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Where can I learn about the actual science behind Artemis II?
I haven't really seen any videos or articles that explain how it works, what each component does, or like... what kind of fuel it uses, or what an SRB is or you know like the actual numbers and the math and such. I don't know much about rockets but I would like to learn. the official nasa website and youtube channel seem to be... dumbed down and also doesn't actually explain much about Artemis II except for showing images and videos taken from it/of it
Might seem like a bit of a cop-out but I’ve been really interested in this as well and ChatGPT has done a great job finding the answers I’m looking for, with links to official NASA sources. I recommend adding “Show your sources.” to prompts to hedge against hallucination. The only real frustration I’ve had has been where certain design details are considered trade secrets, officially and deliberately obscured from the public record. I’m not a fan of obfuscationism from public science agencies.
Maybe you have already seen these, but:
Everyday Astronaut has a 14-minute video called Artemis II: Everything You Need to Know which is a fairly good overview of the crew, the service module, the rockets and the mission timeline, with plenty of numbers thrown at you.
Scott Manley's 24-minute video titled Artemis II Explained -- With Kerbal Space Program uses the KSP video game to give a more detailed step-by-step explanation of the mission timeline and the tech involved.
Scott Manley also has a pretty good 16-minute video titled What's The Big Deal About Artemis -- NASA's New Massive Moon Rocket that he made for Artemis I and which goes through the rocket tech in detail.
For an idea how the SLS vehicle that launched Artemis II compares with other rockets, Everyday Astronaut has a couple of older videos that you might find interesting: Artemis vs Apollo: Is Artemis an Improvement, SLS vs Starship: Why does SLS still exist. Just keep in mind that they are a few years old so some things (if not tech, at least politics and the public perception of some people involved) may have changed.
Good suggestions so far, but here's another: Nasa's Artemis II Reference Guide (138 pages!). NASA does indeed have a lot of this information scattered out there, but it's pretty spread out and not indexed or centralized.
Since you specifically mention Science, here's a list of the experiments onboard: https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/artemis-ii-science/