Why did NASA abort its Artemis 1 Moon mission? What happens next?

NASA on Monday cancelled a test flight of its largest-ever rocket in a setback to the ambitious programme to send humans back to the Moon and eventually to Mars.

Tens of thousands of people – including US Vice President Kamala Harris – had gathered near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to watch the launch, which comes 50 years after Apollo 17 astronauts last set foot on the Moon.

The goal of the flight is to test the SLS and Orion crew capsule. Mannequins equipped with sensors are standing in for a crew for the mission.

Overnight operations to fill the orange-and-white rocket with more than three million litres of ultra-cold liquid hydrogen and oxygen were briefly delayed by a high risk of lightning.

Let’s take a closer look at why NASA aborted the mission and what happens next:

So what happened?

Blast-off had been planned for 8:33 am (1233 GMT) but was cancelled because of a temperature problem with one of the four RS-25 engines on the 322-foot (98-meter) Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

NASA said a test to get one of the engines to the proper temperature range for lift-off was not successful.

This is known as ‘engine bleed’.

Popular Science quoted NASA as saying a liquid hydrogen line did not adequately chill one of the rocket’s four core-stage engines, which are part of the preparations needed before ignition.

NASA engineers noted that engine 3 was “not properly being conditioned through the bleed process,” as per CNET.

This process is meant to allow the engines to chill to the right temperature by releasing a small amount of the fuel.

“To summarize, we held at T-minus 40 minutes and counting after the team was unable to get past an engine bleed that didn’t show the right temperature once they got into the engine bleed test,” NASA said Monday as per CNET.

It said the SLS rocket and Orion crew capsule which sits on top “remain in a safe and stable configuration.”

Around 3:00 am, another hiccup emerged: a potential leak was detected during the filling of the main stage with hydrogen, causing a pause.

After tests, the flow resumed.

Thunderstorms off of Florida’s Kennedy Space Center had already delayed the fuelling by nearly an hour, as per Popular Science.

NASA noted a “crack” in the thermal protection system material on one of the flanges of the SLS core stage, but it was later revealed to be a consequence of the super-chilled propellant, not a structural issue, as per CNET.

As per Indian Express, engineers evaluating the visuals from the camera determined ice was formed by frozen air that was trapped inside a crack in the form.

NASA spokesperson Derron Nail added that there has been a history of such a phenomenon going back to the space shuttle days, as per the report.

NASA engineers later detected the engine temperature problem and put a hold on the countdown before eventually scrubbing the launch.

What happens next?

NASA tries again.

The agency has scheduled Friday and Monday as alternative dates for launch of its uncrewed Artemis 1 mission.

But nothing is certain.

“The earliest opportunity, depending on what happens with this engine, would be 2 September, that is available to the launch team, however we will await a determination,” NASA said as per CNET.

“We don’t launch until it’s right,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson said after an engine temperature issue forced lift-off from Kennedy Space Center to be scrubbed.

“This is a very complicated machine,” Nelson said. “You don’t want to light the candle until it’s ready to go.”

Nelson said delays were “just part of the space business” and expressed confidence that NASA engineers will “get it fixed and then we’ll fly.”

A complete failure would be devastating for a programme costing $4.1 billion per launch that is already years behind schedule.

The rocket’s Orion capsule is to orbit the Moon to see if the vessel is safe for people in the near future. At some point, Artemis aims to put a woman and a person of colour on the Moon for the first time.

During the 42-day trip, the Orion capsule will orbit the Moon, coming within 60 miles (100 kilometres) at its closest approach, and then fire its engines to shoot out 40,000 miles – a record for a spacecraft rated to carry humans.

One of the mission’s primary objectives is to test the capsule’s heat shield, which at 16 feet in diameter is the largest ever built.

On its return to Earth’s atmosphere, the heat shield will have to withstand speeds of 25,000 miles per hour and a temperature of 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius) – roughly half as hot as the Sun.

The dummies aboard the spacecraft will record acceleration, vibration and radiation levels.

The craft will also deploy small satellites to study the lunar surface.

The next mission, Artemis 2, will take astronauts into orbit around the Moon without landing on its surface. The crew of Artemis 3 is to land on the Moon in 2025 at the earliest.

And since humans have already visited the Moon, Artemis has its sights set on another lofty goal: a crewed mission to Mars.

The Artemis programme is to establish a lasting human presence on the Moon with an orbiting space station known as Gateway and a base on the surface.

Gateway would serve as a staging and refuelling station for a voyage to Mars that would take a minimum of several months.

With inputs from agencies

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