The American space agency had to cancel Saturday evening, for the second time, the launch of its mega Artemis rocket, responsible for preparing the return of man to the Moon. For Chloé Carrière, specialist in the management of space technologies at EPFL, interviewed on Sunday in 12:30 p.m., there is however no question of talking about failure.
“We are in an experimental model. It should be remembered that the Falcon 9 launcher, which is SpaceX’s first partially reusable rocket, was born precisely thanks to its failures”, explains the specialist.
In addition, she continues, “reports in the space field arrive all the time. It is not a big surprise”.
>> Read about it: Launch of the Artemis rocket to the Moon again postponed by NASA
Fuel leak
Take-off was initially scheduled for 2:17 p.m. local time (8:17 p.m. Swiss time), with a two-hour launch window.
But after more than three hours of trying to resolve a fuel leak during rocket fueling operations, time was running out for launch teams.
>> See also 12:45:
Specific trajectory
As Chloé Carrière explains, a launch window is determined by orbital mechanics. “We want this rocket to follow a specific trajectory. That’s why we can’t launch it at any time.”
For the space technology management specialist, it would be realistic to imagine a third attempt to launch the rocket around mid-October.
Célia Bertholet/hkr