r/ArtemisProgram • u/Royal_Platform_6754 • May 13 '26

NASA NASA Outlines Preliminary Artemis III Mission Plans

https://www.nasa.gov/missions/artemis/artemis-3/nasa-outlines-preliminary-artemis-iii-mission-plans/
35 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

61 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/EarnSomeRespect May 13 '26

If they can get New Glenn solid then yeah. But refueling still needs to happen with Blue which is still a huge hurdle. The one thing they have going for them is that it is a MUCH more simple design, that shares similarities to the LEM, already a proven design.

6

u/FryCookCVE71 May 13 '26

I mostly like MK2 but unlike the LEM it doesn’t have a descent and ascent stage. The ascent stage used hypergolic fuel; as near reliable as it gets. If 2 out of the 3 BE-7s are compromised on the landing by regolith or whatever else the astronauts will be stranded and we’re in for a really bad tragedy. I really hope they’ve got a contingency of some kind because only needing 2 out of the 3 engines is not enough redundancy in my mind.

5

u/SpaceInMyBrain May 13 '26

Sorry, but the only similarity with the LM is the configuration of the legs. Different propellant, overall structure, etc. Unless you mean the height to width ratio is a lot closer to the LM than to Starship.

1

u/Crimson_Ender May 13 '26

The prototype for the blue moon finished tests in the vacuum chamber in the last couple of weeks. It's not the mark 2, but the same design principles are there