To the moon and beyond: Artemis II mission can pave way for deep space

The Artemis II mission, from America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa), is the first manned mission to go beyond the earth orbit since 1972. The four-person mission will swing in a flyby past the moon and it will take human beings further from the earth than they have ever been. But instead of landing on the moon — a feat last performed in 1972 by the Apollo 17 mission — the crew will return to splashdown off the California coast. Artemis II will carry out many experiments. But most importantly, the 10-day mission will test the crew’s health, the Orion rockets, the crew module, the heat shields, and software and other equipment of the “space launch” system, which is to be used for subsequent missions.

 

Nasa intends to put humans on the moon in a 2028 mission, and set up a permanent moon base sometime in the 2030s. Once that base is established, it could be a bridgehead to push ahead on the exploration of Mars and other celestial bodies. One experimental payload on Artemis-II, AVATAR (A Virtual Astronaut Tissue Analog Response), mimics individual human organs. Another payload called ARCHeR (Artemis Research for Crew Health & Readiness) monitors the crew, who will wear movement and sleep sensors 24x7 to gather health and behavioural data. In addition, five scientific payloads are being deployed via cubesat satellites.

 

The Artemis programme and the associated Artemis Accords are one axis of a new space race. Artemis is trying to re-establish American dominance in space while the bilateral accords establish formats for exchanging data and pooling resources with other nations. India is a signatory to the Accords, which gives Indian aerospace companies a chance to participate in certain Nasa tenders. The Accords are based in theory on the United Nations Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which allows for the peaceful exploitation of space. China is not an Artemis signatory and its planned International Lunar Research Station is designed to include research outposts, refuelling depots, communication relays, and resource extraction sites. China already has a manned space station. The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is also looking to set up a manned space station, send manned missions to the moon, and, maybe, set up a space station in orbit around the moon. Isro needs to develop an enormous range of capabilities to accomplish these, and the Accords could be an accelerator for its human spaceflight programme, Gaganyaan, apart from perhaps fast-tracking the development of the Indian aerospace industry.

 

Outposts outside the earth’s gravity well and atmosphere may afford many advantages. Studying radiation and collecting astronomical data are much easier. It could also be theoretically easier and cheaper to launch rockets from the moon. Assembling spacecraft and other equipment in zero gravity may also be more efficient. Another major payoff may involve finding and exploiting resources, which may be abundant in space while being scarce on the earth, such as helium isotopes and rare earths. Simply finding significant quantities of water would be useful. Similar commercial equations apply to Mars, and to comets and asteroids. There could be huge extra-terrestrial resources available to the first finders. Of course, the interpretations of the Outer Space Treaty and what exactly is acceptable in terms of exploitation by either government agencies or private entrepreneurs will be in play as and when the engineering makes such plans technically practicable.