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dpdxguy t1_ixqff19 wrote

>engineers have six days to see how spacecraft fares in deep space

It's been away from earth for almost ten days now. Why do they think the next six will be the ones that show how it fares in deep space?

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HeyImGilly t1_ixqtsyv wrote

My guess is that they have sensors on board that will tell NASA how well a human would have done in the capsule. For example, radiation exposure.

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kldload t1_ixqv3fd wrote

They do. There are stunt dummies loaded with hundreds of sensors of all varieties

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alexfilmwriting t1_ixrdb1r wrote

First I'd heard specifically what's inside the crew compartment. Seems like the most sensible way to do it.

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[deleted] t1_ixre9ce wrote

[removed]

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drunkandpassedout t1_ixrkwkh wrote

And a Shaun the Sheep strapped in. Snoopy is just floating around the cabin.

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PolymerSledge t1_ixrdv81 wrote

Folks don't appreciate how cosmic radiation is the biggest no go for humans in space.

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kldload t1_ixqv12h wrote

Passing the van Allen belt, cabin temperature homeostasis, electrical fault tolerance. There are myriad issues that may not surface until a long time in space

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Accomplished-Crab932 t1_ixr14di wrote

Nah, they passed both layers of the Van Allen Belts on their way over, they are likely continuing testing of communications and navigation systems in flight.

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Wooden_Ad_3096 t1_ixqim1z wrote

They got to watch out for the space spaghetti

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Downvotes_dumbasses t1_ixqnr5p wrote

Don't they know that the flying spaghetti monster lives on the far side of the moon?

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BizzyM t1_ixr6od0 wrote

That deep on the "wrong" side of the Moon, they are afraid the hubcaps will be stolen.

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Kichigai t1_ixrzyhi wrote

Among everything else folks have said for reasons, doesn't hurt to do some endurance testing. If we're gonna put a few people inside this tin can for 2+ weeks we may as well know for sure how well the craft will hold up for that long.

Maybe we'll discover that some heat sink is inadequately dispersing heat, and it's only through long term operation that we can see this happening. Maybe whatever newfangled material we're making the windows out of start to delaminate, but only after prolonged bombardment by cosmic rays.

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dpdxguy t1_ixs9dwg wrote

>doesn't hurt to do some endurance testing.

Sure. But op said the next six days would be telling. The question I had was, "Why will the next six days tell us stuff that the previous and however remain following the six won't tell?" I suspect the answer is, "They won't. It's the entire mission outside of LEO and Van Allen Belt transit that will tell us how it handles 'deep space.'"

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Xengard t1_ixqo4ju wrote

i think its because the space between the earth and moon is called "cislunar space", probably because its different in terms of orbital mechanics? idk

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Sleepiboisleep t1_ixr4z6g wrote

We know the area around earth and the moon we’ll enough to be successful in a launch outside our atmosphere. Once the rocket orbits and propels itself into space we know less about asteroid orbit and the debris of space so depending on those next six days they have to make a decision about the progress and stability of the craft before letting it continue

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dpdxguy t1_ixredpd wrote

You know we've been sending spacecraft far past the moon since the 70s, right? The Webb telescope is parked on the far side of the Moon, far further more distant from the Earth than Artimis I is going.

EDIT: learned that Webb is not on the far side of the Moon as I had erroneously thought. It is, however, far further from the Earth than any planned Artimis mission.

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RE5TE t1_ixrj7m6 wrote

> The Webb telescope is parked on the far side of the Moon, far further than Artimis I is going.

It's farther away from Earth, but is not on the far side of the moon:

>Lagrange point 2 — a gravitationally stable location in space. The telescope arrived at L2, the second sun-Earth Lagrange point on Jan. 24, 2022. > >L2 is a spot in space near Earth that lies opposite the sun; this orbit will allow the telescope to stay in line with Earth as it orbits the sun.

https://www.space.com/21925-james-webb-space-telescope-jwst.html

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wgp3 t1_ixrortx wrote

You...you do know the moon orbits the earth? So something beyond the distance of the moon from the earth will by definition be on the far side of the moon when the moon passes between the spacecraft and the earth. The sun. Mars. Jwst. All of them are past "the far side of the moon" even though technically the near side is sometimes looking at them face on.

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Iz-kan-reddit t1_ixseju9 wrote

>So something beyond the distance of the moon from the earth will by definition be on the far side of the moon when the moon passes between the spacecraft and the earth.

That only means it's occasionally correct but usually incorrect.

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dpdxguy t1_ixsasxo wrote

Thanks. For some reason I had thought Webb is at the Earth Moon L2 point, instead of the Sun Earth L2 point. Not sure how I got that wrong, but I appreciate knowing the truth.

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