For the first time since 1972, a rocket is about to reopen the way towards human missions on the Moon. Departure scheduled for August 29, but without astronauts on board.
Fifty years after the last flight of Apollo, on December 7, 1972, the date of the last Apollo mission, the time came for “Artemis” to take over: the most powerful rocket in the world is preparing to make its air baptism, next Monday August 29, 2022, from Florida and to launch the American program back on the moon at the same time.
Admittedly, it is a test flight, without crew on board. But for NASA, which has been preparing for this takeoff for more than a decade, the event is highly symbolic. He must embody the future of the space agency, and prove that it is always able to compete, especially in the face of the ambitions of China or SpaceX.
The purpose of this mission, called Artémis 1, is to test the SLS rocket in real conditions (for Space Launch System), 98 meters high and heir to the Saturn V rockets, and the Orion capsule at its top, where astronauts will take place in the future.
For this time, only models are on board, equipped with sensors to record vibrations and radiation rates.
Embedded cameras will allow you to follow this 42 -day trip in total. A spectacular self with earth and the moon in the background is on the program.
Once in orbit, Orion will have the Tour of the Moon once and a half time (380,000 km away), venturing up to 64,000 km behind it, further than any other living space vessel so far.
The main objective is to test its thermal shield, which when it comes back to the earth’s atmosphere will have to bear a speed of almost 40,000 km/h, and a temperature half as hot as the surface of the sun.
The first human mission, with a mixed crew of two astronauts, will intervene, in the best of cases, in 2024. But there again, Artemis 2 will be limited to a stay in orbit around the six -day moon, without landing. The real return of man to the lunar surface was only planned for 2025, with Artemis 3.
Two countries that will not be part of the Artemis program are Russia and China. NASA officials contacted Russia a few years ago to participate in the return to the Moon, and although some officials of the company Roscosmos were receptive, the participation was postponed by senior Russian leaders, including the chief of Roscosmos, Dmitri Rogozine.
Regarding China, the US Congress prohibits NASA from cooperating with Chinese space activities. In addition, China had already decided years ago to follow a separate spatial flight route.
She works on her own lunar plans closely kept secret. As the United States sought to do so in the 1960s with Apollo, China considers its increasingly robust space program as a means of increasing its prestige on the world scene and advancing geopolitical interests.
The Chinese reaction to the NASA Artemis mission seems to be disdain.
An article in a Chinese publication, the Global Times, seeks to oppose the Artemis mission to the lunar plans of China, which include the development of the capacity to land its own astronauts on the moon within 2030. China is working on innovative plans to carry out its own crew moving missions.
On the other hand, China and Russia have also recently signed a cooperation agreement on lunar efforts.
