Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

On September 12, NASA officials confirmed that the agency's engineers had replaced leaking seals on two fuel lines of the Artemis-1 lunar rocket over the weekend. This will prepare for a fuel filling test this weekend to see if the repair work is effective.

The Artemis 1 will be launched by the space launch system (SLS), a giant carrier rocket developed by NASA, and NASA engineers have completed the replacement of the seals at the tail of the rocket. The aim of the repair was to stop a hydrogen fuel leak on the 8-inch pipeline leading to the core stage of the SLS rocket, which forced NASA to cancel its September 3 launch attempt, the first unmanned test flight of Artemis's planned return to the moon.

At the same time, NASA engineers replaced smaller seals on the liquid hydrogen "discharge line", which leaked during a launch attempt on Aug. 29.

With the completion of the repair work, NASA is now preparing to conduct fuel filling tests to check whether the hydrogen leakage problem of the SLS rocket has really been resolved. The test, which could be carried out as early as September 17, EDT, will inject 2.79 million liters of liquid hydrogen and oxygen into the 98-meter-high rocket.

"this demonstration will allow engineers to check new seals at low temperatures or ultra-cold conditions as expected on the day of launch and before the next launch attempt," NASA officials said.

Earlier, NASA officials said the agency's goal was to try again to launch Artemis 1 as early as Sept. 23. In addition, September 27 was also designated as an alternative window for launch. NASA said both launches depend on NASA repairs and whether the SLS rocket can pass the refueling test.

The NASA also needs approval from the US Air Force so that the agency does not have to send the SLS rocket back to the assembly building for standard testing of the rocket's flight termination system, which is designed to destroy the rocket when it deviates from its orbit during launch.

The upcoming fuel filling test will allow NASA to conduct so-called "start-up emission tests" on the four main engines of the SLS rocket. The test aims to cool the engine to minus 251 degrees Celsius in preparation for testing super-frozen propellant. In the first two launch attempts, NASA failed to carry out this test.

"our team will confirm that the leak has been repaired and will also conduct start-up emission tests and pre-pressurization tests, which will verify that the ground and flight hardware and software systems can perform the necessary functions to thermally adjust the engine to enable it to fly," NASA officials wrote. "after the test, we will evaluate the data and the next launch plan."

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