International

Artemis 1: Nasa cancels moon mission launch over engine problem

Published

2 years ago

August 30, 2022

Photograph: Cristóbal Herrera/EPA

Nasa is delaying a decision on the timing of its next launch attempt for Artemis 1, the US space agency’s first human-rated moon rocket in 50 years, after calling off Monday’s scheduled lift off late in the countdown because of an issue related to “engine bleed”

Engineers at Nasa’s launch complex in Cape Canaveral, Florida, discovered the problem with one of the four core-stage engines of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket during overnight loading of 2.76m litres (730,000 gallons) of liquid hydrogen and oxygen fuel needed to send the spacecraft off on its 1.3m-mile, 42-day journey to the far side of the moon and back.

They were unable to find a fix in time to meet a two-hour launch window that opened at 8.33am (1.33pm BST) on Monday, and they are now troubleshooting the issue to assess readiness for the next available opportunity, on Friday 2 September.

“Friday is definitely in play. We just need a little bit of time to look at the data, but the team is setting up for a 96-hour recycle,” Mike Sarafin, Nasa’s Artemis mission manager, told a lunchtime press conference.

“We’re going to play all nine innings. We’re not giving up yet.”

Sarafin said no decision could be made until mission managers conducted a readiness review beginning on Tuesday afternoon, noting that he did not believe the problem was with the engine itself, but in the bleed system that “conditions” it with cryogenic propellant and adjusts the temperature for launch.

“The team… also saw an issue with a vent valve at the inner tank, so the combination of not being able to get the engine three chilled down and then the vent valve issue caused us to pause today, and we felt like we needed a little little more time,” he said.

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Sarafin added that poor weather conditions at launchpad 39B at Kennedy Space Centre throughout Monday’s window would also have precluded the launch taking place.

The uncrewed Artemis flight is a crucial test mission designed to gauge the capabilities of the SLS rocket and six-person Orion crew capsule ahead of humanity’s planned return to the moon for the first time in half a century.

If Artemis 1 ultimately succeeds, astronauts will be onboard an interim test flight along the same route 40,000 miles beyond the moon and back, a trek scheduled for 2024. The first moon landing since Apollo 17 in December 1972 would follow a year or so later, with Nasa declaring it will carry the first woman to walk on the lunar surface.

Upwards of a quarter-million people flocked to Florida’s space coast on Monday to watch a moment in history now postponed to later this week, or even later in September or October, if engineers cannot quickly diagnose and address the cause of the engine bleed issue.

Problems with the rocket, which is made by Boeing, first arose during a “hot fire” test in January last year, when the engines shut down only one minute into a scheduled eight-minute run. The project at that stage was already almost three years behind schedule and $3bn (£2.55bn) over budget.

Critics say the ultimate cost to the US taxpayer of the Artemis programme, projected to reach $93bn (£79bn) by 2025, and which has longer-term goals of placing the first humans on Mars in 15 to 20 years’ time, cannot be justified.

But the Nasa administrator, Bill Nelson, a former space shuttle astronaut, said there was greater purpose in placing new human footprints in lunar soil now from those of the 12 men of the Apollo programme who did so over six missions in a past generation.

“We need to be on the moon for much longer periods of time than just landing like we used to, stayed a couple of days and left,” Nelson told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday. “This time we’re going back, we’re going to live there, we’re going to learn there. We’re going to develop new technologies, all of this so we can go to Mars with humans.

“All of this is to develop where we may be living on other worlds. They may be floating worlds, they may be the surface of Mars. But this is just part of our push outward, our quest to explore, to find out what’s out there in this universe.”

Nasa’s shuttle program, which was retired in 2011, limited crewed missions to lower Earth orbit, and subsequently private US space companies, including Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, have flown, or are planning flights, to the International Space Station orbiting about 250 miles above Earth.

Artemis is Nasa’s first deep-space exploration project for decades and, unlike the Apollo and shuttle programmes before it, relies heavily on outside contractors and international partners.

SLS is designed and manufactured by Boeing. The Orion crew capsule is the brainchild of Lockheed Martin. And the European Space Agency supplies the service module, the powerhouse of the spacecraft for its lunar journey once the powerful solid rocket boosters and core stage of SLS have placed it beyond Earth’s gravitational pull.

The ESM will push Orion farther from Earth than any human-rated space vehicle has ever flown before, providing electricity, water, oxygen and nitrogen and keeping the capsule on course and at the correct temperature before separating and burning up harmlessly in the atmosphere on its return to Earth.

