Artemis II won’t hit ocean splashdown because of fuel—what is the real reason for the blazing reentry?
Show answer & explanation
Answer: Air gets violently compressed in front of the capsule
Leftover rocket fuel ignites around the heat shield — Wrong because the bright sheath is not leftover fuel burning. Orion is largely coasting home, and the dangerous heat comes from atmospheric compression at extreme speed.
Ocean salt makes the capsule spark on the way down — Wrong because the fireball forms high in the atmosphere long before ocean splashdown. Sea water has nothing to do with the main heating event.
Air gets violently compressed in front of the capsule ✓ — At lunar-return speeds, Orion slams into the atmosphere so fast that the air in front of it is compressed into superheated plasma. The heat shield is there to survive that compressed-air heating, not to burn off extra fuel.