At a highly-anticipated meeting, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson unexpectedly postponed the dates of the agency's first two manned missions to the moon since the Apollo program. NASA"Artemis"The first successful launch is planned for 2022"Artemis"2 was originally scheduled to make a manned flight around the moon this year.
A small-scale model of SpaceX's Starship Human Landing System (HLS) lunar lander, which astronauts will test in December 2023. **SpaceX SpaceX
Artemis 3 is scheduled to lift off in a year to work in tandem with SpaceX's Starship rocket. Now, NASA has delayed both Artemis 2 and 3 by a year. However, the launch of the Artemis 4 mission will not be earlier than September 2028, and the NASA administrator explained that the postponement of the launch is to allow the mission team to commit to achieving safety goals.
In addition to Director Nelson, other NASAs present at the meeting also shared details of the progress of the Artemis project. According to NASA's Amit Kshatriya, the main reason for the postponement of the Artemis 2 mission from 2024 to 2025 is security concerns. Some of the design issues NASA found on the Orion spacecraft valves, as well as the unexpected behavior of the heat shield, caused the agency to reconsider the launch schedule for Artemis 2 and Artemis 3.
NASA Administrator Jim Freery added that 2024 will be a year of testing and development for NASA as it works on new spacesuits, SpaceX's Starship rocket testing and other areas that require continued risk reduction, particularly in terms of hardware availability and understanding.
As for SpaceX, its Starship rocket is integral to the timely completion of the Artemis program. The company's Jessica Jensen said at the conference that depending on the success of flight tests, the number of Starship launches needed to build a propellant depot could be reduced to less than ten. In-orbit refueling is an important aspect of SpaceX's Starship architecture and a key technology demonstration requirement for the Artemis program.
Starship simulations shared by SpaceX in April 2023 showed the second stage and tankers refueling in Earth orbit. SpaceX, Inc.
When asked about SpaceX's Starship milestone, she shared that SpaceX hopes to test propellant transfer this year and expand the test next year. The SpaceX executive added that before the Artemis 3 mission, SpaceX will also try to land Starship on the moon and test the ability to ascend as part of an unmanned lunar mission.
SpaceX made a second attempt a few months after the first attempt"Starship"The test flight has drawn a successful end to 2023. For the third test flight, the schedule was also shortened, as initially expected. Jensen outlined that SpaceX plans to prepare for Starship's third test flight by the end of this month and complete work with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in February to obtain a launch permit.
SpaceX has already conducted static ignition of the spacecraft and booster, and the third test will not seek to demonstrate the transfer of fuel in orbit. However, according to her, SpaceX may test the propellant transfer between the Starship top cover and the main fuel tank as part of the in-orbit cryogenic propellant transfer test.
A representative of SpaceX said at the end of the call that SpaceX"Yes"propellant transfer capability and a willingness to test as much as possible to achieve this. She added that SpaceX has been investing in its production facilities that will help it develop its capabilities for continuous flight testing without being constrained by hardware or inventory.
As for"Orion"In the heat shield accident, only a small area was affected by the heat shield material that had fallen off from the ship. A representative of Lockheed explained in ** that the company did not know the cause of the anomaly, and that there was still a margin in the unaffected heat shield, which was enough to ensure that all crew members on board were safe and sound.
Although"artemis"The mission was postponed, but Director Nelson remained confident, and he also mentioned that China would not surpass the United States in the progress of human landing on the moon this century.