SLS core stage engines shut down early during critical hotfire test

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Spaceflight Now January 16, 2021 Stephen Clark

Live coverage: SLS core stage engines shut down early during critical hotfire test

"We got lots of data that we're going to go through … get to a point where we can make a determination as to whether or not launching (the Artemis 1 mission) in 2021 is a possibility or not,” says NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.

Based on an analysis of the video and audio aired on NASA TV, the first sign of trouble during the abbreviated SLS hot fire test came about 50 seconds after engine ignition, when an engineer on the test team declared an "MCF" or a "Major Component Failure" on Engine No. 4.

"Copy that, but we're still running -- we've still got four good engines right?" the test conductor replied.

"Copy that," a member of the test team said.

At about T+plus 1 minute, 7 seconds, video showed at least one of the core stage engines appearing to be in a shutdown sequence. Seconds later, an engineer mentioned "violations" on the test communications loop, followed by verbal confirmation of engine shutdown from the test conductor at T+plus 1 minute, 22 seconds.

The SLS core stage engines shut down a little more than a minute into the planned eight-minute firing.

More: https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/01/16/sls-green-run-hotfire-mission-status-center/


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[Elderberry]

NASA megarocket blasts past cost estimates, forces Congress notification

Space.com By Elizabeth Howell September 05, 2020

https://www.space.com/nasa-sls-megarocket-cost-rise-congress-alert.html

NASA's new Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket and associated ground infrastructure have soared past original cost estimates to a degree that requires the agency to notify Congress about the ballooning budget.

The recently appointed leader of NASA's human spaceflight efforts, Kathy Lueders, announced the new cost estimates in a blog post published on Aug. 27.

"The new development baseline cost for SLS is $9.1 billion, and the commitment for the initial ground-systems capability to support the [rocket's first] mission is now $2.4 billion," Lueders wrote, without elaborating on what the previous baseline costs were. Congress had previously approved a $7 billion commitment for the SLS' development, according to 2019 fiscal numbers.

The first launch of SLS is scheduled to be Artemis 1, a test flight to send an uncrewed spacecraft around the moon in November 2021 in preparation for a 2024 moon landing. Lueders wrote that the Artemis 1 mission remains on track so far, although the agency is cautious due to the potential impact of the coronavirus pandemic that has forced physical distancing and, in some cases, led to shortages of parts in the space industry.

"A successful Green Run hot-fire test will enable us to better predict a target launch date for the mission," she wrote. She also noted that future rocket development should proceed more smoothly, and that the Orion spacecraft to carry astronauts remains on track for a test mission to lunar orbit in November 2023.