At Kennedy Space Center (KSC), NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) program continues to prepare for the Artemis II circumlunar project that was recently postponed to September 2025. EGS completes certification of new ground systems for crewed launches of the agency’s Orion. with its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket starting with Artemis II.
NASA recently revealed new problems that the Orion program is trying to solve that are delaying preparation for the launch of Artemis II by another 10 months. While Orion analyzes those issues and determines how long it will take to resolve them, EGS has adjusted its short-term strategy. program to complete its certification painting and prepare the SLS Forged Rocket Booster (SRB) hardware that will eventually be stacked for Artemis II. Depending on Orion’s progress, it is expected that development of the project could begin later this year.
EGS Completes Validations of New Launcher and Pad 39B Systems
NASA announced the 10-month delay from the planned launch date for the Artemis II lunar flyby project at an audio convention with the media on Jan. 9. The planned public release date was moved from November 2024 to September 2025 and allocated to more engineering and engineering. Mandatory production paints on the Orion spacecraft before it can be fully supplied and delivered to EGS for release processing.
The Orion program is now underway to address several issues related to the production of the future spacecraft and its work to certify human evaluation of Artemis II. The goal of the thermal protection of the Artemis I base is that the team module will return to Earth in December 2022. It is also still under examination and may be a factor in deciding the final launch date of Artemis II.
The EGS, Orion, and SLS systems are being replanned lately due to the long backlog. While a new milestone schedule is being developed, EGS is completing verification and validation of plant hardware and software upgrades for the start of manned Orion/SLS launches from launch. Pad 39B.
“We’re doing a lot of testing right now, along with all the other testing,” Cliff Lanham, NASA’s senior manager of EGS vehicle operations, said in a recent interview with NSF. “We’re going to put an end to them, I would say, in the early to mid-spring, and then in late spring, we’ll bring the cellular launcher back to the VAB. “
Mobile Launcher-1 (ML-1) deployed on Platform 39B last August, following the repairs, refurbishment and installation of Artemis I following the launch of Artemis I and the installation of elements of a new Emergency Evacuation System (EES).
(Caption: The first sliding basket is seen in initial configurations on Jan. 24 to validate the emergency exit formula for crewed Artemis launches beginning with Artemis II. )
Prior to launch, pad personnel will be evacuated from the domain while the SLS is loaded with thrusters. However, when team flights begin, the astronaut flight team and final equipment will be on the mobile launcher to help the astronauts board Orion. The exit system, which is similar to those used for advertising crews and NASA’s previous combined transportation systems such as the space shuttle, will allow workers on the pad to temporarily exit the vehicle and mobile launcher (ML) in an emergency. .
Four baskets will be placed in ML’s umbilical tower at the 274-foot level, where the team arm and “clean room” are located for teams to enter and exit the Orion team module. The baskets will terminate in sliding cables to a terminal domain at the western end of the platform’s inner field, where ambush-resistant emergency dispatch vehicles (MRAPs) protected against mines that can move away from the platform will be parked.
Currently, EGS is installing the first of four sliding wire baskets to initiate verification verification. “We’re installing this first basket in the rail formula of the cell launcher tower,” Lanham explained. “We’ve got software that we’re finalizing this weekend and we’re ultimately looking at Monday [January]. 29] to move on to our basket drop controls, where we check the baskets, braking and the other formulas that are part of that first basket race.
“Once we’ve finished all of that, we’ll move on to the other 3 baskets and do similar drop tests with them. “The first round of testing is being carried out through the structures contractor, JP Donovan.
“That’s called commissioning,” Lanham noted. “Right now, we’re looking at finishing that up in the mid-spring timeframe to finish that testing, and then at the end of that testing by the construction contractor, we would then go into, with our operations contractor, the actual verification and validation testing for several weeks.”
