Back to the Moon and on to Mars!
Last week, FEDtalk host James Heelan spoke to Dr. Jim Green, NASA Chief Scientist; Dr. Elizabeth Frank, Applied Planetary Scientist at First Mode; and Dr. Amy Fagan, Chair of the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group, to discuss the Artemis Program at NASA which strives to send humans back to the moon and then to Mars.
The name Artemis stems from Artemis and Apollo. Apollo was God of the Sun and Artemis was his twin sister, Goddess of the moon. Dr. Jim Green discusses a few goals of Artemis, including bringing the first woman to the moon by 2024 and building a satellite that would circle the moon.
Dr. Green explains, “We’re gonna have to be able to take equipment or things with us that will extract resources from the moon, and there some spectacular resources on the South Pole [of the moon].” The first phase of Artemis, Artemis I, would involve a flight test of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion Capsule as an integrated system. Artemis II would send a flight crew to the moon aboard the SLS and Orion. Artemis III would land a human on the moon from the satellite in lunar orbit.
Dr. Amy Fagan discusses the international implications of Artemis, saying “We’re not the only people who are interested in going forward to the moon.” She discusses the Artemis Accords, an international agreement between different countries that would promote peaceful activities and work in collaboration to go to the moon.
Dr. Elizabeth Frank continues the discussion on the accords, saying, “[They] are really critical for United States and NASA to set tone about how we are going to approach these activities on the moon.” The approach to the Artemis Program is different from the Apollo program because the latter was more adversarial, and took place during the Cold War. Artemis approaches the mission to the moon as more of a collaborative, international effort.
An important aspect of this project is exploring the South Pole region of the moon- the portion not seen in the night sky. The Viper rover will be used to explore the South Pole and help scientists better understand the landscape and resources there. It is “basically the new moon-buggy,” according to Dr. Frank. To round out the discussion, the three panelists discuss collaborating with the mining industry to tap into the moon and extract cores to bring back to Earth.
New spacesuits, data mining techniques, cars, and equipment are being worked on in order to carry out the Artemis Project. Tapping into a number of techniques here on Earth for the Artemis Project will be key for advancement of this project.
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