SPACE The purpose of this mission was to prepare for the return of humans to the Moon in the coming years
The Orion spacecraft approaching Earth on Sunday, December 11, 2022; — /AP/SIPA
Game over. After passing Just over 25 days in space and around the Moon, NASA’s Orion spacecraft landed in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday, marking the end of the Artemis 1 test mission , the purpose of which was to prepare for the return of humans to the Moon in the coming years.
The landing took place off the Mexican island of Guadalupe. The capsule, which did not include an astronaut board for this test flight, entered the Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of 40,000 km/h, and had to endure an infernal heat of 2,800°C, that is to say half temperature of the Sun’s surface.
Two hours in the water
The main objective of the mission was to test the capsule’s heat shield, the largest ever built (5 m in diameter), under these conditions. The vessel was first braked in its vertiginous descent through the atmosphere, then through a series of no less than eleven parachutes, until reach a speed of about 30 km/h when it hits the water.
A United States Navy ship, the USS Portland, had been pre-positioned for recovery operations, which NASA has been training for years. Helicopters and inflatable boats have also been used. deployed. Orion must now be left alone. two hours in the water, much more than if astronauts were in the water. board, in order to collect data — in particular on the heat induced to inside the capsule.
Tens of billions of dollars invested
Then divers will attach cables to it in order to tow it to shore. inside the ship, the stern of which will be partly submerged. The water will then be pumped out, allowing the capsule to be slowly deposited on a support provided at the bottom. this effect.
The operations should take between four and six hours to complete. from the time of landing. The USS Portland will then head to San Diego, on the American West Coast, where the capsule will be disembarked. The success of this mission was crucial for NASA, which invested tens of billions of dollars in the American program to return to the Moon, Artemis. After bringing back humans on the lunar surface, its purpose is to prepare for a future trip to Mars.
The preparation of Artemis 2 and 3
Orion flew over the Moon at only some 130 kilometers from its surface, and has ventured up to more than 430,000 km from our planet, farther than any previously habitable spacecraft. Retrieving the capsule will yield much critical data for subsequent missions. First by detailing the state of the ship after its journey, but also by analyzing sensor recordings of accelerations and vibrations experienced during its journey. board, or even the performance of an anti-radiation jacket.
Some elements of the vessel must also be reused for the capsule of Artemis 2, scheduled for 2024. She will take a crew to the Moon, still without landing there. NASA should announce the names of the chosen astronauts very soon.
Artemis 3, officially scheduled for 2025, will land for the first time on the south pole of the Moon, where there is water in the form of ice. NASA’s goal is to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon, through a base at; its surface and a space station orbiting around it. Learn to living on the Moon must make it possible to test all the technologies necessary to a journey of several years to Mars — perhaps to Mars. the end of the 2030s.