“Once that is completed, we move on to another ISVV check or built-in formula check and validation check where we go to get the team out, and it is called ‘ISVV 1,'” he added. “Go through the series of opportunities on launch day with the team and we will go through to swing the baskets up the tower as well. “
The team participated in an initial series of occasions since launch day last September; The next check will increase practice for emergency modes that may require immediate evacuation. They would get out of the vehicle, go through the gangway of the team’s arm, cross point 274 of the cell release to where the baskets are. practice that, get familiar with the course and then practice with the baskets,” Lanham noted.
(Photo Caption: Shuttle STS-109 mission pilot Duane Carey leads commander Scott Altman in evacuation practice during terminal countdown demonstration test activities in February 2002. The Artemis II flight crew will help commission the new emergency egress system by participating in similar practices between now and their launch, currently targeted for September 2025.)
Orion’s Launch Interruption System (LAS) will be available to the team at the end of the countdown, but until then, the EES provides an exchanged escape direction for the flight team and the last team if the latter is still on the pad. before launch.
Another important aspect of the verification and validation (V&V) testing at the pad is practice for setting up the system for launch. In contrast to the Commercial Crew launch pads and the Shuttle before them, Pad 39B is a clean pad, with no fixed crew access tower.
Access to the vehicle is more like the Saturn V automotives that flew from the release pads more than 50 years ago, with the team’s access to the umbilical tower of the cell delivery vehicle. For SLS, the concept of operations is to deploy the vehicle and ML on Pad 39B just over a week before the scheduled launch date, meaning EES cables and sliding baskets will need to be installed as part of the launch countdown preparations.
“This will all become part of the [verification testing], that’s where we practice setting up the system,” Lanham said. “We were tasked with running cables to the tower from the terminal site, so we’re moving on to practicing that, time for ourselves, and all of that will go into the launch countdown when we deploy, so all of that is going to be taken into account and what is worked on.
“And whenever we get the chance, like in the testing phase of V
Launch pad systems at 39B, such as the environment control system, have also been modified and upgraded between Artemis I and II, and those changes are being validated too. A major new capability being brought online beginning with Artemis II is a second, large liquid hydrogen (LH2) storage sphere to increase the original capacity at 39B to better support the needs of current and future SLS configurations.
The new sphere will increase the number of Orion/SLS release attempts that EGS can withstand, which deserves the liberation possibilities in the heavily restricted lunar liberation periods required by Artemis. One of the V tests
“We have our fourth built-in formula verification and validation test, which is a bloodless flow/cryoflow of LH2 from this [new LH2 sphere] to the ML,” Lanham said. “We have discovered corrosion in some pipes and in our vent lines and are working to remedy it. “
(Photo caption: The two giant spheres of the LH2 garage are visuals in this symbol taken on a recent NSF flyby of the Kennedy Space Center. EGS will validate that the new giant sphere on the left is in a position to assist in Artemis launches starting with Artemis II Plans call for the new sphere to be used to deliver the LH2 to the SLS stages on the platform and for the original Apollo-era sphere to be used for resupply if needed. )
“We’re in the process of coming up with a contingency plan to move forward and carry out a blood draw from the ancient sphere to the cellular launcher before we leave the pad, to meet our timeline for Artemis II, and in the meantime, we would do this repair on this pipeline and then make a connection between the tanks to allow us to do this multi-component test. This is perfectly valid in the context of a certification program. So, right now, we’re thinking that in early to mid-spring, we’d do the Mobile Launcher component of this cryogenic array
For refueling operations with the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft, the new, higher-capacity LH2 sphere is planned to deliver cryogenic fuel from the garage through the apron cross-sections, to the ML pipelines, and finally to the two-stage SLS liquid propellant. “The concept would be for the old sphere to be the replenishment sphere, going back to the new sphere,” Lanham said. “So we’d charge from the new sphere and use the other one to resupply. “
A number of ISVV tests have been conducted since the ML-1 arrived at the site last summer. A series of tests has just been completed, refining the water in the Pad 39B’s water tank to the Ignition Overpressure Protection and Noise Suppression (IOPSS) system. .
