NASA once again cancels the launch of the lunar mission Artemis I due to technical problems

() — The launch of the uncrewed Artemis I mission was canceled once again after battling fuel loading problems as it prepared to launch on a historic journey around the Moon.

The launch was scheduled for Saturday afternoon, but those plans were canceled after the team discovered a liquid hydrogen leak that they spent most of the morning trying to resolve. Liquid hydrogen is one of the propellants used in the large core stage of the rocket. The leak prevented the launch team from filling 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 stop the launch countdown due to technical problems. The first launch attempt, on Monday, was called off after several problems arose, including with a system intended to cool the rocket’s motors before liftoff and several leaks that emerged while the rocket was being fueled.

The liquid hydrogen leak was detected at 7:15 am ET in the quick disconnect cavity that feeds the rocket with hydrogen in the core stage engine section. It was a different leak than the one that occurred before Monday’s canceled launch.

Launch controllers heated the line in an attempt to obtain a tight seal, and the flow of liquid hydrogen resumed before a leak occurred again. They stopped the flow of liquid hydrogen and proceeded to “close the valve used to fill and drain it, then increase pressure in a ground transfer line using helium to try to reseal it,” according to NASA.

That troubleshooting plan was unsuccessful. The team tried the first plan again to heat the line, but the leak happened again after manually restarting the flow of liquid hydrogen.

The launch window opened at 2:17 p.m. ET and would close at 4:17 p.m. ET on Saturday. Live coverage from NASA began at 5:45 a.m. ET. on your website and television channel.

Weather conditions on Saturday were 60% favorable during the launch window, according to chief meteorologist Melody Lovin, who predicted that the weather would not be an “obstacle” for the launch.

The Artemis I stack, which includes the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft, remains on Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The Artemis I mission is just the beginning of a program that aims to return humans to the Moon and eventually land manned missions on Mars.

Artemis will make a trip around the Moon and splash down in the Pacific Ocean on October 11. In the event that it is not achieved, the mission could also be released on September 5.

In recent days, the launch team has taken time to address issues, such as hydrogen leaks, that have surfaced ahead of Monday’s planned launch. The team also completed a risk assessment of an engine conditioning issue and a foam crack that also surfaced, according to NASA officials.

Both are considered acceptable risks ahead of the launch countdown, according to Mike Sarafin, manager of the Artemis mission. On Monday, a sensor on one of the rocket’s four RS-25 engines, identified as Engine No. 3, showed that the engine was unable to reach the proper temperature range required for the engine to start at liftoff.

The engines must be thermally conditioned before supercooled propellant flows through them prior to takeoff. To prevent the engines from experiencing temperature shocks, launch controllers increase the pressure of the core-stage liquid hydrogen tank to send some of the liquid hydrogen to the engines. This is known as “purging”.

The team has since determined that it was a faulty sensor that provided the reading and they plan to ignore the faulty sensor in the future, according to John Blevins, chief engineer at Space Launch Systems.

The purge, expected to occur around 8:00 a.m. ET, is currently on hold while engineers address the hydrogen leak issue.

The Artemis Mission 1

After the launch of Artemis I, Orion’s journey will last 37 days as it travels to the Moon, around it and back to Earth, traveling a total of 2.1 million kilometers (1.3 million miles).

While the passenger list doesn’t include humans, it does have passengers: three mannequins and a stuffed Snoopy will travel on Orion.

The crew aboard the Artemis I may sound a bit unusual, but each one has a purpose. Snoopy will serve as a zero gravity indicator, meaning that she will begin to float inside the capsule once she reaches the space environment.

the mannequins, called Commander Moonikin Campos, Helga and ZoharThey will measure deep space radiation that future crews might experience and test new suits and protective technologies. A biology experiment carrying seeds, algae, fungi and yeasts is also inside Orion to measure how life reacts to this radiation.

Additionally, they mounted science experiments and technology demonstrations also in a ring on the rocket. From there, 10 small satellites, called CubeSats, will split up and go their separate ways to gather information about the moon and the deep space environment.

Cameras on and off Orion will share images and video throughout the mission, including live views of the Callisto experiment, which will capture a sequence of a mannequin called Commander Moonikin Campos sitting in the commander’s seat. If you have an Amazon Alexa-enabled device, you can ask it for the location of the mission every day.

Expect to see views of Earth similar to those first shared during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968, but with better quality cameras and technology.

The inaugural mission of the Artemis program will launch a phase of NASA’s space exploration intended to land diverse crews of astronauts in previously unexplored regions of the Moon, on the Artemis II and Artemis III missions, scheduled for 2024 and 2025 respectively. and will eventually carry manned missions to Mars.