Tropical Storm Nicole batters Florida as NASA's Artemis 1 moon rocket rides out storm - Space.com

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The Artemis I is seen with clouds rolling successful astatine the Kennedy Space Center connected Monday, Aug. 29, 2022 successful Cape Canaveral, FL. (Image credit: (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Tropical Storm Nicole battered cardinal Florida Thursday (Nov. 10) where NASA's Artemis 1 satellite rocket waits connected the motorboat pad connected the state's Space Coast.

The tempest made landfall conscionable southbound of Cape Canaveral, location to NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC), successful the aboriginal greeting hours connected Thursday portion it was inactive rated arsenic a hurricane, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Weather Service (NWS). NOAA radar imagery showed the tempest producing sustained winds of 75 mph (opens successful caller tab) (120 km/h) erstwhile it reached the Florida seashore astir 3 a.m. (0800 GMT).

Satellite imagery shows the tempest moving to the west-northwest astatine 14 mph (22 km/h), wherever it volition determination crossed Central Florida passim Thursday (Nov. 10) greeting and into the Gulf of Mexico. Despite the tempest weakening arsenic it made landfall, determination is inactive a accidental that precocious winds and flooding could harm oregon different further hold the motorboat of NASA's Artemis 1 satellite rocket arsenic it braces against the tempest connected Launch Pad 39B astatine KSC.

Tropical Storm Nicole is present centered implicit Central Florida creating "strong winds, unsafe tempest surge and waves, and dense rains," according to the National Hurricane Center (opens successful caller tab) successful Miami. The tempest remains a life-threatening situation, the halfway wrote.

The SLS conveyance is designed to beryllium capable to withstand winds of up to 85 mph (137 km/h), NASA said successful a statement connected Nov. 8 (opens successful caller tab). The sustained winds of Tropical Storm Nicole were conscionable nether that standing erstwhile the tempest made landfall, but determination person been gusts reported that have exceeded that rating (opens successful caller tab), according to Spaceflight Now. The Orlando Sentinel reported that immoderate sensors astatine Launch Pad 39B recorded a maximum gust of 100 mph (opens successful caller tab) astatine 4:15 a.m. EST (0915 GMT) portion winds averaged 85 mph.

In presumption of the dense rainfall the tempest is bringing, NASA writes successful the connection that SLS "is designed to withstand dense rains astatine the motorboat pad and the spacecraft hatches person been secured to forestall h2o intrusion."

Livestreams of KSC (opens successful caller tab) courtesy of NASASpaceflight.com amusement Artemis 1's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket sitting connected the pad arsenic dense rains obscure it from view. The camera focused connected the rocket tin beryllium seen shaking successful precocious winds intermittently arsenic Tropical Storm Nicole swirls overhead.

It's not yet known if the tempest volition origin further delays of the motorboat of the highly anticipated motorboat of the Artemis 1 satellite mission. NASA already delayed its motorboat to Wednesday (Nov. 16) to let unit to structure from the storm. This is not the archetypal clip the motorboat has been delayed owed to a storm; Hurricane Ian successful precocious September forced NASA to roll SLS back to the Vehicle Assembly Building for structure portion captious repairs connected glitching fueling valves were performed.

As the motorboat of Artemis 1 continues to beryllium delayed, determination are increasing concerns that immoderate of the SLS vehicle's components could expire based connected existent NASA analyses of their lifespans. If the motorboat is pushed backmost past mid-December, the bureau volition person to behaviour further reviews to find if the vehicle's boosters and different components stay launch-worthy.

When Artemis 1 launches, it volition nonstop the Orion spacecraft into orbit astir the satellite and deploy a tranche of cubesats carrying assorted technological experiments. The ngo is designed to stitchery information that volition pass aboriginal Artemis missions that volition spot crews onshore adjacent the lunar southbound pole and yet found a imperishable quality beingness connected our moon.

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Brett is simply a subject and exertion writer who is funny astir emerging concepts successful spaceflight and aerospace, alternate motorboat concepts, anti-satellite technologies, and uncrewed systems. Brett's enactment has appeared connected The War Zone astatine TheDrive.com, Popular Science, the History Channel, Science Discovery, and more. Brett has English degrees from Clemson University and the University of North Carolina astatine Charlotte. In his escaped time, Brett is simply a moving musician, a hobbyist electronics technologist and cosplayer, an avid LEGO fan, and enjoys hiking and camping passim the Appalachian Mountains with his woman and 2 children.

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