SLS likely facing another launch delay
Engineers for NASA’s SLS rocket have determined that they need to replace the flight controller on one of the engines in the rocket’s core stage, an action that will likely force a delay from the presently scheduled February launch date.
After performing a series of inspections and troubleshooting, engineers determined the best course of action is to replace the engine controller, returning the rocket to full functionality and redundancy while continuing to investigate and identify a root cause. NASA is developing a plan and updated schedule to replace the engine controller while continuing integrated testing and reviewing launch opportunities in March and April.
It appears they hope to make this change-out quickly and only have to delay one or two months, though at the moment it is also unclear this will be possible.
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Engineers for NASA’s SLS rocket have determined that they need to replace the flight controller on one of the engines in the rocket’s core stage, an action that will likely force a delay from the presently scheduled February launch date.
After performing a series of inspections and troubleshooting, engineers determined the best course of action is to replace the engine controller, returning the rocket to full functionality and redundancy while continuing to investigate and identify a root cause. NASA is developing a plan and updated schedule to replace the engine controller while continuing integrated testing and reviewing launch opportunities in March and April.
It appears they hope to make this change-out quickly and only have to delay one or two months, though at the moment it is also unclear this will be possible.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
For a moment I was confused b/c I thought SLS was supposed to launch this month, but then I realized I was thinking of the Webb Telescope…you know, the OTHER hideously overschedule and overbudget NASA boondoggle. :D
“NASA is developing a plan and updated schedule to replace the engine controller”……SpaceX would have it ripped apart by now. The plan would be” replace the part and start now”
The real plan: Lets see how much we can add to the bill. When you own a boat you alsays said BOAT Stood for “Break Out Another Thousland” With SLs it would be Break out another Billion.
Gee, SpaceX installed 29 engines in 14 hours.
NASA will take a month to change a component (An important one, and no doubt non-trivial to change) on a single engine.
Hmm… Which seems like a more sustainable model? I wonder…
SLS has a lower part count. Boeing needs its own Musk. Now I hear he may want to step down from Tesla (good) and SpaceX (bad) to be an “influencer.”
What?
They ought to switch WEB to a SLS launch. That way their delays can cover for each other.
JhonB
Its bit BOAT break out another thousand.
Its close with Break out another billion.
But it would be better if it was Break Out Others Billions.
Why don’t they seek the advice of Sen. Elizabeth Warren? She seems to understand how American innovation works… pay more taxes so the government has more to piss away.
“SpaceX would have it ripped apart by now.”
Well only if the Foreman was there. If it was an off-shift and the Assistant Foreman was in charge, he would have correctly phoned the Foreman first, and then had it torn down.
“SLS likely facing another launch delay”
This is the “dog bites man” of space stories.
Its bit BOAT break out another thousand.
Except when Congress is involved these days, that is an acronym for Break Out Another Trillion.
Michael, My thoughts exactly. They deserve one another
Jester – OUCH!! The truth in those words is painful.
I can remember aviation writer Bill Gunston quoting a senator on an Air Force contract, “We will never again have $20 million airplanes!”
Gunston’s comment, “The senator was absolutely correct. Never again was an aircraft so cheap”
Deceptive advertising, explicitly Woke goals.
“SLS will be the most powerful rocket in the world and is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single mission. With the Artemis missions, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon and establish long-term exploration in preparation for missions to Mars.”
Patrick Underwood
I’m really so disappointed that NASA is so lagging behind the Woke reality. So who cares about the first woman and the first colored person on the moon? I would have expected that the first transgender woman would be brought to the moon, but she must have previously been a world-famous male astronaut and must be married now to another transgender woman. That would be the least, wouldn’t it?
Of course SLS has a lower parts count, the damned thing uses solid rockets! Only stupid designers (or NASA) put solids on manned boosters! They vibrate too much, make too much noise, and you can‘t shut them off or throttle them!
From the financial blog Motley Fool
“At an estimated $1.55 billion in cost per launch, and $209 billion total over its 30-year history, the U.S. Space Shuttle program was easily NASA’s most expensive project since the Apollo Moon Program — but NASA’s next project is going to make it look like a bargain. Two years ago, an investigation by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) estimated that each time NASA launches its new Space Launch System (SLS), taxpayers will ante up “over $2 billion.”
As it turns out, OMB was being optimistic.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/nasa-s-sls-rocket-just-got-3-2-billion-more-expensive/ar-AARZq3K?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531