Good news for Artemis II. The POT has successfully completed the general rehearsal for the launch of the mission that will take humans back to the Moon, although without landing on the moon, 54 years after the last mission Apollo. This opens the possibility that the rocket SLS (Space Launch System) and the ship Orion They can take off in the next launch sale that begins on March 6 and will end on the 11th, with the exception of the 10th.
The second attempt to refuel the SLS concluded on Thursday night at the Kennedy Space Centerin Florida. The process is part of what is known in space jargon as ‘wet dress rehearsal’ (WDR), a two-day dress rehearsal of pre-launch operations.
WDR tests Artemis II’s SLS, the Orion capsule, ground equipment and mission teams to ensure everything is ready for the actual liftoff. That launch will send four astronauts (Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Kochfrom NASA, and Jeremy Hansenfrom the Canadian Space Agency) on a 10-day trip around the Moon and back to Earth.
The only previous Artemis mission, Artemis Isuccessfully sent an unmanned Orion to lunar orbit and back in late 2022. That flight was delayed several times due to liquid hydrogen (LH2) propellant leaks during ground tests.something that has been feared could happen again with Artemis II.
NASA interrupted the first WDR of Artemis II on February 2 after detecting an LH2 leakwhich originated at an interface with the ‘tail service mast’, part of the SLS mobile launch tower that supplies fuel and other resources to the rocket through lines known as ‘umbilical cords’. The escape of Artemis I occurred at the same point.
After the first attempt at WDR, the Artemis II team replaced two gaskets (seals) in that area and on February 12 he partially filled the rocket’s tanks to test the repair. So the boards held up, and on Thursday too. The teams successfully filled both stages of the SLS with 2.76 million liters of LH2 and liquid oxygen at ultra-low temperature ‘without exceeding the ground safety limit for the concentration of hydrogen leaks’, as reported by NASA.
Launch teams also completed other key WDR tasks on Thursday. Among them, close the Orion crew module hatch and verify that the capsule’s emergency escape system was secured. They then performed the ‘terminal countdown’taking the clock up to T-33 seconds and then up to T-29 seconds.
‘During the terminal countdown, automated systems take control of operations, final checks are carried out on flight computers, engine purge systems and ground support equipment; the rocket starts to feed on internal energy and the countdown progresses towards a simulated ignition‘, notes NASA.
But not everything went perfectly, as the second terminal countdown was briefly paused due to a ‘voltage anomaly in the throttle avionics system’.
However, completing the WDR allows us to be optimistic about the next Artemis II launch window. If for any reason, the takeoff does not take place, NASA has planned 6 new opportunity dates in April. They are days 1, 3 to 6 and 30.