“We are ready” and “We are coming!”, With these words NASA charges the wait for the first, historical, launch of the Artemis program, directed towards the Moon, on 29 August. It will be the mission of truth, we will soon know if humanity has an interplanetary spacecraft to explore the solar system. The Moon, in fact, as they like to say to NASA, is only the first step “to Mars and beyond”. From 17 August the Space launch system (SLS), the new, powerful, vector, has been standing on the ramp 39B of Cape Canaveral, built for the launch of the lunar missions of the 60s and from which, in 1969, the Apollo 10 departed. The sun god has now given way to his twin Artemis, goddess of the moon.
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The SLS motors will start up Monday, in a two-hour launch window that will open at 14:33 Italian time. With two “backup” dates, in case the weather or other unforeseen events prevent the departure, the 2 and 5 September. The roar of the engine and side boosters will rock the atmosphere of the Florida coast with a power unheard of since the days of the Saturn V. Hundreds of thousands of Americans will travel to the beaches to witness the debut of a new chapter in space exploration.
The “unmanned” test flight
At the head of the rocket, a hundred meters high, like a 30-story building, there will be no one. The capsule Orionalso designed for missions to the Moon, will be loaded with commemorative materials and experiments, on the seats, however, with the seat belts fastened, mannequins to measure vibrations and effects on the body of astronauts who will take the lead, in a couple of years.
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It will all be a test, that of Artemis I. La mission will last 42 daysduring which Orion will do a couple of laps around the moon to then return, testing all the control systems and maneuvers in deep space up to the protection heat shield during the re-entry into the atmosphere on 10 October. And even inside the capsule (also at the first test beyond Earth’s orbit) everything will be monitored to validate the system as a whole and make sure it is ready to transport people. With the take-off of Artemis I Orion will become the only capsule in service capable of taking astronauts away from Earth. Potentially even on Mars.
Priority: shield, maneuvers and recovery
One of the first objectives of the mission will actually come eventually. According to what the American Space Agency writes, much attention is paid to heat shield which must protect the cockpit and the crew during the re-entry into the atmosphere. This is the most impactful phase on Orion materials. It will enter the atmosphere at a speed of 40,000 kilometers per hour, 11 kilometers per second. Much faster than returning from low orbit, as is the case for astronauts returning from the International Space Station. The surface of his shield will have to withstand temperatures that the friction with the air will bring up to 2,800 degrees Celsius. We want to put it to the test to the maximum, to make sure that starting with Artemis II, the first trip around the Moon of the program with a crew on board, the astronauts are not at risk. “We will force it and test it. We will do things that we would never do with a crew on board – said the head of NASA. Bill Nelson – to make it as safe as possible. ”Soon after, there will be recovery operations, also to be tested, at the landing site of the Orion, in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California.
During the six weeks in space Orion will have to accelerate, maneuver, enter the orbit of the Moon and exit it to return to Earth. It will do so thanks to the new European service module (ESM), the system built by the European Space Agency (ESA) which provides power (with solar panels) and thrust with 33 thrusters, as well as housing the water and oxygen tanks for the crew. The ESM has a strong point Italian contribution, provided by Thales Alenia Space and Leonardoas well as participating with the only European satellite, Argomoon, developed and built by Argotec for the Italian Space Agency.
Radiation hazard
The greatest danger to the health of astronauts who venture beyond the Van Allen belts, out of the embrace of the magnetic field that protects the Earth from high-energy solar and cosmic particles, are precisely the ionizing radiations. Prolonged exposure can lead to serious long-term consequences, such as cancer, or confusion that can immediately put the mission and life of the entire crew at risk. The three mannequins (Commander Moonikin Campos of NASA, and two Germans, Helga and Zohar) inside Orion are equipped with dozens of sensors to measure the level of radiation in the cabin. Zohar will have a special protective suit, to compare the different levels of radiation absorbed by the two. Five other dosimeters, provided by the European Space Agency, are arranged inside the capsule.
The radiation does not only affect the astronauts but also the on-board systems, the electronic components, which can be damaged in the rain of particles, are strengthened and redundant, to be “bypassed” and replaced in the event of malfunctions. Orion’s computer is designed in such a way that it can autonomously return the spacecraft and its occupants safely to Earth in the event of a mission failure.
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Give the cubesats a break
Two hours after launch, after the Orion has detached from the last stage of the SLS, they will come cubesats are also released, secondary missions but at the service of the Program. The Italian Argomoon she will be the first to go out, to photograph the rocket and navigate autonomously until approaching the Moon. Three (Cusp, Biosentinel and Equuleus) will be dedicated to studying the radiation in the deep space environment. Three others will instead observe the surface of the Moon to map it more precisely (LunIr), find hydrogen in the shadows (LunaH-Map) and find water ice (Lunar IceCube). Nea Scout, from NASA, will open one solar sail to initiate a journey in the Solar System to a target asteroid located in the vicinity of the Earth. Team Miles instead is the result of a citizen science project, destined to go far, tens of millions of kilometers in the direction of Mars, to test plasma propulsion systems. Only one element of the Artemis I mission will touch the lunar soil: Omotenashi, the Japanese cubesat, will release a “nanolander”, weighing just one kilo, to measure the radiation on the surface and the consistency of the ground.