Did you know NASA wants to create a base on the Moon?
Still, technical edifices must be classified as exceptional for this goal to become a reality,
and SpaceX and NASA can build a concrete and reliable structure on the Moon.
In a bid, NASA has taken it upon themselves to ensure a working scientific base on the
Moon at all costs.
They gave SpaceX the $2.9 billion lunar lander contract to land NASA astronauts on the lunar
surface, and also develop it.
This is the same deal that got Jeff Bezos mad because he was eager to get the contract
for his company Blue Origin, but least did he know that SpaceX had won NASA's trust.
Stay tuned to learn how NASA and SpaceX want to develop the first space exploration company
on the Moon.
It's mind-blowing that NASA, the proud space agency has yet to return to the Moon since
the Apollo 17 Mission in 1972.
After humans first landed on the Moon fifty years ago, many people began to wonder if
there was a future in which humanity would travel beyond the Earth and Moon.
We're still a long way from that future, but NASA is preparing a triumphant return to the
Moon's surface.
Apollo 11, a United States flight in which commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module
pilot Edwin Aldrin, Jr. were the first persons to land on the Moon and walk on its surface
on July 20, 1969.
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made their first steps on the Moon and raised the American
flag.
Every subsequent Apollo crew followed suit.
However, the story of the Moon's flags, beginning with Apollo 11, is a fascinating combination
of engineering, politics, and symbolism.
Each Apollo mission that landed on the Moon placed a flag.
Deploying the flag during the Apollo 11 mission proved difficult.
Armstrong and Aldrin struggled to insert the flag’s pole into the lunar surface, only
getting it about seven inches deep.
When they backed away from the flag, it demonstrated its ability to stand independently.
Later, scientists discovered that lunar sand had a distinct profile from terrestrial sand.
The edges of the sand from Earth are rounded, but those from the Moon are sharp.
Because of the rough edges of the lunar dust, they stack against one another, making it
difficult to insert anything into the moon.
Contrary to popular belief, the American flag placed on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission
was not the only one.
Six US flags have been planted on the Moon since 1969.
The final flight of the Apollo program, Apollo 17, was launched on December 7, 1972, and
completed on December 19, 1972.
Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt were the last humans to walk on the
Moon's surface.
Images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal that Apollo astronauts' American flags
placed on the Moon are still standing — except for the Apollo 11 mission.
Buzz Aldrin was knocked down by engine exhaust as Apollo 11 lifted off.
More than 60 years later, a new space race to the Moon has begun, although with considerably
larger stakes and all-new competitors eager to complete the 238,855-mile journey.
This time, the race to the Moon is about far more than simply placing a flag on the Moon's
dusty surface.
Getting to the Moon first may also mean having the first pick on its scarce resources and
controlling a permanent gateway to Mars.
NASA awarded SpaceX a $2.89 billion contract to build and deploy a modified version of
the starship for lunar landings.
The project's initial purpose is to execute two flights: an uncrewed demonstration trip
and a crewed lunar landing.
SpaceX will transport astronauts from the lunar orbital gateway to the base camp on
the Moon's surface.
This will be accomplished using the starship HLS, a lunar lander variant of SpaceX's starship
rocket.
HLS stands for human land system.
The starship is SpaceX's flagship rocket, and it will lead the charge to the Moon as
part of NASA and SpaceX's plans to visit and colonize the planet.
This modified starship was designed to accommodate a human landing.
The main distinction between the standard starship design and the starship HLS is the
absence of heat shields and air brakes.
This is due to the Moon's lack of atmosphere, which prevents the starship HLS from heating
up when it lands.
The HLS starship also has a unique landing thruster used during descent and takeoff from
the lunar surface.
The goal is for the starship HLS to launch unmanned from Earth utilizing the super-heavy
rockets.
The starship HLS will reach lunar orbit in about three days, following which it will
just hover in orbit, awaiting its crew.
Four astronauts will go from Earth to lunar orbit aboard NASA's Orion spacecraft; the
starship HLS will serve as a taxi between lunar orbit and the lunar surface.
