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The Artemis II Capsule Will Be Twice as Hot as the Sun During Its Re-Entry. A Hypersonics Expert Explains How They Will Survive
- After completing their ten-day mission, the Artemis crew returns to Earth today, April 10, 2026, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.
- Moving at more than 11 km/s , the Orion capsule enters Earth's atmosphere where extreme heat transforms air into electrically charged plasma, temporarily blocking radio signals during descent.
- To survive these conditions, the spacecraft maintains a maximum heat shield surface temperature of around 3,000°C using AVCOAT, an ablative material that protected the Apollo capsule returning from the Moon.
- The Orion capsule carries almost 2,000 times as much kinetic energy per kilogram of vehicle as a passenger jet, requiring aerodynamic drag to reduce this energy nearly to zero for safe splashdown.
- Reaching a maximum distance of 406,771 kilometres from Earth, the four astronauts set a new human travel record while enduring forces upwards of 100, testing the limits of human spaceflight.
11 Articles
11 Articles
2,760 Degrees Celsius, 40,000 Kmph: Artemis II Re-entry Had NASA On The Edge
The mission's tenth day brought the biggest challenge - a high-stakes re-entry into the Earth's orbit at speeds reaching 40,000 kilometres per hour and temperatures of 2,760 degrees Celsius.
Plasma, radio silence and a heat shield that once failed: What the Artemis 2-Crew expects when re-entering the atmosphere.
The Artemis II Capsule Will be Twice as Hot as the Sun During its Re-entry. A Hypersonics Expert Explains How They Will Survive
The high-speed, hypersonic and extremely hot re-entry is the last challenge the Artemis II crew will have to endure on their epic 10-day mission.
The Orion capsule, from the Artemis 2 mission, will land in the Pacific Ocean, near the coast of San Diego, in the United States, this Friday (April 10, 2026). The final stage of the mission, which is reentry into the Earth's atmosphere, is considered one of the most critical of the entire flight. In just over 12 minutes, the spacecraft goes from hypersonic speeds to a controlled landing in the sea, facing extreme temperatures and intense forces…
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