The Artemis Program

Last week the launch of the Artemis 1 rocket was postponed due to an engine issue and unfavourable weather. It would have been the first launch of the Artemis program, fittingly named after the twin sister of the Greek god Apollo, which aims to get humankind back to the surface of the Moon over the next decade. The program consists initially of Artemis 1, an unmanned flyby of the Moon, Artemis 2, a manned flyby planned for 2024, and Artemis 3, which will finally land astronauts on the Moon planned for 2026. This would not be the last of the Artemis program, however, as the plan is to continue to send manned missions to the Moon every year after Artemis 3. 

It has been a long journey to try to get back to the Moon. With the last manned mission to the Moon, Apollo 17, having taken place almost 50 years ago, space exploration recently has mainly focused on the international space station and unmanned probes sent out into the solar system. The Constellation program, started in 2006 with the goal of returning to the Moon by 2020, was cancelled in 2011 due to budget issues. Meanwhile, however, a lot of work has gone into developing the tools necessary to get back to the Moon.

One such advance was the Space Launch System or SLS. It is the world’s most powerful rocket to date, and was designed specifically for deep space missions such as those the Artemis program plans to undertake. It is the first such rocket to be built since the Saturn V, with a 15% increase over Saturn V’s lift capabilities, and is the successor to the Ares 1 rocket that was in development for the Constellation program. The SLS will have the ability to accelerate a 24,400 kilogram payload to orbits beyond the Moon, reaching a top speed of around 39,000 kilometres per hour. That is the equivalent of launching, say, 27 1979 Volkswagen Beetles into space approximately ten times faster than the top speed of the SR-71 Blackbird, one of the fastest planes ever built. 

A rocket like this one is essential for missions outside of Earth’s orbit, and it will continue to develop. The capabilities of the SLS will improve with time, eventually reaching a lifting capacity of 44,400 kilograms and almost double the capacity the SLS will have during this initial launch as manned missions into deep space become more common. The greater the payload that can be launched, the more food, water, supplies, and equipment can be sent. This means that missions can remain on the Moon, on Mars or beyond for longer, and that they are more cost-effective. The development of the SLS is important not just for the Artemis mission, but for the future of manned spaceflight.

The SLS will be used to launch the Orion Spacecraft, another important instrument originally developed for the Constellation program but that has been repurposed for the Artemis program. Orion is a spacecraft designed to take a crew of four on long deep space missions, including years long missions to Mars, far from the protective influence of Earth, and as such requires special precautions to protect the crew from long term radiation exposure. Another challenge facing the spacecraft is reentry. On deep space missions like the one to the Moon, Orion will enter the atmosphere travelling at 40,000 kilometres per hour and will need to decelerate to 482 kilometres per hour before parachutes can be deployed. By the time it lands in the Pacific, the spacecraft will still be travelling at 32 kilometres per hour. That is a lot of decelerating, and therefore a lot of stress on the craft and the crew inside. 

Artemis 1 will be used to test Orion’s capabilities in these areas. Dummies will be onboard the unmanned flight and will be wearing radiation sensors to test new radiation shielding vests for the crew, as well as the protection offered by the spacecraft itself. Recovery crews will be waiting to recover Orion when it splashes down, looking to collect as much of the spacecraft as possible so that data can be collected on the ship’s performance on reentry and in space. While the Artemis 1 mission is unmanned, it is also an important step in making sure the Orion spacecraft is suitable for manned missions and developing the capabilities to launch increasingly long missions into space.

 Any setback in the program that offers such interesting opportunities for scientific advancement is naturally disappointing to any space exploration enthusiasts. The mission will hopefully launch soon, but the failure of billion dollar equipment should raise the question: why should we care about getting back to the Moon? It’s a valid question when every SLS launch is estimated to cost 4.1 Billion dollars, not including the development of the technologies needed to actually build Orion and the SLS, and the goal is simply to reach a seemingly barren natural satellite 384,000 kilometres away. Really, it is a question that can be asked of any major scientific endeavour of our time, what with the climate crises, international pandemics, and global conflicts looming over our world while scientists go about increasingly obscure and expensive experiments.

