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The departure date of the Artemis I mission has finally been made official and faithfully reflects what was anticipated in recent days. Except for unforeseeable weather problems at the moment or critical issues of the last second, on 29 August one of the most important missions of recent years will take place, and certainly the main one of this 2022.
Artemis I will officially inaugurate the lunar landing program and although our natural satellite will not be touched with this first mission, it will be a fundamental test to understand whether the development work of the SLS and the Orion capsule have been effective and do not require further substantial revisions. .
The unmanned test flight will come to life on Monday 29 August e the launch window will open at 2.33pm according to our time zone, and then close at 16.33. In this two-hour span, the very powerful SLS rocket will ignite its powerful RS-25 engines and set off on a journey that will last more than a month. It will be the first flight of the Space Launch System, one of the most powerful rockets ever built by NASA, and a critical test for the Orion spacecraft. The historic mission will take off from Pad 39B of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on the same launch pad used by the Apollo 10 mission to orbit the moon in 1969, as well as by the Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz missions.
After the start the SLS rocket will reach the maximum dynamic pressure (Max q) within ninety seconds, then in the second phase, after having unhooked away the boosters, the panels of the service modules and the launch interruption system, the motors of the central stage they will shut down and the central stage will separate from the spacecraft. As the spacecraft orbits Earth, it will deploy its solar panels and the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) will provide the Orion spacecraft with the necessary thrust to leave Earth’s orbit and continue its journey to the Moon.
About two hours after launch, Orion will also separate from the ICPS, which as a last action will release a series of small satellites, known as CubeSats, which will be subject to other technological tests not necessarily connected to the Artemis program.
At this point the Orion spacecraft will proceed sent to the Moon and the main propulsion and power system of the spacecraft will be provided by a service module provided by ESA (European Space Agency), the same that will allow future astronauts to have oxygen. breathable and drinking water. Orion will pass through the Van Allen belt, fly over the constellation of satellites of the Global Positioning System (GPS) and subsequently those of communication positioned in Earth orbit. To maintain dialogue with Mission Control in Houston, Orion will go through NASA’s monitoring and data transmission system and communicate through the Deep Space Network.
During the journey to the Moon, which will last several days, the opportunity will be taken to evaluate the goodness and correct functioning of all the systems of the spacecraft and, if necessary, corrections will also be made to the trajectory. The duration of the mission will be approximately 10 days longer than expected in normal conditions and has been calculated in 42 days, during which the spacecraft will be literally stressed to be put to the final test. Orion will also carry a “Moonikin” mannequin and humanoid torsos covered with sensors to measure the effects of space vibrations and radiation on the human body.
Once in the vicinity of the natural satellite, Orion will approach up to about 100 km above the surface of the Moon, then it will use the gravitational slingshot to reach a retrograde orbit about 70,000 km from the moon. The spacecraft will remain in that orbit for about six days to collect data and allow mission controllers to evaluate the spacecraft’s performance.
For its return trip to Earth, Orion will carry out another close flyby that will bring the spacecraft back within about 100 km of the Moon’s surface, and then use another precisely synchronized ignition engine from the service module supplied by Europe along with the gravity of the Moon to accelerate back to Earth.
Thus will begin the return journey of a few days on a trajectory that in the final stages of the journey will make the Orion splash at about 11 km per second when the atmospheric entry occurs, producing temperatures of about 2,760 degrees Celsius.
The mission will conclude with the final re-entry resistance test and precision splashdown off the coast of Baja, California, where the spacecraft recovery ship will be presented. After the splashdown Orion will remain powered for a period of time as divers from the United States Navy and NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems operations teams approach in small boats. Divers will briefly inspect the spacecraft for hazards and connect the tow lines, then the engineers will drag the capsule onto the deck of the salvage vessel to finally bring it home.
Recall once again that NASA has currently planned three possibilities to launch Artemis I in its current flight window, which opens on August 29 as indicated at the beginning of the article. We present the list of backup days with assumed times, reminding you that NASA should outline its launch strategy by the end of the week by Saturday 27 August after a launch preparation review meeting.
- 29 August: the launch window will open at 2.33pm. The mission will last 42 days and the Orion spacecraft will crash into the ocean on 10 October.
- September 2: the launch window will open at 18.38. The mission will last 39 days and the Orion spacecraft will crash into the ocean on 11 October.
- 5th September: the launch window will open at 11.12pm. The mission will last 42 days and the Orion spacecraft will crash into the ocean on October 17th.
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