Artemis II: NASA is preparing for a return to the moon, but why is it going back?
NASA’s Artemis II mission will soon send astronauts on a trip around the Moon, if current plans go ahead. But why is the United States so eager to see the Moon again for the first time in more than 50 years?
NASA promised that returning to the Moon would lead to new scientific discoveries, bring economic benefits and inspire a new generation of explorers. It is also no secret that China threatens to overtake the United States as a leader in space exploration, and the United States does not want to lag behind.
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The Moon and Earth have been like twins dancing around each other since the beginning of the solar system, about 4.5 billion years ago. Sarah Russellplanetologist at the Natural History Museum in London. This means they have a common history of impacts from asteroids, comets and other objects,
“It just has a 4 and a half billion year record of what happened on its surface,” Russell told Live Science. “We can see how much it was affected by the impacts, which also happened on Earth, but we don’t see evidence of that so easily on Earth.”
Biological processes and weather-driven erosion obscure Earth’s impact history. the moonin contrast, has a thin atmosphere, without weather or life, so its impact craters can be preserved almost indefinitely. These conditions also provide other research opportunities.
“It’s kind of a big laboratory for what happens to geology if there’s no water and no air,” Russell said. “We can understand these very fundamental elements [geological] the processes are much easier in many cases by observing them on the moon. »
Artemis
Artemis II is the second of five initial missions in the Artemis program, which aims for the first time to establish a long-term American presence on the Moon. The inaugural Artemis mission, Artemis I, consisted of a 26-day uncrewed flight around the Moon in 2022. Artemis II is the program’s first crewed spaceflight and is scheduled to send four astronauts on a 10-day flight around the Moon and back to Earth as early as April 1.
Each Artemis mission is meant to build on its predecessor. Artemis I laid the groundwork for Artemis II, and Artemis II is about testing systems ahead of Artemis III, Artemis IV, and Artemis V. The latter two missions are intended to put astronauts on the ground. lunar surface in 2028with Artemis V laying the groundwork for what NASA claims will be a permanent moon base.
NASA took 12 astronauts to the lunar surface on the Apollo missions between 1969 and 1972. Russell noted that lunar samples Objects collected during the Apollo missions kept scientists busy for more than 50 years, but the Apollo astronauts explored only part of the lunar surface on the near side of the Moon, and only its equatorial region.
“It’s a bit like going on multiple expeditions to the Sahara Desert and saying, OK, now we understand the Earth,” Russell said. “That’s why it’s important to go back to the Moon and, in particular, go to different areas. That’s where Artemis is really exciting. The future Artemis mission will go to the lunar south pole, which is an area that really hasn’t been explored before.”
The Moon’s south pole is a prime location for water ice, which is believed to be concentrated in the polar regions of the lunar surface. Studying this water ice offers scientists the opportunity to learn more about Earth’s history with water.
“We want to know how the Moon got this water, and the reason we want to know is because the way the Moon got its water is probably how the Earth got its water,” Russell said.
Traveling to the Moon with a crew will also allow mission scientists to pursue another, perhaps more worrying, goal of the Artemis program: studying the effects of space travel on human physiology. The Artemis II flight provides an opportunity for new studies on astronaut health, including how space travel influences the body, mind and behavior, and how these impacts could affect future missions, according to NASA. It’s one of many ways lunar missions provide potential stepping stones to deeper space exploration.
Indeed, the Artemis program aims to advance technologies and develop the infrastructure necessary to send astronauts to Mars. Space exploration is difficult, dangerous and expensive. NASA must therefore test its systems and its astronauts on the Moon before sending them to more distant destinations. Establishing a lunar base could be key to a journey to Mars.
The Moon has resources that should make space more accessible. For example, NASA has claimed that if it could harvest water from the Moon, the space agency could use it to produce drinking water, oxygen and rocket fuel – although this remains to be proven. Aiming for the Moon is part of a broader strategy to find and use resources off Earth, which could make space exploration cheaper because not everything is made on Earth and transported elsewhere.
Speaking of money, there is a potential lunar economy to consider. NASA said its lunar strategy boosts commercial space industry and creates business opportunities in ways that foster a lunar economy. The lunar economy currently relies on NASA’s collaboration with private companies that provide commercial deliveries to support the space agency’s mission. Essentially, NASA pays companies to take objects to the Moon. The space agency currently has 15 of these commercial lunar delivery contracts that are expected to be completed by 2028, according to NASA. However, once humans begin to colonize the Moon, it could also open up valuable mining opportunities.
Lunar mining has the potential to become a billionaire industry. The Moon is home to resources such as rare earth elements, which are mined for electronics on Earth, as well as a potential gold mine within its territory. helium-3 stockswhich could potentially be used in nuclear fusion reactors to produce almost unlimited clean energy.
The new space race
As the first space race pitted the United States and the Soviet Union in the mid-20th century, nations are once again fighting for control of the final frontier.
Although the United States, China and Russia are the main competitors in the “new space race”, more than 80 countries are now present in space, according to Royal Museums Greenwich in the UK Beyond commercial interests, access to space plays an increasingly important role in a nation’s security – just like the Moon.
Robert Braunhead of space exploration at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, recently described the Moon as “the ultimate high point.” In a video released by the universityBraun said many countries are heading to the Moon because there is a “nexus between security, exploration and economic goals.”
If the United States wants to win this second race to the Moon, the next Artemis missions will have to respect the planned schedule. China wants to land its own astronauts on the moon before 2030or at most two years after the first Artemis missions to the lunar surface, assuming they are a success.
