NASA’s moon mission: What happens next

NASA technicians are working around the clock after the shock cancellation of the moon mission. Here’s when it may go ahead.

Artemis I on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Picture: Gregg Newton/AFP

NASA has been forced to delay its second launch attempt for Artemis 1 due to a fuel leak.

Nearly 50 years since the last of the Apollo missions splashed down in the Pacific, NASA is determined to take one giant leap back to the moon. Take one small step of your own with this explainer.

Why was the moon mission called off again?

Engineers at Cape Canaveral, Florida, discovered a fuel leak during the second launch attempt on September 4. It came after the first launch was scrubbed due to a problem with one of the four core-stage engines of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

They were unable to find a fix and the much-anticipated launch was called off late in the countdown, to the disappointment of spectators.

When will it go ahead?

NASA is now looking at a time in early September, but this has not been confirmed.

What is the Artemis program?

Named after the Greek goddess of the hunt, Artemis is the USA’s primary space exploration program for the rest of this decade and into the 2030s.

Artemis will help pave the way for a long-term lunar presence – both on the surface and in orbit – and create a stepping stone for onward missions to Mars. It will also put the first woman on the moon by 2025, as well as people of colour.

The Artemis rocket with the Orion spacecraft aboard on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Picture: Joel Kowsky/NASA/AFP

Four Artemis missions are planned between now and 2027, with other uncrewed support flights in-between to deliver hardware to support future missions.

The first was set to kick off on Monday, when NASA was going to launch Artemis I – an uncrewed Orion spacecraft powered by a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral in Florida. The mission was called off due to engine failure.

Why are we going back to the moon, and why has it taken 50 years?

NASA carried out six successful moonwalks involving 12 astronauts between Apollo 11 in July 1969 and Apollo 17 in December 1972. (Four of those astronauts are still living, including the second man to walk the lunar surface, Buzz Aldrin.)

Since the 1970s, NASA’s priorities have shifted to programs such as the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station, and the Voyager missions.

NASA astronaut Eugene Cernan, the last person to leave footprints on the moon, is seen here on the lunar surface in December 1972 during the Apollo 17 mission. Fellow astronaut Harrison Schmitt took the photograph. Picture: NASA/Harrison Schmitt

But the discovery of “signatures” of liquid water on the moon in 2020 electrified space scientists and re-galvanised interest in our nearest celestial neighbour, said Professor Alan Duffy, astronomer and lead scientist of the Royal Institution of Australia.

The presence of water “changes the economics of space travel,” he said. “It means we have the chance to go back to the moon, not just to walk, but to work.”

NASA has already identified 13 locations near the moon’s south pole as suitable sites for future Artemis landings – and all to find water.

“Until very recently we thought the moon was a desert, beyond anything we’ve experienced on Earth … just so dry and devoid of water,” Prof Duffy said. “Now we want to go and see just how much there is. Water can be used by astronauts directly, or it can be split into hydrogen and oxygen, which is literally rocket fuel.”

Professor Alan Duffy at Swinburne University’s Keck Observatory Remote Viewing Facility. Picture: AAP Image/David Crosling

China also has its eye on the moon’s south pole, with plans to put its own astronauts on the lunar surface in the early 2030s – a factor that has arguably hastened NASA’s efforts.

If the promise of lunar water is realised, Prof Duffy said, it turns the moon into a “resupply station as well as a refuelling station” – opening up the possibilities for exploration to Mars, and beyond.

How much does the Artemis program cost?

Nothing in space comes cheap: US$40 billion (A$57.8 billion) had been spent already, and by the end of 2025 this figure will be US$93 billion (A$134.4 billion).

While the expense may seem jawdropping, NASA is trying to keep costs down, Prof Duffy said.

“NASA’s not trying to do it all itself. It’s actually got lots of commercial contracts, small and medium enterprises, even start-ups have contracts with NASA to support them in various ways for the return to the moon. They’re trying to build an entire industrial ecosystem, the industrialisation of orbit, of space, but in particular the moon – and that’s a huge difference,” he said.

What spacecraft are used in the Artemis program?

The first three Artemis missions will combine an Orion space capsule capable of fitting six crew, sitting atop a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. The hydrogen-fuelled SLS is the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built, capable of producing 8.8 million pounds of thrust during launch. The Orion also contains its own propulsion system, enabling it to power on to the moon and back.

