21.01.2022
NASA foresees gap in lunar landings after Artemis 3
WASHINGTON — After landing astronauts on the moon in the mid-2020s for the first time in more than a half-century, NASA will wait at least two more years before making a second crewed lunar landing as part of the Artemis program.
In presentations at a two-day meeting of the NASA Advisory Council’s Human Exploration and Operations Committee Jan. 18 and 19, agency officials said the Artemis 4 mission, the first after the Artemis 3 mission lands astronauts on the moon, will not attempt a landing itself.
Instead, Artemis 4 will be devoted to assembly of the lunar Gateway. The mission will deliver the I-Hab habitat module, developed by the European Space Agency and the Japanese space agency JAXA, to the Gateway. It will be docked with the first Gateway elements, the Power and Propulsion Element and Habitation and Logistics Outpost, which will launch together on a Falcon Heavy in late 2024 and spend a year spiraling out to the near-rectilinear halo orbit around the moon.
Artemis 4 will also be the first flight of the Block 1B version of the Space Launch System, which replaces the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage used on the first three SLS launches with the more powerful Exploration Upper Stage. That enables Artemis missions to carry “co-manifested” payloads along with the Orion spacecraft, such as the I-Hab module.
That will be a big challenge for the mission even without a lunar landing. “When you balance the performance constraints against the launch opportunities and get everything to line up, we find that we’re awfully challenged,” said Mark Kirasich, deputy associate administrator and head of NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems division, during a presentation at the meeting Jan. 19.
One issue with the mission is the mass of the I-Hab. Kirasich said co-manifested payloads on the SLS Block 1B have a maximum mass of 10 metric tons, and he suggested I-Hab was struggling to get under that limit. He said Dan Hartman, NASA’s Gateway program manager, “is working with ESA, day in and day out, to get their mass to meet the limit.”
Another reason for not including a landing on Artemis 4 is availability of a lunar lander. NASA’s Human Landing System (HLS) Option A award to SpaceX last year covers only development of a lander and a single crewed flight on Artemis 3. NASA will acquire future landings through a separate effort, called Lunar Exploration Transportation Services (LETS). The goal of LETS is to select one, and possibly more, companies to provide “sustainable” landing services.
The timing of LETS — a draft request for proposals is scheduled for release this spring — means there will be a gap of a couple years before the first landing service acquired through that program would be ready. “It’ll be about two years from the Option A award to the LETS award before we’ll have this sustainable lander,” Kirasich said. “It’s a different lander with more aggressive requirements than Option A.”
That would make Artemis 5 the first Artemis mission to both use the Gateway and have a lunar landing. That mission, according to a “working manifest” chart presented at the meeting, will also include delivery of ESA’s ESPRIT refueling and communications module and a Canadian-built robotic arm system for the Gateway as well as an unpressurized lunar rover.
That manifest did not include dates for either Artemis 4 or 5, with Artemis 3 scheduled for mid-2025. However, NASA has previously discussed its intent to fly one SLS/Orion mission a year, which would mean Artemis 5 would fly no earlier than 2027.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do to make Artemis 3, 4 and 5 work with the manifest we have today,” Kirasich said. Later in the meeting, he said he couldn’t rule out including a landing on Artemis 4, but that it would require major changes to the overall Artemis schedule.
“We have a list of alternate missions should one of the elements get ahead or behind of the others,” he said. “Something else would have to change for us to have a lander in the Artemis 4 time frame.”
That schedule will also depend on the progress NASA makes on the initial Artemis missions, starting with Artemis 1. That uncrewed test flight of SLS and Orion does not have a formal launch date, but Jim Free, NASA associate administrator for exploration systems development, told the committee Jan. 18 was looking at March or April for the launch.
“We could probably get a launch attempt with about six or seven days left” in the March window, which closes March 27. “Our next launch period opens April 8.”
Rollout of the SLS for a wet dress rehearsal, a fueling test and practice countdown at Launch Complex 39B, is scheduled for around Feb. 15, which would allow the test itself to take place by the end of February, said Amit Kshatriya, assistant deputy associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development at NASA, at the committee meeting Jan. 19.
