‘We will build sustainable elements on and around the Moon that allow our robots and astronauts to explore more and conduct more science than ever before.’
Doesn’t that just sound like the opening statement to a brand new Sci-fi blockbuster? Well, as we’ve seen this year, the things we once thought were confined to science fiction, are starting to become the new reality…
We are merely weeks (May 31st 2020) since Elon Musk’s Space X Crew Dragon Demo-2 – the companies first manned flight – launched, with two astonaughts successfully docking on the International Space Station. Space X’s recent accomplishments have seemed to reinvigorate public interest in space exploration – and with the recent news from Nasa, things certainly seem to be hotting up as we gaze once again into the skies.
The Artemis Program is NASA’s new lunar exploration program, which will include sending the first woman and the next man on the Moon. The last time humanity stepped foot on the moon – that is, if you are of the mindset that we DID in fact go to the moon – was in 1972, on the Apollo 17 mission which saw the crew take a jaunt across the lunar surface in a rover, take some samples, and bring some mice a long with them for research.
Through the Artemis program, NASA will use new technology to study the Moon in new and better ways, and prepare for human missions to Mars.
“After 20 years of continuously living in low-Earth orbit, we’re now ready for the next great challenge of space exploration — the development of a sustained presence on and around the moon,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement. ”For years to come, Artemis will serve as our North Star as we continue to work toward even greater exploration of the moon, where we will demonstrate key elements needed for the first human mission to Mars.”
When taking about why Artemis was the name chosen, NASA gave a typically poetic response – ‘In 1961, President John F. Kennedy challenged the nation to land astronauts on the Moon by the end of the decade. NASA met that challenge with the Apollo program, landing the first man on the Moon on July 20, 1969. That program was named after a god of Greek mythology, Apollo.
Artemis was Apollo’s twin sister and the goddess of the Moon in Greek mythology. When they land, Artemis astronauts will stand where no human has ever stood: the Moon’s South Pole.’
And when the Artemis 3 crew successful land at the south pole, their mission once again sounds eerily akin to a whole list of 70’s sci fi flicks. Going boldly where no-one has before – the astronauts will:
- Search for the Moon’s water and use it.
- Study the Moon to discover its mysteries.
- Learn how to live and work on the surface of another celestial body where astronauts are just three days from home.
- Test the technologies we need before sending astronauts on missions to Mars, which can take up to three years roundtrip.
We will be following this story closely, and whilst we are ‘Birmingham Updates’, stories like this are relevant to the whole world, if not the whole universe. We look forward to updating you and following this journey when we can – thank you for reading.
