Bream. European astronauts could step on the Moon for the first time in the coming years thanks to the Artemis mission, piloted by NASA, and its Orion spacecraft.
For the first time, the United States entrusted the European Space Agency (ESA) and the aerospace giant Airbus with responsibility for a system critical to the success of a future manned mission.
In return, the Europeans are guaranteed three seats on the mission’s flights, probably from 2027, although the possibility of getting a ticket earlier is being discussed.
The role of the Europeans is crucial. They provide “half of the spacecraft that will take men to the Moon and of course back to Earth safely,” said Marc Steckling, Airbus’ head of space exploration.
First woman
The stakes are high: the return of man to the Moon, some 50 years after the last Apollo mission.
The Artemis mission seeks to show that NASA and the Europeans are capable of competing with China and SpaceX, which each have their own programs.
The Europeans began to supply service modules (ESM) for the Orion capsules.
These modules, cylinders about four meters in diameter and height, made up of some 22,000 parts supplied by ten countries, are assembled at the Airbus headquarters in Bremen, in northern Germany.
Once completed, the module will be transferred to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Module 2 has already been delivered and the next three are being assembled.
“We are well on track to meet NASA’s requirement to deliver one ESM per year,” said Steckling, one of the main managers of the €2 billion project.
A first Artemis mission – a flight around the Moon without an astronaut – was carried out successfully at the end of 2022. The delicate entry into the atmosphere at around 40,000 kilometers per hour went smoothly.
Artemis 2 will send astronauts into orbit around the Moon in 2024.
Artemis 3 should take over at the earliest the following year and allow the landing of two astronauts, the first woman and the first man of color, who will succeed the 12 men who have already set foot on the Moon.
The role of the European module, placed under the Orion capsule, will be crucial: it will provide electricity through four solar panels, water, oxygen and the thermal control essential for the life of the astronauts.
The module will also perform orbital maneuvers and could even be used to transport cargo to the future Gateway lunar orbital station.
Chinese competition
The ultimate goal is to put a lunar ecosystem on its feet to better understand and explore the Moon and, in the longer term, to carry out manned missions to Mars.
“There are many good reasons to go to the Moon,” even though man stepped foot on Earth’s only natural satellite decades ago, said David Parker, ESA’s director of exploration.
“The Moon is a history book from which we can learn, thanks above all to the study of the meteorites found there, how the Earth was formed and what its future is,” German astronaut Alexander Gerst, who already He has spent two stints aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
“The Moon preserves the history of the solar system since its creation and has remained relatively intact, as it has no atmosphere and no erosion,” said Philippe Berthe, head of program coordination at ESA.
The Moon also contains exploitable resources, particularly at its south pole, which Berthe says could contain water ice that could be used to make fuel.
In the sixties the space race faced the United States and the USSR. Today the great rival is China.
Beijing plans to send humans to the Moon in 2030, but the United States and Europe have no intention of giving it a go.
#European #Space #Agency #approaches #Moon #Artemis #mission