when neil armstrong of apollo 11 first
set foot on the moon and set his famous
line
that's one small step for a man one
giant leap for mankind
he did that in the name of all humanity
and even though he's an american
and nasa is a governmental institution
the whole world felt the joy and sense
of achievement
but these achievements stopped with the
end of the apollo program
back in 1972 with the last mission being
apollo 17.
ever since no human has stepped on the
moon for reasons both political
and financial now the hope is restored
again
with nasa planning on sending the first
woman and the next man
back to the moon by the year 2024 and
then
onward to mars and that's through nasa's
new project
the artemis program with help from u.s
commercial companies and other countries
as well
before we get into the details of the
program
let's first discuss the name artemis is
the greek goddess of the moon
and sister twin to apollo and nasa chose
her name to lead the new
inclusive path towards the moon nasa
doesn't just want to go back to the moon
now because it's trendy
there are clear and focused goals for
why it is important to visit the moon
at this time going to the moon in the
2020s will be so much different than
going in the 60s and 70s
because this time nasa is going to the
moon to stay
and that means astronauts will have to
look for water and resources on the moon
to use for long duration missions for
purposes
such as drinking and cooling and
producing rocket fuel
the second goal is for astronauts to
learn how to live and work in habitats
on a celestial body in addition to
sending humans to visit the lunar south
pole of the moon for the first time
ever this unexplored face of the moon
that contains ice
and potentially other resources but
probably the most
important far-sighted goal is mars
because it is important to test new
technologies and strategies
in a relatively near environment where
we have more control before taking it
one step
farther to mars you can think of it this
way
if you want to win the world cup you
must first practice regionally to gain
more confidence
and fix your mistakes before you go on
and compete globally
now how exactly is nasa planning to
return to the moon
well they have a couple of new fancy
technologies to help them
the first is the orion spacecraft named
after the winter constellation orion or
the hunter
nasa is building this new spacecraft
especially for the artemis program
to be able to carry astronauts to the
moon and mars
and then back to earth the orion
spacecraft is planned to be tested
sometime this year
in the uncrewed mission artemis 1 before
it gets ready to be tested with
astronauts on board
the artemis-1 mission will last for a
total of 3 weeks
during which the orion spacecraft will
reach the moon and stay in orbit for six
days
450 000 kilometers or 280 000 miles away
from the earth
this will allow mission control down on
earth to assess
how the spacecraft works and performs
and fix any issues if they were to
appear
the orion spacecraft also has a very
powerful heat shield
during the journey back to earth and
while it enters earth's atmosphere
orion will sustain a temperature of 2760
degrees celsius
5000 degrees fahrenheit if all goes well
and orion lands back safely on earth it
should be ready to be tested with humans
on board as part of the artemis tube
mission
planned for the year 2022 the second
technology is the
gateway this is a space station that
will be orbiting the moon at a distance
of almost 66 000 kilometers or 41 000
miles
that is 450 000 kilometers away from
earth
or 280 000 miles the gateway will work
as a stop station between the earth
and the moon to give astronauts easier
access to the lunar surface
it is an absolutely vital part of the
artemis program
and is planned to be built in the 2020s
with the first element sent into space
in the year 2022 you can think of the
gateway orbiting the moon just like the
international space station
iss orbiting earth where astronauts will
also perform
scientific experiments and get to know
the lunar surface a little bit more
in addition to that the gateway is
supposed to make contact with the orion
spacecraft
and host the astronauts on board in
preparation to land on the lunar surface
the gateway will provide astronauts with
life support
and communication needed for the landing
process
the gateway also has several docking
ports to be able to welcome cargo
missions
delivering science equipment in the
future and nasa has already granted
spacex permission
to be the first u.s commercial company
to deliver cargo to the gateway
we should also mention that the gateway
will not only be an american effort
it will pretty much be a global
collaboration just like the
international space station
many space agencies have planned to
contribute to the building of the
gateway
like the european canadian japanese and
russian space agencies
huge dreams need huge rockets and since
no rocket in the space flight game is
worthy enough of going back to the moon
nasa decided to build
a brand new one especially for the
occasion
we're talking about the third technology
the space
launch system rocket or sls for short
the sls is a new rocket being developed
by nasa engineers
and other us companies it will be able
to send the orion spacecraft
and the crew along with cargo to the
moon in a single flight
it will be the only rocket who has the
capabilities to deliver that much mass
into space in a single trip the sls is
going to be designed in order to be
upgraded
to different configurations each
configuration more powerful
than the previous one the first
configuration called block one will be
taller than the statue of liberty
and more powerful than the saturn v
rocket it will be able to deliver up to
26 metric tons of mass into space
the sls block 1 will be used in the
artemis-1 mission
when nasa is going to test the orion
spacecraft and the sls rocket itself
the second sls configuration is called
block
1b and it will be able to deliver up to
37 metric tons of mass into space
the design of the sls will evolve until
it reaches block 2 cargo
which will have the power to deliver
more than 45 metric tons of mass
the space launch system rocket will not
only be reserved for missions going back
to the moon
nasa also plans on using the rocket to
put scientific missions into their paths
to
planets like mars and jupiter and saturn
if you have been paying close attention
you would have noticed that all these
new technologies being developed
are sustainable and can be used for more
than one space flight
and that's exactly the kind of spirit
nasa is embracing while going back to
the moon
nasa wants to make space accessible and
affordable in the near future
and in order to achieve that key
components of space flights
must be reused to cut the cost exactly
like what spacex is doing with its
rocket the falcon 9.
