ARTEMIS MISSION
Humans to the Moon again
ARTEMIS MISSION
Humans to the Moon again
By Himadri Sonowal, BS-MS 2020
It's been half a century since humans last stepped foot on the Moon during the Apollo program, and now fifty years later, NASA is planning to take this a step further with the implementation of Apollo's twin sister, the Artemis Mission. As NASA contemplated the idea of humans in space, the robotic expeditions of deep space exploration have seen a plethora of technological advancements and scientific breakthroughs. Although living in the International Space Station has its own appeal, the allure of venturing further into the solar system is more incredible. With this mission, NASA aims to put the first woman and the next man on the lunar surface by 2024. Furthermore, they aspire to broaden the human voyage of space to Mars sooner, which further indicates that this mission runs two-fold.
Artemis mission inherently serves as a practice run for NASA to test its new Deep Space Exploration System that include-
1.The Spacecraft - Orion
2.The Rocket - Space Launch System
3.The Launch Team - Exploration Ground
This system will inculcate Artemis I mission as the first-ever test for an integrated deep space exploration system. The Orion spacecraft, which is powered by an ESA (European Space Agency) service module, was built particularly for deep space human operations for up to four crew members and the SLS rocket, the human-rated heavy-lift rocket that will launch the spacecraft, Orion, on many missions to the Moon, poetic isn't it? At Kennedy, the exploration grounds are constantly modernising their spaceports. Meanwhile, the Human Landing System is the ultimate method of transportation that will deliver people to the lunar surface. The astronauts will spend up to a week inside the pressurised crew cabin section of the lander on early flights. A series of missions will betide before humans are finally sent to the Moon.
4. The Human Landing System
Artemis Mission will live through a series of missions that have quite started on its track this year, and it wouldn’t be a stretch to say it is in command of half a century of preparation and experience to establish a human-robot kinship around the Moon.
1.Artemis I
As aforementioned, Artemis I will be the first integrated test in a series of progressively complicated missions that will serve as a basis for human deep space exploration and demonstrate our dedication and competence to extend human existence to the Moon and beyond.
As a NASA article site, "During this flight, the spacecraft will launch on the most powerful rocket in the world and fly farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown. It will travel 280,000 miles from Earth, thousands of miles beyond the Moon over the course of about a three-week mission. Orion will stay in space longer than any ship for astronauts has done without docking to a space station and return home faster and hotter than ever before."
As the spacecraft makes an orbit of Earth, it will deploy its solar arrays, and the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) will give Orion the jostle it needs to leave Earth's orbit for the Moon. From there, Orion will part ways from the ICPS that deploys a number of small satellites, known as CubeSats which will perform experiments on their own within about two hours after launch.
As the first payloads are delivered abroad, the CPLS provider landers and the CubeSat deployed from Artemis I and convoy lunar data upon their return.
2.Artemis II
The crewed explorations of the mission will commence in 2023 with SLS and Orion with four astronauts on board. We are the Artemis Generation, as Jim Bridenstine noted, and this will be the " Apollo 8" moment of our generation. Indeed a sight to be excited about! This mission will serve as the perfect demonstration of the things to look forward to and to expect from the Artemis III mission when humans will finally walk the surface. It will provide the performance data and operational experience that the crew will diligently acquire abroad the Orion on their adventure that was surmised to be of 10 days.
The Artemis II crew will travel 4,600 miles (7,400 km) beyond the far side of the Moon. From this vantage point, they will be able to see the Earth and the Moon from Orion's windows, with the Moon close in the foreground and the Earth about a quarter-million miles in the background.
3.Artemis III
Illustration of Gateway
The Lunar Gateway is essentially a tiny space station stationed at the lunar orbit, which serves as a multi-purpose outpost that renders basic life support for the astronauts after they arrive in the Orion for visiting the lunar surface and ensuring other deep space exploration.
Gateway certifies to be an elemental perimeter of the Artemis Mission as well as the Deep Space Exploration system, so to attest to this dilemma, it was decided to be independent of the Artemis mission. Although the future Artemis missions will unquestionably manoeuvre the Gateway, the earlier missions were exempted.
Coming to a conjecture, all components of the essence to make this mission a success and send forth the next humans to walk the earth is whole but en route.
“Betimes to the Moon, an ere long soon to Mars and beyond”
To be continued in the next chapter to fill the void of the Deep Space Exploration System in detail.