“We just completed, literally as I’m talking to you, the last water, called ISVV 2,” Lanham said in the Jan. 25 interview. “That was our last hurrah for this. This included ISVV 6, which is our high-speed imaging test.
“We did it together, this definitive water and imaging test. We just finished it, so it’s very smart news.
SLS Boosters almost ready to stack, will wait for better schedule clarity
In the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) domain of Launch Complex 39, EGS is completing Artemis II stacking arrangements for the SLS Solid Rockets (SRB) segment apparatus at the Rotation, Processing, and Surge Facility (RPSF). The SLS boosters were transported by rail from Northrop Grumman’s Promontory facility in Utah to KSC in late September.
Since they arrived at KSC, each of the ten fueled solid rocket motor segments has been offloaded and inspected. “All the segments are offloaded now and six of the 10 segments are in Surge 2, ready for stacking when we get to that point,” Lanham said. All of the segments are offloaded in the RPSF Rotation building. After receiving inspections, eight of them are placed in one of the two “Surge” buildings for storage.
(Photo caption: Four of Artemis II’s forged rocket engine segments are seen at the RPSF on Dec. 21. An unidentified center segment is on the left while the center-middle-left segment rotates, after unloading. On the right, the two rear segments assemblies are visual on their mounting brackets. )
The two rear segments are installed on mounting brackets in the Rotation building, where they are attached to a rear apron. A nozzle extension, also known as an outlet cone, is attached, as well as the rear fixing ring that allows the impeller to be attached. to the SLS main stage. When fully equipped, it is called a rear assembly.
“We’ve got about a month of paints left,” Lanham said of the rear assemblies. “We do the Flight Tool Progression (DFI) work where we route cables and wires around the fixing ring and then fill it with cork, which is a lot of work in progress right now. “
“We recently finished our leak checks on the rear exit cones, so we have about a month of paint left in this area, and by the end of February we hope to have the segments in stackable condition. ” Two other segments that remain in the rotating construction of the RPSF are the center-center segments.
“What we’re doing there is just finishing masking and outlining the NASA computer virus logo, so that it stays on the [revolving building] while we depict the computer virus logo on the individual segments, so they gave them six. segments in Surge 2 and you have 4 in the Rotation building,” Lanham added.
The SRBs have five motor segments: forward, forward-center, center-center, aft-center, and aft. A forward assembly on top includes booster avionics and a nose cone with one set of separation motors. The aft assembly includes the aft motor segment, exit cone, core stage attach ring, and the aft skirt that houses thrust vector control (TVC) systems and the second set of separation motors.
A formula tunnel runs vertically along the impeller, where the NASA computer virus logo is in the middle segment. As with the Artemis I thrusters, most of the logo will now be painted around the formula tunnel domain in the RPSF. After that, those two segments will be moved to the Surge 2 building for storage. The rest of the logo will be finished once the formula tunnel covers are attached to the fully stacked propellants on the cell launcher at the VAB.
(Photo caption: The 3 main constructions of the RPSF are visual in this symbol taken from a recent NSF flyover of the KSC. On the far left is one of the two garage builds, Surge 2. This is where all segments of the SRB are unloaded and inspected; This is also where the rear segments, rear skirts and exit cones are assembled into the rear engine assemblies. Immediately behind the rotating construction is the original surge building. In the Upper Flight Speed Area Commuter program, KSC’s floor operations may have simply treated two or more BRT assemblies between VAB and RPSF and stored others in the Surge constructions. )
While the SRB hardware would possibly be in a position to begin vehicle integration or “stacking” in the coming weeks for Artemis II, it’s too early to start, with more than a year and a half to go before the new target launch date arrives. The new target date of September 2025 was based on forecasts to solve one of the problems, a redesign of a circuit within an electric motor drive controller in Orion’s Environmental and Survivability Control System (ECLSS). This factor will require removing some electronic parts from the Artemis II Orion spacecraft and then testing them again after being replaced.
