Artemis II Astronauts Put Orion’s Side Hatch to the Test
Astronaut and Artemis II pilot, Victor Glover, maneuvers the latch handle on an Orion test side hatch during performance evaluations at the Lockheed Martin Space campus in Littleton, Colorado.
Photo credit: Lockheed Martin
Artemis II NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Reid Wiseman, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen recently traveled to Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, where they practiced opening and closing an Orion crew module side hatch model to help demonstrate its reliability and durability during their 10-day mission around the Moon.
During normal mission operations, the crew will not operate the hatches – the ground systems team at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida will assist the crew into Orion at the launch pad, then close the hatch behind them prior to liftoff. After splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, recovery teams will open the side hatch and help crew to exit.
Back-up crew members Andre Douglas of NASA and Jenni Gibbons of CSA also trained on hatch operations, which help ensure the crew can safely enter and exit the spacecraft in the event of an emergency. The side hatch is normally opened using a manual gearbox system, but in an emergency, the hatch has release mechanisms containing small pyrotechnic (explosive) devices that release the latch pins on the hatch instantaneously, allowing the hatch to open quickly.
Under NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency will establish the foundation for long-term scientific exploration at the Moon, land the first woman, first person of color, and its first international partner astronaut on the lunar surface, and prepare for human expeditions to Mars for the benefit of all.
The NASA Ames Science Directorate recognizes the outstanding contributions of (pictured left to right) America Reyes Wang, Sepideh Khajehei, Julie Nottage, and Ryan Felton. Their commitment to the NASA mission represents the talent, camaraderie, and vision needed to explore this world and beyond.
Space Biosciences Star: America Reyes Wang
America Reyes Wang serves as the Space Biology Biospecimen Sharing Program (BSP) Lead in the Space Biosciences Research Branch, where she guides a team of support scientists and a logistics coordinator in planning and performing detailed, collaborative dissections to maximize the scientific return from biological investigations. Under her leadership, the BSP team has contributed over 5,000 samples to the NASA Biological Institutional Scientific Collection (NBISC), approximately half of which were collected in the last 10 months.
Earth Science Star: Sepideh Khajehei
Sepideh Khajehei is a NASA Earth eXchange (NEX) Data and Research Scientist in the Biospheric Science Branch, for the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute. She is recognized for her dedicated support of the NASA Administrator’s Earth Information Center, and recently for her outstanding support for an urgent request to revise climate indices just days before the October 7, 2024, opening of NASA’s Hometown Climate Dashboard at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.
Space Science & Astrobiology Star: Julie Nottage
Julie Nottage continuously goes above and beyond in her role as the Space and Earth Sciences Facilities Service Manager. She keeps a multi-use interdisciplinary science building running across all aspects of operations and is the go-to person for any problem. Her can-do approach and wealth of knowledge ensures the facility’s high-quality operation that enables scientists and engineers to focus on their research and instrument work. Her quality work and extensive coordination of the Voluntary Protection Program allowed these month-long inspections to run smoothly with an improved safety outcome.
Space Science & Astrobiology Star: Ryan Felton
Ryan Felton, a NASA Postdoctoral Management Fellow with the Exobiology Branch, is recognized for his successful coordination of an engaging community-wide seminar series focused on Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML). This seminar series featured four speakers so far over six months on a variety of exciting topics to advance AI/ML knowledge and use in the branch’s research.
NASA Welcomes Republic of Cyprus as 46th Artemis Accords Signatory
NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free welcomed the Republic of Cyprus as the latest nation to commit to the responsible use of space for humanity on Wednesday, marking 46 signatories to date.
“We applaud Cyprus’ commitment to the Artemis Accords, which will enhance the country’s engagement with NASA and the international community,” said Free, who participated virtually. “By joining 45 other country signatories in this effort, Cyprus will help play a role in implementing the accords and exploration that is open, responsible, transparent, and peaceful for the benefit of all.”
Nicodemos Damianou, Cyprus’ deputy minister of research, innovation, and digital policy, signed the Artemis Accords during a ceremony in Nicosia, Cyprus. James O’Brian, assistant secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs for the U.S. Department of State, also attended the event.
“Today marks a significant milestone for Cyprus as we officially sign the Artemis Accords,” said Damianou. “As we embark on this exciting journey, we reaffirm our commitment to a safe and responsible space exploration, as well as our strong belief in the importance of international cooperation in ensuring space is utilized to the benefit of all humanity. Cyprus, an European Union member state, is capitalizing on its geostrategic location between three continents, and aspires to play an integral role in the international space community.”
The signing with Cyprus comes on the heels of an Artemis Accords meeting in Milan earlier this month with dozens of signatory countries, including the United States.
The commitments of the Artemis Accords and efforts by the signatories to advance implementation of these principles support the safe and sustainable exploration of space. More countries are expected to sign in the coming days and weeks ahead.
Astronaut Don Pettit captured this image of Melbourne, Australia from the International Space Station on Oct. 9, 2024, as it orbited 271 miles above the city. Astronauts aboard the space station take photos using handheld digital cameras, usually through windows in the station’s cupola, for Crew Earth Observations. Crew members have produced hundreds of thousands of images of the Moon and Earth’s land, oceans, and atmosphere.
