The launch of NASA’s newest rocket, the most powerful in the world, to the moon was canceled on Monday due to a technical problem. But the launch can still take place during the next launch window, this Friday, said an official from the American space agency.
Fifty years after the last Apollo flight, the Artemis 1 mission should mark the start of the American program to return to the Moon in order to allow humanity to then reach Mars.
“We are keeping the option of Friday,” mission manager Mike Sarafin said at a press conference, without wishing to go further. He indicated that the analyzes by NASA teams would resume on Tuesday in order to get a better idea of the time needed to resolve the problems that have arisen, in particular concerning one of the engines.
If take-off does not take place on Friday, another window of opportunity exists on Monday September 5th. The possibility of take-off is then interrupted until September 19.
It is the first time that the orange and white SLS rocket, 98 meters high, must fly. NASA officials had repeated all weekend that it was a test flight and that technical unforeseen events could occur at any time, despite several dress rehearsals in recent months.
“I’m a little disappointed, but […] I’m not surprised, ”astronaut Stan Love, who has worked on the program for two decades, told reporters on site in Florida. “It’s a brand new vehicle, it has millions of parts, and they all have to work perfectly. »
Engine problem
The launch was originally scheduled for 8:33 a.m. from Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center.
The filling of the rocket’s tanks with its ultracold fuel (liquid hydrogen and oxygen) had started about an hour late because of a risk of lightning. Then a leak caused a pause during the filling of the main stage with hydrogen.
Around 7 a.m., a new problem appeared: one of the four RS-25 engines, under the main stage of the rocket, could not reach the desired temperature, a necessary condition to be able to ignite it. A valve problem was also encountered, said Mike Sarafin.
The countdown was then stopped, then, after more than an hour of waiting, the launch director at NASA, Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, made the decision to cancel the launch: the launch window did not s only extended over two hours and there was not enough time to solve the problem.
“We don’t take off until everything is ready,” NASA boss Bill Nelson said shortly after the cancellation. The engineers “will get to the bottom of the problem, fix it, and we will fly,” he said.
Set foot on the moon
Thousands of people had made the trip to watch the show, including the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris.
The mission is to propel the unmanned Orion capsule into orbit around the Moon to verify that the vehicle is safe for future astronauts, including the first woman and first person of color to walk on the lunar surface.
The main purpose of Artemis 1 is to test the capsule’s heat shield, which will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere at almost 40,000 km/h, and reach a temperature half that of the Sun’s surface.
Instead of astronauts, mannequins equipped with sensors recording vibrations and radiation levels will be on board. Microsatellites will also be deployed to study the Moon. The capsule will venture up to 64,000 km behind Earth’s natural satellite, farther than any other habitable spacecraft so far.
A complete failure of the mission would be devastating for this rocket with a huge budget (US$4.1 billion per launch, according to a public audit) and several years late (it was ordered in 2010 by the United States Congress for an initial date take-off in 2017).
After Artemis, Mars
After this first mission, Artemis 2 will carry astronauts to the Moon in 2024, without landing there. The honor will be reserved for the crew of Artemis 3, in 2025 at the earliest. NASA then wants to launch about one mission per year.
The goal: to establish a lasting human presence on the Moon, with the construction of a space station (Gateway) in orbit around the only natural satellite of the Earth and a base on the lunar surface.
There, humanity must learn to live in deep space and develop all the technologies necessary for a round trip to Mars, a multi-year journey that could take place “at the end of the 2030s”, according to Bill Nelson. .
But before that, going to the Moon is also strategic, faced with the ambitions of competing nations, notably China.