The Guardian

Related Topics:engine problem Launch Moon NASA

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International

Floods sweep Kenyan cities, 42 dead in dam collapse, 130,000 displaced

Published

1 day ago

April 29, 2024

Trends Admin

Floods sweep Kenyan cities, 42 dead in dam collapse, 130,000 displaced

About 42 people have died in Kenya and hundreds displaced after a dam burst its banks near a town in the Rift Valley as heavy rains and floods battered the country.

The authorities confirmed this to AFP on Monday,

The dam burst near Mai Mahiu in Nakuru county, washing away houses and cutting off a road, with rescuers digging through debris to find survivors.

“Forty-two dead, it’s a conservative estimate. There are still more in the mud, we are working on recovery,” said Nakuru governor Susan Kihika.

Monday’s dam collapse raises the total death toll over the March-May wet season to 120 as heavier than usual rainfall pounds East Africa, compounded by the El Nino weather pattern.

The Kenya Red Cross said Monday it had retrieved two bodies after a boat carrying “a large number of people” capsized at the weekend in flooded Tana River county in eastern Kenya, adding that 23 others had been rescued.

Video footage shared online and broadcast on television showed the crowded boat sinking, with people screaming as onlookers watched in horror.

On Saturday, officials said 76 people had lost their lives in Kenya since March.

Flash floods have submerged roads and neighbourhoods, leading to the displacement of more than 130,000 people across 24,000 households, many of them in the capital Nairobi, according to government figures released Saturday.

Schools have been forced to remain shut following mid-term holidays, after the education ministry announced Monday that it would postpone their reopening by one week due to “ongoing heavy rains”.

“The devastating effects of the rains in some of the schools is so severe that it will be imprudent to risk the lives of learners and staff before water-tight measures are put in place to ensure adequate safety,” Education Minister Ezekiel Machogu said.

International

Gaza: OIC, 6 Arab countries seek ‘operative sanctions’ against Israel

Published

1 day ago

April 29, 2024

Trends Admin

Gaza: OIC, 6 Arab countries seek ‘operative sanctions’ against Israel

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and six Arab countries have urged the international community to implement robust sanctions against Israel, including halting the export of weapons, in response to its flagrant violations of international law and perpetration of war crimes in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs, His Highness Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, convened the meeting in Riyadh on Sunday, while also chairing the Ministerial Committee assigned by the Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit on Developments in the Gaza Strip.

During the gathering, the ministers emphasised the urgent need to activate international legal mechanisms to hold accountable those responsible for the horrible crimes committed in the region.

They also underscored the imperative of taking decisive action against settler terrorism and adopting clear and strict positions against it.

In addition to discussing the implementation of sanctions, the meeting focused on intensifying joint Arab and Islamic efforts to secure an immediate cessation of the conflict in Gaza.

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The ministers stressed the importance of upholding international humanitarian law to protect civilians and ensuring unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid to all parts of the strip.

Meanwhile, the participants reaffirmed their commitment to continuing efforts aimed at achieving international recognition of an independent Palestinian state.

They emphasised the significance of the two-state solution and the recognition of the State of Palestine based on the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with relevant international resolutions.

Expressing concern over measures targeting peaceful demonstrators in Western countries advocating for an end to the conflict in Gaza, the ministers reiterated their unwavering support for the Palestinian cause and their determination to address the severe crimes and violations against the Palestinian people.

The meeting saw the participation of esteemed officials including His Excellency Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of Jordan, Ayman Al Safadi, His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, Mr. Sameh Shoukry, His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Mr. Hussein Ibrahim Taha, Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Secretary-General of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization and Minister of Civil Affairs, Hussein Al Sheikh, and Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulaziz bin Saleh Al Khulaifi.

Gaza: OIC, 6 Arab countries seek ‘operative sanctions’ against Israel

International

Gaza: Hamas studies new Israeli truce proposal, 32 more killed

Published

2 days ago

April 28, 2024

Trends Admin

Gaza: Hamas studies new Israeli truce proposal, 32 more killed

JEDDAH/GAZA STRIP: Palestinians in Rafah said on Saturday they were living in “constant terror” as Israel vows to push ahead with its planned assault on the south Gaza city flooded with displaced civilians.

