23.11.2022
NASA capsule buzzes moon, last big step before lunar orbit
NASA's Orion capsule has reached the moon, whipping around the far side and passing within about 80 miles
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA’s Orion capsule reached the moon Monday, whipping around the far side and buzzing the lunar surface on its way to a record-breaking orbit with test dummies sitting in for astronauts.
It’s the first time a capsule has visited the moon since NASA’s Apollo program 50 years ago, and represents a huge milestone in the $4.1 billion test flight that began last Wednesday.
Video of the looming moon and our pale blue planet more than 230,000 miles (370,000 kilometers) in the distance left workers “giddy" at Houston's Johnson Space Center, home to Mission Control, according to flight director Judd Frieling. Even the flight controllers themselves were “absolutely astounded.”
“Just smiles across the board," said Orion program manager Howard Hu.
The close approach of 81 miles (130 kilometers) occurred as the crew capsule and its three wired-up dummies were on the far side of the moon. Because of a half-hour communication blackout, flight controllers in Houston did not know if the critical engine firing went well until the capsule emerged from behind the moon. The capsule's cameras sent back a picture of the Earth — a tiny blue dot surrounded by blackness.
The capsule accelerated well beyond 5,000 mph (8,000 kph) as it regained radio contact, NASA said. Less than an hour later, Orion soared above Tranquility Base, where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on July 20, 1969. There were no photos of the site because the pass was in darkness, but managers promised to try for pictures on the return flyby in two weeks.
Orion needed to slingshot around the moon to pick up enough speed to enter the sweeping, lopsided lunar orbit. Another engine firing will place the capsule in that orbit Friday.
This coming weekend, Orion will shatter NASA’s distance record for a spacecraft designed for astronauts — nearly 250,000 miles (400,000 kilometers) from Earth, set by Apollo 13 in 1970. And it will keep going, reaching a maximum distance from Earth next Monday at nearly 270,000 miles (433,000 kilometers).
The capsule will spend close to a week in lunar orbit, before heading home. A Pacific splashdown is planned for Dec. 11.
Orion has no lunar lander; a touchdown won't come until NASA astronauts attempt a lunar landing in 2025 with SpaceX's Starship. Before then, astronauts will strap into Orion for a ride around the moon as early as 2024.
Mission manager Mike Sarafin was delighted with the progress of the mission, giving it a “cautiously optimistic A-plus" so far.
The Space Launch System rocket — the most powerful ever built by NASA — performed exceedingly well in its debut, Sarafin told reporters. He said teams are dealing with two issues that require workarounds — one involving the navigational star trackers, the other the power system,
The 322-foot (98-meter) rocket caused more damage than expected, however, at the Kennedy Space Center launch pad. The force from the 8.8 million pounds (4 million kilograms) of liftoff thrust was so great that it tore off the blast doors of the elevator, leaving it unusable.
Sarafin said the pad damage will be repaired in plenty of time before the next launch.
Quelle: abcNews
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Artemis powering past the Moon
In brief
Today at 13:44 CET (12:44 GMT) the Artemis spacecraft Orion powered its main thruster on the European Service Module to slingshot around the Moon, just five days after liftoff from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA.
In-depth
The European Service Module is powering Orion around the Moon and back, providing propulsion, temperature control, electricity as well as storage and delivery for essential supplies such as fuel, water and air. This first Artemis mission is an uncrewed test mission, putting the spacecraft through its paces preparing to send astronauts forward to the Moon.
After liftoff at 07:47 CET (06:47 GMT, 01:47 local time) on 16 November, the European Service Module unfolded its 7-m solar wings to start generating electricity. The Orion spacecraft received a final boost from NASA’s Artemis rocket’s second stage and has been on a five-day cruise to the Moon since.
Flyby to enter lunar orbit
Access the video
Today was a key moment for the NASA and ESA teams operating Orion, at just a little more than 130 km from the lunar surface the main engine on the European Service Module – a repurposed Space Shuttle engine that is now on 20th spaceflight – fired for just under 150 seconds to push the spacecraft and head towards a lunar orbit using the Moon’s gravity to reduce fuel consumption.
“It has been an absolute joy to follow the mission so far,” says ESA’s Programme Manger for the European Service Modules, Philippe Deloo, “all the thousands of components inside have been working together flawlessly as designed, a testament to the international collaboration and prowess of European and US industry.”
Mission control for Orion is at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, USA, with European engineers on hand at all times to offer in-depth expertise on the finer details of the service module. The mission evaluation room based at ESA’s technical heart in The Netherlands has personnel round the clock in direct communication with mission control.
