Due to technical issues with the rocket, including a fuel leak, NASA had to abort two previous launch attempts.
What is Artemis I?
The Orion spacecraft, Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and ground systems will all be tested during Artemis I, formerly known as Exploration Mission-1, at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Artemis I, the first of a series of more difficult missions, will be an unmanned flight test that will lay the groundwork for human deep space exploration and show our willingness and capacity to take human civilization to the Moon and beyond.Â
The spaceship will take off on the most potent rocket in the planet and travel farther than any human-built spacecraft has ever gone. Over a four to six-week journey, it will travel 280,000 miles from Earth and thousands of miles beyond the Moon. Orion will return home faster and hotter than ever before after spending more time in orbit than any other ship for astronauts has without docking to a space station.
Mike Sarafin, the mission manager for Artemis I at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said, “This is a mission that actually will do what hasn’t been done and learn what isn’t known.” In order to prepare for the mission, it will “create a trail that humans will follow on the next Orion trip.”
Future Missions
NASA is spearheading the next stages in human exploration into deep space with this first exploration trip, where astronauts will develop and begin testing technologies around the Moon needed for lunar surface missions and exploration to other destinations farther from Earth, including Mars. The second mission will send the crew on a different path and will put Orion’s essential systems to the test with humans aboard. The SLS rocket will grow from an initial configuration capable of transporting more than 26 tonnes to the Moon to a final version capable of sending at least 45 tonnes. Orion, SLS, and the ground infrastructure at Kennedy will be able to satisfy the most difficult crew and cargo mission requirements in deep space.
Future Orion exploration missions will assemble and dock with a Gateway. NASA and its partners will utilise the gateway for deep-space activities such as flights to and from the Moon, reducing their dependency on Earth. We will get the knowledge needed to push human exploration further into the solar system than ever before by using lunar orbit.
Cause of delay
The Space Launch System (SLS) core stage seals have been replaced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA),in response to the liquid hydrogen leak discovered during the Artemis I launch attempt on September 3.
Artemis I SLS-orion was scheduled to launch on its second try earlier in September, but NASA postponed the launch 40 minutes before the rocket was scheduled to lift off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center due to a fuel line leak in the SLS. The space agency is currently searching for a second opportunity to launch its Artemis IMoon rocket on September 23.
The 4-inch bleed line, which was used to reroute some of the propellant during tanking operations, and the 8-inch line, which is used to load and drain liquid hydrogen from the core stage, were both taken out and replaced by engineers last week, according to the US space agency.
While a tanking demonstration is being prepared for as early as September 17, technicians reconnected the umbilical plates and conducted checks over the weekend, it added. According to NASA, this demonstration will enable engineers to test the new seals under cryogenic, or extremely cold, conditions that will be present on launch day and before moving on to the next launch attempt.
Due to technical issues, including a fuel leak, the space agency had to abort two launch attempts.
Before astronauts board the subsequent voyage, NASA aims to complete a full orbit of the moon in the crew capsule atop the rocket. Astronauts could fly around the moon in 2024 and arrive there in 2025 if the five-week test demonstration using test dummies is successful.
The $4.1 billion test mission is the first phase of NASA’s Artemis lunar exploration programme, which is named for Apollo’s mythological twin sister. The Apollo programme of NASA saw twelve astronauts make their final moonwalk in 1972.
The Artemis mission intends to create a long-term human presence on the moon, with personnel eventually staying there for weeks at a time, years behind schedule and billions over budget. It is regarded as a Mars-related training ground.
Read More – Fuel leak to delay first launch of NASA’s Artemis moon rocket for weeks
