Time to go back to the moon.
Almost 50 years after the last Apollo mission dared to reach the lunar surface, NASA has created a program that promises to land humans on unexplored lunar regions and eventually on the surface of Mars – and it all started with Artemis I.
It is no coincidence that the Artemis program is named after the twin sister of Apollo from Greek mythology. Artemis will pick up where the famed Apollo program left off in 1972 by sending crewed missions to the Moon, but in a new way.
The goals of the Artemis program include landing various crews of astronauts on the moon and exploring the shadowy lunar south pole for the first time. The ambitious effort also aims to establish a sustainable presence on the moon and create reusable systems that can enable human exploration of Mars and perhaps beyond.
But none of this is possible without first taking a big leap. When Artemis I launches on August 29, the uncrewed mission will test every new component that will make future deep space exploration possible before humans make the journey in 2024 and 2025 aboard Artemis II and Artemis III, respectively.
The mission team expects liftoff of the new Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft between 8:33 a.m. and 10:33 a.m. ET on Aug. 29 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with alternate launch windows on Sept. 2 and Sept. 5.
After liftoff from Earth, Artemis I will go on a 42-day mission. During the trip, the Orion spacecraft will travel 40,000 miles (64,000 kilometers) beyond the Moon — 30,000 miles (48,000 kilometers) farther than the record set during Apollo 13. This time, it mimics the trip that the Artemis crew II will undertake in 2024
It will be the most distant spacecraft ever built for humans, according to NASA officials.
Historic launch pad 39B is no stranger to monster rockets, as NASA Administrator Bill Nelson pointed out at a press conference earlier in August. It was once home to the Saturn V rocket that carried the Apollo missions to the moon and took off with 7.6 million pounds of thrust. The SLS rocket will hit the pad with 8.8 million pounds of thrust.
“As we board Artemis’ first test flight, we remember this agency’s storied past, but our eyes are set not on the near future, but somewhere out there,” Nelson said.
“This is a future where NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the moon. And on these increasingly complex missions, astronauts will live and work in deep space, and we will advance the science and technology to send the first humans to Mars.”
A NEW GENERATION OF RESEARCH
A return to the Moon, with an eye toward an eventual trip to Mars, requires a new trip.
Lessons learned from the Apollo and shuttle programs informed the design of the Space Launch System rocket, the world’s most powerful rocket. The Mega Lunar Rocket will propel the spacecraft nearly 1,000 times farther from the location of the International Space Station into low Earth orbit. The SLS rocket will accelerate Orion to a speed of 22,600 miles per hour (36,370 kilometers per hour) to escape Earth’s gravity and reach the Moon.
“This is the only rocket capable of sending Orion, crew and supplies into deep space in a single launch,” said John Honeycutt, Space Launch System program manager at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
Atop the rocket is the Orion spacecraft, designed to carry crew through deep space and safely return astronauts to Earth.
The spacecraft has a crew module, a service module, and a launch abort system that has the ability to take the spacecraft and its crew to safety during any emergency that may occur during launch or ascent. Orion’s trajectory through space will test the craft’s ability to maintain communication with Earth from beyond the Moon and protect its crew from radiation.
Below the Orion is the European service module.
“This is the power part of the vehicle, where it has the primary propulsion, power and life support resources that we need for Artemis I,” said Howard Hu, Orion program manager at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The Orion spacecraft has hardware and software that will allow future crews to have a complete picture of what’s happening with their vehicle when they’re thousands of miles from home, Hu said.
One of the biggest tests for Orion could be testing its heat shield, the largest ever built.
When the spacecraft returns to Earth in October, it will encounter temperatures half that of the Sun’s surface and hit Earth’s upper atmosphere at 25,000 miles per hour (40,200 kilometers per hour) — that’s 32 times the speed of sound, Nelson said.
“Orion will come home faster and hotter than any spacecraft before at Mach 32,” Nelson said. “On the space shuttle, we were at Mach 25, which is about 17,500 miles per hour (28,160 kilometers per hour).” (Mach 1 is the speed of sound.)
The heat shield has been tested on Earth, but the return from space is the only real test that simulations can’t fully replicate.
“The re-entry will be great to demonstrate our heat shield capability, ensuring the spacecraft comes home safely and of course for future missions, protecting the crew,” Hu said.
THE ULTIMATE TEST
All targets for the Artemis inaugural flight will demonstrate capabilities needed when Orion takes humans into deep space. The list includes an overall safe flight, the performance of the SLS rocket, testing of the heat shield and the recovery of the spacecraft after it falls into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego.
Orion won’t carry a crew on this initial mission, but it will be loaded with data from the flight — including sensors attached to some much-needed passengers. Three dummies will ride aboard Artemis I to simulate what humans might experience, and data from their sensors will reveal how much vibration they experienced, as well as radiation exposure and the usefulness of their flight suits and radiation vests.
Because Artemis I is a test flight, the Artemis team is willing to take more risks, said Mike Sarafin, NASA’s Artemis I mission manager. Taking those risks now can eliminate problems when the actual crew is on board, he said.
But more than all the data and science the mission team will gather is the idea of rekindling human exploration of space by taking a big step forward from Apollo to Artemis.
“Artemis I shows that we can do great things, things that bring people together, things that benefit humanity — things like Apollo that inspire the world,” Nelson said. “And to all of us who look up at the moon and dream of the day when humanity returns to the lunar surface: People, we are here, we are going back, and this journey, our journey, begins with Artemis I.”
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