After 60 Years, Nuclear Power for Spaceflight is Still Tried and True
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After 60 Years, Nuclear Power for Spaceflight is Still Tried and True
Workers install one of three Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) on the Cassini spacecraft. More ›
Credits: NASA
Editor’s Note: Originally published on June 21, 2021.
Six decades after the launch of the first nuclear-powered space mission, Transit IV-A, NASA is embarking on a bold future of human exploration and scientific discovery. This future builds on a proud history of safely launching and operating nuclear-powered missions in space.
“Nuclear power has opened the solar system to exploration, allowing us to observe and understand dark, distant planetary bodies that would otherwise be unreachable. And we’re just getting started,” said Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “Future nuclear power and propulsion systems will help revolutionize our understanding of the solar system and beyond and play a crucial role in enabling long-term human missions to the Moon and Mars.”
Space nuclear power to explore the deepest, dustiest, darkest, and most distant regions of our solar system and beyond.
NASA
From Humble Beginnings: Nuclear Power Spawns an Age of Scientific Discovery
On June 29, 1961, the John’s Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory launched the Transit IV-A Spacecraft. It was a U.S. Navy navigational satellite with a SNAP-3B radioisotope powered generator producing 2.7 watts of electrical power — about enough to light an LED bulb. Transit IV-A broke an APL mission-duration record and confirmed the Earth’s equator is elliptical. It also set the stage for ground-breaking missions that have extended humanity’s reach across the solar system.
Since 1961, NASA has flown more than 25 missions carrying a nuclear power system through a successful partnership with the Department of Energy (DOE), which provides the power systems and plutonium-238 fuel.
“The department and our national laboratory partners are honored to play a role in powering NASA’s space exploration activities,” said Tracey Bishop, deputy assistant secretary in DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy. “Radioisotope Power Systems are a natural extension of our core mission to create technological solutions that meet the complex energy needs of space research, exploration, and innovation.”
There are only two practical ways to provide long-term electrical power in space: the light of the sun or heat from a nuclear source.
We couldn’t do the mission without it. No other technology exists to power a mission this far away from the Sun, even today.
Alan Stern
Principal Investigator, NASA’s New Horizons Mission to Pluto and Beyond
“As missions move farther away from the Sun to dark, dusty, and harsh environments, like Jupiter, Pluto, and Titan, they become impossible or extremely limited without nuclear power,” said Leonard Dudzinski, chief technologist for NASA’s Planetary Science Division and program executive for Radioisotope Power.
That’s where Radioisotope Power Systems, or RPS, come in. They are a category of power systems that convert heat generated by the decay of plutonium-238 fuel into electricity.
“These systems are reliable and efficient,” said June Zakrajsek, manager for NASA’s Radioisotope Power Systems Program office at Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. “They operate continuously over long-duration space missions regardless of sunlight, temperature, charged particle radiation, or surface conditions like thick clouds or dust. They’ve allowed us to explore from the Sun to Pluto and beyond.”
Today, a Multi-Mission Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG) powers the Perseverance rover, which is captivating the nation as it searches for signs of ancient life on Mars, and a single RTG is sustaining New Horizons as it ventures on its way out of the solar system 15 years after its launch.
“The RTG was and still is crucial to New Horizons,” said Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute. “We couldn’t do the mission without it. No other technology exists to power a mission this far away from the Sun, even today.”
New Horizons carries seven scientific instruments and a radioisotope thermoelectric generator. The spacecraft weighs 1,060 pounds.
NASA/JHUAPL
Great Things to Come: Science and Human Exploration
Dragonfly, which is set to launch in 2028, is the next mission with plans to use an MMRTG. Part of NASA’s New Frontiers program, Dragonfly is an octocopter designed to explore and collect samples on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, an ocean world with a dense, hazy atmosphere.
“RPS is really an enabling technology,” said APL’s Zibi Turtle, principal investigator for the upcoming Dragonfly mission. “Early missions like Voyager, Galileo, and Cassini that relied on RPS have completely changed our understanding and given us a geography of the distant solar system…Cassini gave us our first close-up look at the surface of Titan.”
According to Turtle, the MMRTG serves two purposes on Dragonfly: power output to charge the lander’s battery and waste heat to keep its instruments and electronics warm.
“Flight is a very high-power activity. We’ll use a battery for flight and science activities and recharge the battery using the MMRTG,” said Turtle. “The waste heat from the power system is a key aspect of our thermal design. The surface of Titan is very cold, but we can keep the interior of the lander warm and cozy using the heat from the MMRTG.”
As the scientific community continues to benefit from RPS, NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate is investing in new technology using reactors and low-enriched uranium fuel to enable a robust human presence on the Moon and eventually human missions to Mars.
Astronauts will need plentiful and continuous power to survive the long lunar nights and explore the dark craters on the Moon’s South Pole. A fission surface power system could provide enough juice to power robust operations. NASA is leading an effort, working with the DOE and industry to design a fission power system for a future lunar demonstration that will pave the way for base camps on the Moon and Mars.
NASA has also thought about viable ways to reduce the time it takes to travel to Mars, including nuclear propulsion systems.
As NASA advances its bold vision of exploration and scientific discovery in space, it benefits from 60 years of the safe use of nuclear power during spaceflight. Sixty years of enlightenment that all started with a little satellite called Transit IV-A.
News Media Contact Jan Wittry NASA’s Glenn Research Center
