BACK TO THE MOON
Many nations are interested in returning to the Moon to explore and mine it
Since the first humans evolved in east Africa about 3 million years ago, people have been conflicted between the pressures of dealing with problems at home and the excitement and possibilities offered by exploration. There will always be problems at home, but it’s not a good enough reason for staying put, so people venture forth, often reaping the benefits.
There is much historical evidence to show that exploration produces solutions which can be employed back home. Columbus struggled to fund his expeditions because few could see any benefit. But after Europeans reached the Americas they brought back potatoes, which became a hugely important crop, feeding millions because they thrive where other crops fail.
Discoveries are made not only at the destination, but along the way, too. When sailors began to explore the world’s oceans, they needed a way of determining longitude, something which requires accurate timings. Since pendulum clocks are wildly inaccurate on rolling ships, major scientific and engineering advances were made in coming up with a timepiece solution. Your wristwatch, albeit probably electronic, is a direct descendant of that.
We discuss all of this for a reason. Since moonwalkers Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt splashed down on Earth along with Command Module pilot Ronald Evans (and five mice) on 19 December 1972, humans have never again put boots on the Moon. Several return programs have been proposed and aborted, with none being successful because of funding problems and a lack of enthusiasm from the public and politicians. Earthbound problems have been seen as more pressing.
But times are changing. Despite the ravages of COVID-19 on health and budgets, space agencies are getting serious about returning astronauts to Earth’s only natural satellite. And one fact that the pandemic has reinforced is that there is not a fixed amount of money on Earth: governments can create it in an economic process called quantitative easing. President Joe Biden is planning a trilliondollar stimulus package for the US economy, and it’s paving the way for exploration.
This time around, NASA astronauts heading for the Moon are likely to include a woman and a person of colour for the first time, reversing the discriminatory wrongdoings of the past, which is an important part of many government policies. But a return to the Moon is nevertheless being seen as a stepping stone for other, perhaps more ambitious missions. Buzz Aldrin, the second human to walk on the Moon’s surface, supports a manned mission to Mars, and NASA is not alone in looking skywards.
As it stands, there’s an internal fight going on within the wider space industry, and an argument about whether we should be sending people at all. Having humans in space, or on another celestial body such as the Moon, is much more expensive than sending unmanned craft. Consider the great success that the Mars 2020 mission’s helicopter Ingenuity has recently enjoyed. There’s a strong argument that money is far better spent on unmanned spacecraft and landers.
Even so, NASA is getting ready to send astronauts to explore more of the Moon as part of the Artemis program, and the agency has selected SpaceX to continue development of the first commercial human lander that will carry the next two American astronauts to the lunar surface. In Greek mythology, Artemis was the daughter
of Zeus and Leto, and the Moon was among her charges. Her twin brother was Apollo, a name which has already graced lunar missions.
The agency’s powerful Space Launch System (SLS) rocket will launch four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft for a multi-day journey to lunar orbit. Once there, two crew members will transfer to SpaceX’s Human Landing System (HLS) for the final leg of their journey to the surface of the Moon. After approximately a week exploring the surface, they will board the lander for their short trip back to orbit, where they will return to Orion and their colleagues before heading back to Earth. The firm, fixed-price, milestone-based contract total award value is $2.89 billion (£2.05 billion).
“With this award, NASA and our partners will complete the first crewed demonstration mission to the surface of the Moon in the 21st century as the agency takes a step forward for women’s equality and long-term deep-space exploration,” says Kathy Lueders, NASA’s associate administrator for human exploration and operations mission directorate. “This critical step puts humanity on a path to sustainable lunar exploration and keeps our eyes on missions farther into the Solar System, including Mars.”
“This is an exciting time for NASA, and especially the Artemis team,” says Lisa WatsonMorgan, program manager for the HLS at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “During Apollo, we proved that it is possible to do the seemingly impossible: land humans on the Moon. By taking a collaborative approach in working with industry while leveraging NASA’s proven technical expertise and capabilities, we will return American astronauts to the Moon’s surface once again, this time to explore new areas for longer periods of time.”
SpaceX’s Starship HLS, designed to land on the surface of the Moon, leans on the company’s tested Raptor engines and flight heritage of the Falcon and Dragon vehicles. Starship includes a spacious cabin and two airlocks for astronaut moonwalks. The Starship architecture is intended to evolve to a fully reusable launch and landing system designed for travel to the Moon, Mars and other destinations in the Solar System.
With the powerful new SLS rocket, the Orion capsule, Starship HLS and the Gateway lunar outpost all planned, NASA and its commercial and international partners are returning to the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits and inspiration for a new generation.
Eight countries initially signed the Artemis Accords, a set of guidelines surrounding the crewed exploration of the Moon. The UK, Italy, Australia, Canada, Japan, Luxembourg, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates and the US are now all participants in the project, which aims to return humans to the Moon by 2024 and establish a crewed lunar base by 2030. Strangely, one NASA illustration of Gateway shows a Russian element.
Last year Japan said it will recruit astronauts for the first time in 13 years. Japan’s Education and Science minister Koichi Hagiuda said the aim is to have a Japanese national on the Moon for the first time in the latter half of the 2020s.
Japan has seven astronauts in the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and three of them have already been to space. The Japanese government will seek applications in the latter part of 2021, and the selected group of astronauts may be part of Artemis. It’s the first time since 2008 that Japan will be recruiting astronauts. “We will solicit applications around every five years from now on to maintain a group of astronauts,” Hagiuda says. The project seeks to establish a “set of principles for space exploration, including lunar resource extraction”.
African and South American countries are so far absent, although Brazil has expressed an intent to join Artemis. Their economies may prevent their
“NASA will complete the first crewed demonstration mission to the surface of the Moon in the 21st century”
Kathy Lueders