NASA’s Artemis 1 lunar mission will bring benefits back to Earth
NASA’s new lunar mission will bring science to multiple destinations in the solar system, a senior agency official said on Wednesday (Nov 16).
Hours after the start of Artemis 1 kicked the bigger one Artemis program efforts to return men to the moon, a NASA official said the unmanned mission that raised at 1:47 a.m. EST (0647 GMT), is a cornerstone in building future manned missions.
“Artemis 1 is the first in a series of increasingly complex lunar exploration missions in preparation for missions to MarsKate Calvin, NASA’s chief scientist and senior climate advisor, told Space.com in a video interview.
Connected: Artemis 1 launch photos: Incredible views of NASA’s rocket’s debut to the moon (gallery)
Compared to the crew Apollo program lunar missions of the 1960s and 1970s, the Artemis program aims to do more science and stay for even longer than the three days that longer missions like Apollo 17 managed at the end of the program, Calvin explained.
“Science, we’re using both humans and robots to learn more about the Moon in preparation for … other missions in the future,” she said, referring to both the Artemis missions and crewed efforts with other celestial destinations .
As Artemis 1 flew to the lunar realms, Calvin said the mission would still be worthwhile The Earth science. Scientific payloads and dummies on board the Orion spacecraft will measure and assess radiation in cislunar space to learn “the effects on the crew and electronics,” while other experiments and cubesats will collect pictures and biological measurements of living things like algae, seeds, fungi and yeast.
The practice of living off Earth for long periods will also benefit the sustainability of our planet, Calvin said.
Connected: Epic Artemis 1 rocket launch seen passing through Earth’s atmosphere in satellite image
After Artemis 1 is Artemis 2 a manned mission that will orbit the Moon no earlier than 2024, and Artemis 3 landing mission targeting 2025 or 2026, assuming the debut effort goes according to plan.
“Each mission in Artemis increases in complexity,” Calvin said. “We’re really excited about that as we move back to the Moon and to Mars.”
Elizabeth Howell co-authored “Why am I taller? (opens in new tab)?” (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a book about space medicine. Follow her on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
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