Astrum Space - Artemis 1's Attempt to Reclaim The Moon Blew Us Away

Episode Date: March 19, 2024

Join with me today as we look at the recent successful splashdown of the first crew-able spacecraft to travel to the Moon and back in nearly 50 years. This mission will open the doorway to distant planets. What did it do over the course of its nearly 26-day journey? The answer to that gains us a fascinating insight into how close we are to having a human on the moon once more.

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Terms apply. Humanity has always loved new frontiers. In the 16th century, when Christopher Columbus first sailed to America, thousands of Europeans embarked on a perilous six-month voyage across dangerous oceans to follow him. When they arrived, they knew that there would be none of the trappings of European civilization waiting for them. They would have to farm, build shelters, and work hard just to survive. Many didn't make it, either dying in the crossing or in the years after arrival.

But it didn't stop more from coming. It couldn't. The call of the new frontier was too strong. Fast forward to the 21st century and before us lies a new frontier, space. Despite its beauty, it is the most hostile environment imaginable. Space will burn you to death. It will freeze you. Its radiation will kill you. The changing gravity will crush you or waste you away. Not even breathable air can be taken for granted. Yet, this frontier is calling to us. Perhaps it highlights something within human nature that we would strive to go to such a desolate place.

Maybe we relish the challenge. There is something that speaks to certain souls about going somewhere hostile and deadly and building something warm and safe there. Or maybe it's curiosity. There is so much to learn about the universe around us, And while looking at photographs and measuring conditions through instruments is interesting, there is nothing quite like experiencing a place, a phenomenon, a wonder of the universe firsthand.

Plus, being physically present opens up whole new avenues of science. And so, humanity's sights are set on the other planets in the solar system. Mars might have humans walking on it as early as 2033. But it begins with the moon. The Artemis mission intends to get humans back to the moon by 2024. Through doing so, it will develop new technology and explore technical frontiers currently uncharted. The technical expertise gained from this enterprise will enable scientists to create spaceships capable of carrying human life to the wider solar system.

It begins with the moon and with Orion 1. I'm Alex McColgan and you're listening to the Astrum podcast. Join with me today after the recent successful splashdown of the first cruable spacecraft to travel to the moon and back in nearly 50 years. This mission will open the doorway to distant planets. So what did it do over the course of its nearly 26-day journey? The answer to that gains us a fascinating insight into how close we are to having a human on the moon once more.

Orion won's journey to the moon and back started at Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The atmosphere there was tense but excited. This was an important mission. It had been nearly 50 years since the conclusion of the last space race, but just like that previous one, America is not the only one trying to get to the moon's surface. The Chinese National Space Administration landed a rover on the far side of the moon in 2019, And they have recently developed a rocket, the long March 9, that could potentially carry

a human to the moon in the 2030s. NASA is nothing if not competitive. They hope to be the first ones back up there. For that to happen, Orion 1's mission would need to go well. The journey was planned to be a complex retrograde orbit, meaning traveling in the opposite direction to the moon's orbit of the Earth, swinging around the moon three times, two of them close flybys. But this was no mere attempt at threading the celestial needle. More than flying accurately, Orion 1 would be testing out the various onboard systems needed to support human life

on such a journey. Many pieces had to be working perfectly. A single failure could be fatal for anyone on board. Of course, Orion 1 was not carrying human passengers for this trip. That would be for the later Artemis 2 mission. That said, there were passengers of a different sort. Introducing Commander Munakin Campos. Munichin Campos is a mannequin dummy filled with radiation sensors designed to record the levels of cosmic exposure astronauts might experience inside Orion One's crew module. The name is a reference to Arturo Campos, an electrical engineer who helped save the Apollo 13 mission by designing a fix after its oxygen tank ignited, which is a nice nod. I do love the name Munakin, though.

Moonakin was accompanied by two other mannequins built for a similar purpose, but for different body types and genders. As female astronauts are going to be heading into space as part of later Artemis missions, it's important to see how space travel affects them specifically. The clothes these mannequins wear, and Orion itself, will need to protect the manneins from cosmic radiation. Most agencies say 50 millic-everts is the maximum safe amount of radiation a person can be exposed to in a year. On the moon, levels can get as high as 380 milliseconds. If NASA cannot get these exposure levels down to more manageable levels, he'll pose serious health risks for any future astronauts. Orion 1 launched. This was the maiden voyage for both it

and the rocket carrying it. The super heavy lift space launch vehicle rocket is NASA's tallest and most powerful rocket to date, and currently the most powerful in the world, providing 3.8 million kilograms of thrust at launch and capable of lifting nearly 70,000 kilograms and sending it on its way to the moon, useful for carrying Orion 1, along with 10 cube satellites that NASA would be using to monitor space conditions for future missions. Although it was initially delayed, Orion finally fired up through and out of the atmosphere before detaching from its other stages and beginning its journey. And as a personal side note, I have never seen a rocket launch like this one. The power you can see through the video is simply incredible. I've seen a lot of rocket

launches in my time, but this one was jaw-dropping. The first phase of the flight had begun. It would take four days to get to the moon, but NASA had to no intention of wasting the time. Immediately, on the very first day of space travel, they started to test. And surprisingly, this meant it was time to activate Alexa. Yes, that Alexa. Alexa made it on board as part of a collaboration with companies Amazon, Cisco, and Lockheed Martin, as part of Orion One's Clisto payload. This payload is a suite of video conferencing and voice command technology paid for by the company. as an attempt to prove how useful such software could be as part of NASA's initiatives.

