Back to the Moon

The Artemis I mission will send the Orion spacecraft to the Moon atop a new megarocket

Half a century after landing humans on the Moon, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is set to take a giant leap in its renewed Moon and deep space exploration ambitions with a launch that kick-starts a series of missions that aim to return astronauts to the Moon’s surface.

The space agency’s next-generation megarocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), is due to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the southern United States. The mission, called Artemis I, aims to send the uncrewed Orion spacecraft on a six-week test flight around the Moon and return safely back to Earth.

The SLS is considered the world’s most complex and powerful rocket, and the biggest the space agency has built since the Saturn V rockets flown during its Apollo Moon program of the 1960s and 1970s.

Its first launch aims to put the rocket, the Orion spacecraft and the ground facilities through a rigorous stress test with an actual flight before the system is deemed ready to carry astronauts.

In the subsequent missions after the test flight, the space agency plans to send astronauts to orbit the Moon, and also land the first woman and a person of colour on the Moon’s surface.

“Orion is specifically designed to carry astronauts on deep space missions farther than ever before,” NASA says. “It will provide protection from solar radiation and high-speed entry into Earth’s atmosphere, as well as advanced and reliable technologies for communication and life support.”

The spacecraft’s crew capsule has about 30% more volume of space than the Apollo capsule and can sustain a crew of four for up to 21 days during its initial missions to low lunar orbit, according to the space agency.

The illustration shows the major components of the Orion spacecraft that has a capacity to carry four astronauts for up to 21 days. The main components are a pressurized crew module and a service module that provides propulsion, thermal control, electrical power generated by solar arrays, and life support systems. The crew module is attached on top of the service module that is itself attached to the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, the system that powers the spacecraft from the Earth’s orbit on to its trajectory to the Moon.

The SLS is a modular rocket, with the ability to accomodate crew and cargo on its future flights to the Moon and beyond. The basic elements of the rocket system, such as the core engines and rocket boosters, are common across variants, though these systems are expected to see upgrades, making them capable of carrying heavier payloads.

NASA said the initial Block 1 rocket configuration is made for the first three Artemis missions to the Moon. The Block 2 configuration, the most powerful of the planned lot, would be the space agency’s “workhorse vehicle” for sending cargo to the Moon, Mars, and other deep space destinations.

The graphic illustrates the first and the futuristic versions of NASA’s Space Launch System. The first version, called Block 1, is set to test launch on August 29. The future versions will be capable of carrying more payload. Three of the six planned rocket configurations are meant to carry astronauts while three others can carry only cargo. The future configurations will have evolved systems, such as more powerful rocket boosters and upper stage engines.

The 42-day mission will take the Orion spacecraft 450,000 kilometres from Earth before it splashes down in the Pacific Ocean. The flight will include a number of carefully planned manoeuvres.

On Aug. 16, the new rocket system was first unveiled in its fully assembled form when it undertook an hours-long crawl to its launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center.

NASA's next-generation moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS) Artemis 1 rocket with its Orion crew capsule stands on launch pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, United States, August 17, 2022. REUTERS/Joe Skipper

“SLS provides an unmatched capability to deliver greater mass and volume than any current launch vehicle for both human and robotic exploration of the Moon, Mars, and the outer planets,” the space agency says in its mission reference guide.

The rocket was set to launch on Aug. 29 but safety regulations and deteriorating weather conditions had forced the space agency to return the towering rocket to its hangar in late September following two aborted launch attempts.

NASA has now targeted Nov. 16 for a third launch attempt. The rocket was rolled back on to the launchpad on Nov. 4.

Note

Flight trajectory graphics are for illustration purposes and may not reflect the accurate flight path or scale.

Sources

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration; Natural Earth; Moon image by Yannis Behrakis (Reuters)

Edited by

Anand Katakam, Gerry Doyle