NASA SLS Artemis I
The SLS rocket, which has been delayed many times during the entire development process, will not launch smoothly at the last moment. Because one of the four main rocket engines (Engine 3) had unexpected difficulty cooling down, NASA engineers and the mission team decided to abandon today’s launch window and continue trying to figure out the source of the problem. The exact time of the next launch window has yet to be announced by NASA, but according to the information provided previously, the next launch opportunity should be at 12:48 pm ET on September 2, which is our September 3 (Saturday). ) at 12:48 am.
When the rocket is launched, in order to avoid the sudden influx of ultra-low temperature liquid fuel into the engine and cause damage to the parts, the engine will be “pre-cooled” before the launch, and the temperature of the engine will be slowly lowered to an appropriate temperature. The SLS’s engine is cooled by slowly flowing a small portion of the fuel through the engine, and while engines 1, 2, and 4 are fine, engine 3 has no fuel. After a pressurized attempt to force fuel through failed, Engine 3 never reached the temperature required to start, so NASA had to pause with 40 minutes left in the countdown and ended today’s attempt.
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In some ways, this is NASA’s own fault.Failed three times in the rehearsal (Wet Dress Rehearsal)Pushed back to assembly plant for one repairLater, NASA’sFourth preview testHydrogen valve leaks still occur. In order to allow the countdown to continue, NASA chose the problem of “covering” and continued the countdown process, but because of this cover, the aforementioned pre-cooling operation was not tested. If there is indeed something wrong inside the No. 3 engine, it should be discovered during the rehearsal, but it was revealed at this time because NASA chose to “skip” it.
If it turns out to be just a glitch, we should expect to see it lift off in the September 2nd or 5th window, but if it’s a more troubling issue, I’m afraid the SLS rocket will be pushed back to the assembly plant for more updates. further inspection.