Artemis I Launch [Version for Sep 3 attempt] ---------------- The first launch of the SLS rocket is now scheduled for 1817:00 UTC on 2022 Sep 3. SLS vehicle 1 will carry an Orion spacecraft on the Artemis I mission. The SLS Block I consists of: - Two 5-segment Redesigned Solid Rocket Motors, RSRMV-1L and RSRMV-1R, with a launch mass of 726 tonnes and burnout mass of 99.0 tonnes each, developed by MSFC and Northrop Grumman/Utah. - The SLS Core Stage, CS-1. CS-1, developed by Boeing, has a dry mass of 99.3 tonnes, 1102 tonnes fuelled, and is 64.6m long 8.4m diameter. CS-1 uses four refurbished RS-25 Space Shuttle Main Engines, 2045, 2056, 2058 and 2060. - The Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter (LVSA), connecting the CS to the ICPS. It has a mass of 4.5 tonnes and is built by Teledyne Brown (Huntsville). The LVSA remains attached to CS-1. - The Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS), ICPS-1, with an RL10B-2 LOX/LH2 engine. ICPS is a modified 5-metre-diameter Delta Cryogenic Second Stage (DCSS) from the Delta IV rocket and is built by ULA. Dry mass of 3.8 tonnes; 32.7 tonnes fuelled. - The Orion Stage Adapter (OSA), an 800 kg cylindrical section which remains attached to ICPS-1 and contains 10 cubesats that will be deployed after launch. The Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) spacecraft consists of: - The Launch Abort System (LAS), consisting for this flight of a dummy Abort Motor, a dummy Attitude Motor, a live Jettison Motor and a nosecone covering the crew module. Mass of 7 tonnes. - Orion Crew Module CM S/N 002, with three instrumented dummy astronauts to monitor radiation exposure, acceleration, temperature, etc. Built by JSC and Lockheed Martin with a mass of 10.4 tonnes. - European Service Module ESM-001 "Bremen", with engine AJ10-190 OME S/N 111, which first flew in an OMS pod on Shuttle mission 41-G. Built by Airbus, dry mass around 4900 kg. 14 tonnes fuelle. Includes the Crew Module Adapter (CMA) (about 200 kg?) which connects it to the CM. - Spacecraft Adapter Jettison (SAJ) panels 1 to 3, each with a mass of about 433 kg. - Spacecraft Adapter Cone (SAC), connecting the ESM to the OSA, mass 450 kg. The SAC remains with the OSA/ICPS after Orion separates. Orion summary: Launch mass Height Diameter Cumulative mass Cumulative height tonne m m tonne m LAS 7.6 11.3 - 7.6 11.3 to top of CM (15.0 to SM interface) CM 9.4 4.6 5.0 17.0 15.9 SM 14.0 4.8 5.0 31.0 20.0 SAJ/SAC 1.7 - - 32.7 20.0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Orion total 32.7t 20.0m SLS summary: Launch mass Height Diameter Cumulative mass Cumulative height tonne m m tonne m RSRMV-1L 726.0 54.7 3.7 726.0 - RSRMV-1R 726.0 54.7 3.7 1452.0 - CS-1 (1088 no engines) CS-1 (+ 14 4 x 3.5t RS-25) CS-1 1102.0 64.6 8.4 2554.0 64.6 (mass includes RS-25 engines) LVSA 4.5 8.4 8.4 2558.5 - (height included in ICPS) IPCS-1 32.7 12.2 5.1 2591.2 76.8 (press kit height of 13.7m includes OSA) OSA 0.8 1.5 5.1 2592.0 78.3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ SLS Blk1 total 2592.0t 78.3m Orion 32.7 20.0 5.0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Estimate SLS + Orion 2624.7t 98.3m Quoted SLS + Orion 2603 t 98.3m Discrepancy: 22 tonnes ========================================================================================================================================================= Comparison with other moonships: Rocket Spaceship Rocket Rocket Dia Rocket Ship Ship Ship Combined Combined Combined Launch Max Altitude Length Diam Launch mass Length Diam. Launch mas Length Diam Launch mas Thrust reached m m tonne m m tonne m m tonne MN km ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturn V Apollo 84.7 10.1 2850 25.0 3.9 50 110.6 10.1 2900 34.0 400,000 N-1 L-3 61.0 16.8 2623 44.3 4.1 102 105.3 14.0 2788 41.4 40 SLS Block 1 Orion 78.3 8.4 2592 20.0 5.0 33 98.3 8.4 2585 39.0 0 (so far) Artemis I rank: 2nd 3rd 3rd 3rd 1st 3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd 2nd 3rd (so far) There are other big rockets that were not designed for human lunar missions - notably Energia and Shuttle. ========================================================================================================================================================= Below I give my best estimate of the nominal flight sequence (MET is mission elapsed time in T+dd:hh:mm:ss). Of course the actual flight is likely to diverge significantly from this, but it's a useful fiducial reference. Details of trajectory are based on info from JPL Horizons; as usual, infinite thanks to Jon Giorgini for his work on Horizons. Other sources include NASA press materials, especially the Artemis Reference and the Artemis I press kit. Corrections are welcome. UTC MET 2022 Sep 3 1816:53 T-00:00:00:07 Ignition of RS-25 engines 1817:00 T+00:00:00:00 Launch from Mobile Launch Platform 1 at pad LC39B at Kennedy Space Center along with ignition of the RSRMVs. 1819:12 T+00:00:02:12 RSMRV-1L/1R shutdown and jettison at an altitude of 48 km; fall in Atlantic. 1820:24 T+00:00:03:24 SAJ panels 1 to 3 jettisoned at an altitude of 88 km; fall in Atlantic. 1820:30 T+00:00:03:30 LAS jettison at an altitude of 90? km and velocity 2.03 km/s; fall in Atlantic. 1822:24 T+00:00:05:24 RSRMVs splash down in Atlantic 1825:04 T+00:00:08:04 CS-1 (RS-25 1 to 4) MECO (main engine cutoff), altitude 157 km, orbit 30 x 1808 km x 38.4 deg. 1825:16 T+00:00:08:16 CS-1/LVSA separate from ICPS-1/OSA/Orion in 30 x 1808 km orbit. 1835:20 T+00:00:18:20 ESM-1 solar panels deployed, altitude 484 km 1909:08 T+00:00:52:02 Apogee 1, 1810 km 1910:46 T+00:00:53:46 ICPS-1 22-second PRM perigee raise burn near apogee at 1791 km; new IPCS/Orion orbit 181 x 1808 km x 38.4 deg 1950:21 T+00:01:33:21 ICPS-1 17m59s TLI translunar injection burn begins, altitude 388 km 1957 T+00:01:40 Artemis/IPCS perigee at 247 km 2003 T+00:01:46 CS-1/LVSA reentry over Pacific near 129W 15N 2008:20 T+00:01:51:20 ICPS-1 engine cutoff, translunar injection (TLI) in 429 x 369500 km x 38.0 deg 2018:26 T+00:02:01:26 ICPS-1/OSA/SAC separates from Artemis I Orion CM002/ESM-001 at 1.0m/s 2019:48 T+00:02:02:48 USS (Upper Stage Separation) burn: Service Module ESM-001 aux thrusters fire to increase separation rate of Orion from ICPS by 1.7m/s 2142:56 T+00:03:25:56 ICPS-1 disposal burn to escape trajectory, 476 x 380000 km x 38 deg orbit? 