{"id":728140,"date":"2026-06-10T19:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T19:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/728140\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T19:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T19:35:10","slug":"we-managed-to-glean-some-interesting-details-about-the-artemis-iii-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/728140\/","title":{"rendered":"We managed to glean some interesting details about the Artemis III mission"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ars: You\u2019re flying Artemis III without an ICPS upper stage because you don\u2019t need the performance to reach low-Earth orbit. But you do need a second stage simulator. What\u2019s the status of that?<\/p>\n

Parsons: That, to me, is really cool. It\u2019s called a spacer, and we already have the design done. Metal is already being bump-formed at United Launch Alliance, and then we\u2019re going to weld it in-house at Marshall Space Flight Center. We expect it to show up at Kennedy Space Center no later than December, and then we\u2019ll stack Orion on top of that. We\u2019re in really good shape with that, and I\u2019m pretty psyched with the progress.<\/p>\n

Ars: So it sounds like the rocket and Orion should be good to go by mid-2027. Let\u2019s talk about the other parts, the two lunar landers and their launch vehicles. Starting with Blue Origin, you called the prototype lander they\u2019re flying for Artemis III a \u201clander test article\u201d during your remarks today. What does that mean, exactly?<\/p>\n

Parsons: It\u2019s in between Mk 1 and Mk 2. It\u2019s the same lunar crew module, which is really the most important aspect\u2014same avionics, same flight software, so we\u2019re going to get all of that component testing done. This will be the first production article of the lunar crew module, so we\u2019re also going to have the ECLSS system (environmental control and life support).<\/p>\n

The primary differences between this test article and the final lander will be the BE-7 engines, so you\u2019re not going to have cryogenics on this test. What we\u2019re going to use is storable propellants and a reaction control system because they don\u2019t need the big thrust that\u2019s needed to go to and from the Moon. That also gives us some time to really dial in what we call the dual-launch campaign. That\u2019s going to be something to really highly choreograph as we go into the Artemis IV missions and beyond.<\/p>\n


\n \"\"
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Blue Origin\u2019s Blue Moon MK1 lander, seen in the center, is taller than NASA\u2019s Apollo lunar lander, currently the largest spacecraft to have landed on the Moon. Blue Moon MK2 is even larger, but all three landers are dwarfed in size by SpaceX\u2019s Starship.<\/p>\n

\n Credit:
\n Blue Origin\n <\/p>\n

\n Blue Origin\u2019s Blue Moon MK1 lander, seen in the center, is taller than NASA\u2019s Apollo lunar lander, currently the largest spacecraft to have landed on the Moon. Blue Moon MK2 is even larger, but all three landers are dwarfed in size by SpaceX\u2019s Starship.<\/p>\n

Credit:<\/p>\n

Blue Origin<\/p>\n

Ars: Can the Blue Origin lander for Artemis III be launched on the existing 7\u00d72 variant of the New Glenn rocket?<\/p>\n

Parsons: Yes.<\/p>\n

Ars: You and other NASA officials expressed a lot of confidence in New Glenn being ready to launch this vehicle next year, even after the pad explosion<\/a> a couple of weeks ago. Is there a decision point at which you have to make a go-or-no-go call on whether to fly the Artemis III test lander on New Glenn or to consider other rockets?<\/p>\n

Parsons: So is there a decision point\u2026<\/p>\n

Ars: Like if you get to October or November of this year, and Blue Origin\u2019s launch pads for New Glenn are nowhere near ready.<\/p>\n

Parsons: I think you\u2019ve heard from Dave Limp, CEO of Blue Origin, and Jeff Bezos, and they are all in. The other thing to take into account is they had already started their second pad, so they\u2019re about a year into that development timeframe. It\u2019s going to be a dual path. They\u2019re really getting in and clearing out SLC-36 right now, and a lot of the key hardware is in really good shape.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ars: You\u2019re flying Artemis III without an ICPS upper stage because you don\u2019t need the performance to reach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":728141,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[49,48,66,306],"class_list":["post-728140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=728140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/728141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=728140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=728140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=728140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}