NASA Replaces Leaky Artemis Rocket Fuel Seals
NASA was forced to abandon a launch attempt for the Artemis 1 moon rocket earlier this month. After scrubbing the launch, NASA reported the rocket suffered a serious hydrogen leak that would necessitate repairs. The agency now says the defective seals have been swapped, but engineers have more testing to do before considering the next launch attempt.
Artemis 1 is the first launch of a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which is on track to be the most powerful rocket in the world. In this first launch, there won’t be any crew in the Orion module, but NASA will remotely pilot the vessel around the moon and back to Earth over the course of several weeks. This expendable platform is the key to NASA’s plans for new lunar operations, which will see the first woman walking on the moon as part of the Artemis 3 mission.
A few weeks back, NASA announced three potential launch dates for Artemis 1, but the leak has forced another delay. NASA has now replaced the 8-inch line seals in the core stage, as well as the 4-inch bleed line seals. While the new seals appear to be holding, NASA plans to conduct additional tests before moving forward with another launch attempt. Over the weekend, engineers went over the components in detail, but we can’t know for sure if the fix will hold until the rocket has been fueled.
Engineers have replaced the seals associated with the hydrogen leak detected during the #Artemis I launch attempt on Sept. 3. The teams will inspect the new seals over the weekend and assess opportunities to launch: https://t.co/dT8A4UEkvd pic.twitter.com/xXzwbYOxMp
— NASA Artemis (@NASAArtemis) September 9, 2022
As soon as September 17th, NASA will conduct a tanking operation that involves loading the rocket with 736,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and oxygen. This will allow Artemis engineers to see how the new seals behave under ultra-cold cryogenic conditions — the same conditions under which the old seals failed.
With all that done, NASA will explore future launch opportunities for the SLS. It could take a while, and that could give Elon Musk’s SpaceX a chance to get its super-heavy lift rocket into space first. The SpaceX Starship is a reusable rocket that will help the company deploy next-gen Starlink satellites and carry heavy payloads to the moon and beyond. It doesn’t truly matter which vehicle reaches space first — the Artemis Program makes use of the Starship as well. The SpaceX vessel will become the Starship HLS (human landing system) to ferry astronauts to and from the lunar surface. Of course, the SLS needs to work properly to get them to lunar orbit in the first place.
Continue reading
Sony May Let Users Move Games Off PS5, Xbox Series X SSD Is User-Replaceable
Microsoft is using a user-replaceable SSD for the Xbox Series X, while Sony is researching PS5 game transfers.
Google Promises Not to Replace Third-Party Trackers With Something Worse
Last year, Google announced it would phase out third-party tracking cookies in Chrome. That's hardly the only way to track people around the web, though. Now, Google confirms it won't invest in any of those alternatives to track individual people.
Will Microsoft Mesh Replace Video Calls?
In the latest attempt to jumpstart the somewhat moribund market for a VR future, Microsoft has un-veiled an ambitious new mixed-reality platform, Microsoft Mesh. Running on its Azure services platform, it initially supports the company's own Hololens devices, and its Altspace VR application, but the plan is to make it work with other VR, AR, and MR devices as well.
Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti Replaces 3090 for Many Gamers, 3070 Ti Coming Soon
Nvidia has announced the RTX 3080 Ti with 12GB of VRAM and more GPU cores, with theoretical availability starting June 3. An updated RTX 3070 Ti will follow, with theoretical availability on June 10.