Technicians on Earth were able to call Orion One and speak to Alexa, getting her to access information on telemetry and flight status. It's an intriguing use of the technology being showcased. One day, just like in sci-fi, perhaps all of spaceship control will be voice-activated. On the third day of Orion One's journey, once some course adjustments had been made and it was well on its way towards the moon, Orion One performed a visual examination of itself. There was always the risk of micrometeas hitting Orion One's surface, and taking these photos would allow NASA to confirm the extent of the damages caused by this potential cosmic threat.

It was a reminder of one of the potential dangers Orion 1 would face. Fortunately, while results are still being analyzed, it seems that micrometeer impact damage was minimal on this trip. In those first days of travel, Orion 1 took images of the planet Earth, shrinking the further from it the spacecraft traveled. It also started looking ahead. This first lunar flyby was an important one.

Orion 1 would be traveling over sites visited by its predecessors, such as Tranquility Base, where Apollo 11 landed, or the sites of Apollo 12 and Apollo 14. Traveling close to the lunar surface would be a good dry run, excellent practice for any future missions where they need to drop off cargo or personnel. However, it also demonstrated one of the most important, repeatedly tested aspects of Orion 1's flight, its autonomy. For 15 minutes, the moon's mass would block out communication with Earth.

NASA is deeply concerned with astronaut safety. As such, they have worked hard on developing backup systems into Orion 1 for what would happen if ever Orion 1 lost contact with Earth and had to navigate on its own. You can't just access Google Maps when you're traveling 8,210 kilometers an hour, over 370,000 kilometers from Earth, although they did test GPS connectivity while they were on this mission just in case. Like sailors traveling across the seas in ancient times, Orion 1 would need a compass to help it find its way. This method for doing this was actually very like those sailors. Orion 1 can navigate by using

the stars. The spacecraft comes equipped with an optical navigation camera designed to be able to use the position of the stars to track its position, orientation, and motion in space at any time by comparing what it sees with onboard digital star maps. At numerous points on this journey, scientists tested systems related to making sure this capability worked and wouldn't be jeopardized. by anything space had to throw at it, such as the warping effects of solar heat. Fortunately, these systems all worked perfectly. Orion 1 was able to maintain a sense of its position and kept going in the correct direction. After passing through this zone of radio silence, Orion 1 was able to pass back around the other side of the moon and easily re-establish contact.

And while doing so, it was able to record an incredible sight, an inverse to what was see here on Earth, an Earth rise. Then it was time for more tests, including one of my favorites, the sloshing test. Fluid mechanics are complicated. Being able to predict how liquids like engine fuel will move under acceleration requires advanced computer models even on Earth. But once you add to that the complexity of variable gravity levels, it almost becomes easier simply to go up to space and see.

NASA was keenly interested in how much and in what ways the fuel on board Orion 1 would move under thrust, otherwise known as sloshing. This would provide valuable data that could be used to predict how much Orion 1's thrusters might be needed to perform various space maneuvers. Over the course of the next two weeks, Orion 1 performed its delicate lunar orbits.

During these complicated maneuvers, Orion 1's thrusters were ten. tested intensely. It takes mathematical precision to dance along the line between crashing into the surface of the moon and flying off into space. Without thrusters that performed exactly as needed, when needed, Orion 1 would not have enough fuel to complete its trip, even with the extra supplies it carried. As it happened, Orion 1 performed more efficiently than expected.

Its thruster burns were exactly what NASA had hoped. was able to do its second lunar flyby, passing as close as 130 kilometers from the moon's surface. While many things went well, there were difficulties too. On day eight, for reasons that remain unclear, Orion 1 dropped out of communications with Earth for 47 minutes. On top of that, on day 19, Howard temporarily dropped out to the ship's heaters and propulsion subsystems. Fortunately, NASA were able to get these systems up and running again. The second stage of its journey was complete. The final stage, reentry, was all that remained.

Could Orion survive reentering Earth's atmosphere? To make the process easier, Orion would only attempt to get its crew module home. This detached itself from the rest of Orion and dropped towards the planet. To ease its way into the atmosphere, Orion's crew module performed a skipping movement. maneuver, similar to the way you might skim rocks across a body of water. This dip and bounce technique slowed its speed, allowing it to try to land at its desired location with greater precision. Still, temperatures got so hot during re-entry that the friction turned the air around Orion

1 into plasma. Orion 1 dropped out of radio contact temporarily. NASA had expected this, but they still had to wait with bated breath as Orion's autonomous systems worked to stabilize its entry, and as its new heat-resistant exterior plating tried to protect its residents within. At 2,900 meters above sea level, traveling at over 200 kilometers per hour, Orion's parachutes began to deploy. First, three smaller ones, to remove the bay doors.

Next, two drogue parachutes intended to begin slowing Orion's arrival, and a minute later, the main parachute. Together, these parachutes slowed Orion One's entry to the point where a human on board could survive it. On the 11th of December, Orion One splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. Activating a wide array of signal beacons, it called for someone to pick it up. It was the USS Portland that came to collect it. Scientists waited for a couple of hours while the outer casing cooled.

This also allowed them to perform even more tests. This time, the tests were on how the salt water of the sea affected various Orion-1 systems, and evaluation on how it had done at resisting the heat of re-entry. Analysis of that is still underway, but the initial results look positive. The passengers within were not cooked by the 2,800 degrees Celsius re-entry temperatures. We are also waiting on NASA for data from the radiation sensors on the mannequins themselves. But they had done it. They had run their race.

The data that Artemis 1 mission had generated would be instrumental in allowing NASA astronauts to stand on the surfaces of worlds other than our own again. Humanity's quest to reach ever further frontiers continues. For Orion 1, its part in this ever-developing journey was complete.