{"id":11153,"date":"2022-12-01T21:42:06","date_gmt":"2022-12-01T13:42:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/orion-capsule-leaves-lunar-orbit-heads-for-moon-flyby-and-return-to-earth\/"},"modified":"2022-12-01T21:42:06","modified_gmt":"2022-12-01T13:42:06","slug":"orion-capsule-leaves-lunar-orbit-heads-for-moon-flyby-and-return-to-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/orion-capsule-leaves-lunar-orbit-heads-for-moon-flyby-and-return-to-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"Orion capsule leaves lunar orbit, heads for moon flyby and return to Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
A camera on one of the Orion spacecraft\u2019s solar arrays captured this view Nov. 30 of the Orbital Maneuvering System engine, a leftover from the space shuttle program. Earth is visible in the distance more than a quarter-million miles away. Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Continuing a \u201cdrama-free\u201d test flight, NASA\u2019s unpiloted Orion spacecraft is set to fire its main engine Thursday to leave a distant orbit around the moon, heading for a flyby close to the lunar surface next week to swing onto a trajectory bringing it back to Earth for splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Dec. 11.<\/p>\n

The burn with the Orion spacecraft\u2019s orbital maneuvering system engine occurred at 4:53 p.m. EST (2153 GMT). The 6,000-pound-thrust, hydrazine-fueled engine fired for 1 minute and 45 seconds, enough to nudge the spacecraft out of its distant retrograde orbit around the moon, where it\u2019s been flying since Nov. 25. The maneuver was expected to change Orion\u2019s velocity by roughly 310 mph (454 feet per second; 498 kilometers per hour).<\/p>\n

The orbit departure burn was the fourth of five main engine firings the Orion spacecraft will execute on on NASA\u2019s Artemis 1 mission, a test flight of the agency\u2019s new deep space capsule and heavy-lift rocket before astronauts strap in for a trip around the moon on Artemis 2, scheduled for late 2024. NASA plans to land astronauts on the moon beginning with Artemis 3, debuting a commercial moon lander derived from SpaceX\u2019s Starship rocket program.<\/p>\n

With only a few unexpected events, or \u201cfunnies,\u201d so far in the mission, managers have added 11 bonus flight test objectives to further wring out the Orion spacecraft before astronauts fly it in two years. These are on top of the 124 test objectives NASA engineers identified going into the mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cRather than having to work anomalies we\u2019re able to push the boundaries,\u201d said Zeb Scoville, NASA\u2019s deputy chief flight director at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.<\/p>\n

The additional tests involve longer-duration firings of the auxiliary engines on the Orion spacecraft\u2019s service module, supplied by the European Space Agency and Airbus. The spacecraft completed a 95-second firing of the auxiliary engines Wednesday, far exceeding the 17-second duration of the mission\u2019s previous longest burn of the smaller thrusters that surround the main engine.<\/p>\n

Chris Edelen, deputy manager for NASA\u2019s Orion integration office, said one of the goals of the longer-duration thruster firing was to verify thermal models and observe how the plume and heat from the thruster exhaust affects the four solar array wings on the service module.<\/p>\n

The Orion spacecraft is designed to normally fly with its tail pointed toward the sun. That\u2019s the best orientation, or attitude, to keep the spacecraft thermally balanced and maximize power generation from its solar arrays. The spacecraft can veer as far 20 degrees from its tail-to-sun attitude, but for Artemis 1, mission managers planned more conservative limits to keep it within a 2-by-4 degree box.<\/p>\n

Edelen said mission controllers in Houston commanded the Orion spacecraft to change its attitude to different parts of the broader 20-degree box to measure changes in the temperatures of various components on the vehicle.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably not the most glamorous part of spaceflight, but heaters and analyzing your thermal performance of your spacecraft is very important because, as you can imagine, you don\u2019t want any valves to seize up in the cold of space, or have propellant lines or water lines freeze and potentially burst,\u201d Edelen said. \u201cSo it\u2019s very important that we get good data on the thermal environment in these different attitudes, or orientations, of the spacecraft.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the spacecraft doesn\u2019t need to power on heaters, engineers could redirect some electricity to support other mission functions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe heaters tend to be big power hogs,\u201d Edelen said. \u201cThey are one of the biggest impacts to our power usage. So by flying different attitudes, we\u2019re better able to analyze what our power usage is, and hopefully free up some power for future missions.\u201d<\/p>\n