2157 T+00:03:40 Cubesats Lunar IceCube, OMOTENASHI, EQUULEUS, BioSentinel, ArgoMoon deployed from OSA (on ICPS-1) to 450 x 396700 x 37.8 deg orbit 2327 T+00:05:10 Cubesat NEA Scout deployed from OSA, 450 x 369700 x 37.8 deg orbit 2350 T+00:05:33 Cubesat LunaH-Map deployed from OSA 2022 Sep 4 0020 T+00:06:03 Cubesat LunIR deployed from OSA 0120 T+00:07:03 Cubesat Team Miles deployed from OSA 0208:21 T+00:07:51:21 Artemis I ESM-1 OTC-1 trajectory correction burn 1 using aux thrusters 0210 T+00:08:03 Cubesat CuSP deployed from OSA 1115 T+00:16:58 Artemis I now 150,000 km altitude, I enter it in my Deep Space Catalog 1115 T+00:16:58 ICPS-1 and cubesats now 150,000 km altitude, I enter them in my Deep Space Catalog 2022 Sep 8 0850 T+04:14:33 Artemis I enters lunar Hill Sphere. Lunar hyperbolic orbit 130 x -13793 km x 169.3 deg 1120 T+04:17:03 NEA Scout enter lunar Hill sphere, lunar flyby hyperbola 1149 T+04:17:32 OMOTENASHI enter lunar Hill sphere, lunar impact hyperbola -1668 x -12151 x 111.2 deg 1253 T+04:18:36 Artemis I local apogee, 366585 km 2022 Sep 9 0026 T+05:06:09 Artemis I ESM-1 OPF (Outbound Powered Flyby) lunar orbit insertion burn to 140 x 111300 km x 169.3 deg orbit, using OME-111 engine 0039 T+05:06:22 Artemis I perilune 1 at 141 km 0310? T+05:08:53 OMOTENASHI solid motor retro burn 0311? T+05:08:53 OMOTENASHI lunar landing 0312 T+05:08:54 NEA Scout perilune 1 in 193 x -13945 km x 159.0 deg hyperbolic flyby 1853 T+06:00:36 NEA Scout depart lunar Hill sphere, 263400 x -1884000 km x 17.8 deg Earth escape trajectory 2022 Sep 10 1802 T+06:23:45 Artemis I depart lunar Hill Sphere 2022 Sep 12 1914 T+09:00:57 Aremis I apolune 1 84863 km 2022 Sep 13 0310 T+09:08:53 Distant Retrograde Orbit (DRO) insertion burn, OME-111 engine 2022 Sep 16 0127 T+12:07:10 Artemis I perilune 2 67158 km 2022 Sep 16 0700 T+12:12:43 Artemis I overall apogee 459494 km 2022 Sep 19 1056 T+15:16:39 Artemis I apolune 2 83810 km 2022 Sep 22 1512 T+18:20:55 Artemis I perilune 3 64582 km 2022 Sep 25 2102 T+22:02:45 Artemis I apolune 3 86284 km 2022 Sep 26 1920 T+23:01:03 NEA Scout depart Earth Hill sphere in 0.967 x 1.038 AU x 0.29 deg solar orbit 2022 Sep 29 0131 T+25:07:14 Artemis I apogee, 438616 km 2022 Sep 29 0750 T+25:13:33 Artemis I perilune 4 66302 km 2022 Sep 30 0145 T+26:07:28 Artemis I DRO Departure burn with OME-111 engine 2022 Oct 2 0553 T+28:11:36 Artemis I apolune 4 80957 km 2022 Oct Artemis I RTC-1 Return Trajectory Correction with Orion Aux thrusters (one of several) 2022 Oct 4 0252 T+30:08:35 Artemis I enter lunar Hill Sphere on 129 x 115200 km x 158.2 deg orbit 2022 Oct 5 0213 T+31:07:56 Artemis I apogee, 342084 km 2022 Oct 5 2114 T+32:02:57 Artemis I RPF (Return Powered Flyby) transearth injection burn to 133 x -14093 km x 158.1 deg lunar hyperbolic orbit, OME-111 engine 2022 Oct 5 2116 T+32:02:59 Artemis I perilune 5 129 km 2022 Oct 6 1315 T+32:18:58 Artemis I depart lunar Hill Sphere, outbound in -1100 x 378280 km x 45.2 deg Earth orbit 2022 Oct 6 1951 T+33:01:34 Artemis I apogee, 378274 km, begin Earthbound leg 2022 Oct 11 1543 T+37:21:26 Artemis I within GEO 1744? T+37:23:27? ESM-1 jettisoned from CM-002 1754 T+37:23:37 CM-002 altitude 212 km, orbit 48 x 383000 km x 36.5 deg (end of Horizons traj) 1755 T+37:23:38 ESM-1 reentry, burnup over Pacific near 156W 26N 1755 T+37:23:38 CM-002 entry 100 km over Pacific 1758? T+37:23:41 CM-002 main parachutes out 1810 T+37:23:53 CM-002 splashdown NE of Hawaii