Tropical Storm Nicole slammed into central Florida Thursday, Nov. 10, where NASA’s Artemis 1 moon rocket waits on the launch pad on the state’s Space Coast.
The storm made landfall just south of Cape CanaveralNASA headquarters Kennedy Space Center (KSC), in the early hours of Thursday morning when it was still considered a hurricane, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Weather Service (NWS). NOAA radar images showed the storm producing sustained winds of 75 mph (opens in a new tab) (120 km / h) when it reached the coast of Florida around 03:00 (08:00 GMT).
Satellite imagery shows the storm moving west-northwest at 14 mph (22 km/h), where it will track through central Florida throughout Thursday morning (November 10 ) and in the Gulf of Mexico. Despite the storm weakening when it made landfall, there is still a chance that high winds and flooding could damage or further delay the launch of NASA’s Artemis 1 moon rocket as it prepares to the storm on Launch Pad 39B at KSC.
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Tropical Storm Nicole is now centered over central Florida, creating “strong winds, dangerous storm waves and surges, and heavy rain.” according to the National Hurricane Center (opens in a new tab) In Miami. The storm remains a life-threatening situation, the center wrote.
The SLS vehicle is designed to be able to withstand winds of up to 85 mph (137 km/h), NASA said in a November 8 statement (opens in a new tab). Sustained winds from Tropical Storm Nicole were just below this rating when the storm made landfall, but gusty conditions were reported. exceeded this mark (opens in a new tab), according to Spaceflight Now. The Orlando Sentinel reported that some sensors on Launch Pad 39B registered a maximum gust of 100 mph (opens in a new tab) at 4:15 a.m. EST (0915 GMT) as winds averaged 85 mph.
Regarding the heavy rain the storm brings, NASA writes in the release that SLS “is designed to withstand heavy rain on the launch pad and spacecraft hatches have been secured to prevent water intrusion. “.
KSC Live Stream (opens in a new tab) courtesy of NASASpaceflight.com shows Artemis 1 Space Launch System (SLS) rocket sitting on the pad as heavy rain obscures it. The camera focused on the rocket can be seen buffeted by intermittent high winds as Tropical Storm Nicole swirls overhead.
It is not yet known whether the storm will further delay the launch of the highly anticipated launch of the Artemis 1 lunar mission. Nasa already delayed its launch on Wednesday 16 November to allow staff to shelter from the storm. This isn’t the first time the launch has been delayed due to a storm; Hurricane Ian in late September forced NASA to roll back the SLS to the vehicle assembly building for shelter during critical repairs on faulty refueling valves have been carried out.
As the Artemis 1 launch continues to be delayed, there are growing concerns that some of the SLS vehicle components could expire based on current NASA lifespan analyses. If the launch is pushed back past mid-December, the agency will need to conduct further reviews to determine if boosters and other vehicle components remain launch-worthy.
When Artemis 1 launches, it will send the Orion spacecraft into orbit around the moon and deploy a slice of cubesats carrying various science experiments. The mission is designed to gather data that will inform subsequent Artemis missions that will see crews land near the lunar south pole and eventually establish a permanent human presence on our moon.
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