U.S. astronauts won’t set foot on the lunar surface until September 2026 at the earliest, following the announcement of multiple delays to NASA's Artemis Moon program stemming from concerns relating to astronaut safety, and the need for further development of key technologies.
NASA is intent on extending humanity's reach farther into the solar system than ever before. To that end, the agency and its partners have planned a series of increasingly complex missions under the umbrella of the Artemis program, which will test the technologies needed for our species to establish a permanent presence on Earth's moon, which will in turn serve as a testing ground for the greater effort to put human boots on Mars.
November 2022 saw the launch of NASA’s highly anticipated Artemis I mission, in which the agency’s untested Space Launch System (SLS) super heavy rocket successfully propelled the next generation Orion spacecraft on an uncrewed mission to the far side of the moon. During its 25-day mission the four seater Orion spacecraft travelled farther from Earth than any other crew-worthy spacecraft in history, before enduring a brutal 5,000 degree Fahrenheit atmospheric re-entry to splash down safely in the Pacific Ocean.
NASA had initially planned to launch its first crewed mission to orbit the Moon in Artemis II in late 2024, with the more ambitious Artemis III effort to land astronauts on the lunar surface following shortly after in 2025. However, unexpected damage to the Artemis I Orion spacecraft’s heat shield and technical faults in the design of hardware for the Artemis II mission have forced a rethink for NASA’s historic launch schedule.
In a press event detailing the technical issues, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced the launch date for its crewed Artemis II mission would slip to September 2025, while Artemis III’s bid for the lunar surface would take place no earlier than September 2026. The planned Artemis IV mission meanwhile remains on track for its September 2028 launch.
“We are returning to the Moon in a way we never have before, and the safety of our astronauts is NASA’s top priority as we prepare for future Artemis missions,” explained Nelson. “We’ve learned a lot since Artemis I, and the success of these early missions relies on our commercial and international partnerships to further our reach and understanding of humanity’s place in our solar system.”
One of the major reasons cited for the delay of Artemis II stems from damage to Orion’s heat shield sustained during the Artemis I mission. Orion’s heatshield is made of an ablative material, which is designed to degrade in a controlled way under the intense heat of re-entry, which, when returning from a mission to the Moon, can be the equivilent to half the temperature of the Sun’s surface.
However, following splashdown it was found that the heatshield had degraded in an unexpected way, resulting in the loss of charred pieces of the protective layer. A failure of the heatshield could be catastrophic to the health of the spacecraft and its crew, and so NASA is methodically reviewing data from sensors in order to definitively identify the cause of the phenomenon.
The agency is also tackling a number of other risks to crew safety that have arisen while testing new hardware for the Artemis III Moon landing mission. Among the technical issues were problems with temperature control, questions surrounding battery performance, and trouble with the capsule’s CO2 scrubbing system. The delay to Artemis III will also grant NASA time to remedy any unforeseen issues encountered during the Artemis II mission, while also allowing commercial partners including SpaceX to develop vital hardware for the program, including SpaceX’s lunar lander, which will be based on the company's enormous Starship spacecraft.
NASA is also reviewing the launch schedule for its ‘Gateway’ lunar space station, elements of which were initially planned to be hefted into orbit as soon as October 2025.
Image credit: NASA/Goddard/Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer
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