Orion splashes back to Earth after 'historic mission'. What next?
Orion was a part of NASA's Artemis mission. Photo: dailyO
NASA finally welcomed its Orion spacecraft back on Sunday morning, December 11, in the Pacific Ocean west of Baja California. The 'record-breaking' journey for Orion comes to an end after it spent 25.5 days in some of the toughest settings, including withstanding a temperature of 2,800 degrees Celsius — about half the warmth of the sun's surface — as it entered the Earth's atmosphere.
We're back after a 1.4 million mile journey around the Moon. pic.twitter.com/f3e5Ov1M2E
— Orion Spacecraft (@NASA_Orion) December 11, 2022
Artemis and Orion: What you need to know about the mission
First let's see Orion. It consists of four main elements:
- A crew module to carry astronauts and cargo
- A European Service Module (ESM) to supply propulsion and electrical power
- A Launch Abort System (LAS) to propel Orion away from danger if a launch emergency happens
- A Spacecraft Adapter to attach Orion to the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for launch
It was designed by Lockheed Martin and the European Service Module (ESM) was manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space and was part of Artemis 1 program.
Now, Artemis 1, the mission which was finally launched on November 16 (after so many cancellations), marked the beginning of a new decade-awaited NASA Artemis series.
What is the Artemis series: Nasa's Apollo mission, which carried 12 members (all white though) made history as they walked on the moon, which started in 1961.
- NASA now plans to do the same, and even more through its Artemis series: these missions seek to reestablish a human presence on the Moon and demonstrate technologies and business approaches needed for future scientific studies, including the exploration of Mars.
What did Orion do?
According to NASA,
- Orion completed two lunar flybys throughout the mission, getting within 80 miles of the lunar surface.
- It went approximately 2,70,000 miles from Earth during the trip, more than 1,000 times further than the International Space Station orbits Earth, to purposefully stress systems before flying humans.
Now, coming back to Artemis 1, one of its objectives was to test the Orion spacecraft, especially its heat shield in preparation for subsequent Artemis missions, which was proven successful.
Orion now has been retrieved by NASA, after its splashdown to gather data that is crucial for future missions:
- This includes information on the condition of the vessel after its flight, like data from monitors that detect acceleration and vibration, as well as the performance of a special vest worn by a mannequin in the capsule to evaluate how to protect people from radiation while flying through space.
- Some capsule components should be suitable for reuse in the Artemis 2 mission, which is already in the design stages.
Future of Artemis mission:
Despite the fact that Orion's successful return to Earth has signalled the start of a new journey for men walking back on the moon, when can we see it happening still remains in the foreseeable future.