Ahead of the Artemis I mission which is planned to launch no earlier than August 29, NASA is planning on moving its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft to the launchpad on August 18. Prior to that, the space agency will hold three teleconferences next week to announce the science and technology payloads that will fly on the space agency’s Artemis I test flight to the moon.
The rolling of the spacecraft and the teleconferences will be live streamed by NASA. Artemis I will be an uncrewed flight test that will be the first in a series of increasingly complex missions to the moon. During Artemis I, the SLS rocket will carry ten “CubeSats,” which will be shoebox-sized payloads, along with several other science investigation payloads.
Each of the payloads will perform science and technology experiments in deep space, helping expand the understanding of lunar science, technology developments and deep-space radiation. You can learn more about the mission during the audio briefings that will be live streamed by NASA. The schedule for the live streamed sessions is as follows.
The lunar science payload teleconference will begin at 2.30 AM IST (5 PM ET, August 15) on Tuesday, August 16 and will involve the following participants:
Jacob Bleacher, NASA chief exploration scientist
Craig Hardgrove, principal investigator, LunaH-Map, Arizona State University
Tatsuaki Hashimoto, project manager for OMOTENASHI, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Ryu Funase, project manager for EQUULEUS, JAXA
Ben Malphrus, NASA principal investigator, Lunar IceCube
Joseph Shoer, architect for Small Sat missions, Lockheed Martin
Technology demonstration and solar system science payloads teleconference: August 16
The teleconference discussing solar system science payloads will begin at 9.30 PM IST (12 PM ET) on Tuesday, August 16 and will include the following participants:
Patrick Troutman, strategy and architectures liaison for NASA’s Moon to Mars Architecture Development Office
Dustin Gohmert, Orion crew survival systems project manager, NASA’s Johnson Space Center
Raffaele Mugnuolo, ArgoMoon program manager, Italian Space Agency
Rob Chambers, director of commercial civil space strategy, Lockheed Martin
Wesley Faler, team lead, Team Miles
Julie Castillo-Rogez, NASA principal science investigator, NEAScout, NASA/JPL/Caltech
Les Johnson, NASA principal technology investigator, NEAScout, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center
Secondary radiation payloads teleconference: August 17
The teleconference discussing secondary radiation payloads will start at 9.30 PM IST (12 PM ET) on Wednesday, August 17 and will be attended by the following participants:
Ramona Gaza, MARE science team lead, NASA’s Johnson Space Center
Thomas Berger, Helga and Zohar principal investigator, German Aerospace Center
Oren Milstein, chief executive officer, StemRad
Ye Zhang, plant biology program scientist, NASA Biological and Physical Sciences
Sergio Santa Maria, BioSentinel lead scientist, NASA’s Ames Research Center
Mihir I. Desai, CuSP principal investigator, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI)
Moving spacecraft to launchpad: August 18
NASA is targeting the date of August 18 to move the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft to Launch Pad 39B at its Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. The event will be live-streamed through the same YouTube link above.
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