NASA will hold a trio of media teleconferences the week of Aug. 14 to preview the science and technology payloads that will fly as part of the agencys Artemis I flight test. NASA also will provide livestream coverage of Artemis Is move to the launch pad ahead of its targeted no earlier than Monday Aug. 29 liftoff.
Artemis I is an uncrewed flight test, the first in a series of increasingly complex missions to the Moon. Through Artemis, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and serving as a steppingstone to send astronauts to Mars.
Ten shoebox-size secondary payloads, called CubeSats, are hitching a ride to space on Artemis Is Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and several other investigations are flying inside the Orion spacecraft during the flight test. Each of the payloads will perform science and technology experiments in deep space, expanding understanding of lunar science, technology developments, and deep space radiation.
Audio of all three briefings will livestream on NASAswebsite. The briefings include (all times Eastern):
Monday, Aug. 15
5 p.m. Lunar science payloads teleconference with the following participants:
- Dr. Jacob Bleacher, NASA chief exploration scientist
- Craig Hardgrove, principal investigator, NASA LunaH-Map
- Tatsuaki Hashimoto, project manager for OMOTENASHI, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
- Ryu Funase, project manager for EQUULEUS, JAXA
- Ben Malphrus, NASA principal investigator, Lunar IceCube
- Joseph Shoer, architect for Small Sat missions, Lockheed Martin
Tuesday, Aug. 16
Noon Technology demonstration and solar system science payloads teleconference with the following participants:
- Patrick Troutman, strategy and architectures liaison for NASAs Moon to Mars Architecture Development Office
- Dustin Gohmert, Orion crew survival systems project manager, NASAs Johnson Space Center
- Raffaele Mugnuolo, ArgoMoon program manager, Italian Space Agency
- Rob Chambers, director of commercial civil space strategy, Lockheed Martin
- Wesley Faler, team lead, Team Miles
- Julie Castillo-Rogez, NASA principal science investigator, NEAScout
- Les Johnson, NASA principal technology investigator, NEA Scout
Wednesday, Aug. 17
Noon Radiation secondary payloads teleconference with the following participants:
- Ramona Gaza, MARE science team lead, NASA
- Thomas Berger, Helga and Zohar principal investigator, German Aerospace Center
- Oren Milstein, chief executive officer, StemRad
- Ye Zhang, plant biology program scientist, NASA Biological and Physical Sciences
- Sergio Santa Maria, BioSentinel lead scientist, NASA
- Mihi I. Desai, CuSP principal investigator, NASA
