Artemis launch - as it happened: Nasa delays moon after rocket launch scrubbed

Nasa scrubbed the launch of its Artemis-1 mission on Saturday, 3 September, with around two-and-a-half hours left on the countdown in Cape Canaveral, Florida (Nasa)

Nasa has scrubbed the second attempt to launch its moon rocket after failing to fix a leak, pushing back its Artemis 1 mission by more than a month.

The space agency was aiming to launch its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket as part of the Artemis programme that one day hopes to put humans back onto the lunar surface.

But technical problems once again caused the launch to be postponed, five days after the first attempt was scrubbed.

“A leak developed in the supply side of the 8-inch quick disconnect while attempting to transfer fuel to the rocket,” Nasa said, but is yet to give an update on when a new launch date will be set, though it could be as early as Sunday.

If successful, the spacecraft will launch off Earth and around the Moon, before heading back down to our planet 42 days later. This time, the Orion crew capsule is empty – but if this journey is successful, then a trip with humans on board is to come.

Key points

• Nasa scrubs Artemis launch
• Nasa to hold post-scrub news conference at 4pm ET
• Nasa says next Artemis launch will likely be October

[3 September 2022 14:40 · Andrew Griffin]

Plan to fix leak has failed

Engineers tried waiting for the temperature to change, they tried making the pressure change. But the leak has not changed: it’s still leaking.

That plan has been written off and engineers will now look for something else to try and get the rocket going today.

Here’s a picture that shows the problem section:

[3 September 2022 15:01 · Andrew Griffin]

Plan C is plan A

Engineers have a plan to fix the problem. And it turns out to be plan A: warming up the quick disconnect in the hope that everything will seat properly and seal up the leak.

This was the first plan, but engineers then switched the plan B of to trying to pressurise it into place. Now plan C is going back to plan A and seeing if that might work after all.

It’s already been warming up for 15 minutes while the new plan was being set, so there’s 15 minutes to go – and then we’ll see again whether this has made everything work.

Again: all of this may have an impact on the planned launch time, since everything proceeds according to a tight schedule. There’s some wiggle room – but if there is a liftoff then it may be some time into the two hour launch window.

[3 September 2022 15:07 · Andrew Griffin]

Nasa says engineers are working hard

Nasa says its engineers are still working hard to fix the problem:

It doesn’t feel like good news, overall. Even if this is fixed, then it has already caused a big delay, and other work should have happened by now. But sometimes, with rocket launches, everything seems bad and then it quickly turns around: Nasa and many other people will be hoping for that today.

[3 September 2022 15:17 · Andrew Griffin]

Hydrogen flowing back in

Here’s the moment of truth: hydrogen is on its way back into the rocket. Will it stay there, or leak out?

(In the meantime, engineers are also racing to get other tasks done. All this delay could mean that even if the leak is fixed, there isn’t enough time to be ready before the launch window closes.)

[3 September 2022 15:29 · Andrew Griffin]

Third time unlucky

The third attempt to fix the hydrogen leak has failed. Neither upping the temperature or upping the pressure has worked.

This leak appears to be stubborn and difficult to fix. (Hydrogen is notoriously so: it’s very small and able to escape out of even the smallest leak.)

Even if engineers were to come up with another way of sealing it up, and it worked, the amount of time left to actually make use of the launch window later is rapidly dwindling.

It does feel like today’s launch will be scrubbed. We’ll let you know as soon as anything is confirmed.

[3 September 2022 15:40 · Andrew Griffin]

What options does Nasa have?

Engineers are still troubleshooting the problem, and trying to find a fix. But this, from space writer Eric Berger, is a good summation of the options if today is written off.

Rolling back to the VAB (the vehicle assembly building) would be a big and unfortunate move, and mean that the launch could be delayed into October. But it is looking increasingly likely.

[3 September 2022 15:44 · Andrew Griffin]

Nasa asks people to ‘stand by'

Nasa’s main account has tweeted about the problems, alongside a message asking people to “stand by” and keep watch on its YouTube channel. That might be an indication that an update is coming, or it might. (At this point, any update is almost certainly going to be the announcement that the launch is scrubbed; it’s getting harder and harder to see how there will be time to go today.)

[3 September 2022 15:49 · Andrew Griffin]

Nasa promises update ‘shortly'

On Nasa’s live stream, viewers have just been told that engineers are updating the launch director about the latest news, and that there should be an update “shortly”. Again, that update is likely to be the announcement that the launch is scrubbed – but there’s always hope.

[3 September 2022 15:53 · Andrew Griffin]

Leak could require major work, reporter says

The leak is coming from inside the engine compartment, which can’t be easily accessed, according to NBC’s Tom Costello.

That has two main consequences. The first and most immediate is that a scrub sounds likely. But it might also suggest that it has to be fixed by being rolled back to the assembly building – which would mean Nasa wouldn’t be able to use tomorrow’s backup window, and might have to wait until October or even longer.

[3 September 2022 15:57 · Andrew Griffin]

Engineering team says ‘no go’ to today’s launch

Engineering teams have presented their belief that today’s launch is “no go” – it should be scrubbed. They only recommend that to Nasa’s leaders, who must make the final decision, but you can probably guess what that decision is going to be.