SLS Green Run test Halted Early
Keith’s note: The 4 engines lit up and ran for 2 minutes or so before there was a MCF (major component failure call) and then they continued to fire for a few more seconds before they shut down. This was supposed to be an 8 minute test and various sources have suggested that more firing time than 2 minutes was needed – even if the full 8 minutes was not achieved – so as to get all the required data. There will be a press conference in several hours. What is somewhat baffling is how NASA PAO only had a prewritten script for a successful test (and presumably one for a total failure) but not one for something in between. This was not the success that PAO claims it was. Yet their on-air host went on and on as if everything was fine. Stay tuned.
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I don’t understand the lack of preparation or the willingness of some space launch agencies to put out exciting launch coverage. SpaceX has been doing this for quite a while now. They do it with a seemingly ever changing cast of commentators, and they do it well. I would think theirs would be an easy model to follow; yet NASA, ULA, and others just don’t seem to be able to follow that model or are not willing to put in the effort.
As for the test, damn. This means another big delay, or at least I assume as much given past history. On the bright side, there was no RUD.
Is there information available for how much total time each of these engines has fired prior to this test?
What NASA PAO needs is to put people on camera who actually know what they’re talking about. I’m not sure about all the people SpaceX has providing launch commentary, but most of them seem to be one sort of engineer or another. If you’ve just got someone reading a script off a teleprompter, you’ve going to get bad coverage if things don’t go according to the script. (And I’m reminded of an old Doonesbury cartoon, where a TV anchorman says something like, “And, in other news, you can’t see it but I’m not wearing any clothes below my waist. Actually, that is not true, but I just say whatever they put on the teleprompter. Right now, I’m thinking about something else entirely and I’m not even aware of what I’m saying.”)
As far as total firing time on these four RS-25s, I’m not sure. They are all refurbished Shuttle engines, so they’ve all had at least eight and a half minutes of use on them. Some (most? all?) may have been used on more than one Shuttle flight. And I have no idea how much firing time they’ve had on test stands.
They did have an engineer on the telecast but he did not say much at the end because because the PR gal kept on reading the script.
The clueless young woman SpaceX-wannabe reading from the successful-test script that they are staying on schedule for the first launch, after the thing has a major component failure less than a minute into the test and had to shut down, is so representative of the decline of Old Space.
doing the job of public affairs live, while things are unfolding is probably not the easiest job in the world, however having said that, i have the feeling that the current cast of PAOs have been hired for their communication skills and how they connect with the twitter/social media crowd and lack the insights into the subjects they report on. Knowing what was going on was always a given with the older generation such as Buckingham, Diller, Navis or Malone. Perhaps, the current ppl. have less leeway than those during Shuttle.
But it is not a NASA-only issue, the commentators at Arianespace seem unable to read live maps and diagrams during ascent as well…..
i sometimes wonder how bad these guys would have been had they been in the chair 18 years ago next month….
I can’t imagine this won’t push back Artemis 1 into 2022, and everything else gets pushed back from there. Path to a 2024 Artemis 3 landing is closing rapidly, and really, I don’t see it happening until the second half of this decade. Unless, that is, NASA do the sensible and logical thing, and go the commercial route for Artemis, and redefine the rationale for SLS.
The problem is though, that this isn’t about being sensible or logical – its about a jobs program and political pork. With control of both houses of Congress, Biden now has a chance to make a decisive change and end SLS once and for all – or, completely redefine its role and purpose, and review the development timetable.
I’d cancel the whole thing, and reallocate people, money and other resources to new programs, but if a stake can’t be driven through the SLS’ heart, then we need to think creatively about what else it can do? Anyone got good ideas???
Next stop, cancellation of Trumpenstein in 100 hours by Executive Order. Orange Rocket Bad, not in First Hundred Days $1,900,000,000 stimulus package.
The blame for SLS is bipartisan and dates back to 2010. It was a bad idea then, with a high BQ (boondoggle quotient), and it remains a screaming hot mess today.
Eric Berger is being told it was an engine problem.
https://twitter.com/SciGuyS…
Yes. MCF, Major Component Failure sounds serious. I presume they will have to repeat the test…. Hopefully, Boeing is getting good a repeating tests. =0
I could be speaking as a result of a misfire of neurons in this old brain, but wasn’t NASA trying to avoid doing this full-up green run? DIdn’t they want to save the timeline by just shipping this to FL and then doing an on-pad hot fire?
They briefly considered skipping the Green run tests, and then reached the obvious conclusion that it would be a really bad idea.
Well, I read the story in spaceflighthow and they (NASA & Boeing) are talking themselves into maybe shipping to KSC to preserve their launch dates…. Really!
The test fire did not reach the point of gimbaling the engines. If they push ahead without repeating the test, they’ve lost their collective minds.
SpaceX had an anomaly with a static fire involving engines that are almost as powerful as the ones being tested as part of SLS. SpaceX replaced two of the three engines and had another static fire five days later.