It is intended to make many flights transferring astronauts from the lunar gateway orbiting
station.
For its initial trip, the starship HLS is meant to engage in lunar orbit with either
the NASA Orion spacecraft or the NASA lunar gateway space station to pick up passengers
before descending to the lunar surface.
Two astronauts will remain on the lunar gateway, while two others will travel down the lunar
gravity well aboard the starship HLS to the surface.
The first lunar surface mission is scheduled to last a week.
Astronauts will conduct experiments and explore the lunar surface, using the starship HLS
as a living space during that time.
After two weeks, astronauts will revisit the rest of the crew left on the lunar gateway
in orbit.
The Artemis base camp will be built near the Moon's south pole in an area known as the
Shackleton Crater.
The crater's rim's peaks are exposed to practically constant sunshine, while the interior is always
under shade, making Shackleton crater a unique location.
Nasa has also discovered frozen water traces in that area; the Shackleton crater meets
NASA's requirements for the optimum base campsite, which is only one of the many factors considered
when deciding on a specific location.
The site must provide near-constant sunshine to power the base and minimize excessive temperature
fluctuations.
It must also have simple access to areas of complete darkness that contain water ice - having
access to ice will assist the Artemis base camp in accomplishing its aim of self-sufficiency.
The camp itself would be a lunar surface habitat designed to house four astronauts - life support
would be the first focus for the station.
According to NASA, the camp will require infrastructure for electricity, trash disposal, communications,
radiation protection, and a landing pad.
Let's take a quick look at the Moon's properties and see if NASA scientists will be able to
sustain their lives on the lunar surface for an extended period.
Because it rotates around the Earth rather than straight around the Sun, the Moon is
not a planet.
However, the Moon is a large world, around the size of Mercury.
It is a terrestrial planet in composition, origin, and history, similar to the Earth
in many aspects.
Because of these similarities and distinctions, the Moon is indeed a helpful beginning for
studying other planets.
The Moon is our most thoroughly researched "new" world due to its proximity to Earth.
It has been visited by several spacecraft from both the United States and the Soviet
Union.
Crewed and uncrewed spacecraft in orbit around the Moon has taken precise images and measured
the Moon's surface's gravity, magnetism, and chemical composition.
Astronaut-placed instruments on the surface have explored the Moon's previously inaccessible
subsurface.
The recovery of genuine lunar samples from nine places on the Moon - six American and
three Russian - has been highly noteworthy.
Scientists have calculated the Moon's specific composition, derived its history, and assessed
the nature and changes of the space environment around the Moon over extended periods of ancient
time by examining these samples in labs on Earth.
The Moon's rocks are similar to those found on Earth and contain many, but not all, of
the same minerals.
The Moon has no atmosphere, no evidence of past or current life, and no water in its
rocks.
Its rocks are older than most of the rocks found on Earth today, and the Moon has maintained
a record of the planets' genesis and growth.
We can see a violent primordial melting in its earliest rocks, which covered the newly
formed Moon with a seething ocean of molten lava hundreds of kilometers deep.
The lava ocean gradually cooled and hardened, generating the light-colored crust known as
the lunar highlands, covering 80% of the Moon.
Because the Moon contains lighter oxygen, astronauts will need an oxygen tank to breathe
on the Moon.
We may extrapolate that human will require fundamental scientific instruments and life-sustaining
equipment, especially a spacesuit, to shield the body from orbital radiation, which could
be harmful to the skin.
As a result, without the requisite scientific instruments, humans cannot live freely on
the Moon.
NASA's mission to the Moon is setting the groundwork for human exploration of Mars in
the future.
The Moon will serve as a testing ground for technologies and resources transporting humanity
to Mars and beyond.
NASA and SpaceX will be building on the efforts of hundreds of thousands of individuals who
worked on Apollo and have subsequently enhanced human spaceflight when these two companies
finally return to the Moon.
Do you think SpaceX will be able to fulfill NASA's aim of landing astronauts on the moon?
You can also check on what Elon Musk Just Revealed about How SpaceX’s Starship Will
Sustain Life while traveling to the Moon and Mars, just click on the video.