Throughout the Artemis II crew’s 10-day flight, their Orion capsule has been supported by a cylindrical attachment at its base, called the service module. This component is equipped with the life support supplies, solar power and engines that are used to sustain and power this mission before being jettisoned just ahead of the mission’s reenters Earth.
Called the European Service Module, it was purpose made by the United States’ European partners to boost the NASA-built Orion capsule on its moon-bound journey.
But this test flight is highlighting some flaws.
During a Thursday news conference, mission controllers revealed that there’s a leak in the propulsion system, which affects the pressurization of tanks that hold oxidizer — a propellant used to power the module’s engines.
NASA actually knew this might be a problem before flight. But the issue appears to have gotten worse when the service module fired its main engine for the translunar injection burn on Day 2 of this mission, according to Amit Kshatriya, NASA’s associate administrator.
“I’m not sure that that’s related,” Kshatriya said. “It just so happens that that’s when we saw the leak increase.”
He added that NASA accepted this risk before flight because “the leak was small enough — and we knew we had plenty of pressurization volume” to get this mission done.
The issue hasn’t directly affected the flight, as Orion has been able to stay on course and complete engine burns to keep its trajectory on a precision path.
In a statement, NASA also said that there “are multiple layers of redundancy,” meaning there are backup measures that keep the leak from being a major concern.
But this will be an issue down the line, Kshatriya said.
It will likely require an “extensive redesign” of the valve system that’s causing the issue, he noted, because the leak grew by “an order of magnitude” in flight versus what was expected.