The goal of the Artemis I mission is to stress-test the mission profile, the spacecraft, and the people operating it in preparation for flights with astronauts.
“Operationally the spacecraft is performing perfectly and the international collaboration with this new spacecraft with new flight rules is great to see,” continues Philippe, “The teams across both sides of the Atlantic are showing exemplary skills, knowledge and teamwork leading humankind forward to the Moon.”
Inside Orion
Inside the Orion crew capsule are multiple experiments to prepare for astronaut flights responsibly. These include an ESA investigation recording the radiation doses an astronaut will receive and a German Aerospace Center, DLR, mannequin that is being used to test a radiation vest that astronauts could wear for protection during solar storms.
Orion is now following the Moon’s orbit around Earth and will officially enter lunar orbit on its tenth day of flight, 25 November, when the European Service Module performs the Distant Retrograde Insertion, firing its thrusters to brake Orion and keep flying around the Moon.
The mission is set to end with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on 11 December. Visit ESA’s Orion blogfor frequent and more detailed updates.
Access the video
Artemis I – Flight Day Eight Update: Unexpected Loss of Communication with Orion is Restored
NASA’s Mission Control Center at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston unexpectedly lost data to and from the spacecraft at 12:09 a.m. CST for 47 minutes while reconfiguring the communication link between Orion and Deep Space Network overnight. The reconfiguration has been conducted successfully several times in the last few days, and the team is investigating the cause of the loss of signal. The team resolved the issue with a reconfiguration on the ground side. Engineers are examining data from the event to help determine what happened, and the command and data handling officer will be downlinking data recorded onboard Orion during the outage to include in that assessment. There was no impact to Orion, and the spacecraft remains in a healthy configuration.
Quelle: NASA
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Artemis I – Flight Day Eight: Orion Exits the Lunar Sphere Of Influence
(Nov. 22, 2022) Flight Day 7, Orion’s Optical Navigation camera captured the far side of the Moon, as the spacecraft orbited 81.1 miles above the surface, heading for a Distant Retrograde Orbit. Orion uses the optical navigation camera to capture imagery of the Earth and the Moon at different phases and distances, providing an enhanced body of data to certify its effectiveness under different lighting conditions as a way to help orient the spacecraft on future missions with crew.
On the eighth day of its mission, Orion continues to travel farther away from the Moon as it prepares to enter a distant retrograde orbit. The orbit is “distant” in the sense that it’s at a high altitude from the surface of the Moon, and it’s “retrograde” because Orion will travel around the Moon opposite the direction the Moon travels around Earth.
Orion exited the gravitational sphere of influence of the Moon Tuesday, Nov. 22, at 9:49 p.m. CST at a lunar altitude of 39,993 miles. The spacecraft will reach its farthest distance from the Moon Friday, Nov 25, just before performing the next major burn to enter the orbit. The distant retrograde orbit insertion burn is the second in a pair of maneuvers required to propel Orion into the highly stable orbit that requires minimal fuel consumption while traveling around the Moon.
NASA’s Mission Control Center at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston unexpectedly lost data to and from the spacecraft at 12:09 a.m. for 47 minutes while reconfiguring the communication link between Orion and Deep Space Network. Teams have resolved the issue, and the spacecraft remains in a healthy configuration while engineers analyze data to determine the cause.
While in transit to the distant retrograde orbit, engineers conducted the first part of the propellant tank slosh development flight test, called prop slosh, which is scheduled during quiescent, or less active, parts of the mission. The test calls for flight controllers to fire the reaction control system thrusters when propellant tanks are filled to different levels. Engineers measure the effect the propellant sloshing has on spacecraft trajectory and orientation as Orion moves through space. The test is performed after the outbound flyby burn and again after the return flyby burn to compare data at points in the mission with different levels of propellant onboard.
Propellant motion, or slosh, in space is difficult to model on Earth because liquid propellant moves differently in tanks in space than on Earth due to the lack of gravity. The reaction control thrusters are located on the sides of the service module in six sets of four. These engines are in fixed positions and can be fired individually as needed to move the spacecraft in different directions or rotate it into any position. Each engine provides about 50 pounds of thrust.
As of Wednesday, Nov. 23, a total of about 3,971 pounds of propellant has been used, about 147 pounds less than prelaunch expected values. There is more than 2,000 pounds of margin available over what is planned for use during the mission, an increase of about 74 pounds from prelaunch expected values.
Just after 1 p.m. CST on Nov. 23, Orion was traveling about 212,437 miles from Earth and was more than 48,064 miles from the Moon, cruising at 2,837 miles per hour.
