Engine trouble delays NASA's return to the Moon

The launch of NASA’s Artemis I — the first of three increasingly complex missions towards a human return to the Moon by the middle of this decade — was unexpectedly scrubbed last night, after engineers could not get the rocket’s engines to the proper temperature range required to start the engines at lift-off and ran out of time in the two-hour launch window to continue. The mission management team will convene shortly to discuss the data and develop a plan forward.

Artemis I is a test flight to launch NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and an uncrewed Orion spacecraft around the Moon before the Artemis II mission, which will have astronauts aboard. Through the Artemis missions, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of colour on the Moon, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and serving as a stepping stone on the way to Mars.

Artemis I will be a 42-day mission to travel to and orbit the Moon before returning to Earth for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. The uncrewed mission was scheduled to launch last night, at 10.33 pm AEST, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, but ran into an issue when the Space Launch System’s four RS-25 engines were being thermally conditioned before super-cold propellant could begin flowing through them for lift-off; here, launch controllers increase the pressure on the core stage liquid hydrogen tank to route, or ‘bleed’, a portion of the -250°C liquid hydrogen to the engines. Managers suspect the issue, seen on engine 3, is unlikely to be the result of a problem with the engine itself.

During the countdown, launch controllers worked through several additional issues, including storms in the area that delayed the start of propellant loading operations, a leak at the quick disconnect on the line used to fill and drain core stage liquid hydrogen, and a hydrogen leak from a valve used to vent the propellant from the core stage intertank.

While managers have not yet set a date for the next launch attempt, the earliest possible opportunity is on Friday, 2 September. If and when it does go ahead, the voyage will be supported from launch to splashdown by Australia’s own Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC), managed by CSIRO.

Important upgrades to equipment and the large antennas at CDSCC have been a crucial part of NASA’s plan to prepare for the Artemis program. There will be several crucial mission moments, including the deployment of a small fleet of miniature satellites — called cubesats — that CDSCC will also support with tracking and communications.

CSIRO Executive Director Professor Elanor Huntington said the agency was proud to be supporting NASA’s return to the Moon.

“Australia was there for the first Moon landing and CSIRO is excited to be there for when NASA lands the first woman and the first person of colour on the moon in the 2020s,” Huntington said.

“CSIRO’s longstanding relationship with NASA stretches back more than 60 years, creating breakthrough solutions from science, and fuelled by our shared ambition to push the boundaries of imagination to benefit life back on Earth.

“Our expert team at the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex, and their sister Deep Space Network stations located in Spain and the USA, will provide around-the-clock coverage of the mission.”

Image caption: CSIRO manages the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC) that will support the entire Artemis I voyage from launch to splashdown.

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