Four Artemis astronauts will leave the Earth as soon as March 6 on a voyage that will take them further from humanity's only home than anyone has ever traveled. Assuming NASA can get the damn rocket properly fueled up, that is.
The agency will load more than 700,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into Artemis 2's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket during a wet dress rehearsal (WDR) on Thursday, and then cross fingers and give a silent prayer that it doesn't spring yet another leak.
"During the rehearsal, the team will execute a detailed countdown sequence. Operators will conduct two runs of the last 10 minutes of the countdown, known as terminal count," NASA announced on Monday, followed by a couple of pauses — and no engine firing — meant to simulate "real-world conditions, including scenarios where a launch might be scrubbed due to technical or weather issues."
Three American astronauts — mission commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch — plus Canadian Jeremy Hansen are kinda-sorta scheduled to blast off atop a massive SLS rocket next month on a 10-day mission that will fly their Orion space capsule around the moon in an elongated orbit where no man has gone before.
NASA had originally hoped to launch Artemis 2 earlier this month, but that pesky (and recurring) fuel leak during the January 31 WDR forced the space agency to put things on hold while they figure out what's going on.
Because they thought they had this fixed already when the Artemis I rocket forced similar delays to the unmanned test run three years ago. And, yes, NASA needed three years to get from Artemis 1 to Artemis II. But they're hoping to get that launch cadence up to just once every two years for Artemis 3. My excitement is so well contained that you couldn't spot it with the James Webb Space Telescope turned around to face my office.
The problem is that SLS is powered in part by liquid hydrogen, and hydrogen is tricky stuff. It's made up of literally the smallest atom in existence. Trying to keep that stuff compressed in a giant rocket tank, for example, isn't easy. If there's a way to escape, pressurized hydrogen will find it.
But hydrogen burns powerfully and clean — and the latter is an important consideration for reusable engines like the four RS-25s that power SLS. Here's the thing, though: SLS isn't reusable. Those engines get tossed into the ocean along with the rest of the booster.
Why, you might ask, is SLS powered by reusable engines requiring the most finicky fuel, if we're just going to throw them away like used Kleenex? Because Congress insisted. SLS isn't the rocket NASA wanted, but it's the one they got, because Congress wanted the same pork going to the same contractors in the same districts that everyone got back during the Space Shuttle days.
Yes, SLS is made in large form from repurposed Shuttle booster parts designed in the 1970s.
If you thought it couldn't get any worse than that, think again.
Earlier this month, space reporter Eric Berger asked NASA’s top civil servant, Amit Kshatriya, about the SLS's issues and low flight cadence. "Every time we [try to launch] these are very bespoke components, they’re in many cases made by incredible craftsmen," Kshatriya replied. "It’s the first time this particular machine has borne witness to cryogens, and how it breathes, and how it vents, and how it wants to leak is something we have to characterize."
In other words, figuring out how to correct the hydrogen leak on the Artemis 1 SLS rocket taught NASA very little about the leaks it might encounter on the Artemis 2 rocket.
Each one is a unique snowflake, costing an astronomical $4 billion per launch — not including development costs — all because Congress demanded it.
I wish the crew of Artemis 2 all the luck in the world. And beyond.
But this SLS Frankenrocket must go.
Recommended: So Another Blue State Just Lost Another Company to Guess Where
Enjoying PJ Media?
Get exclusive content and support independent journalism with 60% off a PJ Media VIP membership. Use promo code FIGHT and join today.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member