NASA
Moon Mission Under Pressure: NASA Battles “Cryogenic Leaks” in Artemis II Test
The road back to the Moon is rarely a smooth one. As of Monday evening, February 2, 2026, NASA’s Artemis II mission is undergoing its final “Wet Dress Rehearsal” (WDR) at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39B. While fueling operations are well underway, the team is currently troubleshooting a liquid hydrogen leak that has injected new tension into the countdown. At Modern Memo, we break down the critical milestones of this rehearsal, the technical hurdles on the pad, and what this means for the historic crewed launch later this month. The “Wet” Dress Rehearsal: Why It Matters A wet dress rehearsal is the final “test like you fly” operation before an actual launch. NASA calls it “wet” because it involves pumping over 700,000 gallons of super-cold liquid oxygen (LOX) and liquid hydrogen (LH2) into the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. The mission has three primary objectives: Validate the “Stack”: Ensuring the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft can handle the immense thermal stress of cryogenic fuel. Practice the Countdown: Running the launch team through the precise 48-hour timeline they will follow on launch day. The “T-Minus” Recycle: Proving the ground systems can stop the clock and “recycle” the countdown in the event of a last-minute technical glitch. Status Update: The Hydrogen Hurdle Earlier today, Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson gave the official “go” to begin tanking. However, the simulation hit a snag around midday when sensors detected a liquid hydrogen leak at the tail service mast umbilical—the connection point between the ground and the rocket. The Response: NASA engineers have paused the LH2 flow to the core stage to perform “troubleshooting procedures” developed after the Artemis I mission. The Workaround: While hydrogen flow is paused for the core stage, the liquid oxygen loading continues, and fuel continues to flow into the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS), the rocket’s upper stage. This type of leak is a familiar ghost for NASA; similar issues delayed the Artemis I mission for months in 2022. However, the team is applying “lessons learned” to attempt a fix while the rocket remains fueled. The Path to “T-0” Despite the leak, NASA is still targeting a simulated T-0 for 9:00 PM EST tonight. If the troubleshooting takes longer, the agency has the flexibility to extend the test window until 1:00 AM EST Tuesday. If the simulation reaches the final minutes, the team will perform two distinct countdown runs: The Terminal Count: Taking the clock down to T-minus 33 seconds, then stopping to test a recycle. The Final Cut: Restarting the clock and taking it all the way to T-minus 10 seconds—just seconds before the four RS-25 engines would normally ignite. Launch Window: When Will Humans Fly? The outcome of tonight’s test will determine if NASA can hit its earliest available launch window. Target Date: If the wet dress is successful and data review goes smoothly, the earliest possible launch for the crewed Artemis II mission is Sunday, February 8 (Super Bowl Sunday). Backup Windows: If the team needs more time for repairs, subsequent windows are available on February 10 and 11. The Crew: The four astronauts—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen—remain in medical quarantine in Houston, monitoring the test remotely before flying to Florida later this week. Final Word Staying informed on the complexities of the Artemis mission isn’t just about space—it plays a powerful role in your understanding of human persistence and engineering precision. When you look past the frustration of “delays” and focus on the data behind safety protocols, you gain a clearer picture of the immense effort required to protect the lives on board. Quality information replaces the noise of scheduling rumors with the clarity of technical benchmarks. It allows you to see every troubleshooting step as a necessary layer of protection for the four souls making this historic journey. By choosing to follow the science rather than the clock, you align your perspective with the reality of deep-space exploration and support a more informed, resilient future for humanity. Where Facts, Context, and Perspective Matter At The Modern Memo, our goal is simple: to provide clear, well-researched reporting in a media landscape that often feels overwhelming. We focus on substance over sensationalism, and context over commentary. If you value thoughtful analysis, transparent sourcing, and stories that go beyond the headline, we invite you to share our work. 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US ‘Unprepared’ For Major Solar Storm, Exercise Reveals
Details of a first-of-its-kind space weather emergency preparedness exercise conducted in May 2024 to test the U.S. response to a cataclysmic solar storm were released in spring 2025. Things didn’t go well. On April 28, 2025 (less than a month ago from the time of writing), a still-unknown incident caused the entirety of Europe’s Iberian Peninsula to crash into darkness. Any device not powered by batteries was rendered useless, transport systems were immobile, stranding countless people across the continent. It was described as the “blackout of the century” by Space.com, and may have been caused by a still-impending threat from our cosmos: solar storms. Somewhat bizarrely, almost a year to-the-day prior, the U.S. conducted its first ever space weather simulation exercise, the details of which were released in mid-April 2025. (MORE NEWS: Mainstream Media Finally Wakes Up To Massive Geological