The damage to the Orion capsule from the Artemis I mission is already a priority for NASA as it really works to make the Artemis II mission protected for humans. But a brand new agency report revealed the extent of the issue, including quite a few cracks in Orion's critical heat shield.
The NASA Office of Inspector General Report outlined six issues that require NASA's attention, with heat shield damage discovered after the uncrewed Artemis I test mission in late 2022 topping the list.
NASA found greater than 100 spots on the warmth shield where the so-called carbon layer “ruptured, breaking the spacecraft into fragments that left a trail of debris instead of melting as intended,” the report said. Images published for the primary time within the report showed the extent of the damage.
It says re-entry speeds emanating from a lunar orbit reach nearly 25,000 miles per hour, which is about 40% faster than the speeds astronauts face when coming back from low-Earth orbit on SpaceX's Crew Dragon. The heat shield must withstand temperatures of roughly 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
“Although there was no evidence of an impact on the crew module, the amount and size of the debris may have caused enough structural damage to cause one of Orion's parachutes to fail,” the report said. “If the same problem occurs on future Artemis missions, it could result in the loss of the vehicle or crew.”
“Given the high risks of the first manned flight, the agency is working to identify and mitigate all risks and challenges to ensure the safe return of the Artemis II crew and to support NASA's significant investment in Artemis vehicles and systems protect,” the report says.
Artemis II is scheduled to be Orion's first crewed mission, launching on the Space Launch System rocket no sooner than September 2025 and can launch from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-B. The test flight with 4 astronauts will go to the moon and back without landing. The aim is to point out that it may well fly safely with people on board.
The report was released May 1 by independent NASA mission investigators as a watchdog on mission hazards and price realities. It says that by the point Artemis II launches, NASA can have spent greater than $55 billion on the SLS, Orion and Exploration Ground Systems programs, which include the mobile launch vehicle stationed at KSC.
The report specifically recommends that NASA “ensure that the root cause of the release of coal from the Orion heat shield is well understood in advance.” [the] “Start of the Artemis II mission.”
NASA officials say they’re committed to repairing the warmth shield, but acknowledge they might not find a way to find out the basis explanation for the damage. The report warned that NASA's plan to think about changing Orion's re-entry trajectory or redesigning its heat shield could also pose unknown risks.
The second advice is to further analyze NASA's planned changes to Orion's separation bolts that connected the crew module to the service module. The service module can be disposed of immediately before reentry, and NASA noted “unexpected melting and erosion that created a gap that resulted in increased heating inside the bolt during Orion's reentry.”
The third point has to do with damage to the mobile launch vehicle because the Space Launch System rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center, requiring NASA's Exploration Ground Systems to “conduct additional verification and validation of launch imaging equipment prior to launch attempts.”
The final three recommendations were to review landing operations procedures to extend the probabilities that dropped hardware, including the parachutes that sank within the sea on Artemis I, wouldn’t be lost. to resolve erroneous telemetry data encountered on this flight; and be sure that any design changes fit inside a schedule for upcoming SLS and Orion stacking operations at KSC's vehicle assembly constructing.
NASA is commended for working to deal with all the problems already. NASA's response said it had already finalized plans for the ultimate three recommendations. NASA expects to finish plans to repair the warmth shield and screws by June and make changes to the mobile launch vehicle by September.
But the report warns that plans to repair the Orion problems may lead to further delays and price increases, corresponding to the danger of getting to slow rocket and spacecraft stacking operations on the VAB.
“Human spaceflight is inherently risky, and the Artemis campaign is no exception,” the report said. “We urge NASA leadership to continue to balance the achievement of its mission objectives and schedule with the priority of the safety of its astronauts and to take the time necessary to avoid undue risks.”
Artemis II has already been pushed back from a planned launch in November of this yr to September 2025 on the earliest. Flying on the mission are NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, in addition to Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
Glover is glad to have extra eyes on such a sophisticated mission.
“I love the guard dogs. “I think it's great that we have this thing called inspectors general,” he said last weekend while at KSC ahead of the Boeing Starliner's attempted launch.
The report “has given new energy to this thing, but we've been following it since they found it,” Glover said. “We noticed the problems with Artemis I before we were assigned to Artemis II. That's why I have faith in this team. The people leading this investigation know what they're doing. However, we still have a lot of work to do.”
Glover indicated that this could include not having a heat shield with fist-sized holes in it, and replied, “Amen.”
He praised NASA's recent Moon to Mars Program Office, established in early 2023, which is designed to bring together all the Artemis program's various stakeholders, including major contractors Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, SpaceX and Axiom Space, to make sure everyone seems to be aligned keep the identical schedule.
Its formation just months before Artemis II was scheduled to launch raised alarms for Glover, who identified that the Columbia Accident Investigation Board report discussed the hazards of organizational changes near a mission.
And while the brand new program consolidates redundancies in order that mission objectives are very clear, “it's still something for us to be aware of as we tiptoe into areas that have previously caused us tragedy.”
Changing lines of authority near the mission carries risks, he said.
“We are a new team. People need to learn to be open and transparent,” he said. “It's not in people's natural state to just say, 'Hey, let me tell you what I messed up today.' And now they have a new boss and they say, 'I just got comfortable telling the old boss.'”
Pushing the launch date to 2025 will not be a delay, Glover said, only a correction.
“I am not committed to this data. I am indebted to Dionna, Genesis, Maya, Joia and Corinne and Nala. This is my family and my dog,” he said. “And yes, I work for Bill Nelson, but at the end of the day we work for the people. …Sorry to be so crass, but I don’t give a shit about this date.”
image credit : www.mercurynews.com