Post #5392

'80% chance of a go,' launch weather officer says at NASA's Artemis II prelaunch conference NASA's Artemis II mission remains on track for its planned April 1 launch, the space agency announced in a prelaunch news conference Tuesday (March 31). At the news event, held at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA managers emphasized that both the vehicle and team are ready to fly, with current conditions not pointing to any major last-minute technical concerns. The briefing also broke down the two biggest possible spoilers of tomorrow's launch the weather on the ground and in space. Yesterday (March 30), the sun produced a X1.4-class solar flare tied to a coronal mass ejection, prompting NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center to issue a G2 geomagnetic storm watch for March 31 and G1 watches for April 1 (the planned launch date) and April 2. Events like solar flares can interfere with radio communications, navigation systems and spacecraft operations, as well as expose astronauts to harmful radiation. However, Mark Berger, NASA's Launch Weather Officer for the Artemis II mission, highlighted that the flare is not currently expected to affect the launch. Artemis launch criteria is designed to avoid liftoff during severe solar conditions, but based on the latest outlook, this flare appears to be something NASA is monitoring rather than something that is stalling the launch. Source:Live Science Artemis II will be launching from Florida on April 1st at 22:24 UTC. Watch on NASA's broadcast @EverythingScience