The Israeli military has massed dozens of tanks and armored vehicles in southern Israel close to Rafah and hit locations in the city in near-daily airstrikes.

“We live in constant terror and fear of repeated displacement and invasion,” said Nidaa Safi, 30, who fled Israeli strikes in the north and came to Rafah with her husband and children.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 34,388 people have been killed in the besieged territory during more than six months of war between Israel and Hamas militants.

The tally includes at least 32 deaths in the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 77,437 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war broke out when Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7.

Early Saturday, an airstrike hit a house in Rafah’s Tel Sultan neighborhood, killing a man, his wife and their sons, ages 12, 10 and 8, according to records of the Abu Yousef Al-Najjar hospital’s morgue. A neighbor’s 4-month-old girl was also killed.

Ahmed Omar rushed with other neighbors after the 1:30 a.m. strike to look for survivors, but said they only found bodies and body parts. “It’s a tragedy,” he said.

An Israeli airstrike later Saturday on a building in Rafah killed seven people, including six members of the Ashour family, according to the morgue.

Five people were killed in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza overnight when an Israeli strike hit a house, according to officials at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

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Elsewhere, Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinian men at a checkpoint in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the military said. It said the men had opened fire at troops stationed at Salem checkpoint near the city of Jenin.

Violence in the West Bank has flared since the war. The Ramallah-based Health Ministry says 491 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire.

Israel’s counterproposal

Hamas said it was studying Israel’s latest counterproposal for a ceasefire, a day after reports said a delegation from mediator Egypt was in Israel trying to jump-start stalled negotiations.

Israel’s foreign minister said that the Rafah incursion could be suspended should there be a deal to secure the release of Israeli hostages.

“The release of the hostages is the top priority for us,” said Israel Katz. “If there will be a deal, we will suspend the operation.”

The Egyptian delegation discussed a “new vision” for a prolonged ceasefire in Gaza, according to an Egyptian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to freely discuss the developments.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether Israel’s proposal was directly related to the visit.

Khalil Al-Hayya, deputy head of Hamas’s political arm in Gaza, said it had “received the official Zionist occupation response to the movement’s position, which was delivered to the Egyptian and Qatari mediators on April 13.”

Negotiations earlier this month centered on a six-week ceasefire proposal and the release of 40 civilian and sick hostages in exchange for freeing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

A separate Hamas statement said leaders from the three main militant groups active in Gaza discussed attempts to end the war. It didn’t mention the Israeli proposal.

The armed wing of Hamas also released video footage of two men held hostage in Gaza, identified by Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum as Keith Siegel and Omri Miran.

Mediators are working on a compromise that will answer most of both parties’ main demands, which could pave the way to continued negotiations with the goal of a deal to end the war, the official said.

Hamas has said it won’t back down from demands for a permanent ceasefire and full withdrawal of Israeli troops.

Israel has rejected both and said it will continue military operations until Hamas is defeated and that it will retain a security presence in Gaza.

There is growing international pressure for Hamas and Israel to reach a ceasefire deal and avert an Israeli attack on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have sought refuge.

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Israel has insisted for months it plans a ground offensive into Rafah, on the border with Egypt, where it says many remaining Hamas militants remain, despite calls for restraint including from Israel’s staunchest ally, the United States.

Egypt has cautioned an offensive into Rafah could have “catastrophic consequences” on the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where famine is feared, and on regional peace and security.

Tolerating Israeli abuses

Washington has been critical of Israeli policies in the West Bank. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is expected in Israel on Tuesday, recently determined an army unit committed rights abuses there before the war in Gaza.

But Blinken said in an undated letter to US House Speaker Mike Johnson, obtained by The Associated Press on Friday, that he’s postponing a decision on blocking aid to the unit to give Israel more time to right the wrongdoing. Blinken stressed that overall US military support for Israel’s defense wouldn’t be affected.

The US has also been building a pier to deliver aid to Gaza through a new port. Israel’s military confirmed Saturday that it would be operational by early May.

The BBC reported the UK government was considering deploying troops to drive the trucks to carry the aid to shore, citing unidentified government sources. British officials declined to comment.

Another aid effort, a three-ship flotilla coming from Turkiye, was prevented from sailing, organizers said.

Student protests over the war and its effect on Palestinians are growing on college campuses in the US, while demonstrations continue in many countries.

Hamas sparked the war by attacking southern Israel on Oct. 7, with militants killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostage. Israel says the militants still hold around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.