Space Watch
The Artemis Program is a series of missions to re-establish a human presence on the moon and in the long-run create a permanent lunar base. The first few missions will be conducted entirely with robots. These robots and vehicles will search the moon for water-ice and assemble the Lunar Operation Platform Gateway (LOPG) which will be a space station for the moon. While the program is being led by NASA, many other agencies and private organizations will be participating as well. Some of these agencies include: the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the Israel Space Agency (ISA) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI).
Recently NASA teams have finished adding all four engines to the core stage of the Artemis II moon rocket. Assembled in New Orleans at NASA’s Michoud Facility, the core stage is 212 feet tall and will be the main rocket for the SLS. The Space Launch System (SLS) is the spacecraft that will be used for the Artemis II mission which will send a four person crew to the moon.
Artemis II is a ten-day trip around the moon that will test NASA’s SLS and Orion spacecraft for future Artemis missions. Before any serious lunar landing or space station construction or base building on the moon can begin, it is important to see if the SLS is up to the task for carrying crew and supplies to the moon. The crew will be testing important life support systems that create breathable air and recycle out carbon dioxide. Any long-term human presence will need reliable life-support technology to support all the astronauts that will be arriving on the moon. The Artemis II mission is currently scheduled to launch no earlier than November 2024.
References:
Mohan, Lee. “All Engines Added to NASA’s Artemis II Moon Rocket Core Stage.” blogs.nasa.gov, 25 September 2023, https://blogs.nasa.gov/artemis/2023/09/
Harvey Ailsa, Mann Adam. “NASA’s Artemis program: Everything you need to know.” space.com, 12 December 2022, https://www.space.com/artemis-program.html
NASA. “Artemis.” NASA.gov, https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/artemis/. Accessed 14 December 2023.
NASA. “Artemis II.” NASA.gov, https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/. Accessed 14 December 2023.