NASA’s moon mission is about to get underway. Watch live
Updated ,first published
The Artemis II lunar mission will launch on Thursday morning AEDT. You can watch live from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at the link below.
Why is this task so important?
Space exploration will take a monumental leap forward this week as four astronauts become the most extreme travelers in all of human history by slingshotting around the moon, flying to the farthest point from Earth human history has ever reached.
But this new era of lunar travel isn’t about reaching space. It’s about staying there.
Experts say NASA’s Artemis II mission marks the beginning of the transition from short-term space missions to long-term occupation and one day colonization of the moon and distant planets.
“This mission is huge. This is much more than returning to the moon; it’s about proving we can operate sustainably beyond Earth,” said Swinburne University of Technology space expert Dr Matt Shaw. “This is where it all started.”
Scientists have focused on extracting resources from the lunar soil, including metals, building materials, oxygen, and possibly water, to support human outposts.
One of them is Belinda Rich, a space researcher from Swinburne, who said that Artemis II is a turning point in humanity’s progress towards a self-sustaining ecosystem in space.
“We’re going to the Moon, to stay, and it’s those extra words that change everything,” he said of the five-phase Artemis missions.
Hydrogen fuel leaks and a clogged pressurization line delayed the initial launch of Artemis II by months.
Then on Tuesday morning, NASA began the official countdown to the eruption.
What to expect from Artemis II?
Artemis II is a 10-day lunar flyby mission in which four astronauts will circle the moon and return to Earth without landing.
NASA’s 100-metre-tall Space Launch System rocket is expected to blast off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at around 6.24pm local time on Wednesday or 9.24am AEDT on Thursday.
The rocket will launch the Orion spacecraft into high Earth orbit and carry four astronauts in a module with space comparable to two minivans. The crew includes NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
The spacecraft will circle Earth twice while the crew performs pilot maneuvers, test its operations and ensure life support systems can produce breathable air.
The Orion craft will also communicate with NASA’s Deep Space Network, which consists of a trio of powerful radio stations, including the Tidbinbilla station just outside Canberra, that provide critical coverage for NASA when the spacecraft is beyond Earth’s orbit.
Orion will then perform a “translunar injection burn” that will launch astronauts into a four-day, figure-eight orbit orbiting the far side of the moon.
This will take them as far as humanity has ever gone, approximately 7,400 kilometers from the far side of the Moon and 400,000 kilometers from Earth.
“From the crew’s vantage point, the Moon will appear the size of a basketball held at arm’s length,” NASA said. Astronauts will observe parts of the moon that are not directly observed by humans.
The spacecraft will capture the moon’s own gravity and launch it back toward Earth; This maneuver will work even in the event of a thruster failure.
The vehicle will land in the Pacific Ocean and the astronauts will return home with the US Navy.
The mission continues from Artemis I, where the Orion spacecraft was sent uncrewed into a lunar orbit.
Why is NASA returning to the moon?
The Artemis II mission is a key part of NASA’s efforts to land astronauts on the moon by 2028. Every data point regarding crew health, system performance and safety will be fed into the mission to establish a long-term lunar asset.
No one has walked on the moon since Gene Cernan, commander of the NASA Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
In the decades after the United States defeated the Soviet Union on the lunar surface in 1969, there was little incentive to finance very expensive future Moon landings.
Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, said that once the space race was won, “the geopolitical reason to continue these missions didn’t really exist.” Speech.
But as the technological ability to live in deep space or on another planet moves closer to reality and geopolitical competition intensifies, this incentive has returned.
Both China and Russia are preparing to build a nuclear-powered village on the moon within 10 years. And as Pace says, “the rules are made by the people who show up.” (Experts say China is outpacing its rivals.)
The Artemis missions are the United States’ attempt to get there first and win Space Race 2.0; The ultimate goal is to turn the Moon into a launchpad to reach Mars.
But last week, NASA abandoned plans to build a space station called Lunar Gateway in orbit around the Moon. Instead, he said, a base worth $20 billion a month would be built.
How did Australia get involved?
The Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex, managed by CSIRO on behalf of NASA, is one of three key stations that will allow two-way chat between Artemis II astronauts and mission control once the spacecraft leaves low Earth orbit. The other two stations are in Spain and California.
The famous 64-metre-wide Murriyang telescope at Parkes will also be operated by US space company Intuitive Machines, which NASA has invited to help monitor the Orion craft.
Australian project leader for Artemis II Professor Francis Bennet said the Quantum Optical Ground Station at Mount Stromlo Observatory will also transmit and receive laser signals from the spacecraft in a bid to improve our ability to communicate across the solar system.
The Australian National University project will help test the new laser communication method on board.
The laser system can make data transfer 100 times faster than radio waves.
With current technology, talking to astronauts on Mars would theoretically have a 20-minute delay, making it impractical at best and disastrous in the event of an emergency.
CSIRO has launched its new Mobile Operations Center truck, a mission control room combined with a semi-trailer, for the ANU to use while on duty.
Five Artemis missions
Artemis I: Artemis I, launched in 2022, was an uncrewed lunar orbiter using the Orion spacecraft.
Artemis II: The first crewed Artemis flight, which NASA says is an important step towards a long-term return to the Moon and future missions to Mars. Astronauts will circle the moon and return to Earth on a 10-day mission.
ArtemisIII: This mission in low Earth orbit, planned for 2027, will test one or both SpaceX and Blue Origin commercial landers that will later be used to land on the moon.
Artemis IV: NASA continues to target early 2028 for the first Artemis lunar landing, which will allow astronauts to set foot on the moon.
Artemis V: NASA plans to launch another lunar surface mission in late 2028, with subsequent missions planned approximately once a year.
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Angus Dalton is science correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect with: X or email.
