Artemis program

Subject: Science and tech

Context:

NASA published the outline for its Artemis program, which plans to send the next man and first woman to the lunar surface by the year 2024. The last time NASA sent humans to the Moon was in 1972, during the Apollo lunar mission

Concept:

• With the Artemis program, NASA wishes to demonstrate new technologies, capabilities and business approaches that will ultimately be needed for the future exploration of Mars.
• The program is divided into three parts,
  • Artemis I is most likely to be launched next year and involves an uncrewed flight to test the SLS and Orion spacecraft.
  • Artemis II will be the first crewed flight test and is targetted for 2023.
  • Artemis III will land astronauts on the Moon’s South Pole in 2024.
• For NASA, going to the moon involves various elements – such as the exploration ground systems (the structures on the ground that are required to support the launch), the Space Launch System (SLS), Orion (the spacecraft for lunar missions), Gateway (the lunar outpost around the Moon), lunar landers (modern human landing systems) and the Artemis generation spacesuits.
• NASA’s new rocket called SLS will send astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft a quarter of a million miles away from Earth to the lunar orbit.
• Once the astronauts dock Orion at the Gateway which is a small spaceship in orbit around the moon they will be able to live and work around the Moon, and from the spaceship, will take expeditions to the surface of the Moon.