Flight Day 13: Orion Capsule Goes Farthest from Earth
The unmanned Orion probe of the Artemis 1 mission arrived at a place 432,210 km away from the Earth just following 3:00 pm (CST, US Central Standard Time) on November 28, the 13th day of the flight, and reached the maximum distance from Earth. This is a record regarding 35,000 km further from Earth than the distance recorded on the 11th day of the mission.
Day 13 is the midway point of a total mission day of 25.5, corresponding to day 6 of the retrograde orbit segment. Currently, the Orion probe is in a normal retrograde orbit over the moon at a distance of regarding a few thousand kilometers. The Orion probe continued to take images of the Earth and the Moon as it did on day 12 of the mission.
Artemis 1 Mission Orion orbiter © Artemis 1/NASA
NASA Director Bill Nelson explained that the Artemis 1 mission was a phenomenal success thanks to the spirit of ‘you can do the incredible’, completing its mission to create an event that would turn a page in history. did. Director Nelson said that he was surprised that the mission went so smoothly, but he emphasized that the mission was a test mission.
On November 28, 2022, on day 13 of the flight, the Orion probe reached maximum distance from Earth during its Artemis 1 mission. The Orion capsule is now traveling farther than any manned spacecraft in history. © Artemis 1/NASA
Engineers on the Artemis mission team had planned additional combustion to maintain orbit on the 13th day of flight, but the Orion capsule was already orbiting in a retrograde orbit and confirmed that additional combustion was not required. However, in case the Orion capsule is used in the Artemis 2 and 3 missions, it is planned to test the spacecraft’s thermal environment and propulsion system to reduce potential hazards.
As of day 13 of the flight, 37.5% of the tests planned for the Artemis 1 mission have already been completed or are on the way. Most of the remaining tests are planned for re-entry, during splashdown, and during recovery and recovery of the Orion capsule. For reference, the Orion capsule is scheduled to land on the Pacific coast of San Diego, at which time NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Exploration Ground Systems team and the US Navy are planning a successful recovery of the capsule.
Controllers reported that they had completed nine of 19 injection calibration tests and had successfully tested three types of engines for the Orion rover’s main engines, auxiliary thrusters and reaction control system thrusters. A total of regarding 2,500 kg of propellant was used for this, which is regarding 70 kg less than the estimated value before launch. There is still more than 900kg of propellant left, and regarding 50kg more than the estimated value before launch.
On mission day 13, on November 28, at 8:00 PM EST, the Orion capsule is 432,039 kilometers from Earth and 69,423 kilometers from the Moon, and is cruising at 2,702 kilometers per hour. Also, so far, Orion probes have sent more than 2,000 files back to Earth.
Flight Day 14: Ongoing Deep Space Mission Related Testing
On day 14 of the mission, the Orion capsule is still in a distant retrograde orbit. In addition, engineers on the Artimis team are continuing to test the reactive control thrusters that began on day 12 of the flight. Because retrograde orbits are very stable orbits that require very little fuel, relatively many tests are possible.
Testing of the Orion Star Trackers has also completed phase 6 of a total of 8 phases. The above stellar tracker helps the probe determine its heading, but it is also gathering data to develop navigation for future use. (Link to Related Articles)
On day 14 of the mission, the Artemis team planned a new flight test to gather additional information regarding the Orion rover’s thermal controls. While the Orion probe orbits with its tail pointing toward the sun for most of its mission (the solar panels point toward the sun to generate power), a new flight test intentionally tilts the Orion capsule’s tail up to 20 degrees away from the sun to generate power. will change the direction of collection.
This collects additional data, which will help engineers understand the range of thermal performance of instruments that will be mounted on the Artemis 2 mission. For reference, if the direction and angle are changed for more than 3 hours, it will take more than 10 hours to recover to normal power once more.
Mission Day 14 On November 29, at 4:00 PM EST, the Orion capsule is 424,866 km from the Earth and 69,423 km from the Moon and is cruising at 2,880 km/h.
Flight Day 15: Team Vote to Leave Distant Retrograde Orbit and Return to Earth
The Artemis 1 mission’s mission management team met together on the 15th day of the flight to review the overall status of the flight test and to vote on whether the Orion probe was ready to leave its distant retrograde orbit and return to Earth. The mission management team confirmed that there was no abnormality in the progress of the mission so far, and determined that the Orion probe was ready to return to Earth.
Therefore, on the 15th day of the mission, on November 30, at 3:53 PM (Central Standard Time), the next day, the Orion probe slowed down to prepare for leaving a retrograde orbit and performed an orbit correction. During combustion, the Orion capsule used 6 auxiliary thrusters of the European service module manufactured by the European Space Agency (ESA) for a total of 95 seconds, through which additional data were obtained on the thrusters for the probe’s solar panel wings. For reference, the previous maximum injection calibration time was only 17 seconds.
November 27, 2022 Moon view captured by Orion capsule’s solar panel tip camera on mission day 12 © Artemis 1/NASA
Artemis 1 mission chief Mike Sarafin said the team is continuing to collect flight test data and lower the risk of future crew flights being conducted, which will allow them to understand how the overall system is performing and at what leeway. He explained that he is getting information regarding whether there is a car and whether it can save fuel.
In addition, the Artemis team decided on four additional tests to test various things as the Orion capsule returned to Earth. First, when the pressure control device opens and closes the valve, the leak rate of the system is evaluated, and the attitude maneuver performance is evaluated as a preparation for the Artemis 2 mission. It also tests flight in 3-DOF mode, unlike the normally used 6-DOF mode.
A total of 2,576 kg of propellant was used for orbital maintenance on mission day 15, 92 kg less than expected prior to launch. Therefore, a total of regarding 908 kg of fuel remained than expected, which is regarding 44 kg more than expected before launch.
On mission day 15, November 30, at 4:00 PM EST, the Orion capsule is 407,291 km from Earth and 81,917 km from the Moon, and is cruising at 3,302 km/h.
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