DREAM / The Prime Minister resigns and wakes up under the Parisian bridge!

 Kliko këtu për të tjera
Voxpress:

NASA will try again on Saturday to launch the rocket towards the moon

2022-08-31 21:27:43Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA ASSOCIATED PRESS
NASA will try again on Saturday to launch the rocket towards the moon
NASA will try again on Saturday to launch the rocket towards the moon

NASA will try again on Saturday to launch its new rocket to the moon on a test flight after engine problems halted the launch earlier this week.

Executives said Tuesday they are changing fueling procedures. A faulty sensor may also have caused Monday's launch to be abandoned, they noted.

The 98-meter-long rocket — the most powerful ever built by NASA — remains on its pad at Kennedy Space Center, with an empty crew capsule.

The Space Launch System rocket will attempt to send the capsule around the Moon and back to Earth. No one will be on board except three test dummies. If successful, this will be the first capsule to fly to the Moon since NASA's Apollo program 50 years ago.

Continuing to work on a launch on Saturday will provide further data, even if the problem reoccurs and the countdown stops again, NASA's rocket program manager John Honeycutt said. That's better "than sitting around scratching our heads, was it good enough or not," he said.

"Based on what I heard from the technical team today, what we need to do is continue to review the data and improve our flight plan," he said.

During Monday's launch attempt, parameters showed that one of the four main engines in the rocket's core stage could not cool enough before the planned ignition for liftoff. The other three engines were also slightly warmer than they should have been.

All the engines appeared to be OK, Mr Honeycutt said.

The cooling operation will be carried out half an hour earlier for the Saturday afternoon launch attempt, after refueling begins that morning. Mr Honeycutt said this engine had a shorter cool-down time during successful trials last year and that perhaps doing the process earlier might be enough.

Mr Honeycutt also questioned the integrity of an engine sensor, saying it could have given incorrect data on Monday. Changing this sensor, he noted, would mean towing the missile back to the hangar, resulting in weeks of delays.

While it should have been years ahead of schedule, the $4.1 billion test flight is the first step in NASA's lunar exploration program. The program is named Artemis, after the twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology. Astronauts could be part of trips as early as 2024 to orbit the moon and in 2025 to attempt a landing on its surface.


Në përputhje me standarded JTI

Video

SHIKO KANALIN NE YOUTUBE
×