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Image shows Orion spacecraft awaiting installation of four solar arrays.

Technicians with ESA (European Space Agency) and Airbus installed the four solar array wings on NASA’s Orion spacecraft for Artemis II on March 3. The solar array wings, attached to the service module, deploy after Orion reaches space to power the spacecraft.

Orion’s service module provides propulsion, thermal control, and electrical power, as well as air and water for the crew during their mission around the Moon.

Each solar array wing has 15,000 solar cells to convert sunlight to electricity and is nearly 23 feet in length when fully deployed. In space, the arrays can turn on two axes to remain aligned with the Sun.

Artemis II is the first crewed mission under NASA’s Artemis campaign. Through Artemis, the agency will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.

Image credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

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    • By NASA
      NASA’s Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket poised to send four astronauts from Earth on a journey around the Moon next year may appear identical to the Artemis I SLS rocket. On closer inspection, though, engineers have upgraded the agency’s Moon rocket inside and out to improve performance, reliability, and safety.
      SLS flew a picture perfect first mission on the Artemis I test flight, meeting or exceeding parameters for performance, attitude control, and structural stability to an accuracy of tenths or hundredths of a percent as it sent an uncrewed Orion thousands of miles beyond the Moon. It also returned volumes of invaluable flight data for SLS engineers to analyze to drive improvements.
      Teams with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems integrate the SLS (Space Launch System) Moon rocket with the solid rocket boosters onto mobile launcher 1 inside High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in March 2025. Artemis II is the first crewed test flight under NASA’s Artemis campaign and is another step toward missions on the lunar surface and helping the agency prepare for future human missions to Mars.NASA/Frank Michaux For Artemis II, the major sections of SLS remain unchanged – a central core stage, four RS-25 main engines, two five-segment solid rocket boosters, the ICPS (interim cryogenic propulsion stage), a launch vehicle stage adapter to hold the ICPS, and an Orion stage adapter connecting SLS to the Orion spacecraft. The difference is in the details.
      “While we’re proud of our Artemis I performance, which validated our overall design, we’ve looked at how SLS can give our crews a better ride,” said John Honeycutt, NASA’s SLS Program manager. “Some of our changes respond to specific Artemis II mission requirements while others reflect ongoing analysis and testing, as well as lessons learned from Artemis I.”
      Engineers have outfitted the ICPS with optical targets that will serve as visual cues to the astronauts aboard Orion as they manually pilot Orion around the upper stage and practice maneuvers to inform docking operations for Artemis III.
      The Artemis II rocket includes an improved navigation system compared to Artemis I.  Its communications capability also has been improved by repositioning antennas on the rocket to ensure continuous communications with NASA ground stations and the U.S. Space Force’s Space Launch Delta 45 which controls launches along the Eastern Range.
      An emergency detection system on the ICPS allows the rocket to sense and respond to problems and notify the crew. The flight safety system adds a time delay to the self-destruct system to allow time for Orion’s escape system to pull the capsule to safety in event of an abort.
      The separation motors that push the solid rocket booster away after the elements are no longer needed were angled an additional 15 degrees to increase separation clearance as the rest of the rocket speeds by.
      Additionally, SLS will jettison the spent boosters four seconds earlier during Artemis II ascent than occurred during Artemis I. Dropping the boosters several seconds closer to the end of their burn will give engineers flight data to correlate with projections that shedding the boosters several seconds sooner will yield approximately 1,600 pounds of payload to Earth orbit for future SLS flights.
      Engineers have incorporated additional improvements based on lessons learned from Artemis I. During the Artemis I test flight the SLS rocket experienced higher-than-expected vibrations near the solid rocket booster attachment points that was caused by unsteady airflow.
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      These improvements have led to an enhanced rocket to support crew as part of NASA’s Golden Age of innovation and exploration.
      The approximately 10-day Artemis II test flight is the first crewed flight under NASA’s Artemis campaign. It is another step toward new U.S.-crewed missions on the Moon’s surface that will help the agency prepare to send the first astronauts – Americans – to Mars.
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      News Media Contact
      Jonathan Deal
      Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. 
      256.631.9126
      jonathan.e.deal@nasa.gov
