The old American plan to return to the moon has been boiling over for several years, and some netizens are excitedly looking forward to the opening of the drama, while others are coldly watching and waiting to see the joke. Because many people not only do not believe in the "return to the moon plan", even the first manned landing on the moon in the United States in the last century is still considered to be false.
So what the hell is going on here? We'll talk about it today.
According to foreign media reports, on December 6, NASA (NASA) announced that from more than 12,000 applicants, 10 newly recruited astronaut candidates were selected, of which 6 were men and 4 were women. The candidates will begin a two-year training program in January and, after which they are expected to become lunar astronauts on the lunar return program.
The 10 new astronauts are: Nicole Ayers, Marcos Berrios, Christina Birch, Deniz Burnham, Luke Delaney, Andre Douglas, Jack Hathaway, Anil Menon, Christopher Williams, Jessica Witner. Almost all of these people have a background in the U.S. Navy or Air Force, and Ayers is one of only a few women in the U.S. Air Force who has flown F-22s.
They were selected from more than 12,000 applicants who submitted their applications in March 2020, and the basic conditions for applying for applications are that they have U.S. citizenship, at least 3 years of relevant experience or 1,000 hours of jet piloting experience, pass the astronaut physical examination, have a relevant educational background in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) disciplines, and obtain a master's degree.
Prior to that, in December 2020, then-U.S. Vice President Mike Pence released a list of Artemis' team, including 18 astronaut candidates. He declared that "it is very important for us to have the first woman and the first person of color land on the surface of the moon together." ”
Artemis is the code name for NASA's 2024 return to the moon program.
The list of 18 people released in the past and the list of 10 people released now should belong to the team of this plan, because returning to the moon is not a one-time landing on the moon, it will be many times in a row, and more astronauts will definitely be needed to build a lunar base. But NASA doesn't have a more detailed explanation, so I won't speculate too much.
But in any case, the constant news has given people the impression that NASA's return to the moon program is progressing step by step, and the implementation process is becoming more and more concrete.
Artemis is the name of a goddess in Greek mythology, also known as Cynthia, the daughter of the god King Zeus, the twin sister of the sun god Apollo, one of the twelve main goddesses of the moon and Olympus, and the goddess of the hunt. The Artemis project is a space project named after this goddess, funded by the U.S. government and implemented by NASA, with the goal of sending astronauts safely to the moon and returning around 2024, and to establish a normalized residency mechanism in the lunar orbit and lunar surface to pave the way for future manned landing missions on Mars.
The last century manned lunar mission was called "Apollo Project", now called "Artemis Project", just like the Greek mythology that they were two brothers and sisters, the return to the moon program is actually the same as the last century manned moon landing is also a sibling program. Of course, returning to the moon is a higher and stronger goal based on past manned moon landings, and it is well deserved to be the sister of "Apollo".
In 2017, then-US President Trump signed the Space Policy Directive 1, which formally approved the Artemis project; in 2019, NASA released the official logo of the Artemis program and the logo of the goddess of the moon, which is a portrait of the goddess Artemis (see image above).
Based on some of the details and progress that NASA continues to disclose, a general context can be summarized in the implementation of the Artemis plan.
If this plan is counted from 2019, the mission execution process will take about 10 years.
The biggest difference between the lunar return program and the last century's lunar landing missions is three points: the first is that the landing site is on the back of the moon, the first is that the moon is not directly from the earth, and the third is that it represents the broader human landing on the moon, the first time there are female astronauts and people of color landing on the moon.
Not landing directly on the moon is to build a space station in lunar orbit, called the "Deep Space Gate", and astronauts who land on the moon will take a long-distance spacecraft from Earth to stay on the space station first, and then transfer from the space station to a "bus" (lunar spacecraft) to and from the moon.
