Tech · 19 d ago
NASA confirms the Artemis II heat shield performed as expected
Artemis I
103 spots of char loss
Artemis II
9 spots of char loss
Engineers found only nine spots of char loss on the Artemis II heat shield, compared with 103 after Artemis I. A shorter re-entry path cut cracking and char loss by a factor of 10.
Orion's top speed on re-entry
39 times the speed of sound
Orion reached 39 times the speed of sound on its return from the Moon, with outside temperatures above 2,200°C. The four astronauts' cabin stayed at about 24°C.
The heat shield's material
Avcoat
The heat shield is made of 186 blocks of an ablative material called Avcoat. Engineers in Alabama have been extracting samples and taking X-ray scans since August.
What's next
Artemis III flies next year in low Earth orbit with Randy Bresnik, Frank Rubio, Andre Douglas and Luca Parmitano, to meet test landers from Blue Origin and SpaceX. Moon landings begin with Artemis IV in 2028.