“At this point, we have set the September date based on how long we believe it will take to complete the removal [and] replacement of the [Orion] life-saving formula electronics and penalty testing necessary for full integration on the way home. Amit Kshatriya, deputy associate administrator for the Moon to Mars program at NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, said at the Jan. 9 media audio convention at which the delays were announced. “We hope that the other effects of falling battery tariffs, as well as the completion of all required testing for the heat shield, will be incorporated into this work. “
Previously, the EGS and SLS systems were preparing to begin stacking the Artemis II vehicle earlier this year, starting with the SLS SRBs, followed by the cryogenic core and upper stages. With the new launch date on schedule, systems will reassess when to deliver stage number one, which is completing production at the Michoud Assembly Plant (MAF) in New Orleans.
It will also be necessary to rework the delivery schedule of the rest of the SLS hardware (the adapters that connect the stages and Orion). It is estimated that EGS would need at least 8 months to prepare Orion from the time they won the spacecraft to Artemis. II point of preparation for launch. If that were the case, Orion would have to fix problems, make changes, and complete the spacecraft’s apparatus and testing by the end of the year to set a September 2025 launch date.
In short, apart from the thrusters, the parts needed for the stack are not in position and we don’t yet know when they will be ready. For now, as Lanham said, EGS is tentatively working to bring the cellular launcher back to VAB High. Bay 3 in late spring.
“At this point we would embark on a series of jobs where we would prepare the VAB, the cell phone launcher, the umbilicals and we would prepare to start stacking the thrusters,” he said. sometimes, because we’re still running out of schedule, exhausting details, but we’re looking at early summer to start stacking reinforcements if all goes well. “
(Photo caption: The most sensitive of what is believed to be an “ICPS Short Stack” is seen in the cell trigger umbilical tower cameras in the Artemis I launch campaign in 2021. A refueling test of the Artemis II SLS main level and the Intermediate Cryogenic Propulsion Level (ICPS) with the Pad 39B cell propulsion and release systems will likely be completed next year. Either the entire vehicle with Orion will be deployed to the pad for this verification, or just the elements of the SLS Block 1 rocket with the ICPS in the most sensible way. )
The SLS core stage is the centerpiece of the rocket and Lanham said that delivery of Core Stage-2 to KSC will be worked out between the EGS and SLS programs. “Core stage delivery, from a hardware need date, is driven off of the stacking of the boosters, so what we do is we look at where that timeframe will fall, and then we back up to the left and we look at the work that we have to do in the transfer aisle on the core stage, and then we kind of say ‘what’s the margin we feel we need for that?’ We kind of get an idea of the total timeframe that we need for [the] core stage and that puts us in the vicinity of a date out to the left that we then negotiate with the SLS program.”
“In general, we check out to make a ‘just-in-time’ delivery of the aircraft, because when the aircraft arrives here, our technicians and engineers take care of it and supply it with flight apparatus, and having it here too soon prepares things, a burden that we are giving them,” Lanham added. He estimated that receiving the main level approximately 8 weeks prior to combining it with the SLS thrusters would provide the mandatory runtime and scheduling headroom.
Whether stacking could begin as early as summertime with placing the booster aft assemblies on the Mobile Launcher will remain a question while the Orion program works through their newly reported issues.
“What will happen is, as we get closer to the date to start stacking, we’ll have what’s called a KMR,” Lanham said. KMR stands for “key milestone review.” “We’ll get everybody, including our sister programs, together and we’ll discuss ‘Is everybody ready to start the stacking?’” he added. “Obviously, things come up and we’ll adjust accordingly.”
Boosters are one of the “limited operational life elements” (LOLIs) of the spacecraft and rocket. They have a generic stack shelf life of 12 months, and for Artemis I, extending that shelf life required more analytical work for each expansion. The Artemis I thrusters were discontinued once for the SLS Green Run main stage, but the “stacking life” ended up being about two years.
