NASA was forced to abandon a launch attempt for the Artemis 1 moon rocket earlier this month. After scrubbing the launch, NASA reported the rocket suffered a serious hydrogen leak that would necessitate repairs. The agency now says the defective seals have been swapped, but engineers have more testing to do before considering the next launch attempt.
Artemis 1 is the first launch of a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which is on track to be the most powerful rocket in the world. In this first launch, there won’t be any crew in the Orion module, but NASA will remotely pilot the vessel around the moon and back to Earth over the course of several weeks. This expendable platform is the key to NASA’s plans for new lunar operations, which will see the first woman walking on the moon as part of the Artemis 3 mission.
A few weeks back, NASA announced three potential launch dates for Artemis 1, but the leak has forced another delay. NASA has now replaced the 8-inch line seals in the core stage, as well as the 4-inch bleed line seals. While the new seals appear to be holding, NASA plans to conduct additional tests before moving forward with another launch attempt. Over the weekend, engineers went over the components in detail, but we can’t know for sure if the fix will hold until the rocket has been fueled.
Engineers have replaced the seals associated with the hydrogen leak detected during the #Artemis I launch attempt on Sept. 3. The teams will inspect the new seals over the weekend and assess opportunities to launch: https://t.co/dT8A4UEkvd pic.twitter.com/xXzwbYOxMp
— NASA Artemis (@NASAArtemis) September 9, 2022
As soon as September 17th, NASA will conduct a tanking operation that involves loading the rocket with 736,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and oxygen. This will allow Artemis engineers to see how the new seals behave under ultra-cold cryogenic conditions — the same conditions under which the old seals failed.
With all that done, NASA will explore future launch opportunities for the SLS. It could take a while, and that could give Elon Musk’s SpaceX a chance to get its super-heavy lift rocket into space first. The SpaceX Starship is a reusable rocket that will help the company deploy next-gen Starlink satellites and carry heavy payloads to the moon and beyond. It doesn’t truly matter which vehicle reaches space first — the Artemis Program makes use of the Starship as well. The SpaceX vessel will become the Starship HLS (human landing system) to ferry astronauts to and from the lunar surface. Of course, the SLS needs to work properly to get them to lunar orbit in the first place.
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