Olivia Cavallaro Science 08.30.2022 23:Aug PM EDT

NASA Reschedules Artemis I Moon Mission to September 3 Following Rocket Issues

The American space authority will make a second attempt at launching its moon rocket on Saturday.

NASA has announced that a second attempt at launching its massive new moon rocket in a mission called Artemis I will take place on Saturday, September 3. Artemis I was set to launch on Monday, but did not push through after rocket issues caused the team to cancel the lift-off.

Bloomberg reported that on Monday, NASA decided to postpone the debut launch of the new moon rocket in the Artemis I mission because of an issue encountered by one of its engines, which failed to reach a certain temperature required for lift-off. There was also a separate problem involving a tank vent valve on the main rocket, which forced the team to reschedule to another date to give time for fixes and evaluations.

Artemis I Mission Manager Michael Sarafin said during a press briefing on Tuesday that they agreed on "option one," which was to "operationally change the loading procedure" and begin the process of "engine chill down earlier" and worked on the pad to address the leak they found. NASA confirmed that the team would meet once again on September 1 for an assessment on the progress of addressing the rocket issues they found.

Problems Encountered by the First Artemis I Launch

If all things go as planned, the Artemis I mission will attempt another launch on Saturday in a two-hour window that will open at 2:17 p.m. ET. Monday's launch was postponed due to several issues encountered by the moon mission team.

According to CNN, the teams at NASA spent the rest of Monday evaluating data gathered following the first attempt. Meanwhile, the Artemis I stack, which is made up of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft, remains waiting on Launchpad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida for lift-off.

Engineers found that engine #3 on the rocket's four RS-25 engines failed to reach the proper temperature range required for the engine to begin lift-off. These engines were designed to be thermally conditioned before receiving cold propellant before launch.

A process called "bleed" involves increasing the pressure of the core stage liquid hydrogen tank which will send some of the liquid hydrogen to the engines to prevent any temperature shocks. This liquid hydrogen is around -423 °F or 252 °C.

NASA Addresses Engine Issues in Moon Rocket

NASA scientists found on Monday that engine #3 was about 30 to 40 degrees warmer than the three other engines, which they believed was caused by a bleed problem rather than the actual engine. They suspected that a faulty sensor may have incorrectly read the temperature.

On Saturday's Artemis I mission launch, NASA intends to begin the bleed 30 to 45 minutes earlier in the countdown to monitor the temperature more closely during the bleed process. But 60% of weather coming in the way of the launch on Saturday is also a concern, as the weather forecast says that there will be a chance of showers and thunderstorms throughout the morning and early afternoon.