Updates Artemis II

Final moments of the flight
a2-sep.png
thanks for this snapshot, that actually surprises me!! Does anybody know what is this highly reflective material that the heat-shield is made of? Looks metallic, almost a mirror where we can see the handles of the ESM that grabs the capsule...
 
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thanks for this snapshot, that actually surprises me!! Does anybody know what is this highly reflective material that the heat-shield if made of? Looks metallic, almost a mirror where we can see the handles of the ESM that grabs the capsule...

They use AVCOAT. That is similar to Apollo, but a different, improved mixture. Its a composite of silica fibers embedded in epoxy. The main difference between Apollo and EFT-1 compared to Artemis 1 and 2 is, that in Apollo and EFT-1, the heatshield material was injected into a honeycomb matrix, while they switched to tiles of AVCOAT for later flights of Orion.

ASRC_AVCOAT.jpg
 
They use AVCOAT. That is similar to Apollo, but a different, improved mixture. Its a composite of silica fibers embedded in epoxy. The main difference between Apollo and EFT-1 compared to Artemis 1 and 2 is, that in Apollo and EFT-1, the heatshield material was injected into a honeycomb matrix, while they switched to tiles of AVCOAT for later flights of Orion.

ASRC_AVCOAT.jpg
On top of this, and the tiles on top side, there is some metalic tape, which is what makes it shiny.
 
More transparency in real-time (y)
I am hesitant to get ahead of a proper data review, but I understand the space community’s curiosity, especially when imagery can give the impression of a problem.

As you would expect, engineers were eager to inspect the heat shield, starting with diver imagery shortly after splashdown and continuing with the review aboard the ship. No unexpected conditions were observed. I suspect when the images are released, it will be pretty obvious the stark difference between Artemis I and Artemis II head shield performance.

As to the question specifically, the discoloration was not liberated material. The white color observed corresponds to the compression pad area and is consistent with the local geometry, AVCOAT byproducts, and transitional heating environments. We observed this behavior in arc jet testing and expected it in this compression pad area.

We will complete a full data review across all systems, including the thermal protection system, and make the results publicly available.
 
The fate of the German Tacheles cube sat is now confirmed, it reentered uncontrolled after a single day in orbit.

Cause: The (still unknown) operator of the ground station had no permission to control the cube sat (from whom the permission was missing is also unknown). 🤦‍♂️

But other ground stations received good data and telemetry of the satellite, that Neurospace can use.

 
The fate of the German Tacheles cube sat is now confirmed, it reentered uncontrolled after a single day in orbit.

Cause: The (still unknown) operator of the ground station had no permission to control the cube sat (from whom the permission was missing is also unknown). 🤦‍♂️

But other ground stations received good data and telemetry of the satellite, that Neurospace can use.

As far as causes for mission failure go, that one is extremely German.
 
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