The Artemis mission is an ongoing space mission run by NASA with multiple international and domestic partners to land first female and first person of color on the lunar South Pole. With Artemis mission, NASA is preparing to return to the moon and land first humans after more than 50 years. It is the first crewed mission of NASA since Apollo 17 in 1972.
Artemis mission focuses on lunar exploration but with the advancement in technologies, NASA is planning to send first crewed mission to Mars using the technology and research developed during Artemis mission. This ‘Moon to Mars’ plan of NASA involves building a new station in orbit around the Moon. The programme has been called Artemis because in Greek mythology Artemis is the goddess of Moon and twin sister of Apollo which was the NASA’s last lunar mission.
The missions under the Artemis programme are not going to be like the Apollo missions. In fact, NASA plans to stay there to discover the possibilities of establishing a lunar base both in lunar orbit and Moon’s surface.
Phases of Artemis Mission
- Orion Spacecraft- This crewed spacecraft is currently under development and will be equipped with life support systems and shuttle interfaces. It is the command module needed to transport astronaut through space.
- Lunar Gateway- It will be the small space station in orbit around Moon designed to be a platform for missions to the Moon and beyond. The Orion module that I described above will dock itself with Lunar gateway so that astronauts will transfer into Lunar Landing module. European Space Agency is working with NASA on the design of Lunar Gateway. In this Lunar Gateway, astronauts will be able to live and can carry out the research for short period.
- Lunar Landing Module- The lunar landing vehicles will take cargo and humans from the Lunar Gateway to the Moon’s surface. The lunar landing module system for Apollo was designed for one journey return to the Moon’s surface while the Artemis mission’s landing system will be used for multiple missions.
- Space Launch System (SLS)- This is the launcher which will carry all the elements beyond Earth’s atmosphere and into space. This super heavy lift rocket can carry almost 180,000 kg and will cost over $800 Million per launch. When complete SLS will be the world’s most powerful rocket. In March 2022, the rocket and spacecraft for Artemis-1 was moved to the launch pad at Kennedy Space Centre, Florida.
Artemis Mission Timeline
Artemis-1 is going to be the uncrewed mission to test the Space Launch System and the Orion Module. SLS will take off from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. Once in space, the Orion will detach itself from SLS and travel to the Moon where it will orbit 62 miles above the lunar surface and after a trip of 20-25 days, the module will splash down in the Pacific ocean near California.
Artemis-2 will be the four person crewed flight to the moon. After detaching from SLS, the crew will fly the Orion module 8889 km beyond the moon and return to the Earth. The mission will take eight to ten days and will collect the flight test data.
Artemis-3 will be the third mission to the Moon under the Artemis program. It will be the first Moon landing mission since Apollo 17 in 1972. The four astronauts will dock the lunar gateway with the Orion module and remain in space for 30 days. The Human Landing System which NASA is currently developing will then take two astronauts down to the lunar surface where they are expected to stay for a week, exploring the surface and will perform a variety of scientific studies including sampling water ice-first detected on the Moon in 1971.