Project Artemis: NASA Names Apollo’s Successor Program
Just in time for Apollo 11’s 50th Anniversary, there’s some exciting news that was brought forward by NASA recently. NASA administrators presented a definitive name for the return-to-Moon mission program.
It is Project Artemis, which represents Earth’s renewed focus to return astronauts to the lunar surface by 2024. Working with companies and partnerships in the US and with foreign partners, NASA wants to push the boundaries of human exploration even more so than the Apollo Program.
The comparison of Apollo to Artemis is somewhat comparable to the 1066 North American landing of Icelander Leif Erikson as opposed to the 1492 landing of Christopher Columbus. Columbus’ intent was long-term colonization of the Americas and in a similar way, NASA’s Artemis aims to set up a long-term, sustainable human presence on the Moon by 2028 which would uncover new scientific discoveries, demonstrate new technological advancements that support it (and downstream applications to other industries), and lay the foundation for private companies to build a Lunar economy.
The initial targeted Lunar Landing location is presently the Moon’s South Pole which has never seen visits by Human explorers to date. Some benefits to this are as follows:
• A Lunar base would be ideal to perfect colonization beyond Earth’s atmosphere as a test-bed for getting Humans to Mars (the only official Solar System planet beyond Earth that’s most capable of a surface landing and colonization).
• The Moon’s South Pole has an uninterrupted visual of Earth, which means broadcast communications between a Lunar base and Earth would be unrestricted.
• Searching for key resources such as verifiable liquid water or ice on the planet that could be used for drinking water, irrigation of greenhouse crops, and production of breathable oxygen for explorers.
• The construction of a “Gateway” base, as a stepping-stone for longer-term future plans such as visiting Mars, it’s moons, and the moons of the Jovian planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune (with much swifter, efficient ships that are still some time off from development outside of initial Systems Engineering concepts). Pluto is an option also, but faster propulsion and/or travel methods unrealized need to be developed to make this viable.
President Donald Trump has given statements on his Administration’s support of renewed Lunar exploration and the goals beyond this include plans to send missions to Mars.
Some unique challenges at this time however include the lack of existing landing craft like the Apollo Lunar Module (or LM, designed by what is now Northrop Grumman) that can be used. The graphic here shows some high level concepts for the Lander’s capabilities.
One possible way to address a lack of a Lander is namely Blue Origin’s announcement of developing their own moon lander called Blue Moon. Even with this possibility, there’s also the need for new Lunar-Exploration grade spacesuits which have not been developed or used in years. To meet the 2024 deadline, actions to begin development have to happen quickly and based on existing technology to stay on target.
Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV)
The good news to this and some of the technical challenges is that there already IS an existing spacecraft that can get a lander and astronauts TO the Moon’s orbit. Orion is a human spacecraft for deep-space missions that will renew the drive for deep space exploration.
As part of the Artemis Program, series of increasingly challenging missions are coming all for the sake of taking Humans to both the Moon and Mars. Named after one of the largest constellations in the night sky, the Orion spacecraft is designed to meet deep space exploration program for decades to come. Orion deep space exploration missions, coupled with record levels of private investment in space, will help put Humans in the place to unlock the mysteries of space and to ensure the capability to explore the cosmos.
Secured from NASA.gov’s official Orion Site, the following graphics give some high-end specifications of the Orion CEV.
Orion is to serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry astronaut crews to space, provide emergency abort capabilities, sustain astronauts during their missions, and provide safe re-entry from deep space return speeds.
Like Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and the Space Shuttle before it, Orion is to be launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on the agency’s new, powerful heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System.
On the first Artemis mission (synonymously named Artemis 1), an unmanned Orion will be put on a 3 week mission that will take it thousands of miles beyond the Moon over the course of around 3 weeks.
The mission is to pave the way for flights with astronauts beginning by the scheduled 2024 timeframe.
And Orion does have at least 1 official space flight to its credit. In December of 2014, the Orion capsule was launched atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket for its first test flight, and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean about 4.5 hours later.
Although it was not crewed, the two-orbit flight was NASA’s first launch of a human-rated vehicle since the retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet in 2011. Orion reached an altitude of 3,600 mi (5,800 km) which is the farthest a man-rated spacecraft has flown since Apollo 17 (the last Moon landing to date). Orion traveled at speeds of up to 20,000 mph (8,900 m/s) on a flight that tested Orion’s heat shield, parachutes, jettisoning components, and on-board computers.
Orion was recovered by the US Navy’s amphibious ship USS Anchorage and brought to San Diego, California for return to Florida’s Kennedy Space Center.
This image shows the comparative sizes of Orion to historic craft Mercury and Apollo. Orion is expected to carry a crew of 4 astronauts, and generate its own power with retractable solar panels.
This with advanced life support systems and energy efficient systems will make Orion capable of much longer missions. Limitations being related to perishable resources such as food and oxygen.
There will be more details destined to emerge as Project Artemis develops further. For up to date details on this and Orion, visiting NASA’s link HERE as well as THIS LINK will provide further opportunities. Also, there will be more The Great Galactic Space Gimmick articles to cover this as the project continues.
For The Great Galactic Space Gimmick, I’m Gimmick Commander Ben Faltinowski. 🔭 ⭐️
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