NASA’s Artemis I Moon rocket is rolled out to the launch pad on August 16. Picture: Chandan Khanna/AFP

Between Artemis II and III, a Space X rocket will launch, delivering a Human Landing System (HLS) spaceship into lunar orbit. The HLS will conduct an uncrewed lunar landing and return to orbit to test its capabilities. It will later be used by two crew members of Artemis III to descend to the lunar surface.

Artemis IV, in 2026, will carry a significant payload – the first habitation modules for Gateway, a space station which will be set in orbit around the moon and which will become NASA’s outpost for future mission to the moon and to Mars. Gateway will also act as the “garage” for the HLS.

What are the first missions of the Artemis program?

This first flight has several objectives, the most important of which will be to test the SLS and Orion as spacecraft that can safely send crew to the moon, and back again. The craft will also itself launch 10 very small satellites which will gather data on the moon, a near-Earth asteroid, and space itself.

All being well, NASA will launch the second Artemis mission in May 2024, with four crew blasting off on a 10-day journey to the moon and back, but taking a different trajectory to Artemis I. Then in 2025, Artemis III – including at least one female astronaut – will include a visit to the lunar surface as part of a 30-day mission.

How long will it take Artemis to reach the Moon?

The Orion will almost do a full orbit of the planet as it escapes the atmosphere, before it sets out on its six-week journey around the moon and back home. About nine hours after lift-off, we should start to see the first images of the Earth from Orion. The ship will travel some two million kilometres in total, and for about six days it will orbit the moon, about 100km above its surface. It will then fire its rockets and slingshot back to Earth – coming in “faster and hotter” than any spacecraft we’ve seen before, NASA said. When Orion hits the atmosphere it’s expected to be travelling at 11 kilometres per second, producing temperatures of approximately 2760 degrees Celsius.

Who are the astronauts on the Artemis mission?

While Artemis I is uncrewed, three advanced mannekins (dubbed “moonekins”) fitted with sensory equipment will be used to measure levels of solar radiation, G forces and the like. Two of the mannekins will be female and one male. An untethered Snoopy doll in the cabin will also help determine when weightlessness occurs.

The training pool at the NASA Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in the Jonson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Astronauts do some of their training under water to get used to the weightlessness of space. Picture: Mark Felix/AFP

For future Artemis missions, NASA has so far selected 18 astronauts (nine men and nine women) as their initial pool of candidates. They range in age from 34 to 57, and include veterans of Space Shuttle and International Space Station missions. All incredibly accomplished individuals, two of the women have also played rugby competitively, and several are musicians. All are American citizens, though one was born in Taiwan, and another holds dual US-Swedish citizenship.

What is the significance of NASA putting a woman on the moon?

Take a look at any group photo of Apollo astronauts from the 1960s – they’re all white men. And there was no good reason for this, said Prof Duffy, “other than the biases of the time”.

“Technology isn’t the only thing that has changed since the Apollo era,” said Dr Rebecca Allen from the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing at Swinburne University of Technology. “It’s no secret that the space sector has lacked diversity and inclusion, despite the enormous talent and contributions from people of colour and women.”

The Artemis program “will provide visibility and inspiration as the next space workforce emerges,” Dr Allen said.

Dr Rebecca Allen and Professor Alan Duffy.

Diverse crews are expected to be the norm for future space missions, particularly longer journeys to Mars, but there are a few things NASA has to learn about women in space.

The two female mannekins on Artemis I will provide an insight into the effect of prolonged solar radiation on the female body, as it is thought breast and ovarian tissue are more susceptible to cancer through radiation.

Will Australia play a role in the Artemis program?

The Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex at Tidbinbilla is one of three facilities around the world forming NASA’s deep space network, which will be used to track communications from all crewed and uncrewed Artemis missions.

“As the Earth turns it means that the US tracking station Goldstone [in California’s Mojave Desert] can no longer see the spacecraft, so it hands over to Spain or it hands over to Tidbinbilla,” said Prof Duffy. “We will play the same role in Project Artemis that we did with Project Apollo.”

The Deep Space Communication Complex at Tidbinbilla, near Canberra, will play a pivotal role in the Artemis missions.

But that’s not the totality of Australia’s involvement. We’re also one of 21 countries to have signed the Artemis Accord, a US-led agreement providing a framework for how exploration and mining operations on the moon will be managed.

Aussie scientists are also working on a lunar rover for deployment as early as 2026, Prof Dufy said.

“It will essentially be an extractor, a rover that can dig the soil of the moon, what we called the regolith, to see if we can extract metals, particularly iron for construction on the moon, but also water,” he said.

Originally published as NASA’s moon mission: What happens next