Following successful testing earlier this year of the high-speed film and high-speed digital cameras on mobile launcher 1 and Launch Pad 39B, teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida recently completed additional testing to gather more data for the film cameras ahead of the Artemis II mission.
Building on the first test, engineers with the agency’s Exploration Ground Systems Program updated the software that activates the film cameras remotely from the firing room at the spaceport’s Launch Control Center. Teams turned on the cameras remotely to demonstrate two different capabilities: triggering the cameras through the countdown clock, which is how these cameras will normally operate during the launch countdown, and activating them through the emergency camera control panel, which allows teams to turn on the cameras in the unlikely event of an emergency during launch countdown.
The 68 high-speed cameras, which start during the final 12 seconds of the countdown, will provide views of the rocket and surrounding ground structures during launch. The imagery also is used in detailed post-launch analysis.
This test is part of integrated testing to verify and validate the ground systems that will support launch. The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew under the Artemis campaign, sending NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, as well as CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day journey around the Moon.
Teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida practice the Artemis mission emergency escape or egress procedures during a series of integrated system verification and validation tests at Launch Pad 39B on Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. Members of the closeout crew, pad rescue team and the Exploration Ground Systems Program practiced the process of getting inside and out of the emergency egress baskets. While the crew and other personnel will ride the emergency egress baskets to the terminus area in a real emergency, no one rode the baskets for this test. Instead, teams tested the baskets during separate occasions by using water tanks filled to different levels to replicate simulate the weight of passengers. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) Program at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center completed an emergency egress system demonstration throughout the course of several days at Launch Complex 39B ahead of the Artemis II test flight that will carry four astronauts around the Moon.
The EGS team practiced emergency procedures during day and nighttime launch scenarios with the closeout crew, the team responsible for helping the astronauts get inside the Orion spacecraft, and the Pad Rescue team, which would aid personnel away from the launch pad in an emergency.
Training included exiting the white room in the crew access arm of the mobile launcher, the area where the crew enters and exits Orion, while the fire suppression system was fully activated. The team then evacuated to the terminus area, the location at the perimeter of the launch pad where the emergency egress baskets come to a stop. For this test, personnel did not ride down the baskets, but did have the opportunity to practice getting inside the baskets when on the mobile launcher and exiting them at the terminus area. Once there, armored emergency response vehicles drove the team away to one of the designated safe site locations at Kennedy.
NASA
“Our latest integrated ground systems test is about demonstrating the capability of the entire emergency egress response,” said Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Artemis launch director. “From the time an emergency condition is declared until we have the crews, both flight and ground, safely accounted for outside the hazardous area.”
During a real emergency, personnel will use the emergency egress baskets, which are suspended on a track cable that connects the mobile launcher to the perimeter of the pad. From there, they will travel down the 1,335-foot-long cables where the emergency response vehicles will drive them away to safety. Prior to this test and throughout the course of several months, teams conducted several basket release demonstrations to validate the system.
During this test campaign the Artemis launch team also conducted an emergency egress demonstration simulation to practice how team members would respond to an emergency taking place at the pad during launch countdown.
EGS team members will have another opportunity to practice the emergency egress procedures with the Artemis II crew during a test closer to launch when the rocket is at the launch pad.
NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems conducts a water flow test with the mobile launcher at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39B in Florida on Oct. 24, 2023. It is the third in a series of tests to verify the overpressure protection and sound suppression system is ready for launch of the Artemis II mission. During liftoff, 400,000 gallons of water will rush onto the pad to help protect NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, Orion spacecraft, mobile launcher, and launch pad from any over pressurization and extreme sound produced during ignition and liftoff. Photo Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program successfully completed tests of the ignition overpressure protection and sound suppression and launch cooling systems at Launch Pad 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. These systems will protect the mobile launcher umbilicals and other crucial ground systems during liftoff of the Artemis II mission.
