NASA's Orion heat shield, which lost large chunks during a 2022 test flight, performed significantly better on the Artemis II mission with only about nine char loss sites compared to over 100 after Artemis I. The improvement confirmed by NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel gives the agency confidence for future lunar missions under the Artemis program.
Background
NASA's Artemis program aims to return humans to the Moon, with Orion's ablative heat shield being a critical component for crew safety during atmospheric reentry from deep space.
- Source
- Ars Technica
- Published
- Sep 1, 2026 at 10:46 PM
- Score
- 7.0 / 10