NASA’s moon mission Artemis 1 is embarking on a major prelaunch experiment.
The air force plans to start a “wet cleaning” for Artemisa 1 this evening (April 1) at Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. The three -day attempt to take the Artemis 1 stack – a Funeral system (SLS) megarocket with the Orion crew capsule – through many of its initial procedures, to ensure that its various systems work as intended. Most importantly, the test will see how the missionary team goes through (mostly) the stages of a real start, minus the very beginning.
The blue dress will officially launch today at 5 pm EDT (2100 GMT) with a “call to center.”
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Calling the centers “is very important, because that’s when we call our teams, letting them know that the wet clothes test has started,” said Charlie Blackwell. -Thompson of KSC, Artemis Director for NASA’s Exploration. The Ground Systems project, said during a news conference on Tuesday (March 29).
The phone starts the servers with a 45-hour countdown for testing. In the next 24 hours after the call, members of the Artemis 1 team will inspect a number of tanks, from filling the water tanks of the start -up recording system to able to upgrade Orion and SLS base level.
But most of the work will take place on Sunday (April 3). Among other operations that day, the company will burn more than 700,000 gallons (3.2 million liters) of propellant into SLS tanks.
At around 2:25 pm EDT (1825 GMT) on Sunday, the director will select members of the group, asking if they are ready to enter the terminal number (for testing, it will not actually start). the rocket), according to NASA’s blue -collar training analyst.
That number will continue for up to 33 seconds before the “release,” when it ends. The team will then return 10 minutes before T-0 and run back up the stairs, this time standing less than 10 seconds before leaving.
Importantly, you will not be able to follow these steps in real time, as NASA does not plan to provide live speech or stream the conversations of the Artemis 1 team. however, you can follow the latest updates on the site that the company intends to post on its Artemis blog a and Twitter. NASA plans to melt a video of the Artemis 1 stack on the launch pad during the test. here.
The results of the blue -collar training show that NASA is re -preparing for Artemis 1, which will send an uncrewed Orion on a mission around the moon. the moon. The company has not set a scheduled date for Artemis 1, which is expected to be unveiled in June first.
Mike Wall is the author of “Outside“(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; edited by Karl Tate), a book about exploring alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or at Facebook.