When SLS’s (Space Launch System) solid rocket boosters ignite, the RS-25 engines start up, and the rocket comes to life, there will be a thundering amount of noise, heat, and energy produced at liftoff. To ensure the crew, SLS, the Orion spacecraft and the surrounding ground infrastructure are protected during launch, teams practiced releasing approximately 400,000 gallons of water from large overhead holding tanks onto the mobile launcher and the pad’s flame deflector. The water will provide protection from the extreme heat generated by SLS’s exhaust and help suppress the sound produced at liftoff.
Recent upgrades to the mobile launcher were designed to enhance the performance of these systems and assure better launch imagery. Some of the upgrades include:
New water balancing plates on the mobile launcher and pad piping to allow higher water flow rates
Redesigned rainbird water nozzles to allow increased water flow rates and improved mobile launcher deck water coverage
New hydrogen burn-off ignitor and camera water barriers for protection from the increased mobile launcher deck water flow
Raised camera housings and additional splash shields around the lenses to maximize amount of video obtained during launch
Adding additional levels on the mobile launcher to protect the emergency egress baskets and pilot line hoist motors
The water flows were conducted as part of a series of integrated ground systems tests intended to confirm that various systems on the mobile launcher and at Launch Pad 39B work as intended, both individually and with each other.
The Artemis II mission builds on the success of the uncrewed Artemis I mission and will demonstrate a broad range of capabilities needed for missions to the Moon and beyond. The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew aboard the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft and confirm the spacecraft systems operate as designed with crew aboard in the environment of deep space.
Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) Program successfully tested the upgraded environmental control system on mobile launcher 1 while it’s at Launch Pad 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in preparation for Artemis II. This system provides air supply, thermal control, and pressurization to SLS (Space Launch System) and the Orion spacecraft during cryogenic propellant loading.
During propellant loading, the environmental control system purges specific compartments within Orion and SLS using gaseous nitrogen to maintain the proper environmental conditions. This is critical, as the rocket and spacecraft must be in a safe and stable configuration and temperature when dealing with hazardous gasses. The severtal-week test, which started April 17, was conducted in two parts. Teams first started flowing air through the system and then followed by flowing gaseous nitrogen.
This marks the next set of tests complete for EGS teams as part of the integrated system verification and validation testing in preparation for Artemis II, the first crewed Artemis mission that will send four astronauts around the Moon and back next year.
The testing puts the team and ground infrastructures to work and ensures each are functioning properly and allows the team to update and refine procedures ahead of launch. Part of this series includes testing the launch pad’s environmental control system, the emergency egress system, the ignition overpressure protection and sound suppression system, among others.
Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander successfully powered on, made communications contact, and is now on its way to the Moon, carrying NASA science and technology demonstrations as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign.
Nova-C is expected to land on the lunar surface Thursday, Feb. 22, and throughout its mission, the agency’s scientific instruments will focus on plume-surface interactions, space weather/lunar surface interactions, radio astronomy, precision landing technologies, and a communication and navigation node for future autonomous navigation technologies.
This concludes our live launch coverage. Continue to follow along for more CLPS updates: nasa.gov/clps.
At approximately 1:53 a.m. EST, the Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander successfully deployed from SpaceX’s Falcon 9 second stage.
Onboard the lander are NASA scientific instruments and technology demonstrations, as well as other commercial payloads, heading to the Moon. Intuitive Machines was selected for this delivery as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign. Coming up, Nova-C will power on and begin its journey to the lunar surface.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander lifts off from Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 1:05 a.m. EST on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024. As part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign, Intuitive Machines’ first lunar mission will carry NASA science and commercial payloads to the Moon to study plume-surface interactions, space weather/lunar surface interactions, radio astronomy, precision landing technologies, and a communication and navigation node for future autonomous navigation technologies. Photo credit: Mike Chambers
At 1:05 a.m. EST SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launched the Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Onboard the lander is a suite of NASA scientific instruments and technology demonstrations, as well as commercial payloads, heading to the surface of the Moon. The NASA payloads onboard the lander aim to help the agency develop capabilities needed to explore the Moon under Artemis and in advance of human missions on the lunar surface. Intuitive Machines was selected for this delivery as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign
The next major milestone will be when Nova-C separates from the rocket’s second stage, which is expected to occur in approximately 48 minutes or around 1:53 a.m. EST.
