SLS Artemis I
After more than ten years of development and many delays, NASA’s SLS rocket is finally regarding to achieve its maiden flight and is expected to lift off at around 8:30 p.m. local time tomorrow (29th) to perform the Artemis I mission. Artemis I is the first step in the U.S. plan to return to the moon, similar to SpaceX’s Demo-1 or Starliner’s OFT-2 mission, is a “rehearsal” to check that all systems are functioning properly before carrying humans. Therefore, apart from the lack of a life support system and astronauts, Artemis I is actually quite ambitious. It will travel from Earth to lunar orbit and then return, with a total mission duration of 39 to 42 days.
But first, the most important thing is to be able to launch smoothly. There are currently three launch windows for Artemis I, the first of which will take place on August 29th at 8:33am ET (ours at 8:33pm the same day), if delays are necessary due to weather or other factors If so, there will be an alternate launch window on September 2 and September 5.
Artemis I’s mission control team has been stationed at the respective consoles and has begun to inspect the various equipment. All non-essential personnel will leave the launch pad 12 hours before launch (8:00 a.m. local tomorrow) and activate the GLS software system that controls the automatic countdown. At 9 hours and 40 minutes before launch, the mission team will review the weather and the rocket’s readiness to decide whether to start loading fuel or delay the launch. If the meeting goes ahead, the SLS’s liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuels will begin loading around 8 hours before launch (12 noon local time), and nothing major will happen until around 15 minutes before launch.
About 15 minutes before launch, the Launch Director will ask the person in charge of each section of the rocket if the rocket is ready, and if there is a comprehensive yes, the final 10-minute countdown will begin. During these 10 minutes, the power supply of the Orion capsule and the SLS rocket will be transferred from the internal supply, and GLS will take over the control of the final countdown and the monitoring of the rocket’s data. If there is no problem, 10 seconds before the launch, GLS will send the ignition command of the four RS-25 main engines, and ignite the two solid rockets on the left and right at the moment of launch, so that the rocket has enough power to lift off.
The two solid-state rockets will burn for a total of 2 minutes and 12 seconds before separating and falling into the Atlantic Ocean. After regarding a minute, the protective cover covering the Orion capsule will detach, revealing Orion and the European-made service module. The SLS’s core main engine will burn out 8 minutes and 4 seconds following launch, sending the Orion and upper stage rockets into low Earth orbit. Orion and the upper stage rocket will then orbit the earth for 51 minutes in low earth orbit, and then the upper stage rocket will fire for 22 seconds, raise the orbit slightly, and ignite once more at 10:11, burning for up to 18 minutes, sending Orion to the moon , and it is finally expected that Orion will be separated from the upper stage rocket at 11:39 to complete the entire launch process.
But the work on the upper stage rocket has not yet been completed – there are actually 10 small cubesats on top of the upper stage rocket, which will be gradually released by the upper stage rocket in the next few hours for deep space related research.
NASA’s official live broadcastIt will begin on August 29th at 6:30pm local time. Of course, the time here is premised on the on-time launch of Artemis I. If there is any delay, the corresponding schedule will naturally be postponed.
