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NASA - SPACE
ARTEMIS PROGRAM NASA Postpones Artemis 1 Launch 
Original article: Peter Burgess COMMENTARY Peter Burgess | ||
NASA Postpones Artemis 1 Launch
AUGUST 29, 2022
NASA postponed its Artemis 1 mega rocket and Orion spacecraft to the moon due to an engine issue. The next potential launch date is September 2. The mission aims to study extended human life existence on the moon and deep outer space.
6:30 a.m. Eastern time here At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Looking at launch complex 39 b. And the space launch system with the Orion spacecraft on top. Getting into the predawn hours. It's a beautiful picture out there. We are in the midst of cryo tanking the world's most powerful rocket with the largest ever built propellant tank. The team got started and got to go from charlie Blackwell Thompson at 1:14 a.m. Eastern time. The team working diligently to get Nearly 3/4 of a million gallons of super chilled propellant flowed into the rocket. You're looking underneath the core stage now at the four RS 25 where currently engineers are trying to troubleshoot an engine bleed issue. Those four Rs 25 that you see right there need to be conditioned for launch with a flow of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen on the liquid hydrogen side having a little bit of an issue engine number three which is behind the engine on the right hand side isn't quite getting the engine bleed flow that it needs to and that that's indicated by the temperature readings that they're getting off of that engine at the top of the rocket. You can see liquid oxygen venting from the top of the spacecraft both from the core stage and from the I. C. P. S. Those tanks The core stage will start with that one is at 100% and isn't replenish and the upper stage the I. C. P. S. Liquid oxygen is nearly full currently still being filled. We're still in fast fill on that upper stage liquid oxygen tank. There's another issue there's a there's an item that the launch team is looking at on the rocket. Um It appears to be a line of frost on the inner tank seal on the exterior part of the core stage. We don't have a shot on that. But engineers do. And they're looking at uh their cameras and studying it and uh going over uh with the experts on the core stage on what that might be. So working both those issues in parallel. R. T. R. T. Zero time is currently set for 8:33 a.m. But um it's largely anticipated that that's going to be slipping. Assistant launch Director Jeremy Graber told us about an hour ago that the team is evaluating the delays And what kind of impact they would have on T. zero. But they won't have a full understanding until they really continue to work all sides of this For the configuration of the rest of the rocket. That team continues. They're doing their job. There's 91 engineers here in launch inside firing room one at the launch control center. And they're working away. But the big job is the cry of loading and getting these tanks ready to propel the space launch system off the launch pad. And it's a complex process. We were scheduled to start our main broadcast At 6:30 AM. It's a big broadcast that we have planned for a moon rocket and we're eager to share it with you. But because of the issues that we're working that I just mentioned, we're gonna stay with operational commentary for the time being. So we'll keep you updated on the engine bleed as well as uh, the uh, abnormal frost build up on uh, the core stage tank. I shouldn't say abnormal actually could be normal, but they're evaluating it a line of frost on the inter uh inter stage uh, flange. We'll keep you updated. This is our launch control t minus one hour 23 minutes and counting beautiful shot right there of launch complex 39 B with sls on the pad. Want to point your attention to a couple of things that you see there on your screen. First of all, we get a beautiful sunrise coming up at 6 59 AM Eastern time. You see it the two thirds up the way of the rocket there and the butterscotch colored portion, the um vapor trail that's coming off the rocket. That's a liquid oxygen venting down at the bottom of the rocket, venting liquid oxygen there as well. They're currently trying to troubleshoot an engine bleed. There's four RS 25 engines. The one that is um blocked by the one on the right is engine number three and that's the one they're having trouble getting down to the proper temperature. These engines have to be conditioned before launch and the way they condition them is they draw a bleed an engine bleed from both the liquid hydrogen and oxygen tanks And the temperature range is a tight one. They recently reopened the vent bleed valve after closing it. They've done this twice. Um, just listening to the team and um, learning that, that did not resolve the issue. You see the uh, flare stack to the far left of your picture there, that is uh, hydrogen gas burning off. That's normal. That is that is you found the liquid oxygen side. You have the vent at the top of the rocket. But for the venting of the hydrogen, you have a flare stack, hydrogen obviously a lot more concerning to have that build up in places can't just release that into the atmosphere. And so they burn it. It has that color orange, not because that's the color of hydrogen hydrogen when it burns is actually colorless, but it's the impurities in the system that give it that orange flame, That's a beautiful shot as well. Currently working these issues, we're gonna let you know what happens. It's very active time with the team. We have a big launch broadcast plan for you. We're currently putting that on hold for the moment letting the team work will continue with operational commentary for the moment. This is our to miss launch control. Artists are to launch control with an update Now, um, the launch director just signed off on another troubleshooting plan to get The engine bleed and engine number three going. So they pressurized the tank bled all four engines and engine number three, which is