NASA’s test of monthly rockets on Saturday did not go according to plan Space-bar

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Huge cloud of smoke or steam flowing from a multi-storey test stand.

Larger view. | The basic stage for the first flight of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket is seen in test stand B-2 during a hot fire test on January 16, 2021, at the Stennis Space Center near St. John’s Bay. Louis, Mississippi. Image via NASA.

A planned eight-minute test fire of NASA’s four space launch system (SLS) engines – a more powerful megarocket than Saturn V that propelled Apollo astronauts to the moon – did not go as planned on Saturday, January 16, 2021 The test was performed at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The rocket is meant to launch the next man and woman to return to the moon by 2024 in NASA’s Artemis program. The four engines on the booster stage had to start for eight minutes to need to fire during an actual launch. Instead, the engines started for only about a minute.

NASA said in a statement:

The team successfully completed the countdown and started the engines, but the engines stopped for just over a minute in the hot fire. Teams evaluate the data to determine what caused the early shutdown and will determine a way forward.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, who participated in the test, said:

Saturday’s test was an important step forward to ensure that the central stage of the SLS missile is ready for the Artemis 1 mission. [an uncrewed test mission whose launch had been planned for later this year]and take the crew on future missions. Although the engines did not start all the time, the team successfully worked on the countdown, started the engines and gained valuable data to inform us the way forward.

Read more from NASA about the specifics of the January 16 test of NASA’s SLS megarocket

The January 16 test – called the hot fire test – was to be the culmination of a series of tests for the SLS megarocket. Originally scheduled to take place in early to mid-November 2020, this final test was necessary to keep its program on track for the launch of the unmanned Artemis 1 missile mission from mid to late 2021, and in finally, until the final crew launch to the moon in 2024.

Although the SLS test series began with a successful modal test – a kind of vibration test – performed in January 2020, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has slowed the testing process. On-site work at Stennis was stopped by NASA management in March 2020, around the same time that many in the US began working from home due to the pandemic. The center began a slow reopening in mid-May, and the second SLS test was completed on the central stage (the orange “body” of the rocket) in late June.

This test ensured that the software and other electrical interfaces involved in the missile and test stand were working properly.

Ground view of 4 large rocket engines firing down.

Larger view. | In the test of January 16, 2021, the 4 RS-25 engines started for just over a minute and generated 1.6 million pounds. Image via NASA.

The rocket has since passed and passed the next four steps in what is called the “green run” series:

– Test 3, in which engineers inspected all safety systems that stop operations during testing. During this test, they simulated potential problems.

– Test 4, the first test of each main component of the propulsion system which connects to the engines. The command and control operations were checked, and the central stage was checked for fluid or gas leaks.

– Test 5, in which engineers made sure that the traction vector control system could move the four engines and checked all the related hydraulic systems.

– Test 6, which simulated the countdown of the launch, including step-by-step feeding procedures. Basic avionics were turned on and fuel loading and pressurization were simulated. The testing team exercised and validated the countdown chronology and sequence of events.

A close-up of a single engine firing with white gas or steam flowing from it.

Hot Fire is the final test of the Green Run series of tests, a comprehensive assessment of the basic stage of the space launch system before the launch of the Artemis I mission to the moon. Image via NASA.

After the January 16 fire test, engineers had planned to recondition the center stage and set it up for its trip to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where more tests await the center stage.

Now – with the Biden administration taking office on January 20, 2021 and the failure of the January 16 test – the scheduling of the Artemis program is uncertain.

Read more: How will the US space program go under President Joe Biden?

Diagram with the list of 8 tests and the labeled diagram of the SLS missile sections.

This graphic illustrates what is meant to test the 8 parts of the green race, as well as the individual components of the SLS Core Stage (orange rocket body). Image via NASA.

Conclusion: The failure of the SLS megarocket focal length test on January 16, 2021 is a clear obstacle to NASA’s Artemis program. The first launch of the program – an unmanned mission called Artemis 1 – was scheduled to launch at the end of 2021. The program was meant to take the next man and woman back to the moon by 2024. That goal now seems small probable.

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