USA: NASA Artemis Moon rocket launch postponed again due to fuel leak

Indians Daily 📧: newsindiansdaily@gmail.com September 03, 2022 0

USA: NASA today completed its second attempt to land a powerful new rocket from Earth on the moon and send its unmanned test capsule to the moon.

This is after engineers discovered a fuel leak at the base of the rocket while pumping ultra-cold liquid hydrogen. Today's launch of the Space Launch System (SLS) was scheduled for 7:17pm (Irish time) from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA has backup options to try and attempt another launch on Monday or Tuesday. After that, the next launch window won't be until September 19 due to the position of the moon.

NASA said engineers would "stop the flow of liquid hydrogen into the tank, close the valve used to fill and drain it, and then try to seal the leak again."

The initial launch attempt was aborted after engineers discovered a fuel leak and a sensor showed one of the rocket's four main engines was overheating. The launch team announced that both issues have been resolved. Just before 11 a.m. today, launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson gave the go-ahead to begin filling the rocket's tanks with cryogenic fuel. About three million liters of ultra-cold liquid hydrogen and oxygen were expected to be pumped into the probe.

Artemis missions

The Artemis missions are named after the twin sister of the Greek god Apollo, after whom the first lunar missions were named. Unlike the Apollo missions, which sent only white men to the moon between 1969 and 1972, the Artemis missions would see the first non-white person and the first woman on the lunar surface.

The purpose of the Artemis 1 mission is to test whether the Orion capsule sitting atop the SLS rocket is safe to carry astronauts in the future. The mission consisted of mannequins (dolls) equipped with sensors for the astronauts to record acceleration, vibration and radiation levels.

The spacecraft will take a few days to reach the moon, the trip is expected to last six weeks, and one of its main goals is to test the capsule's heat shield, which at about five meters in diameter is the largest ever built.

The next mission, Artemis 2, will take astronauts to the moon without landing on the lunar surface. Artemis 3's journey is envisioned to land a crew on the Moon in 2025, with later missions envisioning a lunar space station and a permanent presence on the lunar surface. According to NASA chief Bill Nelson, the human journey to the red planet in Orion, which will last several years, could be attempted in the late 2030s.

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