NASA’s lunar rocket test on Saturday did not go as planned Space

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A huge cloud of smoke or steam coming out of a multi-story test bench.

View larger. | The main stage of the first rocket flight of NASA’s space launch system is seen at the B-2 Test Stand during a hot fire test on January 16, 2021, at NASA’s Stennis Space Center, near the bay. of St. Louis, Mississippi. Image via NASA.

An eight-minute test plan for NASA’s four Space Launch System (SLS) engines – a more powerful megarocket than the Saturn V that propelled Apollo astronauts to the moon – did not turn out as planned. Saturday, January 16, 2021. The test was conducted at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The rocket is intended to launch the next man and first woman to return to the moon in 2024 on NASA’s Artemis program. The four engines on the reinforcement stage should fire for the eight minutes they should fire during an actual launch. Instead, the engines fired for just a minute.

NASA said in a statement:

The team successfully completed the countdown and started the engines, but the engines shut down just over a minute on the hot fire. Teams are evaluating the data to determine what caused the early shutdown and will determine a way forward.

NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine, who attended the test, said:

Saturday’s test was an important step forward in ensuring that the center stage of the SLS rocket is ready for the Artemis mission 1 [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 fire for the entire duration, the team worked successfully during the countdown, started the engines and obtained valuable data to report our way forward.

Read more from NASA about details of NASA’s SLS megarocket test on January 16

The January 16 test, called the hot fire test, was to be the culmination of a series of tests for the SLS megarocket. It was initially scheduled to take place in early mid-November 2020, these final tests were needed to maintain the planned program for the launch of the first unmanned Artemis 1 mission in mid to late 2021 and ultimately 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) conducted in January 2020, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic slowed the testing process. NASA leadership stopped work on site at Stennis in March 2020, almost at the same time that many in the United States began working from home, due to the pandemic. The center began to open slowly in mid-May and the second SLS test was completed at the center stage (the orange “body” of the rocket) in late June.

This test ensured that the software and other electrical interfaces involved in the rocket and test support worked properly.

Ground view of 4 large rocket engines firing down.

View larger. | In the test on January 16, 2021, the 4 RS-25 engines fired for just over a minute and generated 1.6 million pounds of thrust. Image via NASA.

Since then, the rocket has passed and passed the following four steps of what is called the “green run” series:

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

– Test 4, the first test of each of the main components of the propulsion system that are connected to the engines. The command and control operations were checked and it was checked for fluid or gas leaks in the central stage.

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

– Test 6, which simulated the countdown to launch, including step-by-step feeding procedures. Kernel avionics was 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 coming out of it.

The hot fire is the final test of the Green Run test series, a complete assessment of the central stage of the space launch system before launching the Artemis I mission to the moon. Image via NASA.

After the January 16 hot fire test, engineers had planned to refurbish the center stage and set it up for their trip to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where there are still more tests awaiting the main stage.

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

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

Graph with the list of 8 tests and the labeled diagram of the SLS rocket sections.

This graph illustrates what the eight parts of the green test are intended to test, as well as the individual components of the SLS Core Stage (orange rocket body). Image via NASA.

Conclusion: The failure of the hot fire test of NASA’s SLS megarocket on January 16, 2021 is a clear setback for NASA’s Artemis program. The first launch of the program, an unmanned mission called Artemis 1, was scheduled to be launched in late 2021. The program was to bring the next man and first woman back to the moon in 2024. This goal now seems unlikely.

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