following the same path nasa is also
redefining how it will launch rockets in
the future
including the sls rocket and that's
through the exploration ground systems
program
egs the egs program will upgrade the
facilities required to launch rockets
to provide the opportunity for the
facilities to be able to launch
different kinds of rockets
and serve different kinds of companies
governmental
and commercial another vital part of the
artemis project
are the suits when the first woman and
the next man walk on the moon in the
future
they're going to walk in style forget
the old inconvenient apollo suits and
welcome the new
artemis suits that nasa spacesuit
engineers have designed
specifically for the next journey to the
moon if you've seen clips of apollo
astronauts walking on the moon
you've probably come across several ones
of astronauts having difficulty moving
around
and even falling over the lunar surface
and that's because the apollo generation
spacesuits were not exactly the most
flexible
regarding mobility and astronauts had to
bounce around the surface to be able to
move
additionally picking up things from the
surface or rotating the arms was
difficult for astronauts
because the suit's shoulders didn't have
much mobility
with nasa's new spacewalk suit called
exploration extra vehicular mobility
unit
or xemu all these issues are a thing of
the past
the suit will customly fit each
astronaut using the latest technology in
anthropometry
and biomechanics the lower torso of the
xcmu
suit will give future astronauts the
ability to rotate and bend
a luxury lost on apollo suits the axi mu
will also be equipped to protect
astronauts from being injured by the
fine
and glass-like grains on the moon's
surface inside the current suit helmet
astronauts use a headset for
communication between
each other or between them and mission
control back on earth
this headset which is more famously
known as
snoopy caps will be replaced in the xemu
by an array of wireless sensors and
microphones to be activated when the
astronaut speaks
nasa has also developed a suit for
launch to the moon
and reentry back to earth and called it
the orion crew survival system suit
to be worn by astronauts during flights
to and from the moon
on board the orion spacecraft the suit
comes in a staggering pumpkin orange
color in order for
rescue groups to be able to identify the
astronauts
if they had an emergency and had to land
in the ocean the suit's number one
concern is to protect astronauts during
launch and re-entry and it's basically a
whole spacecraft
for one with the ability to be fully
operational
for six days in case the astronauts had
an emergency the suit is fire resistant
and has a cooling garment layer
as well as its gloves being compatible
with the use of touch screens
the suit size is also custom fit to
better suit the astronaut
the two kinds of suits we mentioned are
both meant for lunar missions
but nasa engineers say the suits can
also be suitable
for future mars missions after
performing some adjustments
finally the artemis project is not only
for nasa's inside engineers
you too can have a say in some of the
design aspects
and even participate in the design
yourself in june of this year nasa
announced the need for a new space
toilet and wants you and the public to
come up with a new design
suitable for future astronauts on the
moon
the design has to be lighter than space
toilets being used now on the
international space station
to reduce the propellant used on launch
the lunar
loo challenge as nasa named it is open
for both adults and kids
aged 12 and under with a prize of 35 000
shared between the top three winning
designs you can participate through the
link
in the description if all went as
planned without any delays because of
the pandemic
the mission artemis 3 will go on in the
year 2024
to deliver the first woman and the next
man to the moon
and after that the missions are planned
to continue on each year