Carrying NASA science to the Moon as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative, a SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket stands ready for a 1:05 a.m. EST liftoff from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Watch now on NASA+, NASA TV, and the agency’s website.
Onboard Falcon 9 is Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander, which holds six NASA scientific instruments and technology demonstrations, along with other commercial payloads. This is the first CLPS flight for Intuitive Machines, which is part of the Artemis campaign.
Weather officials with Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s 45th Weather Squadron predict a 90% chance of favorable weather conditions for launch, with the primary weather concerns revolving around thick cloud coverage.
Here’s a look at the remaining of SpaceX’s countdown and ascent milestones. All times are approximate:
Countdown Hour/Minute/Second Event
00:38:00 SpaceX launch director verifies go for propellant load
00:35:00 Rocket grade kerosene loading begins
00:35:00 1st stage liquid oxygen loading begins
00:16:00 2nd stage liquid oxygen loading begins
00:07:00 Falcon 9 begins pre-launch engine chill
00:01:00 Command flight computer to begin final prelaunch checks
00:01:00 Propellant tanks pressurize for flight
00:00:45 SpaceX launch director verifies go for launch
00:00:03 Command for engine ignition sequence to start
00:00:00 Falcon 9 liftoff
Launch, Landing, and Separation Hour/Minute/Second Event
The launch of Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 mission on board SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A in Florida was postponed Tuesday, Feb. 13, due to off-nominal methane temperatures prior to stepping into methane load. SpaceX and Intuitive Machines are now targeting 1:05 a.m. EST Thursday, Feb. 15. Additional updates can be found on Intuitive Machines and SpaceX platforms.
NASA’s live broadcast will begin at 12:20 a.m. EST on Feb. 15. Watch on NASA+, NASA TV, and the agency’s website.
Beginning at 11 a.m. EST today, tune in to NASA TV or the agency’s website for NASA’s lunar science media teleconference, which will highlight the NASA payloads flying on Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander to the Moon as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign.
Participants include:
Susan Lederer, CLPS project scientist, NASA Johnson
Farzin Amzajerdian, principal investigator, Navigation Doppler Lidar, NASA Langley
Tamara Statham, co-principal investigator, Lunar Node 1, NASA Marshall
Daniel Cremons, deputy principal investigator, Laser Retro-Reflector Array, NASA Goddard
Nat Gopalswamy, principal investigator, Radio Observations of the Lunar Surface Photoelectron Sheath, NASA Goddard
Michelle Munk, principal investigator, Stereo Camera for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies, NASA Langley
Lauren Ameen, deputy project manager, Radio Frequency Mass Gauge, NASA Glenn
Then at 1:30 p.m. EST tomorrow, there will be a lunar delivery readiness media teleconference to confirm all NASA payloads are go for launch.
Participants include:
Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for Exploration, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
Debra Needham, program scientist, Exploration Science Strategy and Integration Office, NASA Headquarters
Trent Martin, Vice President of Space Systems, Intuitive Machines
William Gerstenmaier, VP, Build and Flight Reliability, SpaceX
Arlena Moses, launch weather officer, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s 45th Weather Squadron
SpaceX is scheduled to launch its Falcon 9 rocket and Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander at 12:57 a.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 14 from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Intuitive Machines is targeting landing on the Moon on Thursday, Feb. 22. The company’s Nova-C lander will carry NASA science instruments focusing on plume-surface interactions, space weather/lunar surface interactions, radio astronomy, precision landing technologies, and a communication and navigation node for future autonomous navigation technologies.
To learn more about some of the scientific research and technology demonstrations flying to the Moon as part of the CLPS initiative visit https://www.nasa.gov/clps
