NASA Releases Data from Artemis II Moon Mission, Calls It 'Sights and Sounds of Science' (nasa.gov) 9
"What did four astronauts see, notice, and document as they traveled around the Moon during NASA's Artemis II mission?" asks a new NASA web page, offering some fascinating pictures and video:
Through photographs, spoken observations, drawings, and annotations, the Artemis II crew created a unique scientific record — one that is now available to the science community and the public for further study... As part of the mission science plan, lunar scientists asked the Artemis II crew to watch for tiny flashes sparked by rocky fragments hitting the Moon. Even so, some scientists were astonished when astronauts reported seeing five extremely faint "pinprick" bursts of light from 46,000 miles away. After ruling out other sources — cosmic rays or reflections from the spacecraft — the science team confirmed the sightings... The impact flash observations happened during a planned loss of communications while the Artemis II crew was on the far side of the Moon... Apollo astronauts saw similar flashes from lunar orbit, but the Artemis crew likely caught the faintest ever seen with the unaided eye.
From the brightness of the flashes, scientists estimated that incoming rocks were each no more than a couple of inches wide. Despite their size, they were traveling thousands of miles per hour, producing just enough light upon impact to be visible. The nearly hour-long total solar eclipse that the crew experienced while passing by the Moon's far side created ideal dark conditions for spotting such subtle bursts. With no atmosphere to slow or burn up incoming debris, projectiles slam freely into the lunar surface. The crew's direct observations of this process on the Moon's far side provided a rare dataset that will help us understand how often these small impacts occur, which is essential for assessing long-term risks to future lunar habitats and infrastructure...
The crew reported seeing subtle hues of gray, black, brown, tan, white, green, and blue across the Moon's surface. This muted rainbow offers clues to the rocks and minerals that make up different lunar regions, helping scientists piece together how the Moon — and, by extension, Earth — evolved over time.
"Amazing news," Mission Control responded when they heard about the flashes. Space.com reports that when a Mission Control operator looked over at the Science Evaluation Room, "they were jumping up and down, literally."
NASA blogged this week that more than 800 gigabytes of Artemis II lunar science data — some previously unreleased — "have been uploaded to NASA's Planetary Data System, the public archive for NASA's planetary missions." This data release includes more than 11,000 full-resolution images and video of the Moon from the crew's handheld cameras and the Orion spacecraft's cameras, 8.5 hours of audio recordings of the crew's scientific observations of the lunar surface, and crew-annotated images... Along with this data, NASA has released the Artemis II Preliminary Lunar Science Report, the Artemis II Lunar Science Operations Report, and the Artemis II Lunar Science Data User Guide.
From the brightness of the flashes, scientists estimated that incoming rocks were each no more than a couple of inches wide. Despite their size, they were traveling thousands of miles per hour, producing just enough light upon impact to be visible. The nearly hour-long total solar eclipse that the crew experienced while passing by the Moon's far side created ideal dark conditions for spotting such subtle bursts. With no atmosphere to slow or burn up incoming debris, projectiles slam freely into the lunar surface. The crew's direct observations of this process on the Moon's far side provided a rare dataset that will help us understand how often these small impacts occur, which is essential for assessing long-term risks to future lunar habitats and infrastructure...
The crew reported seeing subtle hues of gray, black, brown, tan, white, green, and blue across the Moon's surface. This muted rainbow offers clues to the rocks and minerals that make up different lunar regions, helping scientists piece together how the Moon — and, by extension, Earth — evolved over time.
"Amazing news," Mission Control responded when they heard about the flashes. Space.com reports that when a Mission Control operator looked over at the Science Evaluation Room, "they were jumping up and down, literally."
NASA blogged this week that more than 800 gigabytes of Artemis II lunar science data — some previously unreleased — "have been uploaded to NASA's Planetary Data System, the public archive for NASA's planetary missions." This data release includes more than 11,000 full-resolution images and video of the Moon from the crew's handheld cameras and the Orion spacecraft's cameras, 8.5 hours of audio recordings of the crew's scientific observations of the lunar surface, and crew-annotated images... Along with this data, NASA has released the Artemis II Preliminary Lunar Science Report, the Artemis II Lunar Science Operations Report, and the Artemis II Lunar Science Data User Guide.
Impact Resistance (Score:3)
Can Artemis II resist 'incoming rocks each no more than a couple of inches wide', coming in at 10K MPH?
Re: (Score:2)
I was wondering the same thing. I'm picturing a hail storm with golf ball size hail coming at 10,000+ mph. Ouch! How did the ship manage to not be hit and punctured?!?
Re: (Score:2)
Mostly (Score:4)
Can Artemis II resist 'incoming rocks each no more than a couple of inches wide', coming in at 10K MPH?
* The Launch Abort Stage and Solid Rocket Boosters of Artemis II are securely stationed on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. Protected from incoming meteorites.
* The Core Stage is went on a destructive trajectory and the pieces of it are securely stationed on the floor of the Pacific Ocean. Protected from incoming meteorites.
* The Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (Upper Stage) was sent into a heliocentric disposal orbit but won't make it to Sun, so it will be orbiting for millions of years. NOT Protected from incoming meteorites.
* The European Service Module (lower part of Orion spacecraft) detached from the crew module just before re-entry and burned up in Earth's atmosphere with remnants securely stationed on the floor of the Pacific Ocean. Protected from incoming meteorites.
* The Crew Module (upper part of the Orion spacecraft) landed in the Pacific Ocean and was retrieved before being transported to NASA facilities for post-flight analysis, data extraction, and inspection. Protected from incoming meteorites.
Your concern for the spacecraft is touching but most of it will be just fine at the bottom of an ocean. Honestly, I'm more concerned about Artemis IV which has parts that actually land on the Lunar surface that's getting pelted by meteorites. ;)
pelted (Score:4, Insightful)
The moon gets pelted with high speed debris from space ranging from sand-grain size to more substantial pebbles. It seems like any human habitation will eventually be struck with something that has a lot of kinetic energy. Even being on the surface in a space suit would entail some risk.
Re: pelted (Score:2)
Well...yes. And there are other difficulties.
Unlike everyone's favorite go-to analogy of space and the space economy as the next settlement of the New World...the settlers of the Virginia colony could disembark and start planting cash crops; they didn't need to bring their own water and oxygen.
Unless someone finds pure gold or platinum (or a similarly valuable equivalent) at most a few dozen feet below the lunar dust, space will never be economically self-sustaining. It will be a (much) more expensive versi