Technology from Redwire Playing Vital Role in Artemis I Mission
Technology from Redwire is supporting the Artemis I mission, set to launch this (Monday) morning from the Cape Canaveral in Florida.
“Our technical contributions to this historic mission are emblematic of the innovation and strength of the American industrial supply base that anchors our nation’s space program."
Andrew Rush, Redwire President and COO.
Redwire is providing an array of internal and external inspection and navigation cameras comprising the Orion Camera System, under a contract with Lockheed Martin. The 11 internal and in-vacuum cameras that make up the Orion Camera System will allow in-flight inspection of the entire spacecraft from the docking hatch to the main engine, provide data to the Camera Controller for machine vision processing to determine Orion’s position and velocity relative to Earth and record and stream high-quality video of key mission events such as separation, jettison, deployment and release events.
The technology from Redwire aboard the Artemis I rocket also includes a mission-unique kit that includes a virtual reality camera and forward-facing console camera that will be flying on the Artemis I mission. The company is also providing four redundant Coarse Sun Sensor (CSS) detector assemblies for Orion’s European Service Module (ESM) through a contract with Airbus. The CSS detectors are part of Orion’s solar power generation system and will provide important data to the Solar Array Drive Electronics to adjust the ESM’s solar panels.
Following successful initial development and delivery of camera system hardware for the Artemis I and Artemis II missions, Redwire was awarded a follow-on contract in March 2021, which adds Artemis missions III through V, with options for Artemis VI through VIII. Redwire has already successfully delivered CSS assemblies for future Artemis missions and is under contract with Airbus to provide these assemblies for all Artemis missions through ESM-6.
“We are proud to support NASA’s flagship exploration program as our technology serves as the eyes of Orion, seeing America return to the Moon in preparation for more ambitious space exploration missions in the decades to come,” said Andrew Rush, Redwire President and COO. “Our technical contributions to this historic mission are emblematic of the innovation and strength of the American industrial supply base that anchors our nation’s space program. Redwire technology has supported over 50 years of NASA exploration and we are excited to build on that legacy in this new era of discovery.”
Redwire’s high performance space camera systems for human and robotic spacecraft can support multiple commercial, civil space and defense mission applications including machine vision, optical navigation, science, remote sensing, photogrammetry, inspection, video monitoring and mission documentation. Redwire cameras are also being utilized for a NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services mission.
Redwire’s CSS technology has successfully performed in highly elliptical, geostationary and low- and medium-Earth orbits, on various interplanetary missions to the Moon and Mars and in deep space. CSS technology is currently providing critical navigation capability on GPS, NASA’s Lucy mission to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids, NASA’s IXPE mission to observe black holes and neutron stars and NOAA’s GOES platforms for Earth weather monitoring.
(Images provided with Redwire news releases)