On December 5, NASA updated its timelines for the missions and Orion’s heat shield in late 2022 after the Artemis I uncrewed test flight experienced unexpected loss of burn-off material during re-entry. Share the results of the investigation.
What is Orion?
NASA’s Orion spacecraft is where our crew lives while traveling to and from deep space. Orion is designed to take humans further than they have ever gone before. On the Artemis mission, Orion will transport a crew of four astronauts from Earth to space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain them during the trip to the Moon, and safely return to Earth from deep space speeds and temperatures. Will bring back.
What is a heat shield and why is it important?
When Orion travels back through deep space, its journey through Earth’s atmosphere produces extreme temperatures of up to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit on parts of the spacecraft. A 16-foot-diameter protective heat shield beneath the capsule is designed to dissipate this heat and protect the crew inside. The Orion’s heat shield consists primarily of Avcoat, a material designed to wear when heated.
What unusual behavior did you notice on the Artemis I heat shield?
NASA will fly the uncrewed Artemis I mission in late 2022 to test Orion, the agency’s SLS rocket and ground systems, testing these elements together for the first time to ensure that engineers can fly with astronauts. Understand everything about the systems first. The successful test flight sent Orion past the Moon and provided valuable data to ensure our deep space probe and other systems are ready for crewed missions. When Orion returned to Earth, engineers noticed changes in Orion’s heat shield that they did not expect. Some of the burnt material was broken. If a crew had been aboard the flight, they would have been safe, but understanding the incident has been the subject of an extensive investigation since the test flight.
What did NASA find to be the cause of this problem?
Engineers determined that when Orion was returning from its uncrewed mission around the moon, gases produced within the heat shield’s boiling outer material, called Avcoat, were able to escape and dissipate as expected. were not This allowed pressure to build up near the surface of the burn layer and horizontal cracking, which caused some of the burn material to break off in several places.
For Artemis II, engineers will limit how long Orion spends in the temperature range in which the Artemis I heat shield event occurred by modifying the time between Orion’s entry into the Earth’s atmosphere and the Earth’s surface. How far can it fly? Engineers are already assembling and integrating the Orion spacecraft for Artemis III, building on lessons learned from Artemis I and adding how to integrate heat shields for crew return from lunar landing missions. and is developed to achieve constant permeability. Here is a more detailed explanation. Here.
Why did NASA decide to use the existing heat shield?
Extensive research data has given engineers confidence that a heat shield for Artemis II can be used to safely fly mission crews around the moon and back. NASA will change the trajectory, shortening how far Orion can fly between entering Earth’s atmosphere and falling into the Pacific Ocean. This will limit how long Orion spends in the temperature range in which the Artemis I heat shield event occurred. The heat shield is already attached to the Orion for the test flight.
When is Artemis II?
The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with a crew aboard the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and the Orion spacecraft, and will pave the way for Artemis III to land astronauts on the Moon. Artemis II builds on the success of the unregenerate Artemis I mission and will demonstrate a wide range of capabilities required on lunar missions. The 10-day flight will help verify that all spacecraft systems function as designed in the actual environment of deep space with a crew on board. The target for this mission is April 2026.
The updated timeline for the Artemis II flight is informed by technical problems, with engineers addressing Orion’s battery problem and issues with its environmental control system. The heat shield was installed in June 2023 and root cause investigations were conducted in parallel with other assembly and testing activities to preserve the optimal schedule.
What are astronauts doing during mission delays?
NASA astronauts Reed Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen will continue training for the mission. More intensive training will begin approximately six months prior to commencement.
What is Artemis?
NASA, with its commercial and international partners, is establishing a long-term presence on the Moon for scientific research and exploration, learning how to live and work away from home, and preparing for future human exploration of Mars. Has been – we call this effort Artemis. Under Artemis, NASA will land the first woman, first person, and first international partner astronaut on the moon, using advanced technology to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before.
Why is NASA going back to the moon?
NASA is going back to the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and inspiration for a new generation of explorers: the Artemis Generation. Artemis is a new approach to America’s space exploration efforts – the most technologically challenging, collaborative, international effort humanity has ever undertaken. By spreading scientific knowledge and developing new technologies, what we learn will be applied to improve life on Earth. Samples from the lunar south pole can tell us more about the formation of our planet and the origins of our solar system. We are meeting this challenge by investing in American ingenuity and leadership to advance our understanding of the universe for the benefit of all.
What makes Artemis different from Apollo?
The Apollo program successfully landed 12 men near the lunar equator in the 1960s and 1970s. Under Artemis, NASA is venturing into the lunar south pole region, where no human has ever set foot, in new ways with commercial and international partners. The agency is leading the largest international alliance in space to take humanity further than ever for the benefit of all, developing capabilities for astronauts to live and work on the moon before our next big leap. – Human exploration of Mars.
What happens after Artemis II?
Artemis III will build on the crewed Artemis II flight test, adding new capabilities with a human landing system and advanced spacesuits to send the first humans to explore the lunar south pole region. Over the course of about 30 days, the four-person crew will launch atop a Space Launch System rocket in Orion and travel to a special lunar orbit where they will dock with SpaceX’s Starship human landing system. Two members of the Artemis crew will transfer from Orion to the starship and land on the lunar surface. There, they will collect samples, conduct science experiments, and observe the lunar atmosphere before returning to Orion from the Starship while waiting in lunar orbit. The mission is planned for mid-2027.
NASA is also working with SpaceX to further develop the company’s Starship Lander requirements for Artemis IV. Those requirements include docking with the agency’s Gateway Lunar Space Station for more massive lunar landings and crew transfers. NASA will use Blue Origin’s human landing system for Artemis V.