With a dress rehearsal, space agency NASA is preparing for a return to the moon this weekend. This spring, a new mega rocket will make its way to our nearest neighbor for the first time. There are then no astronauts on board, but three dolls full of sensors. In the new spaceship Orion and the European service module, with Dutch solar panels.
One wet dress rehearsalthey call it. NASA exercises a in three days countdown completely by the book: the rocket is refueled, but just before the engines ignite in an inferno of more than 3000 degrees, the plug is pulled.
The systems then first undergo a thorough final MOT before the hundred-meter-long rocket can really make its way to the moon. That will happen this spring at the earliest, but it could extend into the summer. The program has been delayed for years due to technical problems and the corona crisis.
Either way, it will be an exciting mission, assures ESA manager Philippe Berthe. On behalf of the European Space Agency, he is project coordinator of the European part of the Artemis-1 mission: the European Service Module (ESM), which provides the currently imaginary astronauts with oxygen, electricity, water, heat and propulsion. “It’s the renaissance of architecture it takes to go back to the moon, an old dream come true. But first that hardware has to prove itself.”
During the flight, the solar panels manufactured in Leiden also undergo their space baptism. Producing solar panels may seem like a piece of cake, but in this case everything is different:
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