TECHNOLOGY
The United States hasn’t sent a manned mission to the Moon for half a century, but should Artemis 1 successfully complete its mission, in the near future astronauts will once again touch down on the lunar surface. It will also begin the process of humans establishing a long-term presence on our neighboring satellite to prepare for an eventual manned mission to Mars.
While Artemis I is unmanned, it will give the US space agency an opportunity to test the Space Launch System (SLS), the most powerful rocket in the world, and the Orion spacecraft, the crew module for deep space journeys. The follow-up mission will carry astronauts around the Moon and a third will return humans to the surface perhaps as soon as 2025.
The SLS is the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built, around 15 percent more powerful than the Saturn V rockets that were used to get humans to the Moon. The design has been in the works since 2011 but uses off-the-shelf technology from prior programs that has been thoroughly tested over the years.
The new heavy-lift rocket is made up of the main engines, that are fueled with a mix of liquid hydrogen and oxygen, and two solid booster rockets. The system is capable of generating around 8.8 million pounds of thrust during liftoff
The Orion spacecraft, which will be able to carry astronauts farther into space than they’ve ever gone before, will spend about six weeks in space. Over that time period it will travel approximately 1.3 million miles. It will also go deeper into space than any other spacecraft designed for humans traveling over 270,000 miles away, or 1000 times farther from Earth than the International Space Station.
Key to the mission’s success is the heat shield when the crew module returns to Earth’s. The spacecraft will hit the atmosphere at Mach 32, or 25,000 mph, the fastest capsule reentry since Apollo.
When the #Artemis I flight test launches toward the Moon, it'll mark our first step toward a long-term human presence on the lunar surface.
What do we hope to learn from the uncrewed mission? Here's a look: https://t.co/POsNDV4X2w pic.twitter.com/F4dLqRUSv3
Should Artemis I mission go swimmingly, it will be followed up by Artemis II in a couple years, which will carry a crew to orbit around the Moon. This will allow for more testing of the spacecraft by the astronauts. By 2025, NASA plans to make Artemis III the first manned mission to land on the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972, however it will most likely be pushed back.
The goal of returning to the Moon is to establish an outpost and a staging ground for manned missions to Mars. The tentative timeline for such a voyage is sometime in the 2030s. Astronauts will be able to learn how to use what is available on-site in preparation for an eventual visit to Mars. “We’re going back to the moon in order to learn to live, to work, to survive,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson explained in a recent press conference.
After scrubbing the original planned launch on Monday, NASA is giving it another go on Saturday 3 September with the launch window opening at 2:17 EDT with a sixty percent chance that the weather will cooperate. The first attempt was cancelled due to a technical problem that the agency says has now been fixed.
Despite Monday’s setback, the launch will still be broadcast by NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website, nasa.gov.
Coverage will also be available on the agency’s Facebook, Twitch and NASA YouTube channel, as well as in 4k on NASA’s UHD channel.
We will also be hosting a live feed event right here on AS USA, bringing you all the latest information from from the Kennedy Space Center.
TECHNOLOGY
Latest News
To be able to comment you must be registered and logged in. Forgot password?
Suscribe to our newsletters
MUSIC
US NEWS
Latest News
DAZN
Enjoy live and on-demand online sports on DAZN. Activate your account
NBA Pass League
Now you can watch the entire NBA season or your favorite teams on streaming.
