NASA’s Artemis 2 lunar mission has hit a new snag that could cause delays

NASA is already going back on its Friday announcement that it will try to introduce the month in March, after finding a new problem with Artemis II rocket.

Officials said they are looking at Tuesday, February 24, to remove the rocket from the launch pad.

During the normal step of restoring pressure to the Space Launch Systemthe team couldn’t get the helium to flow properly in the rocket. Helium, although not a fuel, is important because it helps protect engines and keeps fuel tanks at the right pressure. Although the helium system worked well during the start practicing which ended on Thursday night, engineers are very concerned about knowing the same pattern that was achieved earlier in the day Artemis I launched in 2022, which did not carry astronauts.

The affected part is the rocket’s upper stage, which uses very cold fuel – liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen – to power the mission once it enters. space. Engineers are looking at several possible causes, including the interface between the ground equipment and the rocket, a valve on the upper stage, and a filter in the helium line. Fixing any of those problems will require work at the Vehicle Assembly Facility, a massive rocket hanger located four miles from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Unless NASA suddenly discovers a different cause that can be solved on the pad, delays are inevitable.

“We’re going to start preparations for the return, and this will remove the March launch window,” said NASA administrator Jared Isaacman. post X.

Artemis II a 10-day flight around the moon and back, testing the new Orion spacecraft with humans on board. It is the first manned mission to exceed Earth orbit since 1972. The probe sets the stage for the Artemis III moon landing. Total campaign of Artemis intended to establish a permanent human presence on the moon in preparation for a challenging journey to Mars.

The four-person crew began quarantine at the Johnson Space Center in Houston on Friday, where a March 6 launch appears imminent. Astronauts — Commander Reid WisemanVictor Glover, Christina Hammock Koch, and Jeremy Hansen – were released from their sequester on Saturday night.

Acting quickly now could keep April’s launch off the table. Windows include April 1, April 3-6, and April 30. NASA has not released a date. open window days to the public, despite the requests of journalists.

At this time, the rocket is safe and uses a backup mechanism to maintain stable conditions at the top, according to NASA. The upper stage is important because it pushes the spacecraft on its path after liftoff.

NASA studied the Artemis I helium issue and confirmed that the system was still operating within safe limits before the first launch. But given that Artemis II involves human lives, the bar is very high for that risks the agency will accept before launch.

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NASA press secretary Bethany Stevens said the team was “up all night” from Friday to Saturday, solving helium problems at the Kennedy Space Center launch pad. Officials plan to hold a full briefing on the situation later this week.

Delays are frustrating, but space missions often have technical problems, and fixing problems before a crewed flight is fine, Isaacman said.

“The President created Artemis as a program that will far surpass what America achieved during Apollo. We will return in the coming years, we will build a base on the Moon, and make what should be continuous missions to and from the lunar surface,” he wrote. “Where we start with this building and the level of aircraft is nowhere to end.”