NASA delays SLS rollout for launch rehearsal

NASA推迟SLS升空预演

WASHINGTON — NASA is postponing the rollout of the first Space Launch System for a final prelaunch test by a month to give workers more time to complete vehicle preparations.

华盛顿——美国国家航空航天局（NASA）将第一个用于最后发射前测试的空间发射系统的推出推迟一个月，以便让工作人员有更多时间完成飞行器的准备工作。

NASA announced Feb. 2 that it was delaying the rollout of the SLS from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Complex 39B for a fueling test and practice countdown called a wet dress rehearsal. NASA officials said as recently as mid-January that they expected the vehicle to roll out to the pad in mid-February for that test.

2月2日，美国宇航局宣布推迟从车辆装配大楼推出SLS，以发射复杂的39B，进行加油测试和练习倒计时，称为湿彩排。NASA官员在1月中旬表示，他们预计该飞行器将于2月中旬在pad上进行该测试。

Instead, said Tom Whitmeyer, deputy associate administrator for exploration systems development at NASA Headquarters, that rollout will likely take place in mid-March. He said in a call with reporters it was too soon to give a more specific date for that rollout given the work still ahead for crews.

相反，美国宇航局总部负责探索系统开发的副副局长汤姆·惠特迈耶说，这项计划可能会在3月中旬推出。他在与记者的通话中说，鉴于工作人员的工作仍在进行中，现在给出更具体的推出日期还为时过早。

Unlike in December, when a faulty engine controller, or computer that controls one of the SLS’s RS-25 engines, delayed a rollout then scheduled for the first half of January, there is no single issue causing this latest delay. “We just have a lot of things we need to close out,” Whitmeyer said. “It’s a big vehicle. There’s a lot of instrumentation that needs to be finished.”

去年12月，SLS RS-25发动机控制器或计算机出现故障，推迟了原定于1月上半月的首次亮相，与之不同的是，没有任何一个问题导致最近的延迟。惠特迈耶说：“我们有很多事情需要解决。”。“这是一辆大型车辆。有很多仪器需要完成。”

“There really isn’t a significant thing that we’re working,” added Mike Bolger, manager of NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems program. “It’s just the volume of work and it’s us being really meticulous and making sure that, when we roll, we’re ready.”

美国国家航空航天局探索地面系统项目经理迈克·博尔格补充说：“我们正在做的事情真的没有什么意义。”。“这只是工作量的问题，我们必须非常细致，确保在开始工作时做好准备。”

Another factor has been the pandemic, including the recent surge in cases linked to the omicron variant. “I think that caught everybody off guard just by the sheer number of cases,” Bolger said. “It has slowed us down some.” He added, though, that the situation appeared to be improving as the number of new cases drops.

另一个因素是大流行，包括最近与omicron变种有关的病例激增。博尔格说：“我认为，仅仅是病例数量之多，就让所有人措手不及。”。“这让我们慢了一些。”不过，他补充说，随着新病例数量的下降，情况似乎正在改善。

That delay rules out a launch of the uncrewed Artemis 1 mission in March, as agency officials had previously been hoping for. Instead, NASA is looking at two-week windows from April 8 to 23 and from approximately May 7 to 21 as launch opportunities for Artemis 1. The windows are governed by the performance of the SLS and mission constraints, such as having the Orion spacecraft splash down in daylight conditions.

这一延迟排除了3月份发射未覆盖的阿尔忒弥斯1号任务的可能性，正如原子能机构官员此前所希望的那样。相反，NASA将从4月8日至23日以及大约从5月7日至21日的两周时间视为Artemis 1号的发射机会。窗口由SLS的性能和任务限制决定，比如猎户座航天器在白天溅落。

That schedule will depend on the vehicle’s performance during the wet dress rehearsal. Bolger said it should take about two weeks to complete the full series of tests on the pad, from checks of vehicle interfaces on the pad through the full tanking test and practice countdown.

该时间表将取决于湿彩排期间车辆的性能。博尔格说，从检查pad上的车辆接口，到进行全油箱测试和练习倒计时，需要大约两周的时间才能完成pad上的全系列测试。

That time frame is approximate, though. “We do have some first-time uncertainties, but then some standard uncertainties,” said Mike Sarafin, Artemis 1 mission manager. The first-time uncertainties involve activities not done before, such as rolling the full SLS out to the pad and linking it to pad infrastructure. Standard uncertainties, he said, involve issues like weather that could delay the rollout and testing.

不过，这个时间范围是大致的。“我们确实有一些第一次的不确定性，但也有一些标准的不确定性，”Artemis 1号任务经理迈克·萨拉芬说。首次出现的不确定性涉及以前没有做过的活动，例如将完整的SL推出到pad，并将其连接到pad基础设施。他说，标准的不确定性涉及天气等问题，可能会推迟推出和测试。

As in the past, agency officials said they don’t plan to set a launch date for Artemis 1 until after the wet dress rehearsal is complete. “We really don’t know until we do the wet dress rehearsal how much additional time it will take to get ready for launch,” Whitmeyer said. “We hope it won’t be a significant amount of time.”

和过去一样，该机构的官员表示，他们不打算在湿彩排结束之前为Artemis 1设定发射日期。惠特迈耶说：“在进行湿彩排之前，我们真的不知道为发射做准备还需要多长时间。”。“我们希望这不会是很长的时间。”

Engineers are also continuing to study the engine controller problem that caused the delay in December. “We think we’ve isolated the cause of the problem,” he said, with an update on the issue expected in a couple of weeks. The issue needs to be cleared before launch, but would not delay the wet dress rehearsal.

工程师们还在继续研究导致12月延误的发动机控制器问题。“我们认为我们已经找出了问题的原因，”他说，预计几周后会有关于这个问题的最新消息。该问题需要在发射前解决，但不会推迟湿彩排。

Delays in the launch should not pose an issue for the SLS’s two five-segment solid rocket boosters. When NASA started stacking the boosters a year ago, agency officials said the boosters were certified for 12 months, but that testing could extend that limit.

发射的延迟不应该对SLS的两个五段式固体火箭推进器构成问题。当NASA在一年前开始堆叠推进器时，该机构的官员说，推进器经过了12个月的认证，但测试可能会延长这一限制。

“We would run into this problem periodically with the shuttle as well,” Whitmeyer said. Testing and data analysis, he said, allows them to extend the life of the boosters in their stacked configuration. “Right now on the boosters, we don’t really see this as a risk, even if we proceed on further into the year. We think we’re in OK shape.”

惠特迈耶说：“我们在航天飞机上也会周期性地遇到这个问题。”。他说，通过测试和数据分析，他们可以延长堆叠式推进器的使用寿命。“现在，在助推器方面，我们并不认为这是一个风险，即使我们继续到今年。我们认为我们的状态还不错。”