Kirasich said that, after a protest and lawsuit delayed the start of NASA’s work with SpaceX on the HLS Option A award, the agency is now “fully engaged” with the company on development of the Starship lunar lander system. “SpaceX did make progress” during that hiatus, he said, including completing five milestones, such as tests of the Raptor engine. NASA reviewed that work and “paid all five of those milestones.”
Quelle: SN
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Update: 17.03.2023
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NASA has appointed two scientists to coordinate the lunar science teams supporting the first and second crewed lunar landing missions in more than 50 years. NASA’s Artemis missions will land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon, using innovative technologies to explore the lunar South Pole region and establish a long-term presence at the Moon.
Noah Petro, of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, has been named the project scientist for Artemis III, which, in 2025, is scheduled to land the first crewed mission on the Moon’s surface since the Apollo missions. Petro has been the project scientist for NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which is currently orbiting the Moon and has provided much of the data essential to future lunar missions. Petro will transition to LRO deputy project scientist while serving on the Artemis III mission.
Barbara Cohen, of Goddard, was named project scientist for Artemis IV, which will follow Artemis III and feature a second crewed landing near the Moon’s South Pole, as well as the first Gateway assembly mission with the addition of a new element to the lunar space station. Cohen is the principal investigator of NASA’s Lunar Flashlight mission, an orbiter aiming to map ice in the permanently shadowed regions of the Moon's South Pole, and the Ion-Trap Mass Spectrometer, an instrument aboard Astrobotic's Peregrine Mission 1, one of the first lunar surface delivery contracts awarded through NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative.
“Drs. Petro and Cohen are well respected lunar scientists and leaders within the NASA and broader lunar science communities,” said Sarah Noble, Artemis lunar science lead at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “I am very excited to see them step into these critical roles. Their leadership will help us maximize the science we can accomplish as we return humans to the lunar surface.”
As Artemis mission project scientists, Petro and Cohen will coordinate and support the work of the various components of the Artemis science team, which includes the Artemis internal science team, the competed geology teams, participating scientists, and the payload teams, as well as provide a voice for the entire science team with the missions’ operations teams.
Quelle: NASA
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Update: 20.03.2023
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Possible Artemis 3 moon landing site spied by NASA spacecraft (photos)
Malapert Massif would be a dramatic setting for a moonwalk.
The moon’s Malapert Massif is thought to be a remnant of the South Pole-Aitken basin rim, which formed more than four billion years ago. More recently, this magnificent peak (lower left) was selected as an Artemis 3 candidate landing region. This image, captured by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera on March 3, 2023, is 15 miles (25 kilometers) wide in the center. (Image credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University)
A recent photo from lunar orbit shows off a potential location for humanity's next footprints on the surface of the moon.
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) launched in June 2009 and has been providing great looks at the moon ever since. Among the probe's seven instruments is the LRO Camera (LROC), which snaps high-resolution black-and-white imagery of the lunar surface.
On March 3, as LRO flew over Shackleton Crater near the moon's south pole, LROC captured a photo with part of the Malapert Massif area in view. Malapert is one of the potential landing sites for NASA's crewed Artemis 3 mission, which in 2025 or thereabouts will put astronauts down on the lunar surface for the first time since 1972.
Portion of a panorama captured by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera showing the context of the Malapert Massif candidate landing region. (Image credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
In the image, which was released on the LROC website, a full panorama shows a peak 16,400
feet (5,000 meters) high, with a dark, flatter area at its top. This is one of Artemis 3's potential destinations. Relatively nearby, and visibly distinct from its taller neighbor, stands a 11,480-foot (3,500 m) cliff.
"One could argue that the sheer grandeur of this region makes it a prime candidate" for the Artemis 3 landing, LROC principal investigator Mark Robinson, of Arizona State University, wrote in a blog post describing the image(opens in new tab).
"But then again, a landing here might be too exciting?" he joked.
NASA scientists have chosen the south polar region for humanity's return to the moon because of the abundance of water ice there. That water ice is a valuable resource for future moon explorers: it can be converted into things like rocket fuel, coolants or just plain life-sustaining water.