Threat To US) The exercise ran from May 8-9 and was designed to simulate and review our nation’s (specifically, our government’s) preparedness for a “severe space weather event,” such as a massive solar storm that interferes dangerously with Earth’s magnetic field. Interagency coordination, response protocols, and communications throughout industry and various critical infrastructure were all put through the test, which included: Intense radiation exposure to satellites, astronauts and commercial aviation Radio communications outages and disruptions Loss of functionality or degraded performance of GPS for precision navigation and timing Reduced ability to communicate with and track on-orbit satellites Local- to regional-scale power outages, affecting railways and even pipelines The hypothetical scenario was adapted from the Department of Homeland Security’s Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP), included more than 25 federal, state, tribal, and local agencies, and ran participants through a “series of solar events with wide-ranging effects on Earth as well as the region between Earth and the moon.” What Happens During A Major Solar Storm? When the sun releases huge bursts of energy, particles, and other materials, we call it a “solar storm.” They range in scale from A (weakest) to X (strongest), according to NASA. The scale works similarly to the Richter scale, with each class adding a 10-fold increase in energy. Along with the aforementioned impacts to core modern technologies, such as GPS and other navigation systems, there are significant threats to aviation and satellites when they’re bombarded by these solar materials. And if there are threats to aviation and satellites, there are threats to those of us here on the ground. If you’ve a spare 15 minutes or so, we highly recommend watching this excellent episode of “The Why Files” to learn more about the potential impacts of minor and major solar storms. You can also listen to the podcast version by clicking here. How Significant Is The Threat of Solar Storms On the extremely biased “Modern Memo Scale of Danger,” solar storms are around an 8/10. Though not as physically destructive as an asteroid impact or nuclear apocalypse, there is a very real chance an extreme solar storm could cause the latter through disruptions to our nuclear facilities. The largest solar event known to science occurred around 12,350 B.C. (which oddly coordinates closely with the Younger Dryas, right at the end of our last major Ice Age), and was so massive its discovery “expands the timeline and intensity of known solar activity and sets a new upper boundary for such solar phenomena,” according to a 2025 study detailed by Astrobiology. These massive storms are called “Miyake events,” and increase the normal production of various isotopes such as radiocarbon (14C) in the atmosphere. The event and post-event impacts of solar storms on the scale of Miyake events are myriad, ranging from mass civil disruption, loss of life, infrastructural collapse, to all-out civilization reset. It all depends on how a storm impacts our energy grid. But again, we simply don’t know enough about them to know more than the major risks to our grid and modern lifestyles. “Understanding its scale is critical for evaluating the risks posed by future solar storms to modern infrastructure like satellites, power grids, and communication systems,” writes co-author Kseniia Golubenko. (MORE NEWS: Best Crops To Grow During A Nuclear Apocalypse, According To Scientists) “Grid failure is a real and imminent threat, a devastatingly deadly occurrence leading to life-threatening shortages of heat, food, and water. If protective measures are not taken, we will experience catastrophic failures leaving citizens in states of starvation, death, destruction, and darkness for months,” says the minds behind the documentary “Grid Down, Power Up.” Solar storms are uncontrollable, but we have more options to mitigate their impact than we would a major earthquake. Right now, we’re at our solar maximum. This is a time when our sun emits the most energy during its roughly 11-year solar cycle. If we’re going to be hit with a solar storm capable of disrupting all technologies across North America, it’ll be soon. What Did The Exercise Reveal? Here are the key findings, according to the National Environmental Satellite, Data, And Information Service (NESDIS): Demonstrated the need for better coordination to produce meaningful and understandable Space Weather notifications that are useful for operations and clearly describe the potential impacts on critical infrastructure. Emphasized the importance of a whole-of-government approach, especially federal-regional-state level coordination and awareness, while also highlighting existing gaps that need filling to ensure streamlined and rapid response. Provided opportunities to understand current technology limitations and discussed possibilities for improved forecasting capabilities, including suggestions to place spacecraft farther upstream to provide earlier warning of impending storms. Underscored the need for a national space weather education campaign to raise awareness of risks and improve public understanding. Demonstrated the need for a more coordinated and streamlined communications plan with the public through federal, state, and local agencies, and on social media, with particular emphasis on impact rather than technical science. Served as an exemplary event demonstrating the benefits of a whole-of-government exercise to prepare for scientifically complex threats. We absolutely agree that this was an exemplary event and exercise, but will we see any actual action…