At this week’s International Astronautical Congress, European space officials will sign final contracts and announce plans for a series of missions via the Artemis program to send humans back to the Moon by 2024.
NASA will join forces with the Canadian and Japanese space agencies to execute these missions, which will include:
- The construction of crew lodges for an orbiting lunar space station called the Gateway.
- Developing the power and propulsion units for the Orion spacecraft,
- Creating modern spacesuits for greater flexibility and movement than those of their Apollo predecessors and deep space exploration.
- Designing and building an elaborate communication and refueling unit, known as Esprit, to serve astronauts on the Moon.
The Gateway will provide support for a sustainable, long-term human return to the Moon and will act as a base for both astronauts and robots exploring lunar surfaces and deep space exploration. It’s a crucial component of the Artemis program. “The decisions have been made, and now the lunar spaceport is a go,” said David Parker, the director of human and robotic exploration for the European Space Agency (ESA).
The Artemis program plans to open up the Moon to scientific examination, similar to how Antarctica opened up in the second part of the last century.
Parker explained:
The Moon is like an eighth continent. It’s an astronomical museum that has been soaking up the history of our solar system for more than 4 billion years. When we went there with Apollo, we basically went to the museum gift shop, grabbed a few souvenirs, and came home. Now we are going to explore it properly.
The Artemis missions will search the lunar’s south pole for the existence of frozen water. Evidence from robot lunar examinations have suggested that ice is present on the Moon, and finding it would be crucial for the construction of future lunar colonies. Electrolysis can separate water into its fundamental hydrogen and oxygen elements, which can then provide the astronauts with fuel and air.
The Orion spacecraft will be the primary vehicle used to transport astronauts to the Moon. In 2021, an uncrewed flight will test Nasa’s Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket and Orion spacecraft together. ESA has already produced the power and propulsion units for the initial Orion flight and is currently building an additional five units.
The Falcon Heavy is the world’s most powerful rocket. However, once the SLS takes off, it will take the title for the most powerful rocket in the world.
