MADRID, 9 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
NASA has delayed almost a year, until September 2025, the Artemis II mission with astronauts to the orbit of the Moon, and leaves for 2026 the expected Artemis III mission that had been scheduled next year to take humans to the soil of the Moon. lunar south pole.
The decision – which maintains the Artemis IV mission, the first Gateway lunar station, for 2028 – “to carry out these missions safely”, after problems were detected in the Orion spacecraft.
Ensuring crew safety is the main driver of the Artemis II schedule changes. As the first crewed Artemis flight test aboard the Orion spacecraft, the mission will test critical environmental control and life support systems needed to support astronauts. “NASA testing to qualify components to keep the crew safe and ensure mission success has uncovered issues that require additional time to resolve. Teams are troubleshooting a battery issue and addressing challenges with a circuit component responsible for air ventilation and temperature control,” NASA said in a statement.
Separately, NASA’s investigation into the unexpected loss of pieces of carbon layer from the spacecraft’s heat shield during Artemis I is expected to conclude this spring. Teams have taken a methodical approach to understanding the issue, including extensive heat shield sampling, testing, and review of sensor and image data.
“The new schedule for Artemis III aligns with the updated schedule for Artemis II, ensures the agency can incorporate lessons learned from Artemis II into the next mission, and recognizes the development challenges experienced by NASA’s industrial partners,” according to the agency. As each crewed Artemis mission increases complexity and adds flight tests for new systems, the tight schedule will give suppliers developing new capabilities (SpaceX for the human landing system and Axiom Space for the spacesuits next generation) additional time for testing and any future improvements. of the mission.
In addition to the schedule updates for Artemis II and III, NASA is revising the schedule for the launch of the first integrated elements of Gateway, previously planned for October 2025, to provide additional development time and better align that launch with the mission. Artemis IV in 2028.
NASA also shared that it has asked the suppliers of the Artemis human landing system (SpaceX and Blue Origin) to begin applying the knowledge gained in the development of their systems as part of their existing contracts towards future variations to potentially deliver large payloads in later missions.
