by HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — NASA has determined why the Orion heat shield lost more material than expected during the Artemis 1 mission, but will release details only after conducting further tests.
In the months since the Orion spacecraft returned to Earth on the uncrewed Artemis 1 mission in December 2022, NASA revealed there have been more “coal losses” on the ablative heat shield at the base of the capsule than expected. It posed no risk to the spacecraft itself, but agency officials said they wanted to understand what happened to prepare for Artemis 2, the spacecraft’s first crewed flight.
NASA has provided few details about that investigation, and the only images of the heat shield itself came in a report from the agency’s inspector general in May. At an Aug. 29 meeting of the NASA Advisory Board’s Human Exploration and Operations Committee, Amit Kshatriya, deputy associate administrator for the Moon to Mars program, said an independent review team had completed its analysis of the erosion of the heat shield, but had not provided additional details. .
Asked about the status of the heat shield at an Oct. 28 meeting of the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG) in Houston, Lori Glaze, acting deputy associate administrator for the Lunar Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, NASA said these examinations determined the cause of the additional heat shield. loss of coal.
“We have a conclusive determination on the root cause of the problem,” she said. “We were able to demonstrate and replicate it at the Ames arcjet facility.” The Arc Jet Complex at NASA Ames Research Center can reproduce the heating conditions observed during re-entry.
However, she refused to identify what that root cause was. “I’m not going to share right now,” she replied when asked about it. “When it comes out, everything will come out together.”
Another NASA official confirmed this during a panel discussion at the American Astronautical Society’s von Braun Space Exploration Symposium later the same day.
“We have arrived at a root cause. “We’re having conversations across the agency to make sure we have a good understanding of not only what’s going on with the heat shield, but also the next steps for how that actually applies to Artemis 2,” he said. said Lakiesha Hawkins, the agency’s deputy assistant administrator. the Moon to Mars office. She also declined to identify the specific root cause.
Glaze said NASA is conducting additional testing to study ways to mitigate the loss of Artemis 2’s heat shield. “We know what needs to be done for future missions, but Artemis 2’s heat shield is already built, so how can we keep astronauts safe? with Artemis 2?
She said testing would be completed by the end of November. “We then anticipate discussions with the administrator, who will make the final decision on how to proceed,” she said. “We are moving as quickly as possible, and decisions will be made ahead.”
Hawkins said she expected NASA to provide more details on the heat shield issue and plans for Artemis 2 “hopefully before the end of the year.”
The erosion of the heat shield was one of three factors that led NASA to announce in January that it was delaying the launch of Artemis 2 from late 2024 to September 2025 at the earliest. support system on Orion, was the key factor in choosing the new launch date.
NASA has retained the launch date of September 2025, even though there is widespread skepticism in the industry that Artemis 2 can be launched before 2026. NASA, for example, has not yet begun the process of launching Artemis 2 before 2026. The assembly, or “stacking”, of several months, of the Space Launch System rocket. which will launch the mission, even though all of the rocket’s components are now at the Kennedy Space Center.
In his LEAG presentation, Glaze noted that earlier this month, NASA returned the Mobile Launch Platform to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Launch Complex 39B, where NASA had been conducting testing, “and is ready to stack the SLS”. She did not specify when this accumulation would begin.
