Nasa test of mega lunar rocket engines cut short
Scheduled 8-minute 'hot-fire' test lasts just over a minute; Nasa teams studying data to determine cause of shutdown
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NASA's deep space exploration rocket briefly ignited all four engines of its core stage for the first time on Saturday, cutting short a crucial test to advance a delayed US government program to return humans to the moon in the next few years.
WASHINGTON • Nasa conducted a test-firing of the engines for its giant Space Launch System (SLS) lunar rocket, but they shut down earlier than planned, the space agency has said.
The "hot-fire" test at the Stennis Space Centre in Mississippi at 4.27pm local time last Saturday (6.27am yesterday Singapore time) was supposed to last a little over eight minutes - the time the engines would burn in flight - but they shut down just over a minute into the burn.
"Teams are assessing the data to determine what caused the early shutdown, and will determine a path forward," the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) said in a statement.
The engine test, the last leg of Nasa's nearly year-long "Green Run" test campaign, was a vital step for Nasa and its top SLS contractor Boeing before a debut unmanned launch later this year under Nasa's Artemis programme - the Trump administration's push to return United States astronauts to the Moon by 2024.
A manned return to the Moon is the first part of the Artemis programme to set up a long-term colony and test technologies for a crewed mission to Mars in the 2030s.
The SLS rocket was intended to launch the Artemis missions that would take astronauts back to the Moon. Nasa said that despite being cut short, the test of the RS-25 engines had provided valuable information for the planned missions.
"Saturday's test was an important step forward to ensure that the core stage of the SLS rocket is ready for the Artemis I mission, and to carry crew on future missions," said Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine. "Although the engines did not fire for the full duration, the team successfully worked through the countdown, ignited the engines and gained valuable data to inform our path forward."
It is not yet known what caused the early shutdown, but SLS programme manager John Honeycutt told reporters they had seen a flash in a thermal protection blanket on one of the engines and were analysing the data. "In my opinion, the team accomplished a lot today, we learnt a lot about the vehicle," he said.
Nasa's Artemis I mission to test the SLS and an unmanned Orion spacecraft is scheduled to take place before the end of this year.
The Artemis II mission in 2023 will take astronauts around the Moon, but will not land. Artemis III will send astronauts, including the first woman, to the Moon in 2024.
In its configuration for Artemis I, the SLS will stand at 98m, taller than the Statue of Liberty, and is more powerful than the Saturn V rockets used in the Apollo missions that sent the first US astronauts to the Moon.
Nasa's eventual goal is to establish an Artemis Base Camp on the Moon before the end of the decade, an ambitious plan that would require tens of billions of dollars of funding and the green light from President-elect Joe Biden and Congress.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
