All posts tagged: reentry

The Future of the Artemis Program Is Riding on Reentry

The Future of the Artemis Program Is Riding on Reentry

Published by skeptic

Specialists did not classify it as a catastrophic failure, but it was a clear sign that something was wrong and could put lives at risk. In response, NASA halted the program’s progress. Artemis II did not go forward until Orion went through a shield redesign, new materials testing, and a complete recalibration of the thermal models. The dream of returning to the moon was delayed for nearly two years. Space history is replete with moments when a problem during reentry forced entire missions to be halted or reconsidered. The case of Soyuz 1 in 1967 is one of the most remembered. The pioneering capsule orbited Earth, but its parachute system failed during reentry, and the spacecraft hit the ground at full speed. Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov died and the program was suspended for 18 months. For NASA, tragedy struck in 2003. A foam fragment hit the left wing of the shuttle Columbia during launch and damaged its heat shield. No one detected the flaw. Upon reentry, heat penetrated the structure and the spacecraft disintegrated. All seven …

Artemis II reentry and splashdown: Everything the astronauts will experience

Artemis II reentry and splashdown: Everything the astronauts will experience

Published by skeptic

Orion will slam into Earth’s atmosphere at more than 30 times the speed of sound, in what NASA expects to be the most demanding part of the Artemis II moon mission.  On landing day, Artemis II entry flight director Rick Henfling and his team in mission control will run the final leg home of the 10-day spaceflight. After wake‑up, controllers will brief the four astronauts — Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen — on weather at the splashdown zone, then clear them to secure loose gear and climb into their pressure suits.  A small final steering burn in space will aim the Orion spacecraft at a targeted patch of the Pacific Ocean, west of San Diego, California, where a Navy ship will be waiting Friday evening. On the ground, engineers will also arm backup flight software so the capsule can still guide itself through the atmosphere if its main computers fail. This home stretch carries extra tension following Artemis I, when pieces of Orion’s heat shield unexpectedly broke off during …

Artemis II Astronauts Prepare For Re-Entry, Splashdown

Artemis II Astronauts Prepare For Re-Entry, Splashdown

Published by Jenni Sidey

Authored by T.J.Muscaro via The Epoch Times, When Artemis II crew members wake up at 11:35 a.m. ET on April 9, they will begin their last full day in space and start preparing the cabin for their return home. NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency, continue to fall back to Earth on a free return trajectory aboard their Orion spacecraft, Integrity, targeting a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean at about 8:05 p.m. ET on April 10. Over the past eight days, those astronauts became the first people in more than 50 years to leave Earth’s orbit and cross the proverbial channel of deep space to fly around the moon. They ventured farther from Earth than any other human expedition in history. They saw areas and aspects of the lunar surface that no other humans had ever been able to see with their own eyes, and they became the first humans ever to observe a full solar eclipse from lunar space. They captured striking images of …

NASA Artemis II astronauts prepare to end moon mission in ‘fireball’ re-entry

NASA Artemis II astronauts prepare to end moon mission in ‘fireball’ re-entry

Published by Sam Flores

Four astronauts traveling back to Earth from the far side of the moon on ​NASA’s Artemis II mission spoke of their emotions as they wrapped up the unprecedented flight and prepared to re-enter the atmosphere in a “fireball”, during their first press conference from space on Wednesday. The Artemis II crew, flying in their Orion capsule since launching from Florida last week, are due to splash down off the Southern California coast on Friday evening after reaching the moon earlier this week. They cruised along ​a path that took ‌them past the shadowed, lunar far side to become the farthest-flying humans in history. Source link

Labour Should Pledge EU Reentry Says Sadiq Khan

Labour Should Pledge EU Reentry Says Sadiq Khan

Published by Sam Flores

Labour should include a pledge to rejoin the European Union in the party’s next general election manifesto, Sadiq Khan has declared. In comments which will be seen as a direct challenge to Keir Starmer, the London mayor said it was time for the party to “be bold” in its offer to voters. In an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Khan repeated his call for Britain to rejoin the EU customs union and single market in this parliament – a move already ruled out by the prime minister. But he said Labour should go even further by pledging to take the UK back into the EU if it wins the next election, which is expected in 2029. Khan said: “I’m quite clear. On the ballot paper of the next general election is a vote for Labour, a vote to rejoin the European Union, and we should be unequivocal about the benefits of the European Union because we’ve now seen the alternative. “We’ve now seen what happens when you’re outside the European Union: less investment in …

Atmospheric re-entry data for reducing risks of space debris

Atmospheric re-entry data for reducing risks of space debris

Published by skeptic

Scientific data on the atmospheric re-entry process of satellites is urgently needed to ensure a quick, safe, and sustainable demise at the end of their mission, reducing risks on the ground and in space. The European Space Agency (ESA) has now successfully manoeuvred its remaining two Cluster satellites to ensure that its atmospheric re-entry data can be recorded from a plane as they return to Earth orbit later this year. “Moving two satellites to meet a plane sounds extreme, but the unique re-entry data we’ll collect is worth orchestrating the challenging encounter over a remote stretch of ocean,” explained Beatriz Jilete, space debris systems engineer at ESA. Why atmospheric re-entry data is urgently needed Understanding how satellites fall through the atmosphere is crucial to helping build safer, more sustainable spacecraft and reduce the risk of falling debris from space. “With better data on exactly when and how they heat up, break up, and which materials survive, engineers can design satellites that burn up completely, so-called design-for-demise satellites,” said Stijn Lemmens, Draco project manager at ESA. …