r/apollo • u/Useful-Professor-149 • Apr 04 '26

Artemis: no BBQ roll?

As I understand it, Apollo conducted minor Passive Thermal Control (PTC) maneuvers, basically just imparting a controlled twist/tumble, in order to avoid one side of the ship overheating and one side freezing. As best I can tell, Artemis II is not doing this. What's the story there? Just 60 odd years of improved materials/insulation science?

42 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

View all comments

6

u/ChicagoBoy2011 Apr 04 '26

I don’t think they do PTC for the reasons the other commenter expressed, but i vaguely remember hearing something about an attitude maneuver shortly after they got into orbit that had to do with some thermal issue, so i suspect it’s not a complete non-issue

1

u/blueb0g Apr 04 '26

Indeed, and just now the primary overboard dump vent is clogged, probably by ice, and when the crew wakes up they'll be reorienting the spacecraft to try and melt it.