To follow the mission real-time, you can track Orion during its mission around the Moon and back, view a live stream from Orion’s cameras, and find the latest imagery and videos on Flickr. The second episode of Artemis All Access is now available as a recap of the last few days of the mission with a look ahead to what’s coming next.
Quelle: NASA
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Update: 26.11.2022
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Watch fiery separation of NASA's Artemis 1 moon rocket boosters
The video was taken by a camera on board of the Space Launch System rocket.
NASA has released a video taken by a camera on board the Space Launch System moon rocket showing a fiery separation of the rocket's two strap-on boosters shortly after lift-off.
The camera, attached to the core stage of the 322-foot-tall (100 meters) rocket, filmed the two solid-fuel boosters, which helped the rocket off the ground during its milestone launch on Nov. 16, fall off, flaming. The separation occurred two minutes and 11 seconds after the rocket rose from a Kennedy Space Center launch pad into the night at 1:47 a.m. EST (0647 GMT).
The successful lift-off came after several delays due to technical problems and bad weather in Florida less than a week after the rocket survived a lashing by sustained winds of 75 mph (120 km/h) during tropical storm Nicole.
The Space Launch System rocket shedding its solid booster shortly after its debut lift-off. (Image credit: NASA)
The successful lift-off marked the beginning of the Artemis 1 mission, which is testing NASA's Orion spaceship during an uncrewed debut lunar round trip before it can be allowed to carry astronauts. The mission has so far proceeded without any major hiccups. On Wednesday (Nov. 23), NASA briefly lost contact with Orion for unknown reasons, but the problem was resolved after 47 minutes.
The two boosters were the first parts of the rocket to separate after the lift-off. Only a minute later, SLS dropped off the fairing protecting Orion during launch and its launch abort system. The rocket's giant core stage fell off eight minutes after liftoff, leaving only the upper stage attached to Orion, which at that point was able to spread its solar wings. Nearly an hour after lift-off, Orion discarded the upper stage and set off on its milestone lunar trip on its own.
Since then, the capsule performed three burns using its main engine to place itself on a trajectory to enter a high orbit around Earth's natural satellite on Saturday (Nov. 25). On its way, the capsule made a close pass above the lunar surface, looking at the moon from an altitude of only 81.1 miles (130 kilometers).
On Tuesday (Nov. 26), Orion will surpass the record for the greatest distance from Earth achieved by a human-rated spacecraft. The record of 248,655 miles (400,171 km) was set by the Apollo 13 mission in 1970 during a rescue operation that helped the crew return home after an onboard explosion made its original lunar-landing mission impossible. On Monday (Nov. 26), Orion will set a new record at 268,554 miles (432,194 km) from Earth. The capsule will return to Earth on Dec. 11, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.
Quelle: SC
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NASA's Artemis 1 launched a solar sail cubesat to an asteroid. It may be in trouble.
NEA Scout has yet to phone home.
A tiny asteroid explorer that launched on NASA's moon mission last week still hasn't phoned home.
Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) Scout was one of 10 cubesats that hitched a ride to space on NASA's Artemis 1 mission, which launched on Nov. 16. The spacecraft was designed to sail on sunlight to fly past a small asteroid dubbed 2020 GE about a year from now. But something seems to have gone wrong after the cubesat deployed.
"Following successful separation and deployment from NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) on Nov. 16, the Near-Earth Asteroid Scout (NEA Scout) project team has not yet established communications with the spacecraft," NASA officials wrote in an emailed statement. "Teams continue working to initiate contact with NEA Scout."
In particular, NEA Scout personnel are hoping that the spacecraft's unusual propulsion strategy could help them track down the cubesat. Packed into the small satellite was a reflective, silvery solar sail that unfolds to 924 square feet (86 square meters) — larger than a racquetball court, according to NASA.
Had everything gone smoothly, NEA Scout planned to deploy its sail in early December, according to a NASA spokesperson, then use the solar radiation hitting it to reach the asteroid. Instead, despite not having heard from the spacecraft, NASA personnel broadcast a command for "an emergency solar sail deployment" twice on Monday (Nov. 21) in hopes that the highly visible sail could help them find the cubesat.
"If the spacecraft is listening and successfully opened its sail, it could be seen from telescopes on Earth," NASA officials wrote. "Several ground-based observatories are attempting to look for NEA Scout and share data, which will be invaluable in helping determine the spacecraft's status."
NEA Scout isn't the only cubesat from last week's Artemis 1 launch to struggle. For example, OMOTENASHI, a tiny Japanese lunar lander, missed its date with the moon and another NASA cubesat, LunaH-Map, missed a crucial engine fire as it flew past the moon on Monday. The agency added the cubesats to Artemis 1 knowing that the small missions carried higher risk than larger spacecraft with more redundancy and durability built into the design.
