For once, NASA is once again experiencing a delay with its Space Launch System (SLS), its ultra-heavy launcher with which it will return to the Moon. Indeed, the test which was planned for April 4 had to be stopped in extremis.
A problem with the mobile launcher of the SLS
At around 100 meters high, the SLS is the most powerful rocket ever built. Lying on her launch pad for a fortnight now, she had to undergo the famous ” wet dress rehearsal », a general rehearsal simulating the steps preceding a real launch, with in particular the filling of the tanks, which ends only a few seconds before the end of the countdown. This test is decisive for the rest of the program, since when it is successfully carried out, the launcher will be able to really take off to propel the Orion capsule into orbit around the Moon during the Artemis 1 mission.
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“ While cooling the lines in preparation for loading liquid hydrogen, crews encountered a problem with a moving launcher panel that controls the core stage vent valve. The purpose of the vent valve is to vent pressure from the core stage during filling. As the teams had little time to fix the issue, the launch director decided to stop testing for the day. A team will review the issue at the launch pad and the team will investigate their availability as well as the time needed to return the systems before making a decision on how to proceed “, explains NASA in A press release.
Despite this technical problem, the teams managed to develop a new procedure for loading liquid oxygen, a cryogenic propellant, and to fill the tank to 50% with the latter. If the test was not carried out from start to finish, the space agency was still able to ensure that ” modeled loading procedures were accurate “, she was also able to” monitor the core stage while exposed to cryogenic liquids and collect data that will update propellant loading procedures “.
In this photograph, the moon lights up the sky as the SLS lies on its launch pad. Photography: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani
An essential test following the program
The fact that NASA encounters such technical problems for its general rehearsal is relatively normal, especially since no risk will be taken because, it must be taken into account, the SLS is not a reusable launcher like those of SpaceX , and its development cost is very high. As a reminder, the SLS has been in development for eleven years now, so NASA does not intend to make any mistakes.
From now on, the space agency will review the problem on the landing pad and study the availability of range and the time needed to restore the systems before making a decision on the way forward “. A press conference should soon be held to announce when the test will be postponed.
This dress rehearsal will pave the way for the unmanned Artemis 1 mission, during which the Orion capsule will travel to lunar orbit. If all goes according to plan, the Artemis 2 mission will take off in 2023 with several astronauts aboard the Orion capsule that will go into orbit around the Moon. In 2025, the Artemis 3 mission should land a crew of astronauts on the surface of our satellite.
As a reminder, the objective of the Artemis program is to bring the human being back to the Moon and to establish a base there called Lunar Gateway, to exploit the resources of the Moon to survive there and then to move on to the next stage, that is, the first manned mission to Mars.