January 2025 – Artemis

Artemis Teams Successfully Test Uninterruptible Power for Mobile Launcher 

infographic lists the eight verification and validation tests to support Artemis II — NASA

Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) Program at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, successfully tested the new uninterruptible power supply for mobile launcher 1 while it’s in Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). This marks the next set of integrated ground systems testing the EGS teams are conducting to prepare for the Artemis II crewed mission.

During this test, engineers turned off the power to the mobile launcher and verified new batteries, which are located in High Bay 3 of the VAB, did not negatively impact any systems. These batteries provide power to the mobile launcher, SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft and allow teams to safe all systems in the unlikely event the structure loses power while it’s inside the VAB. There are similar batteries that are used for the same purpose at Launch Complex 39B, from which crewed Artemis missions will launch. 

The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew under the Artemis campaign, sending NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day journey around the Moon.

Artemis I Orion Spacecraft Returns to Florida

The Artemis I Orion crew module, now known as the Orion Environmental Test Article (ETA), returned to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Dec. 21, 2024, following an 11-month test campaign at the agency’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio.

This is not the first time the ETA has been at Kennedy. After splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on Dec. 11, 2022, following its journey around the Moon during the Artemis I mission, the spacecraft was transported by truck from Naval Base San Diego in California to Kennedy’s Multi Payload Processing Facility (MPPF) to be reconfigured from spacecraft to test article and complete a series of crew module functional tests.

Now returned to the spaceport after testing at the Armstrong Test Facility, engineers will begin testing on the ETA in Kennedy’s MPPF to undergo propulsion functional testing, which includes putting the crew module’s twelve reaction control system (RCS) thrusters through a simulated hot fire. RCS thrusters provide control of rotation while in orbit, during re-entry, and certain abort scenarios.

Once testing is complete, the ETA will travel down the road to Kennedy’s Space Systems Processing Facility for an acoustic noise demonstration test that will help improve future acoustic testing for NASA and Lockheed Martin, the agency’s primary contractor for Orion. In addition to undergoing further testing at Kennedy, teams will remove hardware from the ETA for reusability studies that could impact future Artemis missions. With NASA’s Artemis campaign, we are exploring the Moon for scientific discovery, technology advancement, and to learn how to live and work on another world as we prepare for human missions to Mars.

Watch timelapse footage of the ETA arriving at NASA Kennedy’s Multi Payload Processing Facility (MPPF).

NASA Science, Tech Launching to Moon in Mid-January

NASA, SpaceX, and Firefly Aerospace are targeting 1:11 a.m. EST Wednesday, Jan. 15, for the launch of Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1, the next delivery to the Moon through NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative.

The Blue Ghost lander will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The flight will deliver 10 NASA science instruments and technology demonstrations to the lunar surface, to further our understanding of the Moon and help prepare for future human missions.

As part of the agency’s Artemis campaign, NASA is working with multiple U.S. companies to deliver science and technology to the Moon for the benefit of humanity.

For more information, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/clps