behind the one on the right that you see on your picture there is not getting the proper engine bleed in order, condition it for launch and they want to see that they can get this in that temperature range uh, as an important test before continuing. And the latest plan is to close the pre valves on engines 12 and four and let the tank vent through the third engine. And so the pressure to the tank is coming down. Now they're venting everything through three, trying to get that bleed valve going Just to summarize for you. If you're just joining us now, we are currently working a troubleshooting plan on the RS 25 engines um, with regards to an engine bleed, which is a requirement before the rocket can launch. This is on the core stage liquid hydrogen side at 1:14 a.m. Eastern time launch director charlie Blackwell Thompson gave the go for tanking both core stage tanks, liquid oxygen and hydrogen were filled. Upper stage nearly filled. This coming after a roughly 45 minute weather delay. Once the tanking for the core stage was finished, they started venting the uh, hydrogen side on the engines and discovered that engine number three wasn't uh, at the, at the right spec that it needed to be. And so currently they're going through a number of, uh, troubleshooting plans and we're paying attention closely to that process, We have a broadcast plan for you for lunch currently holding off on that and sticking with operational commentary as the team works to resolve this issue. This is already miss launch control. The team is now opening the pre valves on the three engines that they closed, lowering the pressure in the tank. Again, the valves on the three engines that were closed. They were, they are now opening them up. They didn't see, They didn't see the bleed that they were looking for on engine number three. At this time, the launch team is working to get the core stage into a stable configuration regards to the liquid hydrogen tank, 538,000 gallon liquid hydrogen tank. Quick update. The launch director has asked the liquid hydrogen team to come up with next steps and a plan on what to do. We should have that momentarily Again. They've been working a, an issue with engine bleed and engine number three on the liquid hydrogen side. A number of troubleshooting um, steps, uh, proved unable to get it going. The next step is in work. We'll have that for you as soon as they informed the launch director of what that is. Meanwhile, the rest of the launch team continues to work forward and press forward with configuring this vehicle. But clearly the focus is on the liquid hydrogen side at the moment. This is launch control as you look underneath the Rs I'm sorry, the core stage, the four RS 25 engines. If you're just joining us, we have put our regular launch broadcast on hold as the launch team works on the issue with a liquid hydrogen engine bleed. We want to stay with our operational commentary for the moment to recap. We had a weather delay at the top of the tanking today, roughly about 45 minutes after that launch director gave the go for tanking at 1:14 a.m. Eastern time. Following that, we had some issues on the hydrogen side first what was what appeared to be a leak on the inlet side of the core stage. Tank engineers took trouble shooting measures and managed to clear that, got everything seated and they continue with tanking, getting both tanks to replenish standby, listening to the team give an update after the engine leak was, I'm sorry the hydrogen leak was resolved. The team ran the engine bleed on the hydrogen side to get those engines condition for launch and then they ran into another issue. There are four RS 25 engines at the bottom of the core stage. All four of them bleed out liquid hydrogen when the launch team commands it as well as liquid oxygen and that conditions the main propulsion system along with all the plumbing inside and gets it ready for launch stand by and so where we stand at the moment is the hydrogen team is working on a troubleshooting plan and I'm listening to them now, Hydrogen team discussing the situation with the launch director at this very moment standby Artemus launch control at T -41 minutes and 14 seconds. The countdown clock is slated to hold at t minus 40 minutes and counting Again. The clock is going to hold at T -40 minutes. So just 60 seconds from now, you'll see that clock stop. And at that time the hydrogen team is going to discuss their plan with the launch director, They're still working on it. They're asking for 10 minutes and then there they will brief the launch director, Launch director, charlie Blackwell Thompson The clock will hold in 321 mark. This is our time. This launch control. We're currently standing by at T -40 minutes and holding the liquid oxygen tanks are in replenish both at the bottom and the top of the rocket. You can see there the venting of liquid oxygen, which goes to gaseous oxygen team is currently discussing a troubleshooting plan as we sit in the hold, the liquid hydrogen upper stage is in stop flow, as is uh, the liquid hydrogen tank in the core stage. If you're just joining us, We're gonna hold after an engine bleed um, caused a stop in the countdown. The engine bleed, uh, failing to reach the proper temperature In Sync with the other four engines. It's a function of pressure. The team pressurized the tank Just about 45 minutes ago, drew an engine bleed and were unable to get A temperature on the 3rd engine, which is in the back right corner. Unable to get an even temperature across all four engines. That engine number three, is what they're currently troubleshooting. Engineers are asking for a little more time to get back with the launch director on a go forward plan or stand by for that. This is part of this launch control with an update on a previous issue, We're holding at T -40 minutes. You may recall if you've been with us for the past hour, that there was a line of ice that had formed on the inter tank on the exterior of the core stage where there is a flange. Engineers have taken a long look at that