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NASA’s Artemis Preview Weekend
May 28, 2022 @ 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Celebrate our first steps back to the Moon!
May 28-29
10 a.m.- 5 p.m.
Free with admission
In Artemis I, the most powerful rocket in the world takes flight, leading the way for humanity’s return to the Moon. To mark this summer’s historic launch, NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley is taking over Chabot Space & Science Center with a day of hands-on learning. Get ready to explore NASA’s next big mission with a new rover model unveiling, interactive activities, conversations with NASA scientists and technology from Ames.
VIPER Rover rolls into Chabot
See a full scale model of NASA’s Artemis lunar rover, the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER. Launching in 2023, this rover is heading to the Moon’s South Pole in search of ice and other potential resources. Its 100-day mission will answer big questions about lunar water and how it can be used for future human space exploration.
Explore NASA Throughout the Center
VIPER, Rotunda
See a full-scale model of NASA’s Moon rover, the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER and meet scientists and engineers who are working on NASA’s first lunar rover. Part of NASA’s Artemis missions, which will return astronauts to the Moon and land the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface, this rover is heading to the Moon’s South Pole in search of ice and other potential resources. Its 100-day mission will answer big questions about lunar water and how it can be used for future human space exploration.
Orion, Studio 1
Meet scientists and engineers who helped shape and test the NASA’s Orion spacecraft which is being built to take humans farther than they’ve ever gone before. Orion will serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry crew to space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel, and provide safe re-entry from space.
Capstone, Mezzanine
A microwave oven–sized CubeSat weighing just 55 pounds will serve as the first spacecraft to test a unique, elliptical lunar orbit as part of the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE). As a pathfinder for Gateway, a Moon-orbiting outpost that is part of NASA’s Artemis program, CAPSTONE will help reduce risk for future spacecraft by validating innovative navigation technologies and verifying the dynamics of this halo-shaped orbit. Meet scientists and engineers from the project and see a full-scale model of the satellite.
BioSentinel, Studio 2
When future astronauts set off on long journeys deeper into space, they will be venturing into more perilous radiation environments and will need substantial protection. With the help of a biology experiment that will study the effects of deep space radiation on a living microorganism – yeast – onboard a small satellite called BioSentinel, scientists are taking an early step toward finding solutions. Meet scientists and engineers who are preparing for BioSentinel’s launch on Artemis I!
oSTEM Office of STEM engagement, Studio 3
NASA’s journeys have propelled technological breakthroughs, pushed the frontiers of scientific research, and expanded our understanding of the universe. These accomplishments, and those to come, share a common genesis: education in science, technology, engineering, and math. Test your own STEM skills with OSTEM!
Talks with NASA Scientists
Saturday
12 p.m. Orion Aerosciences: Aerothermal Database Development by Ryan McDaniel, Studio 3
The design of the Orion spacecraft’s thermal protection system (TPS) is based largely on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analyses. The aerothermal environments on the smooth outer mold line geometry were predicted with a database that was anchored with hundreds of high-fidelity solutions for convective and radiative heating. To account for geometric deviations from the smooth OML, heating augmentation models were developed for locations such heatshield fences/gaps, the vehicle shoulder, and reaction control system (RCS) plumes. Most of these models are based on CFD, although ground and flight test data were used where available. The computational tools, analysis methods, and key data products used to develop Orion’s aerothermal database will be presented.
About Ryan McDaniel
Ryan McDaniel is an aerospace engineer in the Aerothermodynamics Branch at NASA Ames Research Center where he has worked since 2000. He primarily performs computational aerothermal analyses of atmospheric entry vehicles in support of thermal protection system (TPS) designs for spacecraft. He is currently the Ames Lead for the Orion aerothermal database development work performed at the center.
1:30 p.m. NASA History in the Bay Area from before Apollo up to the present with Artemis by James Anderson, Studio 3
Before Artemis and before Apollo, Ames Research Center evolved as a special place where state-of-the-art facilities and world-class talent melded to produce cutting-edge research in fields such as aerodynamics, thermodynamics, simulation, space and life sciences, and intelligent systems. Basic and applied research have been cornerstones of Ames since its founding as an aeronautical laboratory. This talk will give an overview of Ames history and how that past connects to the present.
About James Anderson
James Anderson is a NASA historian based at Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. He holds master’s degrees in the history of science and in film production. One of his current projects is preparing a history of NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, mission. The rover is planned for delivery to the lunar surface in late 2023 under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.
Sunday
12 p.m. Experiences and Lessons of the Orion Heat Shield by Jeremy Vander Kam, Studio 3
The Orion Heat Shield is the largest ablative Heat Shield ever built. While there are no moving parts, the Heat Shield is one of the most complex design problems on Orion and provides numerous opportunities to learn about the design and certification of complex systems by large, distributed teams. Technical challenges such as cracking, mass reduction, complex manufacturing, and the inability to test at scale interact with programmatic challenges of budget, schedule, and team dynamics.
Several specific experiences are presented, including cracks in the EFT-1 Heat Shield, post-flight analysis of the only recovered ablative system publicly available, and the evolution of a new design for future missions.
About Jeremy Vander Kam
Jeremy Vander Kam is the deputy Thermal Protection System (TPS) manager for Orion. Jeremy started on Orion as the TPS Risk Manager, under the TPS Advanced Development Project (ADP) in 2006 and has since overseen the full lifecycle of the Orion TPS design, including the EFT-1 flight test in December 2014. For the EFT-1 flight, Jeremy supported recovery operations from the US Navy recovery ship and performed the first TPS inspections of the EFT-1 vehicle – something he will repeat for Artemis 1. Jeremy joined NASA Ames in 2000 as a contractor and transitioned to the civil service in 2003. Jeremy received a B.S in both Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering in 1998 and an M.S. in Engineering in 2000 from U.C Davis.
1:30 p.m. NASA History in the Bay Area from before Apollo up to the present with Artemis by James Anderson, Studio 3
Before Artemis and before Apollo, Ames Research Center evolved as a special place where state-of-the-art facilities and world-class talent melded to produce cutting-edge research in fields such as aerodynamics, thermodynamics, simulation, space and life sciences, and intelligent systems. Basic and applied research have been cornerstones of Ames since its founding as an aeronautical laboratory. This talk will give an overview of Ames history and how that past connects to the present.
About James Anderson
James Anderson is a NASA historian based at Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. He holds master’s degrees in the history of science and in film production. One of his current projects is preparing a history of NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, mission. The rover is planned for delivery to the lunar surface in late 2023 under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.
3 p.m. Orion Aerosciences: Aerothermal Database Development by Ryan McDaniel, Studio 3
The design of the Orion spacecraft’s thermal protection system (TPS) is based largely on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analyses. The aerothermal environments on the smooth outer mold line geometry were predicted with a database that was anchored with hundreds of high-fidelity solutions for convective and radiative heating. To account for geometric deviations from the smooth OML, heating augmentation models were developed for locations such heatshield fences/gaps, the vehicle shoulder, and reaction control system (RCS) plumes. Most of these models are based on CFD, although ground and flight test data were used where available. The computational tools, analysis methods, and key data products used to develop Orion’s aerothermal database will be presented.
About Ryan McDaniel
Ryan McDaniel is an aerospace engineer in the Aerothermodynamics Branch at NASA Ames Research Center where he has worked since 2000. He primarily performs computational aerothermal analyses of atmospheric entry vehicles in support of thermal protection system (TPS) designs for spacecraft. He is currently the Ames Lead for the Orion aerothermal database development work performed at the center.
