Page 1 - Spec Tech Vol 1 Issue 03

Dr. MGR-ACS Space Technology Centre

SPACE EXPLORER

“An Ingress to Borderless world”

Volume 01/Issue-03 Bimonthly 16-31,August 2022

NASA now aims to launch Artemis 1 moon mission on

Sept. 3 after glitch

NASA aims to get its Artemis 1 moon mission
off the ground this weekend despite a recent
glitch.

The agency announced on Aug. 30 that it's
now targeting Sept. 3 for the launch of Artemis
1, a crucial mission whose first lift-off attempt
on Aug. 29 was scuttled by a technical issue.

If all goes according to plan, Artemis 1 will
launch from Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy
(Image credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky) Space Center (KSC) in Florida during a two-

hour window that opens at 2:17 p.m. EDT on Sept. 3(1817 GMT). courtesy of NASA.

During the countdown, however, Artemis 1 team members noticed that one of the four RS-25
engines that power the SLS core stage wasn't cooling to the desired low temperature — about
minus 420 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 250 degrees Celsius) — ahead of ignition.
Such thermal conditioning, achieved via the "bleeding" in of supercold liquid hydrogen propellant,
ensures there's no shock when the engines light up, mission team members have explained.
Engines 1, 2 and 4 got close to the mark during the countdown, but number 3 stayed relatively far
out of bounds, at roughly minus 380 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 230 Celsius), John Honeycutt,
manager of the SLS program at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, said during a
news conference this evening.

The Artemis 1 team couldn't troubleshoot the issue in time during Monday's countdown, so
the launch attempt was called off. But Honeycutt and others on the mission team think they have
a handle on it now: They suspect it boils down to a faulty temperature sensor on Engine 3.
"I think we understand the physics about how hydrogen performs, and the way the sensor is
behaving doesn't line up with the physics of the situation," Honeycutt said during this evening's
press conference. Readings from other sensors suggested that Engine 3 was getting appropriate
levels of liquid hydrogen during the bleed, he added.

Even if all the technical analyses support a launch attempt on Sept.3 , there's no guarantee
Artemis 1 will get off the pad that day. Mother Nature will have a say as well, and the news there
is a little iffy.

Space Explorer 2022 1