NASA engineers had to work quickly to prevent another leak affecting Artemis’ last dry run, just hours after an abortion attempt to reactivate the International Space Station (ISS) via the spacecraft Cygnus charge after a few seconds.
The US space agency returned the huge Artemis I stack to its Florida launch pad on Monday after working with leaks and problems that had plagued its previous attempt to feed the beast to the April for a final trial of the final countdown.
As the propeller was being loaded into the rocket, drivers observed a hydrogen leak in the quick disconnect that connects an umbilical from the tail launcher service pole of the mobile launcher to the center stage of the rocket.
This leak would normally result in a hold on an actual release. By heating the disconnect and re-cooling it to align the seal did not work, the team “developed a plan to mask the data associated with the leak,” according to NASA. The “mask” – which prevented the data from triggering a hard shutdown by the launch computer – allowed the tests to proceed.
The tanks were filled for the first time and other critical operations were marked, including a transfer from the ground launch sequencer to the automated launch sequencer controlled by the rocket flight software.
The wet dress rehearsal ended at the 1937 EDT.
The question now is whether NASA considers that it has enough completed test targets to sign the stack as ready for its unmanned launch. If it does, there is a possibility that the big rocket will launch as summer approaches.
The problems also thwarted an attempt earlier in the day to reactivate the ISS with Northrup Grumman’s Cygnus NG CRS-17 cargo ship engine. The test shot, scheduled for Monday at 10:20 a.m. from the center, was expected to last just over five minutes, but was aborted after five seconds. The director of the Cygnus Mission in Dulles, Virginia, said the cause of the abortion was “understood” and was under review.
A second attempt could occur on June 25, potentially leading Cygnus to leave for the station on June 28.
The need to add additional reactivation options to the ISS has become even more urgent in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, subsequent sanctions and the noise of Roscosmos about a future where the Russian agency leaves the project. With the withdrawal of the US space shuttle and ESA ATV, reactivation options are limited. Instead, the engines of Russian progress engines are the norm.
Cygnus aside, non-Russian reactivation options are limited for ISS partners. A propulsion module was proposed as a backup of the functions of the Zvezda Roscosmos service module and the Progress cargo ship, but was never completed or launched. Another possibility involves the use of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. ®