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Artemis I test flight

Uncrewed tests of the Space Launch System rocket and  Orion spacecraft.

Date: Nov. 16, 2022

Launch: 0100 Eastern

NASA TV stream starts Nov. 15, 2200 Eastern 

If Artemis I is successful, Artemis II will carry a crew, and Artemis III will transfer a crew to a SpaceX Starship HLS in high lunar orbit for a landing at the Moon's South Pole. 

 

  • Like 2
On 15/11/2022 at 23:00, AnotherITguy said:

Doc, so did NASA ever figure out if the SLS would ever get an upgrade as in the Block II Configuration and is there ever going to be a cargo version of this thing?

 

NASA is building the exploration upper stage (EUS), which would allow sending 46 tonnes beyond Earth orbit, but with  Starship's capability that sounds pretty puny.

One of the guys at NASA did some calculations that an expendable Starship could land 200-250 tonnes on the Moon and it wouldn't cost near the $6 billion an SLS Block 2 would command. Once there it could serve as habitation, propellants storage, provide spare parts  and its nose solar arrays could provide power for the base.

Need a spare engine? It'll have at least 6 and in principle they could be hot-swapped with a platform jack. They do it almost daily at Starbase.

Those kinds of bang for buck capabilities are just in-sane.

Edited by DocM

Artemis 2: crewed test flight of Orion, around the Moon and back. 

 

Starship HLS test landing: NO crew, straight-up test landing and re-launch at the Lunar South Pole.

 

Artemis 3:  crewed (2) SLS/Orion to a near  rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) of the Moon. Docks there with Starship HLS, and it lands at the Lunar South Pole. Return to dock with Orion in NRHO, crew transfers for return to Earth.

 

Artemis 4: similar to Artemis 3 but a crew of 4 and the rendezvous would be at the Lunar Gateway space station, part of it newly delivered as a secondary payload on SLS. Falcon Heavy will launch the propulsion & habit modules together, as well as Dragon XL cargo missions to Gayeway.

 

SpaceX hasn't released Starship HLS's recovery plan, but it's a relatively low deltaV from NRHO to an elliptical Earth orbit. Could also be refuelled by a Starship Depot* in NRHO filled between missions by Statship Tankers. Gas up & return to LEO for maintenance and upgrades.

 

* Depot = a stretched Starship about 61m tall that's all propellantn tanks + cryochillers, insulation, etc. Flying gas station.

 

1367938848_ArtemisStarshipconfigs.thumb.jpg.d240817904f84e9bb77b615031d1e302.jpg

 

Edited by DocM
On 17/11/2022 at 02:43, Matthew S. said:

Oh I can't do it better than Austin Powers.

Segue to trivia land,

The term originated in the 1959 William Burroughs novel Naked Lunch (though he used Steel Dan.) The band name and Austin Powers referenced it.

  • Like 1
Quote

Johnson: Colonel, you better have a look at this radar.

Colonel: What is it, son?

Johnson: I don't know sir, bit is looks like a giant--

 

  • 1 year later...

This was released a couple of weeks ago ... Artemis 1 reentry video (with sound). 

3:55 starts warming up / sounds of the thrusters
4:35 getting really hot outside
6:45 skip *
13:40 final plunge
19:45 chutes

* For clarification with regards to 6:45 ...

 

Quote

When NASA’s Orion spacecraft is nearing its return to Earth after its Artemis I mission to the Moon, it will attempt the first skip entry for a human spacecraft – a maneuver designed to pinpoint its landing spot in the Pacific Ocean.

During this skip entry, Orion will dip into the upper part of Earth’s atmosphere and use that atmosphere, along with the lift of the capsule, to skip back out of the atmosphere, then reenter for final descent under parachutes and splashdown. It’s a little like skipping a rock across the water in a river or lake.

“The skip entry will help Orion land closer to the coast of the United States, where recovery crews will be waiting to bring the spacecraft back to land,” said Chris Madsen, Orion guidance, navigation and control subsystem manager. “When we fly crew in Orion beginning with Artemis II, landing accuracy will really help make sure we can retrieve the crew quickly and reduces the number of resources we will need to have stationed in the Pacific Ocean to assist in recovery.”

https://www.nasa.gov/missions/orion-spacecraft-to-test-new-entry-technique-on-artemis-i-mission/

 

Original video...

https://images.nasa.gov/details/art001m1203451716

 

On 31/12/2023 at 05:05, Jim K said:

This was released a couple of weeks ago ... Artemis 1 reentry video (with sound). 

3:55 starts warming up / sounds of the thrusters
4:35 getting really hot outside
6:45 skip *
13:40 final plunge
19:45 chutes

* For clarification with regards to 6:45 ...

 

 

Original video...

https://images.nasa.gov/details/art001m1203451716

 

 

Thanks.

The parachutes shown in the video are made by two companies

Drogues: Pioneer Aerospace. Their parent company was going bankrupt, so they were acquired by SpaceX to maintain supply to everyone.

Mains: Airborne Systems, who supplies most of the space industry and the military.

Since Artemis 1 they've been working on this issue

Space News.....

 

Quote

In the months after Artemis 1, which splashed down last December after three and a half weeks in cislunar space, NASA managers said that they noted more erosion of the material on the heat shield than expected during reentry.

 

Need to figure that out before Artemis 2, which is scheduled for November 2024. It will do a fly-by of the Moon, swinging about 6,400 mi behind it before returning to Earth. The plan is a 10-day mission.

 

Artemis 3 will be a lunar  landing, Orion meeting up with Starship HLS for a trip to the lunar South Pole.

 

Artemis 2 crew

Commander: Reid Wiseman (NASA)

Pilot:  Victor J. Glover (NASA)

Payload Specialist:  Christina Koch (NASA)

Mission Specialist: Jeremy Hansen (Canada)

Mission Specialist backup:  Jenni Sidey-Gibbons (Canada)

original.jpg.ed25a074182bea1a7f5e6e05ae1ec470.jpg

Edited by DocM

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