The next launch attempt for the NASA’s Artemis 1 moon rocket is scheduled just after midnight Nov. 14 after a hydrogen leak and Hurricane Ian thwarted tries to launch the unpiloted test flight to the moon in August and September, space agency officials announced this week.
Unlike the previous launch attempts for the Artemis 1 moon mission, the launch times available to NASA are mostly at night. The launch window Nov. 14 opens at 12:07 a.m. EST (0507 GMT) and extends for 69 minutes. NASA said Wednesday it has requested Nov. 14, Nov. 16, and Nov. 19 for launch opportunities on the U.S. Space Force’s Eastern Range, the unit responsible for public safety and launch scheduling on Florida’s Space Coast.
The launch windows Nov. 16 and Nov. 19 open at 1:04 a.m. EST (0604 GMT) and 1:45 a.m. EST (0645 GMT). Each day has a launch window that runs for two hours.
On its first test flight, NASA’s huge Space Launch System rocket will send an unpiloted Orion crew capsule on a four-day voyage toward the moon. The Orion spacecraft will enter a distant retrograde orbit around the moon, executing two close flybys about 60 miles (100 kilometers) above the lunar surface on the outbound journey and then again on the return trip to Earth.
Different launch dates come with different mission profiles. Some launch dates set up the Artemis 1 mission for a shorter duration of about three-and-a-half weeks, while other launch dates have mission profiles with durations extending up to six weeks.
If the Artemis 1 test flight takes off Nov. 14, the Orion spacecraft would fly a shorter-duration 25-and-a-half day mission profile, resulting in a splashdown of the crew capsule in the Pacific Ocean on Dec. 9.
12월 발사 기간은 27월 28일부터 XNUMX월 XNUMX일까지 진행됩니다. NASA는 각 Artemis 발사 기간에 약 XNUMX주 동안 발사가 가능하며 그 후 임무가 불가능할 때는 약 XNUMX주가 있습니다. 발사 기간의 주요 동인은 지구 주위의 XNUMX일 궤도에서 달의 위치이지만, 낮에 태평양에서 오리온 우주선의 스플래시다운으로 궤적이 정점에 도달해야 하는 NASA의 요구 사항을 포함하여 다른 요인도 있습니다.
NASA rolled the 322-foot-tall (98-meter) SLS moon rocket back to the Vehicle Assembly Building on Sept. 27 for safekeeping from Hurricane Ian, precluding any additional launch attempts during launch periods in October. The mission’s first launch attempt Aug. 29 was scrubbed due to a sensor problem indicating an issue thermally conditioning one of the core stage’s space shuttle-era main engines.
Officials scrubbed a second countdown Sept. 3 due to a hydrogen leak. After teams swapped out seals in the leaky hydrogen connector, NASA’s launch team loaded super-cold propellant into the rocket during a tanking test Sept. 21 to prove that the leak was fixed. NASA hoped to try again to launch the Artemis 1 test flight in late September or early October, but the threat from Hurricane Ian forced officials to return the rocket to the assembly building.
엔지니어들은 비행 종료 시스템의 배터리 교체를 포함하여 VAB에서 로켓으로 여러 작업을 계획합니다. 이 작업은 발사체가 이륙 후 코스를 벗어나 인구 밀집 지역을 위협할 경우 이를 파괴하기 위해 안전 팀이 사용할 것입니다. 배터리 교체 작업을 수행하려면 기술자가 액세스 도어를 열고 SLS 코어 스테이지의 "인터탱크" 섹션으로 들어가야 합니다. 코어 스테이지의 액체 수소와 액체 산소 탱크 사이의 부피입니다.
플로리다의 우주 해안에서 발사되는 모든 발사에 대한 공공 안전을 책임지고 있는 미 우주군의 이스턴 레인지(Eastern Range)는 지난 주 NASA가 1월 초까지 아르테미스 25호 발사 시도를 가능하게 할 만큼 충분히 긴 비행 종료 시스템 배터리 인증을 연장하는 권리를 포기했습니다. 배터리는 원래 1월 초까지 Artemis XNUMX 발사 시도를 허용할 만큼 긴 XNUMX일 동안만 인증되었습니다.
배터리를 교체하고 다시 테스트하는 것은 VAB 내부에 로켓이 있어야만 가능합니다.
Workers inside the VAB will also repair minor damage to foam and cork on the rocket’s thermal insulation system, and recharging or replacing batteries on elements of the launch vehicle and Orion spacecraft. Ground teams will also recharge batteries on some of the rocket’s 10 CubeSat secondary payloads. NASA said it plans to roll the rocket back to Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center as soon as Nov. 4.
The Artemis 1 test flight is a precursor to future astronaut missions to the moon aboard the SLS moon rocket and Orion spacecraft. The second Artemis mission, called Artemis 2, will launch a crew of four astronauts on a loop around the far side of the moon as soon as 2024, and NASA aims to use a commercial lander built by SpaceX for trips to and from the lunar surface later this decade.
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