Including Radiative Heating for the Design of the Orion Backshell for Artemis-1

This paper presents a history of the assumptions that led to backshell radiative heating being ignored for Earth entry prior to 2015. The errors in these assumptions are identified, which are the result of limitations in both the theory and relevant measurements available during the Apollo era. The process of including this new heating component within a few months of its discovery to the design of the Orion capsule for Artemis-1 is discussed, which required efficient simulation techniques developed at NASA over the past 20 years. Artemis-1 flight measurements indicate that this nearly missed radiative heating component was the dominant heating mechanism over a large section of the Orion backshell. This confirms the importance of identifying and including this backshell radiative heating component for the Orion backshell design, which will be used for future crewed Artemis flights.