NASA plans to make another crack in a crucial fuel test of its Space Launch System (SLS) megacoet on June 19.
SLS will make its debut next Artemis 1 mission, which will send an unmanned Orion capsule on a trip around the moon. But before Artemis 1 can take off, its SLS and Orion must complete a crucial series of pre-launch tests known as the “wet suit rehearsal.”
In a call with reporters on Friday afternoon (May 27), NASA officials announced that they plan to start launching Artemis 1 from the huge vehicle assembly building (VAB) at the Space Center. Kennedy (KSC) of NASA in Florida to launch the 39B platform at around midnight EDT (0400 GMT) on June 6th.
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It will not be the first launch of Artemis 1. NASA’s first test with a wet suit Artemis 1 began on April 1, about two weeks later moon rocket initially launched from the VAB. Following a similar timeline for vehicle checks on the platform this time around, NASA officials said they expect to begin the approximately 48-hour wet suit on June 19th.
Various technical problems emerged on the pad during last month’s wet suit, including a stuck valve and a hydrogen leak on one of the “umbilical” lines that connect the SLS to its mobile launch tower. The Artemis 1 team tried to feed the SLS three times, but ended up rubbing the wet suit, finally re-rolling the Artemis 1 stack in the VAB for repairs on April 25th.
NASA officials described several of these solutions during Friday’s call. For the leaky umbilical cord, for example, the flange screws were found to have inadvertently loosened, compromising their seal.
“These seals age over time,” said John Blevins, chief engineer of the SLS program at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama.
“We had adjusted them earlier and had not done … torque checks during the time period we have found now that these seals are aging,” he added. Blevins expressed confidence in the repair work, saying that members of the Artemis 1 team have taken steps to prevent leaks.
A helium check valve and hardware related to the upper stage of the SLS, called the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS), were replaced. Modifications were also made to the ICPS umbilical boots, which are involved in the rapid disconnection between SLS and the mobile launch tower during takeoff. Additional leak detectors were also added to the system components responsible for handling liquid hydrogen, NASA officials said.
Cliff Lanham, KSC’s senior director of vehicle operations for KSC’s Earth Exploration Systems program, highlighted some of Artemis 1’s work that NASA has begun earlier than expected thanks to SLS’s return to VAB. For example, teams have partially installed payloads inside the Orion capsule and replaced the remaining ground system plates with flight plates to cover the vehicle’s instrumentation. This adjustment, Lanham said, will give the vehicle better protection from Florida’s hot, humid, and often rainy weather, especially during the summer months.
While the SLS has been in maintenance at the VAB, the Pad 39B also received some necessary updates. Part of the SLS wet suit test requires feeding and draining the propellant rocket to simulate the procedures leading to an actual launch. Nitrogen gas is used in the pad to purge the rocket cavities and dry the umbilical cords, and Pad 39B may have received an increase in capacity over the past few weeks.
“Because it’s such a large rocket, we need a proportionate amount of commodities … There are many different features in the vehicle that require nitrogen gas,” said Tom Whitmeyer, NASA’s associate associate administrator for common exploration systems. , during Friday’s call.
The increased capacity will allow SLS to undergo more thorough controls on the launch pad, including a 32-hour test of the nitrogen system to simulate rocket consumption during launch, as well as ground and avionics systems.
“The vehicle itself is a very simple vehicle, but every time you go into cryogenic loading operations, it’s something you have to take one step at a time,” Whitmeyer said.
If the wet suit goes well this time, the Artemis 1 team can start preparing for a real takeoff. NASA officials have said they plan to launch Artemis 1 this August, although they will not set an official date until the wet suit has been completed and all data has been analyzed.
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