The main means of transportation from Earth to the moon will be NASA's self-developed Space Launch System (SLS), which is a very similar to the largest carrier rocket of the last century, Saturn V, but more powerful and advanced launch vehicle system; and the "bus" mission from the "Deep Space Gate" to the moon is undertaken by a third-party commercial company through bidding.
Just earlier this year, Musk's Space Exploration Technology Company (SpaceX), which has exclusively won the bid to undertake a spacecraft order to pick up astronauts to land on the moon, will use their giant SN starship as a space station to the moon "bus".
In 2020, the Artemis 1 mission, that is, the completion of the unmanned Orion spacecraft orbiting the moon test mission; from 2021 to 2023, the Artemis 2 mission will complete three manned Orion spacecraft orbiting the moon in three years, so far the manned moon landing is only the last step.
At the same time, the construction of the lunar space station will also be carried out simultaneously. In December 2022, the first space station module will be launched, this module is a power and propulsion component system, which will provide power for the assembly, operation, propulsion, and communication of subsequent space station modules; in 2024, the second module of the space station, "Small Cabin", will be launched into orbit to dock with the on-orbit power and propulsion modules.
Previously, in 2023, NASA and partners will send a smart rover called "Wanderer" to the moon, detect and analyze the material there in the proposed manned landing area, verify the use of lunar water ice to produce drinking water and oxygen, and set up a front station for astronauts who follow up on the moon to enter the moon and establish a base.
In 2024, Musk SpaceX's giant SN starship arrived in lunar orbit, docked with the "Deep Space Gate", and prepared to transport astronauts to and from the moon; in 2024, the Artemis 3 mission, that is, the SLS system launched the Orion spacecraft to send the lunar astronauts to the lunar orbit, stationed on the space station, completed the isotropic inspection and preparation work, and began to implement the lunar mission.
From 2026 to 2008, the Artemis 5, 6, 7 and 8 missions were carried out through the "Deep Space Gate" to carry out the lunar mission and complete the initial construction of the lunar base. Not only U.S. astronauts, but also those from its partner countries were involved, including landings on the moon, building space stations and lunar bases.
After nearly 10 years of efforts, humans use the space station as a springboard to land on the moon or travel to more distant deep space, technology and management will become more and more skilled, in future space missions, this way will become the norm; at the same time, human landing on the moon will become easier and easier.
After 2030, the implementation of the Artemis plan comes to an end, and the center of NASA's space mission will shift from landing on the moon to a manned landing on Mars, at this time, astronauts who have been training in the lunar orbit and surface for a long time have adapted to a long period of space life and will set off to land on Mars around 2033.
Some recent developments seem to release some bad news.
First of all, because NASA gave all the contracts for the lunar spacecraft to Musk's SpaceX rocket company, blue origin, which led to the failure of the competition, was seriously dissatisfied and angrily took NASA to court, accusing NASA of bias and unfairness in the contract bidding.
Although this lawsuit blue origin company may not win, but NASA had to spend a lot of energy to respond to the lawsuit, and helplessly temporarily stopped the contract execution, which is bound to waste a lot of time.
Second, NASA released a report on August 10, declaring that the new generation of lunar spacesuits is complex to produce, with 27 companies supplying various components, and the progress is slow, and it will not be delivered until 2025 at the earliest. Coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic and insufficient funding, plans to return to the moon in 2024 could be in vain.
Although these unfavorable factors have added a lot of uncertainty to Artemis's plan, NASA seems to be very confident, and on November 10, NASA Director Bill Nelson announced that although he lost nearly 7 months in the lawsuit, he would still land on the moon in 2025.
It has been nearly fifty years since humans completed their first lunar landing feat in the 1960s and 1970s, and the pace of human beings has never taken a step out of the Earth's atmosphere. Artemis plans to set off another tide of manned spaceflight, and the space drama will be on stage in the next few years, which is worth waiting and seeing.
Of course, I hope to see these big dramas, but I wonder what you think? Welcome to the discussion, thanks for reading.
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