ARTEMIS MISSIONS
NASA through its Artemis missions will land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon, using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before. Artemis Missions, while being spearheaded by NASA, is a collaboration between commercial and international partners to establish the first long-term presence on the Moon. NASA, through its Moon mission, will use the learnings to take the next giant leap: sending the first astronauts to Mars.
From the first crewed landing on the moon on July 16, 1969 in Apollo 11 to the last successful one in December 1972, it has been a long wait – of almost 50 years. So the natural question is, why now?
The answer could actually take a lot of different angles and difficulty levels to understand but to keep it simple, we will say, Why not!
Our curiosity to learn more and more about deep space is only getting heightened and with the eyes on Mars landing, the moon will be a stopover.
This entire mission can be summarized to be addressing three tenets; 1. Discovery, 2. Economic Opportunity, 3. Inspiring the next generation
DISCOVERY:
Discover more of what’s untapped on the moon. While we had numerous missions both, manned and robotic, there’s still a lot to be uncovered both in terms of what lies on, over and beneath the moon and the travel to and from. Discovery stems from one of the innate desires of mankind, we just want to keep the flame of curiosity ignited.
ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY:
With the advent of technology and our never ending desire to understand more of deep-space, this mission and the ones to follow present an incredible economic opportunity. These missions will help create new job opportunities amidst new industries across domains of robotics, AI, semiconductor, battery technology and what not.
INSPIRATION:
These missions will inspire our current and next generations to think and do more, explore the unknowns for unless you do you can’t quench the thirst to know more, experience more.
What would it take for the success of Artemis Missions
Artemis Base Camp on the surface and the Gateway in lunar orbit and some more.
Space exploration is a rocket-science, well literally! But it’s not just about flying a rocket, you also need them to land, stay, do the experiments, gather the samples, do all those scientists things, fly back, have a stop-over and resume.
There are multiple elements required to facilitate all of the above, let’s talk about a few:
ORION SPACECRAFT:
The Orion spacecraft will carry astronauts from Earth to lunar orbit and back.
SPACE LAUNCH SYSTEM ROCKET ( SLS):
The most powerful rocket to have ever roared into the sky. Will be responsible to take the Orion spacecraft, the astronauts, and the cargo to the moon and back.
EXPLORATION GROUND SYSTEMS:
While we are going to the moon, the entire functionary needs to be supported at the ground – here on Earth and hence its only vital for a complete redo of launch support systems to also allow for recovery of the astronauts!
GATEWAY:
The Gateway is a spaceship in lunar orbit that acts as a transit for astronauts to transfer between Orion and the lander. This will remain in orbit for more than a decade, providing a place to live and work, and supporting long-term science and human exploration on and around the Moon.
HUMAN LANDING SYSTEM:
Human landing systems are the final mode of transportation that will take astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface and back to orbit.
ARTEMIS BASE CAMP:
Artemis Base camp, named after the mission, will provide astronauts a place to live and work on the moon. This base camp will include a modern lunar cabin, a rover, and a mobile home.
Here’s wishing Artemis Missions and everyone involved across the globe a great success!
UPDATE:
Post initial launch scrub, Artemis I will launch on September, 3.
UPDATE 2:
The launch scheduled for today, September 3 has been scrubbed on account of a leak in transferring fuel lines. Next update awaited from NASA.
