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.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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.