Review of the article "NASA studying practice rendezvous options for Artemis 2 Orion"
From the NSF portal by Philip Sloss, June 5, 2020.
About what? The ambitious program of Artemis, NASA’s US space agency, came close to real work and concrete flight plans. In 2019, President Trump set an ambitious and concrete goal - “by the end of the 24th year, the first American woman and another man should land on the moon.” Already, more than one head of NASA manned space flights has changed, and the program itself has undergone major changes, both in goals and in the flight program.
Additions and changes to the flight program (highlighted in green). Courtesy: NASA. My translation.
Briefly:
1. NASA is optimizing the Artemis program in order to achieve the set goal, keep within the program budget, maintain a tight schedule of operations and flights. At the same time, minimizing technical and organizational risks. The Gateway lunar station (for the first flights) has already been abandoned, the program for selecting and researching landing sites has been minimized.
2. The program has not changed structurally - there are three missions left.
Artemis-1 unmanned (first) flight of the Orion lunar spacecraft around the Moon and the first launch of the American SLS superthrust. Landmark - the end of 2021.
Artemis-2 first crewed flight (4 astronauts) around the Moon. Checking the spacecraft in a manned version. Landmark - 2023.
Artemis-3 flight with the landing of two astronauts to the moon. The landmark is the end of 2024.
3. Nothing has been changed in the Artemis-1 flight program. The ship is almost ready and can not be altered.
4. It is proposed to make changes to the flight program of Artemis-2. To work out in a manned version of the approach and docking operations. Previously planned in flight Artemis-3.
5. Real docking with something will no longer be possible. The test will use the upper stage SLS - ICPS. Working out the stages of the approach, imitation of docking.
6. Artemis-2 will add software and hardware for search, rendezvous and docking operations. A full-fledged docking station cannot be installed.
Illustrations and diagrams from Douglas Loverro's presentation:
Options Evaluation Table. Courtesy: NASA.
Far, middle and near zones of rendezvous and docking. Credit: NASA My translation.
Orion with upper stage ICPS in low Earth orbit. Credit: McCrawford for the NSF.
Simulated docking with the ICPS upper stage. Credit: McCrawford for the NSF.
Three-turn flight to the Moon. Credit: NASA
- Articles on the NSF portal "NASA studying practice rendezvous options for Artemis 2 Orion" .
- In Russian (carefully google translation).
One of the latest concepts of the "Artemis" program - "To Mars through the Moon"