Bob Zimmerman thinks that NASA is rushing Artemis II to fend of cancellation.
It is very strange that they are not being forthcoming about the heat shield.
Bob Zimmerman thinks that NASA is rushing Artemis II to fend of cancellation.
It is very strange that they are not being forthcoming about the heat shield.
What I find intolerable is that NASA is refusing to say what the root cause of the heat shield problem is. Unless the reason is ITAR, there’s no possible excuse for this. My guess? They don’t know how to fix it yet.
The life support system issue, IMHO, is even worse, and it’s one that I’ve been pointing out for many years. It’s never flown in space before. The original excuse was that it couldn’t be ready in time for Artemis 1, and then Artemis 1 slipped a few years (thus rendering the excuse false). So, no space test (unlike what was required for Dragon and Starliner) was ever done. On a lunar mission, unlike LEO, a failed life support system will be lethal.
It will take over four months to fully integrate the stack, made up of pre-built parts?
How many Starships and boosters can be built in that same amount of time, and for how much less money?
In an organization that had to wait until Sally Ride passed away for anyone to admit she steered Richard Feynman toward the rubber o-rings on Challenger, this is hardly a surprise. I heard the problem is lack of freon. And since our employees will not say anything, I welcome Elon and Vivek and may they wreak havoc on this bunch at NASA.