An illustration of a costumed Artemis astronaut looking out of the hatch of a lunar lander across the Moon… [+] surface, the lunar rover and other surface elements.
NASA
After successfully launching this week, NASA’s Artemis program is finally live. Artemis-I has already provided a test for NASA’s new heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS) — which passed with flying colors — and the Orion spacecraft is now on its way to the Moon. It will splash in Baja, California on December 11, 2022.
However, Artemis-I is only the first of eight or more incredible missions to the Moon, and all but this current Orion flyby will be manned. By 2025 we should see two astronauts land on the surface of the Moon for the first time since 1973, as the Artemis-III missions say NASA will land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon.
Here’s exactly what the Artemis-I, Artemis-II, and Artemis-III missions and beyond will accomplish and when:
What will I do Artemis?
Artemis-1 marks the beginning of humanity’s return to the Moon. Now on its first flight and on its way to the Moon, NASA’s Orion spacecraft, along with its European Service Module (ESM), will enter an elliptical orbit around our natural satellite and s ‘will bury 21 miles from its surface. In the following days, it will reach about 40,000 miles further. That’s farther than any human-built spacecraft has ever flown. It will then return for an even closer flyby of the Moon on its way home.
With a duration of 25 days, Artemis-I is basically an integrated system prior to the planned manned flights to the Moon in 2024 (Artemis-II) and 2025 (Artemis-III).
Artemis-II: The first manned mission to the Moon since 1972
After the Artemis-I mission comes Artemis-II, nominally in 2024. It will be the first manned lunar flyby of the 21st century. Largely a manned repeat of the Artemis-1 repeat, but with four astronauts on board to test Orion’s life support systems, Artemis-II will likely be a 10-day mission with two Earth orbits before of going 4,600 miles beyond the far side. of the Moon
SpaceX Starship Lunar Test Flight
In April 2021, SpaceX was selected by NASA to develop a human landing system variant of its Starship vehicle to carry astronauts to the lunar surface during NASA’s Artemis-III mission. As part of this contract, SpaceX will conduct an unmanned demonstration mission to the Moon before Artemis III.
The spacecraft has yet to successfully complete an orbital test flight, but is expected to do so in 2022.
Artist’s rendering of the SpaceX Starship human lander design.
SpaceX
Artemis-III: Two astronauts land on the Moon
Here comes the big one. The plan is to put the first woman and first person of color on the surface of the Moon somewhere near its south pole, probably in 2025. It will come 53 years after the last humans to set foot on the lunar surface: astronauts from the ‘Apollo 17, Jack Schmitt and Gene Cernan in 1972.
It is a complex mission of 30 days. During Artemis-III, the Orion spacecraft will carry astronauts into lunar orbit where it will dock with an orbiting hub called the Lunar Gateway (which will have been built over five launches by private space companies under contract to NASA).
The astronauts will then board a docked SpaceX Starship vehicle to descend to the lunar surface. It will likely be dark at the landing site, which will be six degrees of latitude from the lunar south pole, so it will contain permanently shadowed regions unlike any region of the Moon previously explored by Apollo astronauts. “Several of the proposed sites within the regions are among some of the oldest parts of the Moon and, along with the permanently shadowed regions, provide an opportunity to learn about the history of the Moon through unstudied lunar materials previously,” said Sarah Noble. , Artemis Lunar Science Leader for NASA’s Planetary Science Division.
After four spacewalks in 6.5 days, Starship would lift off and dock again with the Lunar Gateway. The crew would transfer to Orion and bring it home to Earth for splashdown.
Artemis-III astronauts will be selected later this year, while landing sites will be chosen after NASA identifies the mission’s target launch dates, which dictate the transfer trajectories and the darkness of every place
Here is a rendering of 13 candidate landing regions for Artemis III. Each region is… [+] approximately 9.3 by 9.3 miles (15 by 15 kilometers). A landing site is a location within these regions with an approximate radius of 100 meters (328 feet).
NASA
The Artemis Program after 2025
More Artemis missions each year until 2030 will help build the Lunar Gateway’s habitation module. Each year a crew will launch to the lunar gateway, with robotic missions delivering lunar landers to the lunar gateway in preparation for three astronaut landings on the lunar surface.
Artemis IV (2027)
Astronauts will help build the Lunar Gate habitation module and descend to the lunar surface. NASA announced this week that it has awarded a contract extension to SpaceX to once again provide its Starship vehicle for Artemis IV.
Artemis V (2028)
Astronauts will descend on the lunar surface;
Artemis VI (2029)
Astronauts will install a robotic arm on the Lunar Gateway and descend to the lunar surface;
Artemis VII (2030) and Artemis VIII (2031)
Astronauts will land on the lunar surface on one of these missions.
“Returning astronauts to the Moon to learn, live and work is a bold endeavor,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “With multiple landers planned, from SpaceX and future partners, NASA will be better positioned to achieve the missions of tomorrow: doing more science on the surface of the Moon than ever before and preparing for manned missions to Mars.”
I wish you clear skies and wide eyes.