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      Additional advances in coronagraph technology will be needed to build a coronagraph that can detect a planet like Earth. NASA is working on a concept for such a mission, currently named the Habitable Worlds Observatory.
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      News Media Contact
      Calla Cofield
      Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
      626-808-2469
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      “AVATAR is NASA’s visionary tissue chip experiment that will revolutionize the very way we will do science, medicine, and human multi-planetary exploration,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Each tissue chip is a tiny sample uniquely created so that we can examine how the effects of deep space act on each human explorer before we go to ensure we pack the appropriate medical supplies tailored to each individual’s needs as we travel back to the Moon, and onward to Mars.”
      The investigation is a collaboration between NASA, government agencies, and industry partners, leveraging commercial expertise to gain a deeper understanding of human biology and disease. This research could accelerate innovations in personalized healthcare, both for astronauts in space and patients on Earth.
      Organ-on-a-chip: mimic for human health
      Organ chips, also referred to as tissue chips or microphysiological systems, are roughly the size of a USB thumb drive and used to help understand — and then predict — how an individual might respond to a variety of stressors, such as radiation or medical treatments, including pharmaceuticals. Essentially, these small devices serve as “avatars” for human organs. 
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      The Artemis II mission will use organ chips created using blood-forming stem and progenitor cells, which originate in the bone marrow, from Artemis II crew members.
      Bone marrow is among the organs most sensitive to radiation exposure and, therefore, of central importance to human spaceflight. It also plays a vital role in the immune system, as it is the origin of all adult red and white blood cells, which is why researchers aim to understand how deep space radiation affects this organ.
      Studies have shown that microgravity affects the development of bone marrow cells. Although the International Space Station operates in low Earth orbit, which is shielded from most cosmic and solar radiation by the Earth’s magnetosphere, astronauts often experience a loss of bone density. Given that Artemis II crew will be flying beyond this protective layer, AVATAR researchers also seek to understand how the combined stressors of deep space radiation and microgravity affect the developing cells.
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      During the Artemis II mission, the organ chips will be secured in a custom payload developed by Space Tango and mounted inside the capsule during the mission. The battery-powered payload will maintain automated environmental control and media delivery to the organ chips throughout the flight.
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      NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences Division pioneers scientific discovery and enables exploration by using space environments to conduct investigations not possible on Earth. Studying biological and physical phenomenon under extreme conditions allows researchers to advance the fundamental scientific knowledge required to go farther and stay longer in space, while also benefitting life on Earth.
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      CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, alongside NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, and Christina Koch, will launch on the Artemis II mission early next year. The crew will participate in human research studies to provide insights about how the body performs in deep space as part of this mission. Credit: (NASA/James Blair) A sweeping collection of astronaut health studies planned for NASA’s Artemis II mission around the Moon will soon provide agency researchers with a glimpse into how deep space travel influences the human body, mind, and behavior.
      During an approximately 10-day mission set to launch in 2026, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen will collect and store their saliva, don wrist monitors that track movement and sleep, and offer other essential data for NASA’s Human Research Program and other agency science teams. 
      “The findings are expected to provide vital insights for future missions to destinations beyond low Earth orbit, including Mars,” said Laurie Abadie, an aerospace engineer for the program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, who strategizes about how to carry out studies on Artemis missions. “The lessons we learn from this crew will help us to more safely accomplish deep space missions and research,” she said.
      One study on the Artemis II mission, titled Immune Biomarkers, will explore how the immune system reacts to spaceflight. Another study, ARCHeR (Artemis Research for Crew Health and Readiness), will evaluate how crew members perform individually and as a team throughout the mission, including how easily they can move around within the confined space of their Orion spacecraft. Astronauts also will collect a standardized set of measurements spanning multiple physiological systems to provide a comprehensive snapshot of how spaceflight affects the human body as part of a third study called Artemis II Standard Measures. What’s more, radiation sensors placed inside the Orion capsule cells will collect additional information about radiation shielding functionality and organ-on-a-chip devices containing astronaut cells will study how deep space travel affects humans at a cellular level.
