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WASHINGTON – A week delay in the launch of the next Landsat satellite on an Atlas 5 is the result of a ripple effect in the supply chain caused by increased demand for liquid oxygen to treat COVID patients- 19.
NASA announced on August 27 that the launch of Landsat 9 on an Atlas 5 from the Vandenberg Space Force base in California had slipped by a week, from September 16 to September 23 at the earliest, because “the pandemic demands of Medical liquid oxygen have had an impact on the delivery of the necessary liquid nitrogen supply.Liquid nitrogen, or LN2, is used to create the nitrogen gas required to support the activities of the launch site.
During a virtual press briefing on August 31 on the upcoming launch, Del Jenstrom, NASA’s Landsat 9 project manager, said the problem was not an overall lack of liquid nitrogen but rather a problem with transport.
“There is a lot of liquid nitrogen in the Los Angeles area. The problem is, they need trucks to get it to Vandenberg, ”he said. “Due to the pandemic, from what we understand, liquid oxygen deliveries have paid much higher premiums than liquid nitrogen deliveries, and LN2 trucks have been converted to transport liquid oxygen. . “
Jenstrom said the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) informed the project on August 23 that liquid nitrogen supplies at the base were “critically low” and could not support upcoming pre-launch testing activities or the launch itself. This prompted NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy to contact senior DLA officials to discuss ways to restore the base’s nitrogen supply.
Airgas, the company that manages Vandenberg’s nitrogen supply, is temporarily bringing in “a dozen” liquid nitrogen tankers from the Gulf Coast to increase deliveries. “We are currently seeing a substantial increase in the number of deliveries of LN2 to base,” he said, “and as far as we know, based on the latest reports, we are on track to support our launch on September 23. . “
Supply chain issues related directly or indirectly to liquid oxygen, which is used by hospitals as a source of oxygen for ventilators, emerged recently when Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, mentioned during a panel discussion at the 36th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs on August 24.
“We’re actually going to be affected this year by the lack of liquid oxygen for the launch,” she said. “We’ll definitely make sure hospitals have the oxygen they need, but for anyone with liquid oxygen to spare, email me.”
At that time, Tory Bruno, managing director of United Launch Alliance, alluded to a problem getting liquid nitrogen to Vandenberg to support the upcoming Landsat 9 launch. “I’m working on this situation now,” Bruno said. .
The next planned launch for Vandenberg is not the Atlas 5 launch of Landsat 9. Instead, Firefly Aerospace has scheduled the inaugural launch of its Alpha rocket from the base on September 2, during a four-hour window. which opens at 9 p.m. EST. Company spokesperson Kim Jennett told SpaceNews on Aug.31 that the launch was on schedule and was not affected by any liquid nitrogen issues or other supply issues.
Problems in the liquid oxygen supply chain extend beyond the United States. Dmitri Rogozine, head of Roscosmos, tweeted On August 29, Roscosmos had been transferring “almost all” of the oxygen produced by its various companies to hospitals for months. This postponed rocket engine testing, he said.
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