Space

Instead of burning for eight minutes, the rocket's engines shut down after a little more than a minute.

ByRon Brackett•

January 18, 2021

Updated: January 18, 2021, 3:09 pm ESTPublished: January 18, 2021, 3:09 pm EST

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NASA’s plans to send astronauts back to the moon had a setback this weekend during a key engine test.

In what's called a hot fire test, the four RS-25 engines for the Space Launch System rocket were supposed to be fired for about eight minutes. That's how long the engines would have to burn to launch the rocket into space.

However, computers shut down the engines after only 1 minute and 15 seconds during the test Saturday evening at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

Controllers saw a flash next to a thermal-protection blanket covering engine four, according to Science Alert. The engine then indicated there was a major component failure.

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NASA officials said during a briefing Saturday night they didn't yet know what caused the shutdown.

“Although the engines did not fire for the full duration, the team successfully worked through the countdown, ignited the engines, and gained valuable data to inform our path forward,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a news release.

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Engineering teams will analyze data from the test and inspect the engines and the complete core stage that houses them to determine the next steps, NASA said.

The four RS-25 engines fired for a little more than one minute and generated 1.6 million pounds of thrust. The test plan had called for the engines to fire for a little more than eight minutes — the same amount of time it will take to send the rocket to space after launch.
(NASA Television)

The 212-foot core stage is key to the Space Launch System rocket that will launch the Artemis missions to the moon. The plan calls for sending the first woman and next man to the moon's surface by 2024. NASA plans to fly two missions around the moon between now and then.

The Wall Street Journal reports that industry and government officials expect incoming President Joe Biden's administration to shelve plans for the moon landing.

According to the Journal, former NASA officials and other experts said for early lunar missions NASA may rely on SpaceX and Blue Origin rockets instead.

The core stage for the first flight of NASA's Space Launch System rocket is seen in the B-2 Test Stand during a scheduled eight-minute duration hot fire test, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2021, at NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The four RS-25 engines fired for a little more than one minute. The hot fire test is the final stage of the Green Run test series, a comprehensive assessment of the Space Launch Systems core stage prior to launching the Artemis I mission to the moon.
(Photo by NASA/Robert Markowitz via Getty Images)

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