Artemis program
The Artemis program is an ambitious initiative by NASA aimed at returning humans to the moon by 2024, marking the first manned lunar landing since 1972. Named after the Greek goddess of the moon and the twin sister of Apollo, this program seeks to establish a sustainable human presence on the lunar surface, including a base camp near the moon's south pole. The Artemis mission will utilize the Space Launch System (SLS), a powerful rocket developed from Space Shuttle technology, alongside the Orion crew capsule, which can carry four astronauts.
Initially proposed in 2017, the Artemis program is projected to cost around $35 billion and has received bipartisan support, ensuring its progress under both the Trump and Biden administrations. The project emphasizes international collaboration and partnerships with private companies, such as SpaceX, which has been contracted to develop a lunar lander. The missions include Artemis I, an uncrewed test flight, followed by Artemis II, which will carry a crew on a lunar flyby, and finally, Artemis III, targeting a landing near the moon's south pole. Plans also include the construction of the Lunar Gateway, a space station in lunar orbit, and a permanent lunar base camp to facilitate future exploration and scientific research.
Artemis program
The Artemis program is a planned mission by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to send humans back to the moon by 2024. It will be the first time that humans have landed on the moon since 1972. NASA intends to establish both a space station in lunar orbit and a surface base camp near the moon’s south pole. The project’s launch system will use powerful rockets based on technology from the former Space Shuttle program. The crew capsule, named Orion, will be able to transport up to four astronauts on each mission. The project was originally proposed in 2017, and as of 2021, is still on track for a 2024 landing. The name Artemis was chosen because of its two-fold meaning. Artemis was not only the Greek goddess of the moon, but also the twin sister of Apollo, the name of the NASA program that landed humans on the moon in 1969.
Background
The Apollo program was created in 1961 and tasked with landing astronauts on the moon by the end of the 1960s. Apollo cost about $25 billion—$221 billion in 2021 dollars—and successfully accomplished its goal on July 20, 1969, when astronauts Neil Armstrong and “Buzz” Aldrin landed on the moon. That flight was followed by five more successful moon landings, the last of which, Apollo 17, lifted off from the lunar surface on December 14, 1972. Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt were the last Apollo astronauts to set foot on the moon.
Although several more Apollo missions were planned, budget cuts forced the program to be cancelled in 1973. In 1989, President George H.W. Bush proposed a $500-billion program that would include a return to the moon by the late 1990s and the construction of a moon base by the 2010s. However, the project was cancelled in 1996. In 2004, President George W. Bush proposed another planned lunar mission, this one scheduled to land astronauts on the moon by 2020. Among the spacecraft to be developed for the project was the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle, an updated version of the Apollo Command Module. This proposal also fell victim to budget cuts and changing political priorities and was cancelled in 2010. The only element of the project to survive was the Orion spacecraft.
Overview
In 2017, President Donald Trump proposed a new initiative to return to the moon. The program, dubbed Artemis, aimed to send humans to the moon by 2024. Among the program’s main goals was to establish a sustainable human presence on the lunar surface and land the first woman on the moon. The estimated price tag for the project was $35 billion, a relatively low amount for a lunar mission. In 2021, President Joe Biden expressed his support for the project, keeping it on track for a 2024 landing. While the Artemis program is a NASA project, the space agency will collaborate with international partners and private corporations to achieve its goals.
The rocket system for Artemis is based on technology used for NASA’s Space Shuttle program, which operated from 1981 to 2011. Known as the Space Launch System (SLS), the rocket consists of a main fuel tank powered by four main engines and five booster engines. The boosters will be used during the initial stage of the launch before separating from the vehicle. The main engines will continue to propel the spacecraft into orbit before the core section of the vehicle separates from the engines. The SLS is able to generate 8.8 million pounds (4 million kilograms) of thrust, more than the 7.6 million pounds (3.5 million kilograms) generated by the Saturn V rocket used in the Apollo program.
A redesigned version of the Orion spacecraft will serve as the crew vehicle for the mission. The Orion consists of a crew capsule, a service module that supplies air, power, and water, and a launch-abort tower, which would be jettisoned after a successful launch. The spacecraft can support up to four astronauts and is equipped with a heat shield that will allow it to survive the fiery reentry to Earth. In 2021, NASA contracted with the private aerospace company SpaceX to develop a lunar lander that would allow the astronauts to reach the moon’s surface.
The first Artemis mission—Artemis I—is scheduled to launch in late 2021. The uncrewed mission will test the capabilities of the SLS and Orion, sending the crew capsule 40,000 miles (64,375 kilometers) beyond the moon before returning to Earth. The mission will also deploy thirteen microwave-sized satellites known as CubeSats that will perform various scientific and technological functions. The Artemis 2 mission, which is scheduled for August 2023, will send a four-person crew on a lunar flyby and return to Earth. If the project remains on schedule, Artemis 3 will land astronauts near the moon’s south pole in 2024.
Later Artemis missions, which as of 2021 have yet to be scheduled, will construct a space station in lunar orbit. The station, called the Lunar Gateway, will serve as a supply and refueling station and a scientific outpost. The Orion spacecraft would dock with the Lunar Gateway, where the crew would board a lunar lander to take down to the surface. The first two elements of the station—the Power and Propulsion Element and the crew cabin known as the Habitation and Logistics Outpost—are scheduled to be launched into lunar orbit sometime in 2024 or beyond.
NASA also plans on constructing a sustainable lunar base camp to be used by later Artemis missions. Scientists are targeting a site near the lunar south pole for the base camp. The south pole receives a relatively constant amount of sunlight, which would be needed to provide power for the base and keep temperature fluctuations to a minimum. The area also has several craters that are bathed in near-constant shadow. The temperatures in these craters would be hundreds of degrees below freezing, allowing for the presence of possible water ice. The ice would be used by the lunar base to support the astronauts.
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