and have come up with a conclusion, They say that um, that ice formed along the line. That ice that formed is essentially uh, air that's being chilled by the tank. It gets trapped inside of a crack in the foam, but not the actual tank. So ambient air is basically cryo pumped into this uh, crevice in the thermal protection system, which, that butterscotch colored thermal protection that you see there is sprayed on. And especially at that seam where you see the inner tank between where it starts to go into a cone in that area. They've had trouble in the past where it's just a stress crack in the foam and they know this because they can see the offset if it were a structural crack, one side would be coming out farther than the other. They don't see that. So essentially to the untrained eye, it can look like a crack. But what it actually is according to the engineers is air is being in chilled and then comes right back out of that foam as vapor. It appears like it looks like something is leaking when in fact it's not. And they have a history of this going back to the space shuttle era which had an external tank with super chilled propellants in it. They call it cryo pumping air gets in the void because the cold temps get super chilled and then vents out. In the meantime, we're awaiting the hydrogen teams plan to go forward and update to the launch director standing by for that. We'll have that as soon as they give it. This is our to miss launch control. This is our launch control. We are currently in an unplanned hold at T -40 minutes for the launch of Artemis one from launch complex 39 B at the Kennedy space center in florida. We are awaiting an update from the launch director after she consults with the cryo team on the hydrogen side. They have an issue with one of the four engines in the core stage. She's waiting a troubleshooting plan and uh, and a way forward. Engineers are currently discussing that plan at this very moment. The engineers telling the launch director, they hope to have a discussion with her shortly In the next 10 minutes possibly. We're standing by for that Artemus launch control. It's a M Eastern time here at launch complex 39 B At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. We are currently holding at T -40 minutes as an unplanned hold while the launch team works on an issue With engine # three in the core stage. We're standing by for a go forward plan from the Cryo team. We're still discussing that launch director is on standby. We began taking at 1:14 A. M. Eastern time Launch team getting uh, both of the core stage tanks To 100 began taking the upper stage. Once they started an engine bleed, they found that one of the engines didn't get the high accuracy temperature that they were looking for. And that is a constraint to launch. This is this is something they wanted to test during wet dress for but were unable to because they had a leak develop in the quick disconnect line that carries the engine bleed off of the engines and out to a flare stack. So this is the first opportunity for this team to see this live in action. It's a particularly tricky issue even going in to get that ah temperature dialed in according to engineers And so we are standing by listening to the launch team, the launch director consulting with some of the members on our team, still waiting for the cryo team to report out. We'll have that as soon as it's ready. This is our launch control, This is our launch control at T -4 minutes, 40 minutes and holding, I just spoke with launch director Charlie Blackwell Thompson who said that um, her team is still working uh, on a troubleshooting plan for engine number three that had the issue with the engine bleed. She's still waiting for uh, more information about that. Engineers are still discussing it and going over some modeling and data and once they have that ready, they're going to come back to her and have a discussion and so she says that uh, she's awaiting that and we are standing by Again at T -40 minutes. We'll have more information when we get it. This is artemis launch control with an update launch director Charlie Blackwell Thompson has called a scrub for today. Again, launch director Charlie Blackwell Thompson has called a scrub of the attempt of launch of Artemis one and the space launch system with the Orion spacecraft. The issue that came up was an engine bleed that couldn't be remedied. Um, but the rocket is currently in a stable configuration. It was mostly tanked but not completely tanked. Engineers are now working on a plan to uh, continue gathering data about this particular engine and the bleed that didn't work out the rocket. Uh, the the hydrogen bleed rather was a goal of the previous wet dress rehearsal. Uh, that didn't happen due to a hydrogen leak. So, uh, engineers are, are focused on gathering as much data as they can at this time. So they have not gone to um, to draining the rocket just yet. They're going to keep it in its current configuration and uh, gather that data to summarize. We held at T -40 minutes and counting after the team was unable to get um past engine bleed that ah didn't show the right temperature once they got into the engine bleed test and ultimately the launch director has called a scrub for the day. The earliest opportunity depending on what happens with this engine bleed would be September two that is available to the launch team. However, we will wait a determination of what the plan is to go forward to remedy the engine bleed and then go from there again. An availability to launch. The next availability to launch is 12 48 PM Eastern time on friday september 2nd. But we must wait to see ah what shakes out from their test data they're currently gathering now and the decision that's made by the launch team about where to go from here. We appreciate you watching Nasa tv And our coverage of the Artemus one launch attempt. This is Gerald NEal, with Nasa Communications signing off from the Kennedy space center in florida. Thank you.
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