Last Monday, August 29, mission scientists Artemis they were forced to postpone their first lunar launch attempt. One of SLS rocket engineswhich was supposed to power the Orion spacecraft was not cooled properly during cooling tasks and, as if that weren’t enough, a possible hydrogen leak. The engine was a headache, because although they tried different ways to cool it, they could not achieve it. But now we know that it’s not that they didn’t succeed, but that they didn’t measure it properly because the fault wasn’t in the engine, but in one of its components. thermometers.
NASA explained this at the same press conference where it was announced that the second attempt would end up not being 2, but September 3. In it, they explained the implications of this discovery. And the thing is, while it’s good news that the only fault is with the sensor, in order to fix this problem, they’ll have to put the rocket back in place. Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center, in Florida. This will take time and possibly first phase of artemis I had to postpone until October.
It is logical that this is better than losing the ship. However, this may not be necessary. NASA’s plan at the moment is to see if other measurements can be used to ensure that the engines are in good condition without having to return this particular sensor. suitable values. This is risky and they will certainly only do so if they consider the risk to be minimal. They are the first to want everything to go well.
An engine that hasn’t cooled down
liquid hydrogen and oxygen propellants which are used for rockets are at very low temperatures. Therefore, before starting, it is important to cool the engines so that they are not then subjected to a very sharp change in temperature. All was going well last Monday until one of the four Artemis rocket engines began to give problems. While others were chilled without problems, number 3 it was still very hot. He couldn’t get fuel properly.
Several tricks were tried, such as closing the valves of the rest of the engines so that he would take coolant. with great pressure. However, even that didn’t work. In addition, due to the formation of frost at one point of the rocket, engineers feared that hydrogen leaks. There were two alarming failures, so the mission was permanently aborted just minutes after the launch window opened.
Since then, Artemis scientists have continued to study the rocket and its engines in search of a bug. What did engine 3 have that the others didn’t have? Careful inspection gave a rather unexpected answer: measurements from one of thermometers they didn’t match the physics around him. Or, to put it simply, it didn’t work properly.
What will happen to Artemis now?
If this is the only problem, Artemis scientists believe that data from other sensors, especially those that measure parameters such as Pressure, they can give an idea of engine cooling. After all, temperature also affects pressure. If each of the parameters that could be influenced is changed accordingly, then that particular sensor could be discarded.
However, special attention should be paid to the area in which possible leak. You need to make sure that there is no hydrogen loss, as this could be fatal to the mission. If all this, apart from weather conditionsEverything is going well, this Saturday, September 3, Artemis will have a new opportunity to go to the moon. Let’s hope this is the last one.
Source: Hiper Textual
