ARTEMIS II; THE MISSION

 

By Wes Oleszewski- Aero-News Network spaceflight analyst

Not long from now NASA will launch a mission to the Moon called Artemis II. Yet, there seems to be some lack of general understanding as to what that mission is all about. Here, I will do my best to make that clear.

First off, although it is flying to the moon, Artemis II is not a mission of exploration. Instead, it is a mission of flight test. The purpose is to test critical hardware of all sorts; everything from life support systems to the onboard toilet. It all needs to function perfectly for 10 days and at lunar distance.

Additionally, the mission is equipped with computers and software that is tens of thousands of times more powerful and complex than anything used in Apollo. Often you hear the reasoning that Apollo went to the moon with computer equipment that had less capability than a modern-day kid’s toy calculator. Thus, your own home office may have more computing power than that used during an entire Apollo lunar mission. Yet, a single lightning strike across the street from your home can knock that office of yours off-line. The point is that NASA must be able to test this modern technology and computing power in deep space. And that is where assorted cosmic interference can do nasty things.

Another issue is the systems have to be exercised in flight. Just sending an uncrewed Orion to the moon and back only demonstrates reliability to a certain point. In a 10-day mission the four astronauts will be living, working and generally bumping around inside the vehicle. That level of human factors alone will generate a laundry list of changes in procedures and hardware use.

Both the Orion crew module and its service module need to operate without question. An example of that not happening, recently took place with the Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft. That vehicle while flying up to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) suffered a series of cascading thruster failures. Due to that, NASA decided to hold the crew aboard the ISS and have them return aboard a Dragon spacecraft.

The one thing which must be the same as Apollo is dependability. The Block II Apollo Command Modules never let their crews down. If there is anything in the Artemis program that must be the same as Apollo, it is that level of dependability. The crew of Artemis II are ready to ring out their vehicle in a deep space test flight.

So, when you see Artemis II flying, think more of test piloting rather than a grand exploration. They will be proving the hardware and software which will make a foundation for the explorers who will follow them.