What is the key role of the Space Launch System in NASA's Artemis Program
The whole Artemis program is not only a mere copy-and-paste of its predecessor Apollo. Even though it will bring humanity back on the Moon, the whole Space environment, such as the technology, the processes and the goals, have evolved and changed.
Artemis I provided the first integrated flight test of SLS, Orion, ground processing and launch facilities at Kennedy Space Centre.
In the first uncrewed mission, Artemis I, SLS launched an Orion spacecraft to a distant retrograde orbit about the Moon in a flight test designed to verify vehicle models, manufacturing, and operations. The data engineers received from Artemis I on the vehicle’s performance will be valuable for future flights with astronauts, including the Artemis II mission whose crew was announced few weeks ago.
Even though our course on Orbital Mechanics has still to be published, you can understand from now that multiple steps and vehicle stages are necessary to launch a single capsule into Space, even if the final orbit seems relatively close to Earth. Hint: look also at how small Orion is with respect to the whole system. About 2800 tons are necessary to carry a 33 tons of spacecraft!
Here is the sequence of events that occurred during the very first mission:
@ T = +0s - SLS lift off, and solid rocket boosters burn through their propellant;
@ T = +2m12s - the SRBs (Solid Rocket Boosters) separation from the rocket main body, having burned all the propellant
@ T = +8m20s - Core Stage MECO (Main Engine Cut Off): all the propellant contained in the core stage depleted through the four RS-25 engines
@ T = +8:30s - shortly after the MECO event, ICPS (Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage) separation together with the Orion stage adapter and Orion from the core stage.
From now on, a series of well calibrates engine burns set the spacecraft on the way to a smooth Trans-Lunar Injection (TLI) while the engineers on ground were constantly monitoring the health of the spacecraft before giving the final OK for the Moon.
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