Powerful lightning strikes near NASA's launch pad; no damage to mega moon rocket and spacecraft


Devdiscourse News Desk | Florida | Updated: 04-06-2022 20:39 IST | Created: 04-06-2022 20:39 IST
Powerful lightning strikes near NASA's launch pad; no damage to mega moon rocket and spacecraft
Image Credit: Twitter (@NASAKennedy)
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The lightning protection system at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39B recently intercepted the most powerful lightning strike ever recorded at the spaceport. When this event occurred, the agency's mega moon rocket, Space Launch System (SLS), and Orion spacecraft were on the pad for a wet dress rehearsal attempt in preparation for the Artemis I launch.

However, there was no damage to the rocket or spacecraft, the agency said in a statement. SLS and Orion's wet dress rehearsal is scheduled for Monday, June 6.

According to NASA, on April 2, 2022, the lightning protection system's high-speed cameras activated after picking up weather conducive to lightning in the area. The lightning struck inside the pad perimeter four times, including one which produced only the second positive lightning strike since the lightning protection system was installed.

Positive strikes transfer positive charges to the ground. They are rare and account for less than 5 percent of all cloud-to-ground strikes.

"I’ve never seen something so amazing. The strike occurs within milliseconds, but with the high-speed cameras, you can see frame by frame how it came from the ground and air. And when they met each other, that's when you had the lightning strike," said Jose Perez-Morales, Exploration Ground Systems senior project manager who was in charge of many of the upgrades to pad 39B to prepare it for new exploration launches after the Space Shuttle Program.

NASA says there has not been a lightning strike within the intended area of protection at Launch Pad 39B since the system was activated.

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