Although basically everything was ready to go, it was an option that was on the table, although it is true that we were hoping that it would not be the case, or in any case that it was due to the weather conditions, because as we told you a few days ago, the weather reports indicated a 30% chance that the weather conditions would prevent launch. The weather eventually proved benevolent (albeit causing a 45-minute delay over the originally scheduled time), but even so, the SLS failed to track the flight several hours earlier.

So what’s the problem? As announced by the US space agency, Artemis I launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thomspon, it was forced to abort the launch due to a problem detected in one of the four engines SLS. Or, to be more precise, in systems designed for cooling in the pre-launch phase, which is a key procedure to ensure operational safety.

Although the weather finally cleared for launch, the risk of lightning striking Artemis I, estimated by meteorologists at 20%, meant that the day started, if not on the wrong foot, in some haste. delayed the fueling process (liquid nitrogen) used by the SLS. The engineering teams had done all the pre-loading work, so the race ended, but when it was determined that the risk had been mitigated, the nearly 3,785 cubic meters of liquid nitrogen and oxygen needed for launch were loaded.

Until then, despite the time lag and fuel loading delays, everything seemed fine, but the situation became complicated when the systems responsible for this operation they couldn’t cool one of the SLS engines. This procedure is key because nitrous is charged at a very, very low temperature, so engines must be conditioned so that there is not too much of a contrast between its temperature and the temperature of the fuel.

The worst part is not that the launch has been suspended because, as we told you a few days ago, there are two other optimal launch windows, the following days of September 2nd and 5th. The problem is that technicians and engineers they were unable to determine the reason for the failure in the systems, so of course they couldn’t solve it. So now they face a race against time to identify the cause, fix it, run the tests necessary to guarantee the safety of the launch, and when everything is ready, reactivate the countdown.