Other cubesats that launched last week seem to be doing better. An Italian cubesat called ArgoMoon is successfully sending home stunning photos of the moon and of Earth, and a second Japanese mission, called EQUULEUS, reported having safely made its first lunar flyby.
If NEA Scout recovers, it will be NASA's first solar sail to leave Earth's orbit; if it safely reaches asteroid 2020 GE, the spacecraft will likely make the slowest asteroid flyby to date, and the asteroid will become the smallest any spacecraft has visited, according to NASA.
Quelle: SC
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Artemis 1's Orion spacecraft captures stunning photos of the moon during its closest approach
The moon is ready for its close-up.
The moon looks spectacular in images captured by NASA's Orion spacecraft as it cruised just 81.1 miles (130 kilometers) above the lunar surface during the Artemis 1 mission's closest approach to Earth's natural satellite on Monday (Nov. 21).
These detailed black and white images were snapped by the Orion spacecraft's onboard optical navigation camera on day 6 of the mission, the same day it performed a crucial engine burn.
Orion is currently gearing up for a critical maneuver that will insert the capsule into a high orbit around the moon on Friday (Nov. 25). The capsule will perform a single-engine burn and all being well, will remain in lunar orbit for about one week before embarking on its journey back to Earth. The spacecraft is scheduled to splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast on Dec. 11.
Close-up view of the lunar surface captured by the Orion spacecraft's onboard optical navigation camera during the mission's closest approach to the lunar surface on Nov. 21, 2022.
These detailed black and white images were snapped by the Orion spacecraft's onboard optical navigation camera on day 6 of the mission, the same day it performed a crucial engine burn.
Orion has been busy capturing images of Earth and the moon at different phases and distances to test the effectiveness of its optical navigation camera under different lighting conditions as a way to aid spacecraft orientation during future crewed missions, according to the image descriptions on NASA's Flickr account(opens in new tab).
Artemis 1 is a trailblazing mission designed to test the readiness of the Orion Spacecraft and NASA's giant Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for future missions of the Artemis program.
All being well, the pair could fly astronauts to the vicinity of the moon as early as 2024 — the first time since 1972 — during Artemis 2.
Around a year or two later, Artemis 3 will land astronauts near the moon's south pole.
Quelle: SC
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Update: 27.11.2022
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NASA to Share Artemis I Update with Orion at Farthest Point from Earth
NASA will host a news conference at 5 p.m. EST Monday, Nov. 28, from the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to discuss the status of the uncrewed Artemis I flight test as the Orion spacecraft reaches the mid-point of its Moon mission and its farthest distance from Earth at nearly 270,000 miles away.
Orion entered a distant lunar orbit on at 4:52 p.m. EST Friday, Nov. 25, where the spacecraft will remain for about a week to test systems in a deep space environment about 40,000 miles above the lunar surface before beginning the journey back to Earth.
NASA will provide live coverage of the briefing on NASA Television, the agency’s website, and the NASA app.
Participants will include:
- Bill Nelson, NASA administrator
- Mike Sarafin, Artemis I mission manager, NASA Headquarters
- Rick LaBrode, flight director, NASA Johnson
- Howard Hu, Orion Program manager, NASA Johnson
Media wishing to join in the news conference in person must request credentials from the Johnson newsroom no later than 1 p.m. at: 281-483-5111 or jsccommu@mail.nasa.gov.
Media interested in participating by phone must also contact the Johnson newsroom no later than one hour before the start of the call.
NASA also will hold a briefing at 5 p.m. EST Wednesday, Nov. 30, to preview plans to exit the distant retrograde orbit and begin the journey back to Earth. NASA TV coverage of the first of two maneuvers to exit lunar orbit, called the distant retrograde orbit departure burn, will be Thursday, Dec. 1, at 4:30 p.m. The burn is schedule to occur at 4:53 p.m.
Following a successful launch on NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, Artemis I is testing the Orion spacecraft on a rigorous mission in the extreme environment of deep space around the Moon before flying astronauts on Artemis II in 2024. Artemis includes a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration at the Moon where the agency will prepare for future missions with crew to Mars.
Quelle: NASA
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Artemis 1's Orion spacecraft enters orbit around the moon
The milestone moment occurred just before 5 p.m. ET on Friday (Nov. 25).
NASA's Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft captured this selfie shortly after completing an engine burn that inserted the capsule into lunar orbit on Nov. 25, 2022. (Image credit: NASA TV)
NASA's Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft is now orbiting the moon.
