{"id":21572,"date":"2024-11-01T22:31:29","date_gmt":"2024-11-01T14:31:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/orions-heat-shield-issue-is-a-public-mystery-but-nasa-at-least-knows\/"},"modified":"2024-11-01T22:31:29","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T14:31:29","slug":"orions-heat-shield-issue-is-a-public-mystery-but-nasa-at-least-knows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/orions-heat-shield-issue-is-a-public-mystery-but-nasa-at-least-knows\/","title":{"rendered":"Orion\u2019s heat shield issue is a public mystery, but NASA at least knows"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"img-border featured-image\">\n<p>\t<img width=\"100%\" src=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/03\/7R2A0281-2.jpg?quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1200\" class=\"skip-lazy wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/03\/7R2A0281-2.jpg?w=320&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/03\/7R2A0281-2.jpg?w=640&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/03\/7R2A0281-2.jpg?w=1024&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/03\/7R2A0281-2.jpg?w=1500&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 1500w\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" data-attachment-id=\"34664\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/2023\/03\/13\/artemis-2-crew-selection\/7r2a0281-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/03\/7R2A0281-2.jpg?quality=82&amp;strip=all\" data-orig-size=\"1200,800\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-title=\"Artemis 1 orion on pad\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\n\n<p>Image: Seth Kurkowski \/ Space Explored<\/p>\n<p>&#8221; data-large-file=&#8221;https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2023\/03\/7R2A0281-2.jpg?quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024&#8243;><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\tImage: Seth Kurkowski \/ Space Explored\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NASA shared that it has finished an analysis on the cause of more than expected erosion on the Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft\u2019s heat shield from two years ago. However, the agency hasn\u2019t yet shared any details with the public as to what might have caused the issue.<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"more-41686\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the most important parts of a successful Artemis 2 mission, Orion\u2019s heat shield, has been under the microscope since it first flew around the Moon back in 2022. What felt like a decade ago already, the Artemis 1 mission felt like a turning point for the Artemis program as a whole, but the program is still stuck in cost-plus contract delays.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The heat shield erosion problem was a rather big shock when it was announced after what was viewed as an overall successful uncrewed test flight. Many believed that Artemis 2 was right around the corner, and with SpaceX\u2019s Starship rocket beginning test flight campaigns, a lander for Artemis 3 would be ready in no time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe have conclusive determination of what the root cause of the issue is,\u201d Lori Glaze, acting deputy associate administrator in NASA\u2019s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, said. \u201cWe have been able to demonstrate and reproduce it in the arc jet facilities at Ames.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t<span class=\"outbrain-ad-label\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t<script type=\"text\/plain\">\n\t\t\twindow.adSlotsConfig = window.adSlotsConfig || [];<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tadSlotsConfig.push( {\n\t\t\t\tslotID: '\/1049447\/Outbrain',\n\t\t\t\tslotName: 'div-gpt-ad-outbrain-ad-41686',\n\t\t\t\tsizes: [300, 250],\n\t\t\t\tslotPosition: 'mid_article'\n\t\t\t} );\n\t\t<\/script><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This comes after nearly two years of investigating a part of the spacecraft no one saw coming as a problem. Orion, built by Lockheed Martin, was the star of the SLS program, contract-wise, as it seemed to be sitting around waiting for its ride, Boeing\u2018s Space Launch System, to get its act together.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For two years, it looks like things have flipped; parts for Artemis 2\u2019s SLS rocket have been sitting at Kennedy Space Center waiting to stack but can\u2019t due to Orion\u2019s issues.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In these last two years, GAO report after report has come out showing just how much of a mess the Artemis Program is under NASA\u2019s management. Between projects years behind schedule and billions over budget, each cost-plus contract part of Artemis is threatening to throw any chance of getting humans back to the Moon under the Artemis banner by 2030 away.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Elon Musk\u2019s shining city on a hill he calls Starship hasn\u2019t been doing too well either, but you can at least put the blame on the FAA\u2019s understaffed and underfunded space division for those delays. However, heavy slippage to the right of any major government program, especially a space program, should have been expected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21572"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21572\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}