I think it's fair to say that everyone who paid attention to the heat shield problems Artemis 1 showed was a bit concerned about them going with the same exact heat shield. One of the YouTube channels I've watched enough to think subscribing wasn't too insane is Alpha Tech, and they posted a video this morning saying that no bad effects like even the excessive wear on the heat shield were seen. It seems I can embed it, so I will. If it goes invisible, here's the link to video itself.
While it's a bit wordy and probably could be a couple of minutes shorter, the trade off is he shows you videos of some major players so that you watch them yourself rather than take his word for it. There are video tracks in there that I've never seen and facts to go with them, so I don't think it's a waste of time to watch it.
He dives into the reasons for the first test's issue's, the root cause of the first test's shield blowing out chunks, and how altering the trajectory worked. The animations of how the two return trajectories compare are worth the watch.
For me, I'd have to say the only thing that would make me feel much more comfortable with NASA's fix would be More Pictures. Like the ones that showed Every Single Pit in Artemis I's shield. So we could see what a used but undamaged heat shield looks like.
Looking forward to the SpaceX and Blue heatshield technologies results for comparative purposes.
ReplyDeleteReally looking forward to a picture of Arty II's post-entry heat shield. Though I doubt Jared would snow us like previous administrators did over issues.
ReplyDeleteThe main takeaway is it worked.
This time.
Key words: THIS TIME. The last place I would be would be in any nasa spacecraft. As I tell people, I'm crazy, NOT STUPID. I cry for what NASA used to be and the incredible people that made that way, *Sigh... Woke is just too dangerous for some things...
DeleteLost my trust in NASA when it murdered the crew of Challenger. They knew the risk, they were warned of the risk and they launched anyway, management had to look good {SPIT}...
ReplyDeleteWell, NASA murdered Columbia. NASA knew the Shuttle was dead within hours or days of the launch. And they didn't tell the crew until late in the mission, which means the families had little time to process the intel before the end came.
DeleteSince Skylab, NASA Crewed hasn't shown itself to be very good or very moral.
I found parts of the narration of the video irritating. Too much drama. Most especially about the leaking helium fuel pressurization valves. It gives the impression this would rupture the tank catastrophically.
ReplyDeleteNope. Every pressure vessel earth bound or space based has a relief valve that is dumb as a rock, with a set pressure and capacity sufficient to prevent vessel rupture.
I've tested such devices in usages from red fuming nitric acid to high pressure natural gas.
These devices date back to the first safe steam boilers.
Lowell, I have the blog set up to not automatically post anything over 14 days old (my only option) without my approval and you're at day 18, so that's why the delay.
DeleteAs for your comment about "I found parts of the narration of the video irritating." So did I. I think that's the only thing I've ever used from that channel, and within a few days, I learned that it was too exaggerated and nobody familiar with the systems thought that helium leak was serious and something to be concerned with.
One of the issues with comments and reasons for keeping the two week limit that chances are that your second comment, the one addressed to regular commenter Beans, probably won't be seen. If it was two or three days, that would be much more likely. At over two weeks it's not as likely.
If you really want me to approve that second one, reply to this and I'll post it.
SiG