Enlarge / In January, loops of Draco engines are seen on the SpaceX Cargo Dragon’s supply ship as they are triggered after being disconnected from the International Space Station.
NASA
NASA and SpaceX have postponed the launch of the Cargo Dragon spacecraft for at least a few weeks due to a problem during the loading of hypergolic propellants before launch.
The space agency planned to launch the spacecraft on June 12, but announced the delay in an email Monday to reporters.
“During refueling of the Cargo Dragon spacecraft, increased vapors of monomethyl hydrazine were measured in an isolated region of the Draco propulsion system with the thruster,” the space agency said in a statement. “The propellant and oxidant have been unloaded from this region to support further inspections and tests.”
Draco engines provide maneuverable propulsion in orbit for the Dragon spacecraft. NASA said it was working with SpaceX to identify the source of the increased readings and take any corrective action. On Tuesday morning, astronauts aboard the International Space Station were told by the Houston mission control that the launch date would be at least June 28.
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This is not a new Dragon vehicle. Labeled Dragon “C208”, this vehicle took off before two delivery missions, both in 2021. This is an improved version of the original Cargo Dragon spacecraft, known as “Cargo Dragon 2”.
NASA will want to investigate this carefully, as the propulsion system in this version of Cargo Dragon has much in common with Crew Dragon, which also uses Draco propulsion devices and the same hypergolic propellants. However, there must be enough time for this work, as the next launch of Crew Dragon, carrying the “Crew 5 mission”, is not scheduled until September.
These Draco pushers have significantly less thrust than the SuperDraco pushers used to power the Crew Dragon launch system. During a test in April 2019, an oxidant leak just before the ignition of these SuperDraco engines led to an explosion that destroyed the spacecraft. No one was injured.
Cargo Dragon does not have these SuperDraco pushers, but NASA and SpaceX will still want to understand any issues with the latest leak before launching supplies or people.
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