The only things likely reusable would be the crew capsule and SRB rockets but the rockets were dumped on this flight. That spcecraft is a kludge of parts that's unlikely to ever be redesigned for reuse IMO.I still wonder how much of this spacecraft is reusable, otherwise I suspect we will be using SpaceX the long term. Wear and tear is one thing, just throwing something away after one use is another. The engines themselves are reusable if they are salvaged properly.
In stark contrast to SpaceX's commitment to fully reusable rockets, everything but the Orion crew capsule is discarded after a single use. As SpaceX founder Musk likes to point out, that's like flying a 747 jumbo jet from New York to Los Angeles and then throwing the airplane away.
"That is a concern," Paul Martin, the NASA inspector general, said in an interview with CBS News. "This is an expendable, single-use system unlike some of the launch systems that are out there in the commercial side of the house, where there are multiple uses. This is a single-use system. And so the $4.1 billion per flight ... concerns us enough that in our reports, we said we see that as unsustainable."
But the SLS has two near-term advantages: flight-tested "human-rated" components and the ability to launch 30 to 50 tons to the moon in a single flight.
The Falcon Heavy center section is not 100% reusable depending on the mission type. For a moon or direct to GEO launch (like the latest USSF-44) they need center running to zero fuel and maybe even the side boosters to zero for a max heavy load.I have to wonder what the Falcon heavy lift vehicle can do. It may be the spacecraft of choice in the future.
Are they planning to leave it in orbit? Or is it even the actual capsule and not a weighted mockup?The only things likely reusable would be the crew capsule
It's the full capsule with instrumented dummies and a normal splash down planned.Are they planning to leave it in orbit? Or is it even the actual capsule and not a weighted mockup?
https://www.dlr.de/content/en/articles/news/2018/4/20181115_helga-zohar-radiation-exposure.htmlSo yeah, sending a dummy on this first flight is a smart idea, as the exercise could reveal potentially dangerous conditions for astronauts. What’s more, data collected during Artemis I “will be used for Orion crew simulations and to verify crew safety by comparing flight vibration and acceleration against pre-flight predictions, then making model refinements as necessary,” Mark Baldwin, Orion’s occupant protection specialist for Lockheed Martin, explained in a statement. Success in the mission will set the stage for Artemis II, in which the exact mission will repeat, save for the presence of an actual crew.
To be clear, the Artemis manikin is no crash test dummy, which is a separate category of human stand-in, as NASA explains:
...Similar to manikins, NASA uses Anthropometric Test Devices, or “crash test dummies,” that are equipped with various instruments for other crew safety evaluations. Dummies are used in tests that drop a test version of Orion from an aircraft, with the final set of tests scheduled for later this year, to verify the Artemis II seat and suit can limit the risk of head and neck injury during the most severe acceleration environments – abort and landing. During water impact drop tests at Langley, dummies also occupied crew capsule prototypes to help engineers better understand what Orion and its crew may experience when landing in the ocean after missions to the Moon.
Artemis I will also include a pair of simulated torsos named Helga and Zohar. The pair will be strapped into the lower two seats on Orion, and record radiation exposure during the mission. One torso will be used to test a radiation-shielding vest, called AstroRad, which is designed to reduce exposure.
It's pretty much the full-up Orion capsule. In fact, the delays that Artemis I has undergone have pushed back Artemis II specifically because of the need to reuse items from the Orion module (but apparently not the capsule body itself -- I don't know if that is set to be refurbished and reused or not.Are they planning to leave it in orbit? Or is it even the actual capsule and not a weighted mockup?
We have reusable technologies for smaller payloads but they are not perfected (due to hard to engineer physics with current technologies) in the Heavy rockets (the core booster of traveling all the way to orbit) needed for manned planetary travel yet.Now that we have the reusable technologies perfected, even if it isn't NASA. It is just a matter of time