A diagram shows the 13 candidate regions for the Artemis 3 moon landing. (Image credit: NASA)
With its Artemis program, NASA hopes to establish a long-term presence on the moon to serve as a springboard to future crewed missions to Mars. Artemis 1, an uncrewed test flight of Artemis' flight hardware, including the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft, launched in November of last year, sending Orion on a 25-day flight to lunar orbit and back.
Artemis 2 is scheduled to launch in November 2024, sending four astronauts aboard SLS and Orion on a 10-day flight around the moon and back. NASA's crew assignments for Artemis 2 are expected to be announced April 3. Artemis 3 will launch no earlier than December 2025 and will carry the first woman and first person of color to the lunar surface, according to NASA.
Quelle: SC
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Update: 7.05.2023
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See Artemis 3 landing site near moon's south pole in stunning new NASA photos
The space agency's highly sensitive camera has imaged the lunar south pole as scientists attempt to learn as much as possible about the region before humans set foot on it.
The rim of Marvin crater, about 16 miles (26 kilometers) from the lunar south pole. (Image credit: NASA/KARI/ASU)
NASA has imaged the south pole of the moon in stunning detail as scientists learn as much as possible about the shadow-filled region before the Artemis 3 mission carries astronauts there in the near future.
The images were gathered by a hypersensitive optical camera operated by NASA called ShadowCam. The instrument is carried around the moon by the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) spacecraft, also known as Danuri, built by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). The craft, which also carries five Korean science instruments, launched in August 2022 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and entered lunar orbit in the following December when ShadowCam began imaging the moon.
ShadowCam is ideal for high-resolution imaging of areas of the moon that receive no direct sunlight as it is significantly more light-sensitive than other lunar cameras. By catching pictures of the highly shadowed regions of the lunar south pole, ShadowCam is laying the groundwork for Artemis 3 and for future robotic missions.
One of the features that the camera has been able to image in greater detail than ever achieved before is the permanently shadowed wall and floor of Shackleton Crater, located near the lunar south pole.
ShadowCam gazed into the steeply-walled 13-mile (21-kilometer) wide and 2.6-mile (4.2-kilometer) deep crater to see the track created when a boulder rolled down its slope. Observations like this can help characterize rocks in the region and the shapes and velocities of the boulders that create the tracks.
The lunar south pole as seen by NASA's ShadowCam. (Image credit: NASA/KARI/ASU)
Even with the impressive imaging capability of ShadowCam this instrument still needs assistance to examine some of the deeply shadowed craters of the moon. One source it can use is "Earthshine" light reflected from our planet onto the moon.
Though sunlight that shines directly on the moon is still ten times brighter than the illumination provided by Earthshine, light from Earth still helped the camera test ShadowCam's sensitivity at the equatorial region of the moon.
The moon is illuminated by Earthshine light reflected from our planet onto the lunar surface. (Image credit: NASA/KARI/ASU)
Earthshine allowed scientists to image the interior of Bruce Crater located at the moon's equator. ShadowCam was able to see bright streamers formed by soil sliding down the crater's walls.
The central peak of the Aristarchus crater was also captured by ShadowCam using Earthshine as a secondary light source.
The rugged terrain that Artemis 3 astronauts will encounter at the lunar south pole as seen by NASA's ShadowCam. (Image credit: NASA/KARI/ASU)
There is another type of secondary lighting that ShadowCam can exploit to image the regions of the moon bereft of direct sunlight. This relies on light the sun reflected off the moon's own geological features like mountains and crater walls at the poles that rise high above the lunar surface.
The moon's surface as seen by ShadowCam, illuminated by sunlight reflected off nearby geologic features such as mountains and crater walls (Image credit: NASA/KARI/ASU
The camera used this technique to catch an image of the rim of Marvin Crater, about 16 miles (26 kilometers) from the lunar south pole. This also showed a broader area around the 2.85-mile-wide crater (4.6 kilometers), part of which was lit by direct sunlight. The contrast between the two regions illustrates the sensitivity of ShadowCam.
