The zoomed-in image is admittedly not the clearest picture, but it sure looks like a chunk of spacecraft is missing from Orion’s underside where the heat shield is. Many noted that it looked like abnormal ablation compared to the normal ablation that occurs during re-entry as the shield transfers heat away from the spacecraft. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman took to the interwebs to respond to the social media speculation: “The discoloration was not liberated material. The white color observed corresponds to the compression pad area and is consistent with the local geometry, AVOCAT byproducts, and transitional heating environments. We observed this behavior in arc jet testing and expected it in this compression pad area.”
Did a chunk of the spacecraft for Artemis II come off during re-entry?
Answer: It doesn’t sound like it.
After the problems with the heat shield on the Orion space capsule during the unmanned Artemis I mission, all eyes were on that part of the spacecraft when the manned Artemis II mission splashed down on Friday. Viewers were quick to point out on social media that images from the event appeared to show that a chunk of the Orion craft was missing.
The zoomed-in image is admittedly not the clearest picture, but it sure looks like a chunk of spacecraft is missing from Orion’s underside where the heat shield is. Many noted that it looked like abnormal ablation compared to the normal ablation that occurs during re-entry as the shield transfers heat away from the spacecraft. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman took to the interwebs to respond to the social media speculation: “The discoloration was not liberated material. The white color observed corresponds to the compression pad area and is consistent with the local geometry, AVOCAT byproducts, and transitional heating environments. We observed this behavior in arc jet testing and expected it in this compression pad area.”
TL;DR: NASA says the spacecraft isn’t missing any pieces, and they had expected such discoloration could occur. Isaacman noted that the agency will be conducting a data review of all of Orion’s systems and will release its findings, so we will potentially learn more then.
The zoomed-in image is admittedly not the clearest picture, but it sure looks like a chunk of spacecraft is missing from Orion’s underside where the heat shield is. Many noted that it looked like abnormal ablation compared to the normal ablation that occurs during re-entry as the shield transfers heat away from the spacecraft. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman took to the interwebs to respond to the social media speculation: “The discoloration was not liberated material. The white color observed corresponds to the compression pad area and is consistent with the local geometry, AVOCAT byproducts, and transitional heating environments. We observed this behavior in arc jet testing and expected it in this compression pad area.”