      “Artemis missions present unique opportunities, and challenges, for scientific research,” said Steven Platts, chief scientist for human research at NASA Johnson.
      Platts explained the mission will need to protect against challenges including exposure to higher radiation levels than on the International Space Station, since the crew will be farther from Earth.
      “Together, these studies will allow scientists to better understand how the immune system performs in deep space, teach us more about astronauts’ overall well-being ahead of a Mars mission, and help scientists develop ways to ensure the health and success of crew members,” he said.
      Another challenge is the relatively small quarters. The habitable volume inside Orion is about the size of a studio apartment, whereas the space station is larger than a six-bedroom house with six sleeping quarters, two bathrooms, a gym, and a 360-degree view bay window. That limitation affects everything from exercise equipment selection to how to store saliva samples.
      Previous research has shown that spaceflight missions can weaken the immune system, reactivate dormant viruses in astronauts, and put the health of the crew at risk. Saliva samples from space-based missions have enabled scientists to assess various viruses, hormones, and proteins that reveal how well the immune system works throughout the mission.
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      “We store the samples in dry conditions before rehydrating and reconstituting them,” said Brian Crucian, an immunologist with NASA Johnson who’s leading the study. After landing, those samples will be analyzed by agency researchers.
      For the ARCHeR study, participating crew members will wear movement and sleep monitors, called actigraphy devices, before, during, and after the mission. The monitors will enable crew members and flight controllers in mission control to study real-time health and behavioral information for crew safety, and help scientists study how crew members’ sleep and activity patterns affect overall health and performance. Other data related to cognition, behavior, and team dynamics will also be gathered before and after the mission.
      “Artemis missions will be the farthest NASA astronauts have ventured into space since the Apollo era,” said Suzanne Bell, a NASA psychologist based at Johnson who is leading the investigation. “The study will help clarify key mission challenges, how astronauts work as a team and with mission control, and the usability of the new space vehicle system.” 
      Another human research study, Artemis II Standard Measures, will involve collecting survey and biological data before, during, and after the Artemis II mission, though blood collection will only occur before and after the mission. Collecting dry saliva samples, conducting psychological assessments, and testing head, eye, and body movements will also be part of the work. In addition, tasks will include exiting a capsule and conducting simulated moonwalk activities in a pressurized spacesuit shortly after return to Earth to investigate how quickly astronauts recover their sense of balance following a mission.
      Crew members will provide data for these Artemis II health studies beginning about six months before the mission and extending for about a month after they return to Earth.
      NASA also plans to use the Artemis II mission to help scientists characterize the radiation environment in deep space. Several CubeSats, shoe-box sized satellites that will be deployed into high-Earth orbit during Orion’s transit to the Moon, will probe the near-Earth and deep space radiation environment. Data gathered by these CubeSats will help scientists understand how best to shield crew and equipment from harmful space radiation at various distances from Earth.
      Crew members will also keep dosimeters in their pockets that measure radiation exposure in real time. Two additional radiation-sensing technologies will also be affixed to the inside of the Orion spacecraft. One type of device will monitor the radiation environment at different shielding locations and alert crew if they need to seek shelter, such as during a solar storm. A separate collection of four radiation monitors, enabled through a partnership with the German Space Agency DLR, will be placed at various points around the cabin by the crew after launch to gather further information.
      Other technologies also positioned inside the spacecraft will gather information about the potential biological effects of the deep space radiation environment. These will include devices called organ chips that house human cells derived from the Artemis II astronauts, through a project called AVATAR (A Virtual Astronaut Tissue Analog Response). After the Artemis II lands, scientists will analyze how these organ chips responded to deep space radiation and microgravity on a cellular level.
      Together, the insights from all the human research science collected through this mission will help keep future crews safe as humanity extends missions to the Moon and ventures onward to Mars.
      ____
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