In 2024 NASA is going to go to the Moon again, and this time they plan to stay. In order to go to the Moon, they first need to acquire all of the necessary equipment for the mission. There are six different parts in the plan that all rely on each other and need each other in order for the mission to be successful. These parts include the Orion spacecraft, Space launch system rocket, Exploration ground systems, the Gateway, Human landing system, and Artemis base camp.
First of all, they need to test the systems and finish deciding on which designs will be used. The location of the Artemis base camp is currently set to be in the South Pole of the Moon because there may be ice and other mineral resources there as well as the greater than average access to sunlight. For the mission, the Human landing systems are still undecided. NASA asked many different companies to send forth their designs. It will take a while for NASA to go through them all and find the best ones for the Moon. Many of the new spacecraft and equipment are still being made and need to be tested before they get to the Moon. One of the most important tests is with the Orion spacecraft and the SLS rocket. Both will be launched and travel 280,000 miles from Earth and thousands of miles beyond the Moon to test their functionality. This test will start in the Exploration Ground Systems centered in the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Exploration Ground Systems was made to develop systems or facilities needed to process and launch rockets. Its goal is to change into a spaceport that can be used for different types of spacecraft and rockets.
Secondly, we need to get all of the spacecraft into space. The Orion spacecraft and the SLS rocket will be an essential part of the mission. The Orion spacecraft will carry the crew for the initial landing. The SLS rocket can launch more payload than any other current launch vehicle and has more than double the capacity. Along with them, the Gateway has huge importance in the mission to the Moon, it will be used as an outpost orbiting the Moon allowing us to easily return whenever we want. The Gateway will use a Power Propulsion Element (PPE), a 60-kilowatt solar electric propulsion spacecraft that will provide it power, communications, altitude control, and orbital transfer capabilities; the basic needs for a space station. Along with this, it also will have a Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) that will be where the crew will initially stay providing basic life support, command, control, data handling capabilities, energy storage, power distribution, thermal control, communications, and tracking capabilities, environmental control, life support systems, as well as several docking ports and storage.
Lastly, a base needs to be set up. In the future, NASA pictures a fixed habitat in the Artemis base that can support up to four astronauts for a month. This is a much longer time than the previous trips to the Moon. Astronauts will also have new spacesuits and tools that will allow them to collect more information faster and safer. Even though the Human Landing Systems(HLS) are undecided, NASA has proposed two different vehicles: a lunar terrain vehicle(LTV) and a mobile home/office referred to as a habitable mobility platform. The Human Landing Systems will also be used to offer life support for the crew to stay for a short period of time while they set up their camp. Harvesting resources from the Moon could lead to safer and more efficient operations with less dependence on Earth’s resources. So in the future, there is quite the possibility that they will use the base not only for research but also for the extraction of valuable resources.
In conclusion, we need to learn from our research on the Moon and implement it for other exploration and colonization missions. The Orion Spacecraft has been made for deep space exploration and the SLS is designed to be flexible and evolvable for missions to Mars, allowing us to have the possibility of traveling deeper into our solar system already. If the Artemis mission goes as planned, then we would know how to build a base on another planet as well as be able to learn more about issues that may occur with the base’s design.
Sources:
Orion spacecraft
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/around-the-moon-with-nasa-s-first-launch-of-sls-with-orion
https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/orion/about/index.html
SLS rocket
Exploration Ground Systems
Gateway
Artemis base camp
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