After more than 50 years since humanity set foot on the Moon, NASA’s Artemis (or Artemis) program is betting on putting astronauts back on the Moon by 2025. Have spacecraft changed much in this time? That’s how it is.
Although the ships still retain that conical shape that those of the Apollo missions also had, Orion differs a lot from its predecessors. And it is that 50 years give for great technological advances that are visible in this new generation of space vehicles.
The Orion spacecraft, which will launch without a crew on NASA’s new lunar megarocket on Saturday, after a failure in one of the engines that did not cool properly and that caused the launch to be postponed, has cost more than 18 billion euros .
The plan of the Artemis program is to return humanity to the Moon beginning with the Artemis I mission, which will take the Orion spacecraft, powered by the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and manned by mannequins and stuffed animals, to orbit the Earth’s satellite. and return to Earth after 42 days.
But what exactly is this ship like?
Named for the twin sister of Apollo , the Artemis mission aims to create a sustainable human presence on the moon by 2028. The first mission, called Artemis I, will fly farther than any spacecraft built for humans , as it tests the Solar System. Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion before astronauts can crew Artemis II for a lap around the moon in 2024. And in 2025, if all goes as planned, a female astronaut and a male astronaut would land on the Moon. black race, according to NASA.
Orion sits atop the 98-meter-tall Space Launch System (SLS), which will be the most powerful space rocket ever to leave Earth when it enters orbit on Saturday (hopefully).
The ship has four main parts, including the crew module (suitable for four people and their cargo), a European service module to provide propulsion and electrical power (made up of more than 20,000 parts and components, with life support and various miles of cables, hoses, and also solar panels) and a launch abort system to get Orion out of harm’s way if an emergency occurs during launch.
Orion is 1.5 times larger than its Apollo equivalent, so astronauts will have more space. The habitable volume of the spacecraft is 8.95 cubic meters and it features adjustable seats that can be folded down when not in use to make a little more room in the cabin. In total, the spacecraft measures 3.3 meters in height by 5 meters in diameter.
We start a new stage
Artemis marks a new beginning for space exploration. Artemis I will deploy ten small satellites, or CubeSats, intended to carry out experiments in space and will also serve as a rehearsal for the next manned missions of the Artemis program. In the mission, the European Space Agency will incorporate five Mobile Active Dosimetry Units to map the deep space radiation environment of the Moon in the most detailed way possible. All of this data will help assess the safety of subsequent missions that will carry a crew.
Reference: NASA
