Astronomy Prints 🌌: Editor’s Choice: The hydrogen leaks plaguing Artemis 2

02/18/2026

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By Dan Robitzski

As of press time, NASA is addressing the hydrogen leaks that prompted the agency to delay its long-awaited Artemis 2 crewed lunar flyby mission, conducting a series of small-scale tests and progressing toward a second wet dress rehearsal this week that will determine whether the spacecraft is ready to fly in early March.

It looks like history is rhyming: Just like its uncrewed predecessor, Artemis 2 has now been delayed by bad weather and by leaky hydrogen discovered during late-stage preparations.

To get a sense of what's going on and what to expect with the mission, I asked SpaceNews' Jeff Foust, who has been closely following the Artemis 2 launch, for his take on whether comparisons between the two missions' respective hydrogen leaks were fair, and whether there's a sense that NASA is making the progress on fixing the issue.

Here's what Jeff said:

"In January, NASA managers were confident going into a countdown test called a wet dress rehearsal for the Artemis 2 mission. For Artemis 1 in 2022, hydrogen leaks required conducting several such tests, and then scrubbed two countdowns for the launch itself. Officials said they had learned lessons from Artemis 1 in how to fuel the rocket as well as maintenance of seals in hydrogen fueling lines that would make leaks less likely.

The rocket had other ideas. During that Feb. 2 wet dress rehearsal, leaks occurred both during the fueling of the SLS core stage and then when its liquid hydrogen tank was pressurized in the terminal countdown. NASA cut short the test and said it would do another once it tracked down the cause of the leaks.

The officials that were confident in January were humbled in early February. 'This one caught us off guard,' said John Honeycutt, chair of the Artemis 2 Mission Management Team, after the first wet dress rehearsal.

NASA replaced suspect seals and performed a 'confidence test' of them by loading some liquid hydrogen back in the SLS, although even that wasn't perfect: a separate problem with ground equipment reduced the flow of hydrogen into the tank. Despite that issue, NASA is pressing a head with a second wet dress rehearsal on Thursday.

The persistent hydrogen leaks point to a more fundamental problem with the SLS: its low flight rate. 'The flight rate is the lowest of any NASA-designed vehicle, and that should be a topic of discussion,' NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said after the first wet dress rehearsal, while standing by the rocket as the fastest path to return humans to the moon. With that flight rate unlikely to go beyond once a year, hydrogen leaks may be a problem NASA will have to deal with long after Artemis 2 launches."

SIGNIFICANT DIGIT

€78 million

The total cost (roughly $92 million) of a new Human Exploration Control Center to be built by the German Aerospace Center to support space exploration missions, funded with 58 million euros from the Bavarian government and 20 million euros from the German agency's budget.

SLS and Orion on the pad during the Artemis 2 wet dress rehearsal Feb. 2. Credit: NASA/John Kraus

EXCLUSIVE: THE U.K.'S SHIFTING ROLE IN ESA

At the European Space Agency's 2025 ministerial, the latest triennial gathering where ESA gathers funding commitments from member nations and lays out budget and program priorities, the United Kingdom emerged as the only member nation to reduce its financial commitment to ESA compared to the 2022 ministerial.

To learn more about the U.K.'s role and perspective on ESA moving forward, SpaceNews' Europe Correspondent Emma Gatti interviewed Paul Bate, CEO of the UK Space Agency, who recently announced he will step down as the agency prepares to be integrated within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology in April.

SpaceNews: The U.K. has recently emerged as one of the few ESA member states reducing its civil contributions. What does this signal strategically?

Paul Bate: The funding agreed at the ESA Council in November 2025 brings the U.K.'s total ESA commitments up to 2.8 billion pounds. [Editor's note: This higher figure includes previously committed contributions that have not yet been spent.] We remain the third largest contributor to ESA's mandatory program and continued our support for priority programs, such as the Vigil space weather mission and the Rosalind Franklin Mars rover, while bringing more focus to our overall ESA portfolio.

ESA is an important delivery mechanism for the U.K.'s space ambitions, but it is not the only one — across the board we are prioritizing investments in projects and programs that drive economic growth and national security.

How do you see the agency's strategic priorities evolving now that it sits within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology?

Bate: We already work closely with government ministers and DSIT officials when setting priorities and developing delivery plans, but the real prize is to create an even more effective vehicle for civil space policy and delivery by bringing together our combined expertise. The merger will create a stronger UK Space Agency with an expert workforce that benefits from faster decision-making, reduced duplication and greater influence.

We've already secured an 8% increase in the UK Space Agency budget this year and a clear path for further growth, with funding rising from 618 million pounds in 2024/25 to 720 million pounds by 2029/30.

There appears to be a gradual tightening of U.K. civil space funding. How do you anticipate this budget being rebalanced? In particular, do you expect a shift toward defence-related space activities, or toward other non-space public investment areas?

Bate: We recognize that civil and defense funding are complementary and together underpin our national capability. The U.K. is investing more into civil space activity than ever before, and the UK Space Agency is strengthening its collaboration with the U.K. Space Command and [The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory]. We are taking a "one-government approach" that unlocks the full potential of the U.K.'s space sector and delivers for the country alongside international partners.

Only time, and the numbers, will show whether the U.K. is indeed investing "more than ever" in civil space, and how that balance ultimately reshapes its position within Europe's space landscape.

This interview was first published in Europe Report, our newest newsletter with updates and analysis on the business and politics of space in Europe, sent every other Wednesday. If you haven't subscribed yet, you can do so here.

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