Artemis: The Next Man and First Woman on the Moon

 Artemis: The Next Man and First Woman on the Moon

Introduction

The years between 1968 and 1972 experienced 9 Apollo missions by NASA. After that, NASA could not send people out of low-earth orbit. But they were old times. Now, the National Aeronautics and Space Agency is returning to the moon. This time, with a better and more massive mission. Not only to send humans to the moon but also to prepare for the most complex missions such as those to Mars. This next chapter in the history of lunar exploration is going to be my topic today…

Image Source - Google | Image by - NASA | The Artemis logo

The beginning

It all started on 11 December 2017 when President Trump signed a change in national space policy and a program to make a human return to the moon. The US invested a total of $35 billion in this program and each launch requires $1.4 billion overall. The then vice-president, Mike Pence, planned a landing by 20224 on the moon. The mission was named Artemis by then NASA administrator, Jim Bridenstine, for the Greek goddess of the moon and the sister of Apollo. a perfect match, isn’t it?

Image Source - Google | Image by - NASA | Former NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine

Structure of the first Artemis rocket to be launched

The Orion spacecraft is divided into three parts. It will have the crew in the crew module. This is an area for 4 Artemis astronauts to stay during the trip. This is also the part that will land on the moon. Next comes the service module. It will contain the fuel reserves, life support systems, and solar wings which will take the Orion crew module out of the Earth's orbit while other parts of the rocket are dispatched. Then comes the launch abort system. It will launch the crew module and land it safely somewhere on earth if there are problems during the launch and the mission has to be aborted. It has an abort motor and a jettison motor. Now, we will need something to launch the Orion spacecraft, so NASA has built SLS or the Space Launch System which exceeds the Saturn-V, the strongest rocket before SLS, by a big factor and in many ways. The SLS will also have four parts. The cargo hold, the Exploration Upper Stage, a massive core stage below which are attached the 4 RS-25 and 2 extended solid rocket boosters. These all parts will form the physical form of the world’s greatest dream. It will weigh 6 million pounds out of which 5.2 million pounds is just the fuel!

Stages of the mission

After the rocket is launched and our heroes are taken upwards, 2 minutes later, the 2 extended solid rocket boosters will dispatch and 6 minutes after this the core stage of the SLS will also deplete and separate. Then the upper stage will fire for an instant and carry the Orion spacecraft into an orbit of the Earth where the spacecraft will check its instruments. When a ‘GO’ message is received from the control centre, the spacecraft will leave the earth’s orbit but the upper stage will have to ignite at such a speed and direction that the spacecraft leaves the orbit in a direction that intersects the moon’s orbit. When this ignition is complete the upper stage will also separate and then we will be able to see the differences between Apollo and Artemis

Difference between Apollo and Artemis

Apollo	Artemis
Apollo had a crew capacity of three people	Apollo has a crew capacity of four people
Apollo had a separate lander to land	Artemis will perform pre-staging meaning that some items like rovers, human-rated systems, etc. will already be kept deployed there earlier by commercial partners.

Moreover, Orion will have a dedicated lunar outpost orbiting the moon called Gateway where the Orion spacecraft will attach itself. Some predefined crew members will stay at the gateway while others go on the land by a lander pre-put there on the Gateway.

Image Source - Google | Image by - News9live | The route of Artemis

Coming back

After the research is done and the crew members have to come back they will again fire the lander and dock to the Gateway. After undocking the spacecraft from the Gateway, they will fire back to earth but when they are near the end of the journey, the service module will also separate. And the crew module comes in a way that the heat faces the earth so that when the temperature reaches around 5000° due to the friction of the Earth’s atmosphere. Then, parachutes open and our heroes return. 

The Artemis mission is important as it will prepare us for not only Mars but further space missions. It will take humanity to the moon and Mars not to visit but to stay…