Lockheed Martin has completed the first operation of an Orion capsule for the Artemis 2 mission – the first Orion capsule to be commissioned to carry humans.
As work continues on that capsule, Lockheed Martin – the main contractor for the Orion spacecraft – has provided updates to the other three capsules, and three European service units, currently in various stages of their respective flows for Artemis 1, 2 and 3 missions.
Orion Boost Artemis 2
The significant achievement of all spacecraft is the first power supply – a milestone Orion capsule for Artemis 2 Achieved in the week of May 23rd.
“We just got it working for the first time, and it’s a huge achievement for us because we’ve been working on it now for several years,” said Jules Schneider, director of Orion Assembly, Testing, and Launch Operations at Lockheed Martin. A position responsible for overseeing the assembly and testing of the spacecraft up to the point at which it is delivered to NASA.
Schneider himself has been with the Orion program since its inception and was part of the team that drafted the initial proposal for the spacecraft when it was part of the now-cancelled Constellation program.
An Artemis II Orion missile inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building. (credit: NASA)
“We finally got enough avionics, electronics, all the wiring and everything else needed on the plane and integrated so we could get it up and running for the first time, load the flight software, etc.” Schneider related.
Certain functional checks on the nascent state of the capsule are currently being performed, with Schneider noting that there is still a significant amount of assembly and integration work for this capsule even though it is far in the overall construction lifecycle.
“European service modele is integrated into the Crew Module Adapter, which is part of the Service Module [Lockheed Martin] Builds and tests,” Schneider noted. “This is all perfectly integrated. So if you’re going out to the store floor, you’ll see a service unit that’s almost completely assembled and still has some work to do and some unit level testing.”
He continued, “The stage we’re at now for Artemis 2 is that we’re getting into a more central testing phase versus the assembly or build phase. We still have some environmental testing to do, we have a thermal cycle.” [tests] At unit levels for both the crew unit and the service unit. We have live field acoustics that need to be done at the unit level for both the crew unit and the service unit.”
Then, the next step will be to test the vacuum on the Orion integrated array (which includes the service module) before handing the system over to NASA for stacking and flight. Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.
The launch abortive system detaches from the Orion capsule during Asmi’s ascent into orbit. After detaching the Solid Rocket Booster, Orion’s European Service Module engines have enough power to safely propel Orion away from the primary SLS stage or the temporary cooled thrust stage. (credit: Mac Crawford for NSF)
This delivery to NASA is currently targeted for the fourth quarter of 2023.
Orion for Artemis 1
Meanwhile, Artemis 1’s older brother Orion has so far passed his part of the expedition’s wet clothes rehearsal with flying colors.
Schneider noted, “My understanding is that the Orion for Artemis 1 performed very well during the ground-handling test and wet-clothes rehearsal test.” “And we support all of that because Orion is up and running while all the systems are being monitored. Orion has been doing really well.”
after, after Lockheed Martin Artemis 1 Orion delivered to NASAthe US space agency moved the assembly to a hazardous processing facility where it was refueled for the mission and its inert launch thwart system was installed.
The completed Orion stack was then moved to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and hoisted over the SLS at High Bay 3 of the building. Its stacking marked the first time a complete SLS missile had been assembled and tested as a fully integrated system.
France???????? and # Orion: Our software engineers are the people behind the brain of NASA’s return to the moon spacecraft???? ESM’s translates 1000’s of inputs into alerts, executing commands and reports back so you can process, analyze, and respond on the flight. ????https://t.co/GN1xur04Zx# Artemispic.twitter.com/MXl6fNny8F
Schneider noted: “In Artemis 1, we do not manage everything but part of the ECLSS subsystems.” “The subsystems that are involved in keeping humans alive or communicating with humans, are not flown aboard the Artemis 1, so you won’t get any data back until the Artemis 2 flies.”
“So even Artemis 2 will be a development journey because this is the first time that a fully equipped Orion spacecraft has flown.”
Along the same lines, Orion’s Launch Abort System (LAS), built by Northrop Grumman, is inert for Artemis 1. Since there is no crew for the mission, and since only some Artemis 1 Orion avionics assemblies and seats are planned to be reused (with total vehicle re-flight not planned), there is no compelling need to perform an active abort of the system on the first flight as Orion recovery is in A launch failure will not – in practice – speed up the timetable for return to flight.
Therefore, the LAS will be inactive for Artemis 1 but fully active for Artemis 2 and later.
To this, Schneider noted, “We have already tested the launch abort system, both from Point of View Foil Pad The viewpoint of abortion ascension. So we’ve already verified, if you will, that the Launch Abort system is working.”
All basic structure assemblies are complete in this capsule as well as proof tests on its structure.
Teams are currently installing hundreds of brackets and various secondary structure elements that will hold cables, avionics boxes, systems, etc. These are known as secondary structures.
“That’s the point we’re at right now,” Schneider noted. “And after that’s completed this summer, we’ll go to the cleanroom and start integrating the propulsion and ECLSS systems.”
The main body of the Artemis 3 Service Module 3 arrives at the Airbus integration hall in Bremen, Germany for commissioning after its initial structural construction in Turin, Italy. (credit: ESA)
“We’ll be in the cleanroom for months doing that. And then, when we get out, we start doing the electrical integration. Same lifecycle as Artemis 2, but Artemis 3, I say, we’re still in the early stages of it.”
The crew module adapter for this flight is also well underway.
“We’re building it from the ground up. It’s a mechanically composite structure,” Schneider added. “And that’s what we’re working on now, the structural part of it.”
“And it has a similar life cycle to the new unit in that once we do the structural integration, we do the propulsion system and ECLSS integration and then we move on to the electrical integration. So it’s not as complicated as the crew model.”
Work is being done on the Crew Module adapter in parallel with the construction of the European Service Module for this flight. ESM-3 is currently in Bremen, Germany, where it is undergoing construction and propulsion prior to shipment to the Kennedy Space Center next year.
“Once we have the ESU, we will merge the two.”
An overview of the structure and function of the European Service Unit. (credit: ESA)
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
