hydrogen bleed line, to no avail.

Importantly, this method was not examined over the past moist gown rehearsal, which suggests that is the primary alternative for the groups to look at, and subsequently troubleshoot, this downside. As as to whether the issue might be resolved in time for Friday’s launch window stays an open query.

Jim Free, affiliate administrator for Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA, mentioned “we’re not going to have all the data or implications today.” NASA says it should maintain one other press convention tomorrow, when extra data may very well be disclosed, together with a potential re-scheduling of the Artemis 1 launch. NASA says SLS and the Orion spacecraft stay in a protected and secure configuration.

In addition to the RS-25 chilling anomaly, floor groups additionally encountered a problem with a hydrogen spike, which was simply resolved. Aside from these issues and a leaky vent valve, as we speak’s tanking went comparatively easily. That mentioned, Sarafin mentioned a launch would’ve been a no-go as we speak regardless, because of rain and lightning.

There are two extra home windows throughout the present flight interval: one beginning at 12:48 p.m. ET on Friday, September 2, and the opposite at 5:12 p.m. ET on Monday, September 5. Failing these, there are different launch home windows accessible between September 20 and October 4.

For the Artemis 1 mission, SLS will ship an uncrewed Orion capsule on a 42-day mission to the Moon and again. SLS, with its 8.1 million kilos of thrust, is the most important rocket NASA has ever constructed, and it’ll play a key position within the upcoming Artemis missions to the Moon, together with the primary human mission to the lunar floor because the Apollo period.

More: NASA’s Artemis Moon Landing Program: Launches, Timeline, and More.