Close X
Wednesday, November 27, 2024
ADVT 
National

'Still a good day' despite Artemis delay: minister

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 29 Aug, 2022 02:45 PM
  • 'Still a good day' despite Artemis delay: minister

OTTAWA - Despite the test launch of NASA's new moon rocket being postponed on Monday morning, Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne said it was "still a good day for Canada."

Champagne, who was in Florida for a two-day trip that included meetings with Canadian astronauts and NASA officials, got up at 1:30 a.m. to head to the launch pad in Cape Canaveral only to see the mission delayed.

"Obviously we all wanted to be there to witness history," he told Canadian reporters in a teleconference from Orlando.

But Canada's representation in the broader mission is more important, Champagne said. "If you look at the big picture, what really matters for Canadians and certainly young Canadians is that this time, we're not watching it, we're part of it."

It's been more than half a century since humans last visited the moon, and days or weeks of waiting for this Artemis test launch to proceed won't make that big of a difference in the long term, he said. When the mission does continue, Canada will be "front and centre."

Canada is contributing a new robotic arm, the Canadarm 3, to the Gateway space station that NASA eventually plans to put in orbit around the moon.

A Canadian astronaut is also expected to be on the first manned crew of the rocket, Artemis 2, expected to fly around the moon and back as soon as 2024.

The 98-metre-long rocket's debut flight was scheduled to go ahead Monday morning with three test dummies aboard, but a last-minute cascade of problems culminated in unexplained engine trouble.

As precious minutes ticked away Monday morning, NASA repeatedly stopped and started the fuelling of the Space Launch System rocket because of a leak of highly explosive hydrogen, eventually succeeding in reducing the seepage to acceptable levels. The leak happened in the same place there was seepage during a dress rehearsal in the spring.

The fuelling was already running nearly an hour late because of thunderstorms off Florida's Kennedy Space Center.

Then, NASA ran into new trouble when it was unable to properly chill one of the rocket's four main engines, officials said. Engineers continued working to pinpoint the source of the problem after the launch postponement was announced.

“This is a very complicated machine, a very complicated system, and all those things have to work, and you don't want to light the candle until it's ready to go,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

Referring to launch delays, he said: “It's just part of the space business and it's part of, particularly, a test flight.”

Canadian astronaut David St-Jacques was watching.

"The little boy in me is disappointed. I wanted to see the excitement of a rocket launch, this great new rocket, the beginning of a new era of exploration," he said. "But the sober engineer in me goes, 'phew, glad that someone found that problem and saved us from a bigger problem.'"

St-Jacques said the Artemis program will reintroduce humans to the lunar environment but also ultimately prepare us for missions to Mars. It will create a higher level of confidence for more space exploration. Canada's involvement is "huge for our nation," he said.

He noted that past space exploration has produced widely-used technologies such as GPS, and Canada's current research on space exploration, focused on health and food, will have other applications — for example, with remote medicine or in growing food in harsh Canadian environments.

The next launch attempt will not take place until Friday at the earliest and could be delayed until mid-September or later.

Champagne's office said that it's unlikely he'll be able to attend for the next launch window.

MORE National ARTICLES

Inflation slows to 7.6% in July as gas prices fall

Inflation slows to 7.6% in July as gas prices fall
The inflation rate hit a nearly 40-year-high of 8.1 per cent in June, but economists were widely expecting inflation to have since slowed. In its latest consumer price index report, Statistics Canada said the July saw the smallest monthly gains since December 2021.

Inflation slows to 7.6% in July as gas prices fall

Man shot and killed in police engagement in Kamloops, case of child abduction

Man shot and killed in police engagement in Kamloops, case of child abduction
After 3 a.m., the male suspect then reportedly exited the trailer with a weapon and a child. During the engagement with officers, the man was shot and killed. The child was uninjured and a woman was subsequently located with non-life injuries inside the trailer.  

Man shot and killed in police engagement in Kamloops, case of child abduction

Sunken boat's fuel stirs fear for B.C. orcas

Sunken boat's fuel stirs fear for B.C. orcas
Peter Ross, a senior scientist with Raincoast Conservation Foundation, said the vessel sank in an important feeding area for endangered southern resident killer whales. It will be a race against time to clean up the spill, he said. 

Sunken boat's fuel stirs fear for B.C. orcas

Sunday morning South Surrey shooting leaves bullet holes in residence, burnt vehicle located

Sunday morning South Surrey shooting leaves bullet holes in residence, burnt vehicle located
In the early morning hours on Sunday, August 14th,  at 12:38 a.m., Surrey RCMP received a report of shots fired at a residence with a vehicle heard speeding away in the 2600-block of 176Street. Officers attended the scene of the shooting and spoke with a homeowner who located bullet holes in the exterior of their residence. No one was reported injured as a result of this shooting.

Sunday morning South Surrey shooting leaves bullet holes in residence, burnt vehicle located

Terrace RCMP need the public's help in finding missing woman Jaswinder Taggar

Terrace RCMP need the public's help in finding missing woman Jaswinder Taggar
Taggar was last seen on the morning of July 17, 2022, in the family home and appeared to be in good health at the time. It is believed that she is without her wallet, cell phone, and ID. The family reports that this is very out of character and is concerned for her well-being.

Terrace RCMP need the public's help in finding missing woman Jaswinder Taggar

Public service workers in B.C. to begin job action

Public service workers in B.C. to begin job action
The union, which represents about 33,000 public-service workers across B.C., issued strike notice Friday and is to be in a legal strike position by this afternoon. It says picket lines will go up at 3:30 p.m., outside liquor distribution centres in Delta, Richmond and Kamloops, as well as the wholesale customer centre in Victoria.

Public service workers in B.C. to begin job action