NASA is targeting a two-hour launch window that opens at 1:04 a.m. ET on Wednesday, despite minor damage caused by Hurricane Nicole.
The area where the caulk-like material came loose as the result of Hurricane Nicole.These winds caused some minor damage to the rocket, as NASA officials explained at a press briefing held yesterday evening. Nicole’s winds caused around 10 feet of RTV, a sealant, to come loose at a seam between Orion’s launch abort system and the crew module adapter. The RTV, or “room temperature vulcanizer,” fills a gap that exists between the two elements. Or at least, it did.
This kind of repair can only happen when SLS is parked inside the nearby Vehicle Assembly Building, but NASA, after reviewing the damage, concluded that it wasn’t bad enough to warrant repairs or cause a delay to the launch. Mike Sarafin, Artemis 1 mission manager, said the risk posed by the RTV delamination was “bounded by current hazards,” and that no one attending the mission management team meeting voiced any dissenting opinions.
“We do acknowledge that there is a nonzero chance we could have additional RTV [removal] in flight and there is a possibility that it could impact a different area of the vehicle downstream,” Sarafin admitted. Should more RTV come off during the flight, it would likely break into small pieces and hit the Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter, or possibly the inner areas of the side boosters, he added. Regardless, the team concluded that the level of risk is acceptable.
The team plans to meet again today at 2:30 p.m. ET. Should the meeting go well, ground teams will begin the process of loading 750,000 gallons of supercold liquid oxygen and hydrogen propellant into the rocket’s tanks starting at around 3:30 p.m. ET.
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