The Artemis project will send human explorers to the Moon by 2024. A main objective for the lunar mission will be to train for a second launch: one that will bring astronauts to Mars. But there will be plenty of science to conduct on the lunar surface, too.
In a live Tech Briefs presentation titled Artemis: Back to the Moon, a reader had the following question for Nujoud Fahoum Merancy, Chief of the Exploration Mission Planning Office at Johnson Space Center in Houston Texas.
"Are there other objectives for specifically lunar operations besides preparing and training for Mars mission?"
Read the NASA expert's edited response below.
Nujoud Fahoum Merancy: I characterize most of NASA's exploration into three real objectives. First, you have the science. If we go to the south pole, there's a ton of science that we have yet to do on the Moon, science that hasn't been done. The surface area of the Moon is the size of the continent of Africa. If we'd only put 12 humans and 6 missions on the continent of Africa, no one would say we'd explored it. We're at the same place on the Moon. There's still tons to explore on the Moon, tons of science to do and understand.
The second objective is really the economic benefit. As we push the technology, essentially, we're developing technologies, we're increasing their capability — the efficiency of solar arrays, for example — which feeds back to benefits on Earth. It's not always a direct line of "this leads to that," but missions like Apollo pushed the computer system and microchips, for example.
The third objective is the commercial aspect. As we build out systems, low-Earth orbit is truly a commercial enterprise at this point. It helps the economy; there's lot that's done there that no one would have ever dreamed of during Apollo. The same type of thing is expected to happen in the future with the Moon. While we're talking about the technology to go to Mars, there's really the science, the technologies, and the commercialization and capability of the lunar programs as well.
More Artemis reader questions:
- How Does the Artemis Mission Differ from Apollo?
- What are the Biggest Technology Challenges for Artemis?
- How Will Crew Health Be Maintained for Artemis?
- What is the Gateway Orbit?
Transcript
00:00:02 >> WE ARE AT KENNEDY SPACE CENTER. EVERY PIECE OF HARDWARE NECESSARY TO RETURN TO THE MOON IS NOW HERE. [ MUSIC ] >> THEY ARE BEING ASSEMBLED, STACKED, FUELED, AND PRIMED FOR FLIGHT. >> THE NEXT TIME THESE ENGINES
00:00:31 FIRE UP WILL BE ON THE LAUNCHPAD TO SEND AN UNCREWED ORION SPACECRAFT AROUND THE MOON ON A FLIGHT TEST FOR THE ARTEMIS 1 MISSION. [ MUSIC ] >> IT'S BEEN A JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES FROM FACTORY FLOORS
00:00:48 ALL ACROSS THIS COUNTRY AND AROUND THE WORLD TO HERE. [ MUSIC ] AND NOW, THE STAGE HAS BEEN SET. >> WE ARE SEEING ARTEMIS TAKE HER PLACE. [ INDISTINCT CHATTER ] >> THE FRAMEWORK TO SUPPORT
00:01:17 THE ENORMITY OF THIS MOMENT CAN'T BE MEASURED IN RENOVATIONS AND REHEARSALS ALONE. >> BUT IN THE TESTING OF A METAL FOUND MUCH DEEPER. >> WITH EACH SEGMENT BUILT UPON THE ONE BEFORE IT... [ MUSIC ] ...THE VOLUME OF ANTICIPATION CAN BE SEEN RISING.
00:01:50 >> FOR IN ADDITION TO CERTIFYING WHAT A HOST OF TESTING HAS ALREADY PREVIEWED... [ MUSIC ] >> AND LIFTOFF! >> THE DAWN OF ORION AND A NEW ERA OF AMERICAN SPACE EXPLORATION. >> ARTEMIS WILL DEMONSTRATE A NEW PATH TO THE MOON
00:02:15 FOR THIS GENERATION. >> ARTEMIS 1. >> AN UNCREWED TEST FLIGHT WILL BE A FINAL PROVING OF EVERY SYSTEM... >> AND EVERY COMPONENT... >> IN THE HARSHNESS OF SPACE. >> A MISSION THAT, WHEN SUCCESSFUL, WILL OPEN THE DOOR
00:02:32 FOR THE MOON WALKERS AND LUNAR EXPERIMENTS... >> THAT SO MANY HAVE HOPED AND DREAMED ABOUT. >> WE ARE GOING.
