Day: September 5, 2022

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After a second problem encountered by NASA’s launch team last Saturday, the Artemis I may not make the full mission as planned.

The vessel is slated for future missions — in September and October. However, with the new conditions giving doubts to the team, there may be delays with the aforementioned schedules. According to NASA, the delays could be from days to a couple of weeks, depending on the assessment from the launch team of Artemis I.

Jim Free, the associate administrator from the Exploration Systems Development Mission Doctorate of NASA, said, “We will not be launching in this launch period. We are not where we wanted to be.”

The vessel, composed of the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System rocket, needs to be brought to and checked by the Vehicle Assembly Building, where it will await a waiver from the US Space Force before it is cleared for its next mission.

The administrator of NASA, Bill Nelson, said that the scrubs the team encountered do not mean Artemis I is a failure. He told the media that Artemis had already been checked and reassessed by the Vehicle Assembly Building 20 times before its planned launch.

“We do not launch until we think it’s right,”said Nelson. “These teams have labored over that, and that is the conclusion they came to. I look at this as part of our space program, in which safety is the top of the list.”

The scrub that hindered the mission

Three hours before its planned launch last Saturday, Artemis I received a call for scrub from the members. A liquid hydrogen leak was discovered by the members. The team then checked and spent time resolving the issue.

Liquid Hydrogen is an essential requirement for takeoff since it is used as one of the propellants in the rocket’s large core. The leak within the Artemis I system suspended the takeoff of the vessel even with several troubleshooting initiatives undertaken by the team.

A small leak found in the same area was also found prior to the Saturday takeoff, but the one they found on the day of the launch was much bigger. According to the initial diagnosis, the soft seal of the liquid hydrogen connection might have been damaged due to overpressurization. However, the team said they need to make more assessments to ensure that everything is accounted for.

One of the other problems

Artemis mission manager Mike Sarafin had to make sure that all was in order before the launch was called. And in doing so, permitted to delay the takeoff numerous times because of several issues that arose. The hydrogen leak is just one of many problems the Artemis team dealt with.

Issues with the rocket’s cooling system, persistent leaks, and other minor issues were causes for the delay. Artemis I had been suspended twice because of these problems.

NASA said that the bigger leak on Saturday prompted the team to “close the valve used to fill and drain it, then increase pressure on a ground transfer line using helium to try to reseal it.”

Despite efforts to stop the leaking, it reoccured, leading the Artemis team to call off the launch plan. Further, weather officer Melody Lovin reported a 60% chance of favorable weather conditions.

The Artemis I and its goal

NASA has prepared for this mission for a long time because, if successful, NASA could set the conditions for another manned mission to the moon and, more ambitiously, to Mars.

Nelson said, “As we embark on the first Artemis test flight, we recall this agency’s l storied past, but our eyes are focused not on the immediate future but out there.”

“It’s a future where NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the l moon. And on these increasingly complex l missions, astronauts will live and work in l deep space, and we’ll develop the science and technology to send the first humans to Mars.”

Source: CNN

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After almost 50 years, humanity is now again preparing for a manned flight to the moon. With the help of a team of experts and scientists at NASA, the famed Apollo mission will soon be superseded by another ambitious flight to the Earth’s natural satellite – the Artemis I.

The Artemis program, named after the twin sister of Apollo, will make its way to the moon and land on where Apollo last ventured. The team is expected to travel across unexplored lunar regions. Looking ahead, NASA hopes that the Artemis missions will make it to the surface of Mars.

For the first time, humans would discover what is in the shadowy regions found south of the moon. The Artemis mission intends to find a stable area where astronauts could stay for extended periods of time and use findings to help in plans to shoot to Mars.

Over a month ago, NASA’s rover discovered stable pits on the surface of the moon where the temperature is stable and could support human life. Unfortunately, due to the volatility of the moon’s surface, astronauts have had a difficult time staying on the moon’s surface for a long time. However, with the discovery, NASA is confident that the Artemis I could achieve what it came for.

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What the Artemis I mission is

The Artemis launches on August 29. To ensure the safety of possible humans going into the intended region, the first flight would be unmanned but highly observed. NASA will lead the operations of Artemis I and check every factor that could help the agency come up with measures and countermeasures to guarantee smooth flight of the manned missions of Artemis II and Artemis III.

The subsequent missions will be based on the findings of Artemis I. NASA says that Artemis II will be launched in 2024, then Artemis III the year after.

The liftoff will commence at around 8:33 a.m. and 10:33 a.m. ET this August 29 from Florida. As expected, Americans would make their way to the Kennedy Space Center, where people could see the spectacle as the mission will start.

After liftoff, Artemis I will embark on a 42-day voyage where it will travel 40,000 miles beyond the moon, thanks to the Orion spacecraft. If successful, the journey will be farther than what Apollo has achieved. It is important that NASA oversees the mission since Artemis I’s path would be the same journey that the manned Artemis II will take.

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NASA’s pride

“As we embark on the first Artemis test flight, we recall this agency’s storied past, but our eyes are focused not on the immediate future but out there,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

“It’s a future where NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the moon. And on these increasingly complex missions, astronauts will live and work in deep space, and we’ll develop the science and technology to send the first humans to Mars.”

The Space Launch Rocket System propelling Artemis I to the moon is a design based on all the information and data from the Apollo mission. The rocket could carry the craft a thousand times farther than the low-Earth orbit location of the International Space Station. Further, the rocket will speed up the Orion up to 22,600 miles per hour.

“It’s the only rocket that’s capable of sending Orion and a crew and supplies into deep space on a single launch,” said the program manager of the SLS, John Honeycutt.

“It’s the powerhouse side of the vehicle where it’s got the primary propulsion, power and life support resources we need for Artemis I. Re-entry will be great to demonstrate our heat shield capability, making sure that the spacecraft comes home safely and, of course for future missions, protecting the crew,” added the Orion program manager of NASA, Howard Hu.

“Artemis I shows that we can do big things, things that unite people, things that benefit humanity — things like Apollo that inspire the world,” Nelson added. “And to all of us that gaze up at the moon, dreaming of the day humankind returns to the lunar surface: Folks, we’re here, we are going back, and that journey, our journey, begins with Artemis I.”

Source: CNN