That gives confidence that your system is still functioning nominally there’s been no changes.

“The requirement says that once you do the flight termination system end-to-end test, that final flight configuration test with flight batteries, etcetera, you need to have launched within 20 days or you need to re-perform that test.

The access necessary to perform the FTS end-to-end test is only in the VAB.) The platforms provide 360-degree access around the circumference of the vehicle at 10 different levels, which help enable almost the entire pre-launch campaign to be conducted inside the VAB.

(Photo Caption: Wider views of the Artemis 1 stack surrounded by platforms and scaffolding in VAB High Bay 3 shortly after Orion was lifted on top of SLS in late October. “When I say ‘flight configuration,’ I mean flight batteries installed and all of your systems up and processing - flight codes, the whole bit, right?” “There’s an end-to-end test that the requires you have in essentially a flight configuration,” Jeff Spaulding, Senior NASA Test Director (NTD) who will serve as the Lead NTD for the Artemis 1 launch, said in a November 29 interview with NASASpaceflight. After the celestial mechanics constraints, there is an operational constraint on the length of time the range safety flight termination system (FTS) on the vehicle is valid for use. EGS and Jacobs will be working to line up their operational clocks with the lunar launch periods.įor Artemis 1, they are working within operational constraints to have the vehicle and ground infrastructure ready to make launch attempts during a seven-day stretch within the overall 10-15 day lunar launch periods of opportunity. While those requirements determine an overall window of opportunity for SLS to send Orion to the Moon, the launch processing teams at KSC are also working with their own operational requirements. For this first launch, SLS will propel an uncrewed Orion spacecraft to the Moon together, the celestial mechanics and performance requirements for this specific mission define launch periods that repeat with opportunities to launch for about two weeks followed by about two weeks without opportunities. The nature of the problem and the path to a resolution are still unknown and will need to be factored in, but current forecasts for when the vehicle will be ready to launch have moved from the end of January to mid-February.Ģ0-day clock on range safety flight termination system validation starts in the VABĪrtemis 1 is the first launch for both the Exploration Ground Systems and Space Launch System programs within NASA’s Exploration Systems Development (ESD) human spaceflight division. Meanwhile, engineers are also troubleshooting a problem with a controller for one of the four RS-25 engines in the SLS Core Stage. Between propellant consumption of the two liquid SLS stages and a 20-day long period where the range safety system is validated for use, up to three attempts could be conducted to tank the vehicle and launch within that week’s time before teams would have to stand down.ĮGS, Jacobs, and the Orion and SLS teams are continuing testing and checkout of the vehicle, but the latest projections for the first rollout to Launch Pad 39B have moved from late-December 2021 to mid-January 2022. When NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) program and prime processing contractor Jacobs have configured the Artemis 1 Space Launch System (SLS) vehicle for launch day, they expect to have one-week periods to get the mission to the Moon off the ground.

Shuttle launch schedule 2021