Artemis II: why did it take more than 50 years for the return of missions to the Moon? (and how they get us closer to Mars)

“It’s happening right now, this is not a dream, it’s reality”. NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman does not hide his emotion for news that humanity has been waiting for more than 50 years: we will return to the Moon. And this time with the goal of staying longer and going much further.

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The return to deep space is a fact. Weisman will command the Artemis II mission, in which he and three other astronauts -among them a woman and an African-American, something unprecedented- will foreseeably travel almost 400,000 km over 10 days in November of next year to the Moon to fly around it before return to Earth. The three Americans and one Canadian who make up the crew will be the first to fly NASA’s Orion capsule.

The tour will be one more step before the Artemis III mission, scheduled for the end of 2025 and which does include stepping on the surface of our natural satellite.

The first time that humanity traveled to the Moon was in the 1960s with the Apollo missions led by NASA. In total, 12 astronauts landed on the moon until the program ended in 1972. At that time, the purpose was basically to prove that we had the technology to travel outside of Earth and land or land on an object other than our planet and verify that there were no risks to the crew.

This time, the Artemis program has two very clear objectives. The first is to establish a lasting human presence on the lunar surface in the medium term and the second, more ambitious, is to launch a manned voyage to Mars by 2040.

“We will go back to the Moon to see what can be done in a practical way,” Peruvian astrophysicist and science educator Carla Arce-Tord told El Comercio.

He explains that, for example, the installation of lunar bases is being considered so that crews in the future can spend a few seasons on the Moon doing research, installing equipment such as telescopes that allow observation with the advantage of not having an atmosphere that interferes with vision. “The purpose now is to explore the Moon in situ in more detail and see what possibilities we have to be able to settle in the future as a species on the Moon, not necessarily to live, although who knows, but mainly for scientific research,” says the expert.

The Orion spacecraft was already successfully tested without crew members at the end of 2022, during the Artemis I mission. (Photo: AFP) (JIM WATSON/)

In addition to the well-defined objectives, more advanced technology is added, two elements that have taken more than five decades to align in order to carry out this new mission.

Another world

The technological leap that humanity has seen since the 1960s is evident. Even a cell phone can have a more powerful camera than the computers from the days of the Apollo mission. What differences do we see in this new exploration of the Moon?

Although Apollo laid the technological foundations for trips to the Moon, not only the infrastructure, the hardware, but also the flight plan and all the planning, the difference with respect to Artemis basically lies in the advancement of hardware, considers Arce .

“Artemis has much faster computers, with more memory, with more advanced processors, calculations can be done practically immediately, connectivity with Earth is much more efficient in terms of communication. Let’s say that the technology is better, but the planning bases are similar, which is why the Apollo missions are extremely important in the history of aerospace travel,” says the specialist.

Along these lines, Jeff Foust, an aerospace analyst and journalist, points out that electronics are probably the biggest technological difference from the Apollo era, allowing for a much greater degree of automation, which reduces the workload on astronauts. “Advances in computing, cameras and communications also allow the inhabitants of Earth to virtually accompany the journey, as demonstrated by the impressive images and videos of the Artemis I mission,” he tells this newspaper.

In this episode of #SpaceToEarthlearn more about the investigations that are being carried out in the @Space_Station in preparation for future lunar missions of #Artemis pic.twitter.com/7diprNeuCU

— NASA in Spanish (@NASA_es) April 5, 2023

Are here! Introducing the astronauts of #Artemis II:

Reid Wiseman (@astro_reid)
Victor Glover (@AstroVicGlover)
Christina Koch (@Astro_Christina)
Jeremy Hanson (@Astro_Jeremy)

Read more: https://t.co/fP5TMSz9FC pic.twitter.com/GZrPt95inX

— NASA in Spanish (@NASA_es) April 3, 2023

Another improvement is that today there is greater security for astronauts. With more advanced technology, more aspects can be covered in this matter, starting with more fluid communication with the bases on Earth and notable improvements in the lunar module. Arce points out that security is also greater thanks to the fact that we have learned from the mistakes of the past.

“Unfortunately, during the Apollo era there were some accidents and we learned from that to correct and anticipate anything that could happen now on Artemis. The technology is much better, which makes it easier to anticipate problems and increases the chances of mission success. And, in the future, Artemis is also going to serve as a precedent to improve what needs to be improved”, he points out.

One cannot lose sight of the fact that this NASA mission is taking place in parallel with commercial initiatives such as the space station that the Axiom company plans to build, or the trip to the Moon that the Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and ten other civilians will make on a date for determine aboard the Starship rocket of the private firm Space X.

eyes on mars

While there are several reasons for conducting human missions to the Moon, one of the main ones is to prepare for subsequent human missions to Mars.

Foust notes that the Moon offers a place to test the technologies needed for missions to Mars, as well as gain experience in exploring the surface of another world. Plus, it’s only a few days from Earth, making it easy to return if something goes wrong.

“Lunar exploration also creates the international alliances necessary for human missions to Mars, which may be too large and complex for a single country, including the United States, to carry out alone,” he tells this Journal.

“With Apollo, half a century ago, we showed that we had the technology to go to the Moon, but it was so expensive that it was not sustainable. With Artemis, we hope to demonstrate that we not only have the technology, but also the ability to sustain those missions through international and commercial partnerships. That will allow humanity to stay on the Moon for the long term and prepare to go to Mars”, concludes Foust.

Source: Elcomercio