NASA executives have said in the past that one of the lessons learned from Artemis I is to better “protect” the popular 12-month stacking clock for thrusters. Additionally, for Artemis II, Lanham said he has no plans to suspend the stacking program for booster segments after starting with the rear assemblies.
Exploring Options for Artemis II Tank Test and Platform Access
Once the Artemis II vehicle is stacked, there will be a tanking test conducted, where the vehicle will roll out on the Mobile Launcher to Pad 39B separately from launch. Following the test, it will be rolled back to the VAB to complete the remaining launch preparations. Only SLS is loaded with propellants on launch day itself; the Orion spacecraft is fueled for the mission months in advance. One of the questions for the test is whether or not to perform it with Orion integrated on top.
A tank testing organization was formed last year to look at options. At some point in the future, once there is more certainty in Orion’s timeline, NASA control will make a decision on whether to use a full stack of vehicles with Orion or a “short. “stack” without Orion for refueling test.
“We’re going to do a tank test, it’s just a matter of knowing what this setup is going to look like,” Lanham said. “The short-stack configuration would be an ICPS with a cover, and then the full-stack would evidently be the entire vehicle with Orion stacked. But all of this is still being weighed and examined.
(Photo caption: VAB platforms, scaffolding, and control apparatus are shown deployed around the front skirts of the Artemis I SLS thrusters and the mid-level intertank in the main symbol taken in August 2021. In the rear-left inset, a symbol taken from the umbilical tower of the Mobile Launcher, the umbilical release and retraction test at the end of September shows the location of the yellow and red access doors for the thrusters and the main level on the -Z side of the vehicle. EGS is investigating the feasibility of Secure access for the release of the equipment worker body to the access doors to platform 39B to allow verification and reconfiguration of the internal apparatus. )
For Artemis I, a series of random checks were carried out as part of this campaign to release the stacked vehicle. A low-fidelity mass simulator was built for Orion for some of those checks, likely adding controls with the SLS stack at launch. Pad. It turned out that they didn’t want to use the mass simulator for deployment or verification of the platform. Now, for Artemis II, a tank verification setup without Orion also wouldn’t come with mass simulators or Orion-SLS connection hardware.
The “ICPS Short Stack” option would be just the main tier and SLS thrusters, plus the intermediate cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS) on top, with the launch stage adapter (LVSA) connecting the ICPS and core tier . Only the core level and ICPS would receive power for the refueling test, regardless of whether Orion is there or not.
The delay-like additional time also allows groups to read about the option to expand access to the vehicle’s interior on Pad 39B to improve the availability of the Artemis II launch. It is expected that Artemis II’s lunar launch opportunities would be similar to those of Artemis I in a general sense, where there would be a repeating cycle of about two weeks in which SLS could release Orion to the Moon, followed by two weeks in which this would not be possible.
Like Artemis I, launch availability is further limited due to the duration of the 25-day certification of the SLS Flight Termination System (FTS) at the Eastern Proving Range, where the Cape Canaveral Space Station and KSC launches take place. Once the 25 days have elapsed, the formula will have to be tested again to renew its certification for a further 25 days and, under the current circumstances, testing will only be able to be carried out at the VAB.
The tests themselves would possibly only take a few days, however, the added burden of moving the vehicle to the VAB from the pad to retest and then backing up is much longer than that. “The concept would be to give us that access to the vehicle. , necessarily to the desire to back up if we can also just do the FTS testing on the platform,” Lanham said. “So we’re investigating what it would take to gain access to the complex thruster assemblies and the inter-tank system of the main stage. To do that. “
The access doors to the forward thruster assemblies and one of the main level intertank access doors face the umbilical tower of the cell launcher. “We’re on it, we’re still in the early levels at this point, but that’s what we need to do,” Lanham said.
(Main image: Cell Release Vehicle-1 is seen at Launch Pad 39B, a recent NSF flyby of Kennedy Space Center. Integrated testing between the cell release and ramp systems is expected to continue through spring. Credit: Max Evans for NSF )
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