But the truth is there are a lot of reasons we should want to continue space exploration. One of the most laudable is simply that it inspires young people to get involved in STEM and to get curious about the universe. That the Artemis program plans to land the first woman on the Moon, and the first person of colour, broadens the program’s ability to reach out and do so. Since it is young people who will be faced with the most difficult problems that face humanity, getting them interested in science may be the most important goal of all, but there are also many other concrete examples to look to.

An important part of the Artemis mission is to establish Gateway, the world’s first space station outside of Earth’s orbit, to provide support not only for lunar missions but also for further deep space missions to Mars. Gateway will be deployed gradually as the Artemis program moves forward, with the first modules getting set up in 2024 but additional elements being added on later. This permanent station will allow astronauts to live and conduct research, serve as a docking station for spacecraft, lunar landers, and resupply craft, as well as to facilitate communications with the lunar surface. 

Research done aboard the International Space Station that hangs in low Earth orbit has already shown the benefit of doing science in space. The development of water purification systems,  techniques for growing food in microgravity and other harsh conditions, and data collection aboard the ISS to support natural disaster response and environmental research all seek to address very real world needs that humanity faces. Other projects the crew of the ISS has carried out include studies of cells critical to diseases like Alzheimer’s Disease and Cancer, and research into fluid, astro and quantum physics.

The ISS provides a unique platform in microgravity for this work to be done. Work that is clearly relevant and important to life on Earth. Gateway presents an entirely different environment, with less influence from gravity and the protection of Earth’s atmosphere. NASA has already selected the first three science instruments to be deployed on the station; the Heliophysics Environmental and Radiation Measurement Experiment Suite (HERMES), the European Radiation Sensors Array (ERSA), and the Internal Dosimeter Array (IDA). All three of these instruments are directed at studying solar weather and radiation that pervades the solar system. 

Solar events such as the solar wind, coronal mass ejections, and solar flares can all affect long distance space travel, but also life on Earth. The radiation given off by these events can disrupt GPS and the sensitive components of satellites, and blow out power grids. Developing a better understanding of space weather can help prevent these things. Understanding the radiation created by these events can help us improve cancer treatments, understand the radiation effects on the cardiovascular and central nervous systems, and find better ways of shielding from all kinds of radiation. 

In short, the technological and scientific innovations that can come from returning to the Moon are plentiful, and should be explored. These are not, however, the only reasons to go. Lunar missions are also an opportunity for international political cooperation and economic development. One major development that has already taken place is the establishment of the Artemis accords. They require of signatories that all activities in space will be conducted for peaceful purposes, publicly and transparently describe their plans and policies, build space infrastructure with interoperability in mind, render assistance to those in distress, open sharing of scientific information, protect sites and artifacts of historic value, to conduct space resource extraction in accordance with the Outer Space Treaty, cooperate and coordinate in such a way as to prevent endangering another signatories operations, mitigate orbital debris, and properly register space objects. This list of requirements looks to foster a peaceful, cooperative and sustainable approach to space exploration, and many countries have already signed, including Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, France, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, the Republic of Korea, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

If anyone is still concerned that space exploration seems like a huge expense for too little gain, NASA released an economic impact report in 2020. The report shows that NASA generated more than 64.3 billion dollars in 2019, supported more than 312,000 jobs, and generated 7 billion dollars in tax revenue for the United States. While this is an example of the effects that investment in space flight can have in just one country, it demonstrates the potential for farther reaching economic benefits for the world. 

So while looking to space can seem impractical, even wasteful, all the good that space travel can do for the world is hard to deny when looking at the bigger picture. To solve some of the most pressing issues on Earth, such as the climate crisis, international conflict, and disease, research done in space is a step in the right direction. None of this can happen unless Artemis 1 gets off the ground, so I for one will be eagerly paying attention to the progress of the Artemis program.