It is anticipated that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) infamous Artemis 1 mission will launch in late September after two prior attempts were significantly postponed by technical issues.
According to senior official Jim Free, NASA is considering September 23 and September 27 as potential dates for its next attempt to launch the Artemis 1 mission to the Moon.
After the massive Space Launch System rocket encountered technical difficulties, including a fuel leak, two prior attempts were abandoned.
Free, associate administrator for the agency’s exploration systems development department, noted that the 23rd is a 6:47am window with an 80-minute length, and the 27th is an 11:37am window with a 70-minute duration.
The dates were selected to prevent a collision with the DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test), which is scheduled to involve a spacecraft colliding with an asteroid on September 26.
The dates of the launches, however, are contingent upon NASA gaining a special dispensation to avoid having to retest batteries on an emergency flight system that is designed to destroy the rocket if it veers beyond of its intended range and into a populated region.
The timeframe would be advanced by several weeks if the rocket had to be wheeled back to its assembly facility because it would not be granted the waiver.
A tanking test might be conducted on September 17 if the work to repair seals to address the hydrogen leak problem is finished by Thursday night, according to Mike Bolger, exploratory ground systems manager.
On Saturday, NASA aborted its most recent launch attempt because engineers were unable to fix a hydrogen fuel leak.
Engineers were unable to get one of the rocket’s engines down to a safe temperature in time for takeoff, which contributed to the previous unsuccessful attempt.
The gigantic, 30-story rocket’s long-delayed launch, which is intended to put American astronauts on the moon in 2025, is more important than just resolving the technical issues.
After the most recent scrubbed launch, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson declared, “We go when it’s ready.”
We won’t take off until then, and particularly not now on a test flight, because we want to stress it out, test it, and make sure the heat shield is functioning properly before we put four people on top of it.
In order to test the SLS and the unmanned Orion capsule that rides atop, the Artemis 1 space mission seeks to pave the way for future lunar missions with people on board.