They were the first 6.4 kilometers of a journey that should eventually lead to the return of man to the moon, more than 384 thousand kilometers from here. Last month, the US space agency NASA rolled its brand new SLS (Space Launch System) rocket to the launch pad in Florida for the first time.
The rocket, which will soon hold a rough 2.6 million liters of rocket fuel, has been specially developed for the Artemis missions that have to allow astronauts to walk over the surface of our cosmic neighbor again. It is a mission with a symbolic name. Artemis is the mythological twin sister of Apollo. And among the astronauts who will leave their footprint in the gray grit this time is not only the umpteenth male American, but also the first woman.
Together with the top-mounted Orion module, which will soon accommodate four astronauts, the rocket towers just under a hundred meters above the asphalt and surrounding lawn of the Kennedy Space Center, roughly as high as the Martinitoren in Groningen. The rocket will remain there until an undisclosed moment in April, when NASA will conduct a “wet dress rehearsal” behind closed doors, an exercise in which fuel is pumped into the rocket, the countdown begins, and then stops ten seconds before launch. the rocket is pumped out again. It is a way to properly practice all the actions at the real launch later this year – date also unknown. Last week (on Sunday April 3 and Monday April 4) such an exercise was canceled prematurely due to technical problems.
‘In peace and hope for all’
Back to the moon. It is an ambition that conjures up images of a bygone space travel past. From Neil Armstrong’s crackling voice and his one small step, which was heard and seen on countless black-and-white televisions worldwide in 1969 via live images. Or Gene Cernan, the lesser-known last man on the moon, who, on his departure in December 1972, promised that humanity would one day return, in ‘peace and hope for all’.
Fast forward to now and not only the geopolitical and nuclear tensions of half a century ago are back. On the horizon, too, beckons a repetition of that one Earth-transcending goal, the feat that taught generations after the Apollo missions that nothing is impossible, if you really want to.
Although Apollo sometimes seemed a success of all mankind retrospectively, of course it was not at the time. And once again, two power blocs – the West (US, Europe and other partners) and the East (China and Russia) – are staring eagerly at the prestige found on the surface of our cosmic companion.
Of the two, China (still without Russia) has achieved the most appealing lunar successes with its Chang’e missions in recent years. Among other things, the country brought rocks from the moon’s surface to Earth. Yet the West is now the first to be ready to send people.
Anyone who wants to do science on the moon sends a robot cart. But if you want to impress, you send people. Not that there is nothing to discover with people. For example, the astronauts will soon set foot on the South Pole, a location that is very interesting for research because of its special geological properties – including water ice.
Artemis still starts without people, with mission Artemis 1, intended to test the technology. But with Artemis 2 – planned for 2024 – the first astronauts are already coming along. Not to the surface yet, by the way. One then ‘just’ flies a circle around the moon. However, they immediately book a first: during the flight they come about 7.5 thousand kilometers behind the moon, further than a human has ever been in space. Only with Artemis 3, now in the books for ‘2025 at the earliest’, does it really hit the mark and the first – female – footstep follows on the surface.
Rocket in the mothballs
It is logical that people are not sent along with the first mission. The SLS is new and Artemis 1 will be the first time it flies up. The previous manned moon missions took place with the comparable Saturn V rocket, which went into the proverbial mothballs after its last journey. The industry that could build the thing was beat up. The designs disappeared in a drawer.
Why didn’t they take it out again? “Compare it to the Concorde. You can’t just build it and let it fly again,’ says Philippe Berthe, Artemis project coordinator at the European space agency Esa. “Remaking the Saturn V would be a challenge similar to building the rocket for the first time,” he says. ‘Then you might as well design a new variant with some more modern advantages.’
This time they are setting up an infrastructure that allows you to deliver four people to the moon at a time, instead of two. And those people can also stay for weeks, instead of just a few days.
This is achieved, among other things, by making two launches at a time: one for the Orion capsule that puts people into orbit around the moon and one for the lunar lander that delivers them to the surface after a transfer into space. The lunar lander and associated launch are also outsourced. Space company SpaceX has already received an order and Blue Origin, from Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, may take a shot at making a competing model. And then there will also be a space station – Gateway – in orbit around the moon, which can serve as a logistical intermediate base.
With all this new technology, of which only the rocket with the Orion capsule is still being used during Artemis 1 and 2, European eyes are mainly focused on the European Service Module (ESM), which should provide the Orion with breathable air, electricity and propulsion power. ‘It is still on standby during the wet dress test at the beginning of April,’ says Berthe. “But of course we’ll keep an eye on whether he behaves as expected.”
Because when Artemis 1 really leaves, the Orion capsule will be the center of gravity. Afterwards, the manned portion – the ESM disconnects just before reentry and burns up in the atmosphere – should return safely to Earth, with a gentle splash into the ocean. ‘If that succeeds, even if some other technical objectives are unexpectedly not achieved, we will still speak of a partial success,’ says Berthe.
And some essential parts of that important Orion capsule, the solar panels, are made within our national borders, at Airbus Defense and Space in Leiden. They hang there, in a cleanroom – to keep dust and dirt out as much as possible. Four pieces. One happened to be unfolded, a strip of more than 7 meters long that will soon catch the light of the sun in space and provide the Orion module with energy. A rare sight, by the way: in the years from manufacture to the final unfolding in space, the panels can be seen unfolded no more than twenty times.
One of the technicians who is working on the panels says that it is happening today, because they made a mistake when putting them away yesterday. That is why they now have to double check whether the panels are still correctly aligned. Not a big mistake, emphasizes solar panel expert Rob van Hassel of Airbus. ‘We have protocols for this. This mainly shows that they work well.’
Incidentally, the panels that are now in the cleanroom here are not intended for Artemis 1. They will then be more than 7,000 kilometers away, attached to the module on top of the rocket in Florida. The panels in Leiden are intended for the successor, Artemis 2. ‘I think it’s an inspiring idea that these will soon be attached to a spaceship that will take people to the moon,’ says Van Hassel.
Endlessly tested
The fact that the panels are intended for manned space travel also creates additional challenges. ‘The certification is much stricter than for the satellites for which we usually make panels,’ says Van Hassel. And so there are additional safety tests, sturdier hinges, greater caution. ‘You can tell from everything that this is not just any mission.’
The pace that NASA uses is therefore extra remarkable. Independent aerospace engineer Erik Laan, who works for Esa’s subcontractors, thinks this is strange. “SpaceX had to go through a long journey with its Falcon-9 rocket before it was allowed to transport astronauts to the ISS, but NASA will take people with its own SLS right from the second flight,” he says.
Whether it will actually go that fast, according to him, largely depends on Artemis 1. ‘I’m curious what they will find in the test data. I wouldn’t consider it improbable that the crew wouldn’t fly until the third flight or later after all,” he says.
Therefore, when Artemis 1 leaves later this year, not only the political leaders, but also the aerospace engineers will be watching. That those one small step After all, despite decades of technological progress, there is no guarantee of success.
The dream sequel from Nasa, Esa and companies like SpaceX – who proclaim aloud that the return to the moon serves as finger exercise for future manned trips to neighboring planet Mars – therefore still seems far away. And yet: if successful, humanity will finally step on the moondust again in a few years’ time. No one has come much closer to human exploration of the solar system in half a century. ‘After decades on the ISS, we are finally returning to the lunar domain,’ says Berthe. “I can hardly wait.”