NASA suspends the launch of the Artemis I lunar mission after a fuel leak

First modification: 08/29/2022 – 17:09Last modification: 08/29/2022 – 17:19

After high expectations, NASA’s Artemis I mission is suspended.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States reported that the takeoff, which was scheduled for this Monday, August 29, was suspended due to a hydrogen fuel leak in one of the engines of the powerful Space Launch System rocket.

The four R-25 engines were to be “conditioned” with cryogenic propellant to bring them to the correct temperature for launch, but one of them did not respond as experts expected.

“Safety always comes first (…) Teams are working on a problem with the number 3 engine,” NASA posted on its Twitter account.

The mechanism “did not get the high-precision temperature they were looking for (…) The team could not overcome the spill of the engine that did not show the proper temperature and, ultimately, the launch director ordered a cleaning”, explained the spokesman for the space agency, Derrol Nail.

As a result, the rocket, which carries the Orion crew capsule on top, will remain on Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The next opportunity to take off is scheduled for next Friday, September 2, at 12:48 pm local time, Nail said.

“We have to wait to see what comes out of the test data they’re collecting now and the decision the launch team has to make about where to go from here,” the NASA spokesperson added.

This is not the first delay for the Artemis I mission. In fact, it has had years of delays due to technical failures that have resulted in billions of dollars in budget overruns; This demo alone costs $4.1 billion.

Hydrogen fuel leaks also marred the countdown test last April. The trial was repeated with more success in June, but experienced some leaks.

NASA experts had warned they wouldn’t know for sure whether the fixes were enough until they tried to load the rocket’s tanks with nearly a million gallons of super-cold fuel on Monday.

The 98-meter rocket is the most powerful ever built by the US space agency, surpassing even the Saturn V that first carried astronauts to the moon half a century ago.

Artemis I, the NASA mission that seeks to return humans to the Moon after five decades

Artemis I is named after the mythological twin sister of Apollo, as the program that first brought astronauts to the Moon in 1962 was called. It is the first part of an exploration that aims to bring humans into lunar orbit and prepare an eventual trip to Mars, among other objectives.

For this test flight there are no people on board but three mannequins. One will occupy the commander’s seat, equipped with vibration and acceleration sensors. The other two made of material that simulates human tissue will measure cosmic radiation, one of the greatest risks of space flight.

The first big goal is to spin a capsule near and around the Moon for the first time in 50 years. That will put Orion 450,000 kilometers from Earth, farther than Apollo.

But beyond returning to the natural satellite of the planet, the program has “a broader vision that is to explore the solar system, including Mars, asteroids and solve problems related to Earth,” Jacco Van Loon, director of the UK Keel Observatory.

According to the calculations of the space agency’s experts, the spacecraft would reach its goal in a week and the entire operation, from takeoff to landing in the Pacific, would take six weeks.

If this program goes according to plan, NASA will launch the Artemis II mission, which foresees astronauts on board, in 2024.

By the end of 2025 or 2026, Artemis III would be carried out, whose objective is to take two people to the lunar surface.

The next step would be Mars, possibly in the late 2030s or early 2040s.

With Reuters, AP and local media