The Marvin Crater imaged using reflected light compared to surrounding areas awash with direct sunlight. (Image credit: NASA/KARI/ASU)
The ShadowCam images come in the wake of the successful Artemis 1 flightduring which NASA tested the equipment that will carry astronauts to the moon, including the Space Launch System rocket (SLS) and the Orion crew spacecraft.
The next major test of the Artemis framework will be the Artemis 2 mission which will see the Orion spacecraft carry its first crew to space. The astronauts who have been named as the Artemis 2 crew are: Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist 1 Christina Hammock Koch, and Mission Specialist 2 Jeremy Hansen. The crew will take a 10-day test flight to the vicinity of the moon, but will not land on the lunar surface.
When the Artemis 3 astronauts finally do explore the moon's south pole, including the first woman and first person of color to set foot on the lunar surface, ShadowCam won't be able to picture them if they are in direct sunlight as the images would be washed out. The camera may be able to catch the astronauts walking the surface during the lunar night when they are lit only by Earthshine.
Artemis 2 is expected to launch in late 2024, if all goes according to plan. Artemis 3 will then follow in 2025, based on current timelines.
Quelle: SC
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Update: 10.06.2023
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NASA concerned Starship problems will delay Artemis 3
WASHINGTON — NASA has growing concerns that the lunar lander version of SpaceX’s Starship vehicle will not be ready in time for the Artemis 3 mission in late 2025, given the amount of work needed to get the vehicle ready.
Speaking at a joint meeting of the National Academies’ Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board and Space Studies Board June 7, Jim Free, NASA associate administrator for exploration systems development, said Artemis 3, which would feature the first human landing on the moon in more than half a century, was in danger of being delayed from December 2025 to some time in 2026.
Free said NASA’s concern is the number of launches of Starship that SpaceX has to carry out to be ready for Artemis 3. Each Starship lander mission requires launching the Starship lander itself as well as several “tanker” Starships to fuel the lander in Earth orbit before it goes to the moon. Before Artemis 3, SpaceX will carry out an uncrewed Starship lunar landing, and also must demonstrate cryogenic fluid transfer in Earth orbit.
“That’s a lot of launches to get those missions done,” Free said. “They have a significant number of launches to go, and that, of course, gives me concern about the December of 2025 date” for Artemis 3.
He reiterated those schedule concerns later in the meeting when asked about the schedule for Artemis 3. “With the difficulties that SpaceX has had, I think that’s really concerning,” he said. “You can think about that slipping probably into ’26.”
He didn’t elaborate on the “difficulties” that SpaceX has encountered, but the company’s Starship/Super Heavy launch vehicle is currently grounded after its first integrated launch April 20. The vehicle suffered several engine failures in flight and was destroyed by its flight termination system four minutes after liftoff.
NASA has personnel involved in the investigation of the launch, and Free said he had just met with a Federal Aviation Administration official about it. “They’re doing everything they can, but they look at the launch license for the next mission,” he said of the FAA. “What I tried to convey to him is our big picture of everything that’s going to take to get to that human lander.”
Neither the FAA nor SpaceX has provided public updates on the status of that investigation or when the company might be cleared to make another launch attempt. SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk said in an April 29 online discussion that the company could be ready in as soon as a “couple months,” but that schedule appears unlikely based on visible progress at the company’s Starbase test site in Boca Chica, Texas.
Regarding development of the lunar lander version of Starship, Free said that SpaceX and NASA have delayed a critical design review of the vehicle until after the company performs a cryogenic refueling demonstration in Earth orbit. The company provided NASA with an updated schedule last week, details of which he did not disclose, that the agency is reviewing.
“I get a lot of questions, ‘Will you make the date?’ Well, they need to get flying before we can get any kind of assessment,” he concluded.
He said he was confident that SpaceX would ultimately deliver the Starship lander, and noted that the fixed-price structure of the Human Landing System award shields NASA from additional costs. “But, the fact is, if they’re not flying on the time they’ve said, it does us no good to have a firm fixed price contract other than we’re not paying more.”
Quelle: SN