Due to a valve issue on ground equipment, NASA's second attempt to fuel its Artemis 1 moon mission mega-rocket struck another block on Monday (April 4).
NASA had to cancel the Artemis 1 test after fueling began on Monday due to a jammed vent valve high up on the movable launcher structure supporting the Space Launch System rocket on the Artemis 1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39B, according to agency officials. During fueling, the valve is used to alleviate pressure from the rocket's core stage.
"The launch director has called off the test for the day due to the vent valve issue," NASA's deputy director for ground systems, Jeremy Parsons, tweeted following the cancellation. "The team is getting ready to discharge LOX (liquid oxygen) and will start talking about how quickly the vehicle can be turned around for the next attempt," says the statement.
According to Parsons, the vent valve was located on the 160-foot (49-meter) level of the mobile launcher, which functions as both a gantry and a launch platform for the SLS. The fault, according to NASA officials, happened in a panel that regulates the valve, preventing workers from opening it.
"Given the time to rectify the issue as teams were nearing the end of their shifts, the launch director took the decision to call a day's end to the test," NASA said in a statement Monday. "A crew will evaluate the problem at the pad, and the team will consider the range available and the time it will take to turn systems around before deciding on a course of action."
In a "wet dress rehearsal," NASA attempted to fill the core stage of Artemis 1's 322-foot-tall (98-meter) SLS rocket with 700,000 gallons (2.6 million liters) of super-chilled liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen propellant on Monday. The April 1st test includes a full launch countdown rehearsal, including the fueling process.
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On Sunday (April 3), NASA attempted to fuel the Artemis 1 moon rocket, but the process was halted owing to a problem with pressurization on the mobile launcher, which keeps hazardous gases out of enclosed compartments where technicians operate. On Monday, technicians had loaded nearly half of the liquid oxygen required for the fueling test before retiring for the day, according to Parsons' Twitter account.
Monday's test was supposed to replicate a launch countdown that would end at 2:40 p.m. EDT (11840 GMT), but it was halted due to difficulties with the rocket's nitrogen gas source. Before the jammed valve triggered the scrub, NASA was aiming for a simulated launch time of 6:02 p.m. EDT (2202 GMT) once the issue was resolved.
NASA is unsure if it will be able to recycle for a third fuelling attempt on Tuesday (April 5) or if it would have to stand down to refill propellant supplies and give its pad operators and launch controllers some rest. Meanwhile, a private mission to the International Space Station is awaiting approval to launch.
On behalf of Houston-based Axiom Space, SpaceX plans to launch four private astronauts to the International Space Station on the Ax-1 mission. The mission will be launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Pad 39A, which is close to Artemis 1's Pad 39B.
The Ax-1 mission was originally scheduled to launch on April 3 but was pushed back to April 6 to provide NASA time to complete the Artemis 1 wet dress rehearsal. After NASA's Artemis 1 fueling difficulties on Sunday, SpaceX rescheduled the launch for Friday (April 8).
Whether or not the Ax-1 mission will launch on April 8 hinges on NASA's intentions for the Artemis 1 fueling test. SpaceX is also preparing to launch four more astronauts to the space station for NASA on April 20 as part of its Crew-4 mission, adding yet another wrinkle to the launch flow. Three NASA astronauts and one European Space Agency astronaut will be launched to the orbiting lab on that voyage.
Crew-4, on the other hand, will have to wait for the Ax-1 mission to launch (because they both launch from Pad 39A), which is dependent on NASA completing the Artemis 1 wet dress rehearsal. Crew-4 is now scheduled to launch on April 20, but it has already experienced delays.
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