Orion On Its Journey Back To Earth

Orion is on its way to home after successfully executing an engine burn on Monday.  NASA mission managers have stated that Orion has been performing “phenomenally” throughout its maiden voyage that will end on Sunday, 11 December 2022 when the spacecraft splashes down in a U.S. Navy training range off the coast of California.

Orion is the spacecraft of NASA’s Artemis mission. Artemis is the first step in the next era of human exploration. Together with commercial and international partners, NASA will establish a sustainable presence on the Moon to prepare for missions to Mars.

Orion exited the lunar sphere of gravitational influence Tuesday, 6 December 2022 at 11:59 am. It was traveling 244,000 miles from Earth and about 79,000 miles from the Moon, cruising at 500 miles per hour.  Now, earth’s gravity is the primary gravitational force acting on the spacecraft.

A portion of the far side of the moon looms large just beyond the Orion. The camera on spacecraft’s solar arrays has taken the beautiful images of moon surface.

Propellant Slosh

Flight controllers and engineers are continuously testing the spacecraft and its system in preparation for flights with humans aboard. Engineers conducted the second part of the propellant tank slosh development flight test, called propellant slosh. Propellant slosh (motion) in space is difficult to model on Earth because liquid propellant moves differently in tanks in space than on Earth due to the lack of gravity.

Also read: NASA next Mission after Artemis 1: Scientific Report

Flight parameters to watch

Orion is to travel at around 25,000 mph while reentering Earth’s atmosphere, testing the ablative heat shield by reaching temperatures up to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit which is approximately half the heat of the sun.  The heat shield is located at the bottom of the Spacecraft capsule. It is 16.5 feet in diameter and sheds intense heat away from the crew module as Orion returns to Earth.

NASA is to host a briefing on Friday, 9 December 2022 at 3:30am IST to preview spacecraft’s return scheduled for Sunday, 11 December 2022.  The topic of briefing “how the recovery teams are preparing for entry and splashdown”, will be live on NASA TV, the agency’s website, and the NASA app.