Orion had been making its circuitous way to Earth's nearest neighbor since launching last Wednesday (Nov. 16) on NASA's Artemis 1 mission. On Friday afternoon (Nov. 25), the capsule finally reached its destination.
Orion performed an 88-second engine burn Friday at 4:52 p.m. EST (2152 GMT) that successfully inserted the spacecraft into a distant retrograde orbit (DRO) around the moon as planned.
"Shortly before conducting the burn, Orion was traveling more than 57,000 miles [92,000 kilometers] above the lunar surface, marking the farthest distance it will reach from the moon during the mission," NASA officials wrote in an update(opens in new tab)shortly after the burn ended. "While in lunar orbit, flight controllers will monitor key systems and perform checkouts while in the environment of deep space."
The DRO takes Orion about 40,000 miles (64,000 km) beyond the moon at its most distant point. As it travels that path, the capsule will set a new record, getting farther from Earth than any previous human-rated spacecraft.
The current mark of 248,655 miles (400,171 km) is held by NASA's Apollo 13mission, which wasn't meant to travel that far. Apollo 13 looped around the moon rather than land on the body after an oxygen tank in the spacecraft's service module failed in deep space.
Orion will break Apollo 13's record on Saturday morning (Nov. 26), NASA officials said. But the capsule will continue putting Earth in its rear-view mirror for two more days, reaching a maximum distance of 272,515 miles (438,570 km) on Monday (Nov. 28).
Orion will spend a little less than a week in the DRO. The capsule will leave lunar orbit with an engine burn on Dec. 1, then start heading home to Earth. Orion will arrive here on Dec. 11 with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast, if all goes to plan.
The nearly-26-day Artemis 1 mission is designed to vet Orion and NASA's huge Space Launch System rocket, which sent the capsule skyward last week, ahead of planned crewed missions to the moon.
The first of those astronaut flights, Artemis 2, will send Orion around the moon in 2024. Artemis 3 will then put boots down near the lunar south pole in 2025 or 2026. Further landed missions will follow, as NASA builds a crewed research outpost in the south polar region — a key objective of its Artemis program.
Quelle: SC
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Artemis I enters Moon orbit
In-depth
The European Service Module is powering Orion to the Moon and back, providing electricity, propulsion, keeping electronics and the crew module at the right temperature and, on the next Artemis missions, will provide water and air for astronauts.
The Artemis I mission is uncrewed but is being used to demonstrate and test the Orion spacecraft’s capabilities, as well as allowing mission control to get used to flying Orion and operating the European Service Module.
Distant lunar orbit
Today’s firing of the engines has pushed Orion in the opposite direction of travel to our Moon, and occurred relatively far away from the lunar surface, putting the spacecraft into a so-called distant retrograde orbit. This elongated orbit around the Moon uses little fuel. Orion's mission profile will see it leave half-way before the full twelve-day orbit, firing its thrusters in six days to fly closer to the Moon on a final flyby and then slingshot back to Earth.
ESA’s Philippe Deloo explains “The European Service Module is operating more fuel-efficiently than the Artemis mission designers had foreseen, and it produces more electrical power while consuming less – many things have impressed us on the module’s performance so far.”
Orion spreading its X-wings
The Artemis I mission is an opportunity to push the Orion spacecraft to its limits. Throughout the mission multiple demonstrations are taking place, testing the mission operations teams and allowing them to learn how the new spacecraft is behaving.
“Mission control is enjoying pushing Orion and the European Service Module to their limits,” continues Philippe, “the years of planning, designing and building to the highest specifications are paying off, the European Service Module is performing better than we could have ever expected and we have lots of data to analyse and learn from, to ensure we will be taking astronauts to the Moon in the safest and most efficient way possible.”
As the first European Service Module has been earning its wings flying around the Moon, the second module is already almost complete – its solar wings are folded and packed in storage to be attached to the second Orion spacecraft next year. The second Artemis mission will have astronauts aboard and fly a less intensive route around the Moon and back.
The third European Service Module – that will take astronauts to a Moon landing – is in production at the Airbus integration hall in Bremen, Germany, alongside the the fourth European Service Module that will power the first ESA astronaut and European lunar Gateway element to lunar orbit. The structure for the fifth European Service Module is set to arrive in Bremen next month.
“The demonstrated flight excellence of the European Service Module and Orion so far, together with ESA’s ambitious plans and newly announced astronauts make for and exciting immediate future for European human spaceflight” concludes Philippe.
The mission is set to end with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on 11 December. Visit ESA’s Orion blog for frequent and more detailed updates.
