Chutian Metropolis Daily Jimu News reporter Song Qingying
According to a report by The Independent on August 31, the launch of the United States' new generation moon landing rocket "Space Launch System (SLS)" has been pushed back again and again due to engine failure. The launch team is worried: it will not happen again. After launch, the battery of satellite on the rocket will be exhausted.
The launch of the U.S. lunar exploration rocket has been postponed (Photo source: Reuters)
It is understood that the " Space Launch System (SLS)" is equipped with 10 CubeSats (CubeSats). Each satellite is about the size of a shoe box and can be used Used to detect the moon, asteroids and deep space radiation environments. CubeSats play a vital role in the U.S. lunar exploration program "Artemis 1".
They have been stuck on the rocket for more than a year due to multiple launch delays. Operators are now worried that the batteries on board the satellites will become so depleted that they won't have enough power to complete their missions.
CubeSat's operation team "LunaH Map" estimates that the satellite's battery reserve is currently about 50%. The operation team warns that if the power is less than 40%, it will not be able to perform the initial sequence of operations required to deploy the solar panel . Solar energy is a long-term power source for microsatellites carrying out deep space missions.
"The longer we wait, the higher the risk of running out of battery," Ben Malphrus, who operates the lunar satellite, told Science magazine. Craig Hardgrove, head of the
operations team, said he had asked NASA to take out the satellite and then recharge it, but was refused.
html On August 29, the US moon landing rocket launch was suddenly canceled. The technical team discovered that the rocket had an engine failure. At that time, there were only 40 minutes left in the countdown to launch.
NASA is scheduled to restart launch at 14:17 local time on September 3, with the launch window open for two hours.
