NASA engineers still struggling to understand why Orion’s heat shield ablated so much
NASA engineers still do not understand why the heat shield on its Orion capsule ablated as it did during its return to Earth on the first unmanned Artemis-1 mission.
The agency is still running tests. It also expressed confidence that the issue will not delay the Artemis-2 mission, the first intended to carry humans on SLS and in Orion and still scheduled for late 2024.
At the same time, agency officials hinted that the third Artemis mission, which has always been planned as putting humans on the Moon for the first time since Apollo, might not achieve that goal. It is still not clear whether the mission’s lunar spacesuits as well as SpaceX’s Starship lunar lander will be ready on time. The latter is facing serious regulatory problems imposed by the Biden administration that is generally preventing it from flight testing the spacecraft.
That second Artemis mission, the first planned to carry humans, is one that actually at present carries the most risk. It will not only use a heat shield that at present engineers do not entirely understand, it will be the first Orion capsule to have the environmental systems necessary for its human cargo. NASA is putting humans on the first test flight of those systems.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
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NASA engineers still do not understand why the heat shield on its Orion capsule ablated as it did during its return to Earth on the first unmanned Artemis-1 mission.
The agency is still running tests. It also expressed confidence that the issue will not delay the Artemis-2 mission, the first intended to carry humans on SLS and in Orion and still scheduled for late 2024.
At the same time, agency officials hinted that the third Artemis mission, which has always been planned as putting humans on the Moon for the first time since Apollo, might not achieve that goal. It is still not clear whether the mission’s lunar spacesuits as well as SpaceX’s Starship lunar lander will be ready on time. The latter is facing serious regulatory problems imposed by the Biden administration that is generally preventing it from flight testing the spacecraft.
That second Artemis mission, the first planned to carry humans, is one that actually at present carries the most risk. It will not only use a heat shield that at present engineers do not entirely understand, it will be the first Orion capsule to have the environmental systems necessary for its human cargo. NASA is putting humans on the first test flight of those systems.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
I’m struggling to understand more than Orion’s heat shield. I’m struggling to figure out what Orion is for at all. If you are fixated on a gold-plated Apollo mission maybe you think SLS/Orion makes sense, but really, why have a spacecraft that can be used in lunar orbit but no further, no more than once a year, and cannot land on the moon?
Take away Starship, and Artemis is an architectural mess. And Starship just happened to be potentially available from a completely different vision, when Artemis finally needed something that could land on the Moon, but was out of money.
As I’ve quipped before, I can only hope that Orion’s contract was way padded out to pay Lockheed for some top-secret TR-3 type thing!
If there is a lunar landing at all, it won’t be with Starship anytime soon. It will probably take at least five years as currently planned, and that is very optimistic. Starship at this point is a launch vehicle and launch vehicle only. It isn’t a lander. It isn’t even a tanker. It has to launch on a regular schedule for this to work, and even use cryogenic propellant transfer. So many things have to go right that has never been even tried before. My guess is there will be no landing, just taxi rides back and forth to the gateway.
If there is a landing it will be after 2030 or it will be with a quick and dirty Apollo style lander launched on a couple Vulcans or Falcon heavies. Successful projects tend to do hard things in the easiest way possible. This program seems to do easy(relatively) things the hardest way possible. That is not the way Falcon 9 succeeded. It is the way “Venture Star” failed(google it). Another problem is I doubt Spacex is going to make this a top priority. Mars is what Musk cares about, not the moon. The feds may make him spend money on it, but he won’t use is best people. He won’t give it as much personal attention. That will make a big difference.
The US is going to the Moon no matter what in the name of DEI.
There is no other reason nor is any other reason required.
Robert,
I think that somebody’s spellcheck was overactive. The Orion heat shield ablates. Your linked BTB post has it spelled correctly.
Edward: That misguided spellchecker was yours truly. I miswrote, even though I KNOW that ablation was the correct term. Thank you for the correction, now fixed.