NASA tests Orion, the ship that will return us to the Moon, under the secrecy of the problems with its heat shield

NASA’s Artemis program will be a great milestone in the history of space exploration because, thanks to the lunar missions scheduled for the coming years, humans will return to the Moon after five decades.

In November 2022, the US space agency successfully launched the first unmanned mission and, in September 2025, astronauts on the Artemis II mission are expected to test the Orion spacecraft for the first time. However, before carrying out this second mission of NASA’s Artemis program, scientists have to check the condition of the spacecraft and carry out the final tests, although, at the beginning of July, the US space agency reported that Orion successfully completed final rounds of testing and assembly –including checking the end-to-end performance of its subsystems and checking its propulsion systems for leaks.

However, the final process of stacking the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket could be delayed because “Engineers continue to study the preparation of the Orion spacecraft’s heat shield”. Catherine Koerner, NASA associate administrator for exploration systems development, revealed to the newspaper Ars Technica that there are still “many complications associated with the heat shield” as there is a “complicated thermodynamic and aerodynamic problem.”

After several investigations carried out, The root cause of this problem is related to carbon loss in the heat shield, but, although the source of the problem has been identified, NASA refuses to share more details for now.

According to the specialized newspaper SpaceNewssaid space agency “has only limited itself to communicating” that scientists have “conclusively” determined what the root cause of the problem is, adding that have been able to demonstrate this at the arc jet facility in Ames to reproduce certain heating conditions.

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In addition, Lakiesha Hawkins, deputy administrator, tells the aforementioned newspaper that they are “having conversations within the agency” to make sure they understand “well what is happening with the heat shield” and with “the next steps.” Also, he adds that NASA is conducting additional tests to study ways to mitigate heat shield loss for the next mission.

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NASA continues testing Orion

After identifying the source of the problem, NASA continues testing Orion. This space agency explains in its official blog that “the teams raised Orion spacecraft for Artemis II test flight from the final assembly and system test cell”, in addition, “they moved it to the altitude chamber to complete more tests inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Control Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.”

Later, “engineers returned the spacecraft to the altitude chamber, which simulates the vacuum conditions of deep space, to complete remaining testing requirements and provide additional data.