The annual report published by the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) highlights that NASA’s Artemis 3 mission to return to the Moon still has unresolved issues. The report indicates that the deep space exploration and journey to Mars goals of the U.S. space agency involve significant challenges and uncertainties.

The annual safety report presented to NASA raises concerns of a warning nature, including the manned mission to return to the Moon as part of the Artemis program.

Artemis 3 mission, where NASA will send humans to the Moon for the first time since Apollo 17, is planned to land in the southern polar region of the Moon in 2027. SAFETY ASSESSMENT REPORT

The annual report published by the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) emphasized that NASA has made impressive progress but still has challenges to address. This report particularly points to significant safety observations regarding NASA’s Artemis Program for the Moon and its manned operations at the International Space Station in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

ISSUES REGARDING RISK

The panel of experts led by former NASA astronaut Major General Susan J. Helms notes that there are important risk factors as NASA transitions to its commercial Low Earth Orbit goals.

CONCERNS ABOUT THE ARTEMIS PROGRAM

The report suggests that NASA’s deep space exploration and journey to Mars involve significant challenges and uncertainties. The report states, “The most critical step in developing human interplanetary travel capabilities and space assets is to safely return to the Moon. The Moon provides both experience of operations on a planetary surface and a test environment with extreme conditions similar to Mars.” However, the report also indicates that NASA will face significant barriers in budget, industry, geopolitical, technical, and health/medical areas while managing the Artemis program and sustaining its presence in Low Earth Orbit.

FAILURE OF PHYSICS AND ORION HEAT SHIELD PROBLEM

ASAP emphasizes that NASA continues to proactively investigate the issues of peeling and carbon loss on the heat shield of the Orion capsule during re-entry in the Artemis 1 mission that took place in December 2022. According to the report, NASA’s efforts to understand the physical reasons for this failure and take corrective actions will result in improvements in future heat shield assemblies and the use of the current heat shield for Artemis 2’s flight in 2026. However, ASAP notes that these engineering details and related risk assessments have not yet been fully examined, and they will be specifically addressed in early 2025.

TECHNICAL READINESS LEVEL FOR ARTEMIS 3

The report raises significant concerns about the Artemis 3 mission’s capacity being exceeded, considering the current schedule and technical readiness level.

Since this mission encompasses many firsts, it carries a high level of risk.

Scientists have stated that NASA should not conduct manned flights until critical tests are successfully passed.

In particular, it is emphasized that crucial stages such as delivering fuel to orbit, cryogenic fuel replenishment, long-term space storage, docking the Human Landing System (HLS) with Orion, successful descent and ascent of HLS on the Moon must be successful.