Artemis 3

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Artemis 3
Artemis III Mission profile 2025.jpg
Summary of the Artemis 3 mission plan
NamesExploration Mission-3 (2017–2019)
Mission typeCrewed lunar landing
Operator NASA
Mission duration~30 days [1]
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft Orion 004
Starship HLS
Manufacturer
Start of mission
Launch dateSeptember 2026 (planned) [4]
Rocket SLS Block 1 (Orion) [5]
Launch site Kennedy Space Center, LC-39B
Contractor NASA
End of mission
Landing site Pacific Ocean (planned)
Moon lander
Landing site South polar region
←  Artemis 2
Artemis 4  →
 

Artemis 3 (officially Artemis III) [6] is planned to be the first crewed Moon landing mission of the Artemis program and the first crewed flight of the Starship HLS lander. [7] Artemis 3 is planned to be the second crewed Artemis mission and the first American crewed lunar landing since Apollo 17 in December 1972. [8] In December 2023, the Government Accountability Office reported that the mission is not likely to occur before 2027; [9] as of January 2024, NASA officially expects Artemis 3 to launch no earlier than September 2026. [4]

Contents

In August 2023, due to delays in the development of Starship, NASA officials expressed an openness to flying Artemis 3 without a crewed landing. [10] [11] In this case, the mission may become a crewed visit to the Lunar Gateway. [12]

Overview

The goal of Artemis 3 is to land a crew at the Moon's south polar region. [13] The mission would see two astronauts land on the surface of the Moon for a stay of about one week. [14] It is also intended to be the first mission to land a woman and a person of color on the Moon. [15] [16] While up to four astronauts would launch aboard Orion, only two would land on the surface aboard Starship HLS, with the others remaining aboard Orion. The two astronauts will conduct up to four spacewalks on the Moon's surface, performing a variety of scientific observations, including sampling water ice. Before the Artemis 3 landing, some additional equipment will be pre-positioned on the surface, including an unpressurized rover for astronauts to use during their lunar excursions. This rover will have the capability to be controlled remotely. Several permanently shadowed regions could be reached by short forays of 5 to 15 km (3.1 to 9.3 mi), well within the range of the rover. [17]

Crew

Prime crew
Position Astronaut
CommanderTBA, NASA
TBA spaceflight
PilotTBA, NASA
TBA spaceflight
Payload SpecialistTBA, NASA
TBA spaceflight
Mission SpecialistTBA, NASA
TBA spaceflight

Spacecraft

Space Launch System

The Space Launch System is a super-heavy-lift launcher used to launch the Orion spacecraft from Earth to a trans-lunar orbit. This will be the final mission using SLS Block 1, the design used for the first three missions. Afterward, from Artemis 4 until Artemis 8, missions will use SLS Block 1B, with a more capable Exploration Upper Stage, and a cargo hold to transport other payloads.

Orion

Orion is the crew transport vehicle used by all Artemis missions. It will transport the crew from Earth to lunar orbit, dock with Starship HLS, and return the crew back to Earth.

Starship HLS, depot, and tankers

Artemis 3 concept of operations Artemis III CONOPS.svg
Artemis 3 concept of operations

After a multi-phase design effort, on 16 April 2021, NASA selected SpaceX to develop Starship HLS and deliver it to near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) prior to arrival of the crew for use on the Artemis 3 mission. The delivery requires that Starship HLS be refueled in Earth orbit before boosting to the NRHO, and this refueling requires a pre-positioned propellant depot in Earth orbit that is filled by multiple (at least 14 [18] ) tanker flights. [19] Two astronauts will transfer from Orion to Starship HLS, which will descend to the lunar surface and sustain them for several days before returning them to Orion. Following the return of the astronauts, Starship HLS will be disposed of by sending it into heliocentric orbit. [20]

Development

Upon the December 2017 ratification of the Trump administration's Space Policy Directive 1, a crewed lunar campaign – later known as the Artemis program – utilising the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) and a space station in lunar orbit was established. Originally billed as Exploration Mission-3 (EM-3), the goal of the mission was to send four astronauts into a near-rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon and deliver the ESPRIT and U.S. Utilization Module to the lunar space station, known as the Gateway. [21] By May 2019 however, ESPRIT and the U.S. Utilization Module – now called HALO – were re-manifested to fly separately on a commercial launch vehicle instead. Artemis 3, as it was now billed, was repurposed to accelerate the first crewed lunar landing of the Artemis program by the end of 2024, with a profile that would've seen the Orion MPCV rendezvous with a minimal Gateway made up of only the Power and Propulsion Element and a small habitat/docking node with an attached commercially-procured lunar lander known as the Human Landing System (HLS). [22]

By early 2020, plans for Orion and the HLS to rendezvous with the Gateway were abandoned in favour of direct docking of Orion and HLS, and delivery of the Gateway after Artemis 3. [23] [24]

On 10 August 2021, an Office of Inspector General audit reported a conclusion that the spacesuits would not be ready until April 2025 at the earliest, likely delaying the mission from the planned late 2024 launch date. [25] Prada, alongside Axiom Space, will help design the space suits. [26]

On 9 November 2021, the Administrator of NASA Bill Nelson confirmed that Artemis 3 will take place no earlier than 2025. [27]

In June 2023, Jim Free, NASA's associate administrator for exploration systems development, said that launch would "probably" be no earlier than 2026. [28] [29] Later in December 2023, the GAO reported the mission was unlikely to occur before 2027. [9]

In January 2024, NASA officially delayed Artemis 3 to no earlier than September 2026. [4]

On its third test flight Starship reached its desired orbital trajectory for the first time on March 14, 2024.

In March 2024, NASA announced the scientific instruments to be included on the mission were a compact, autonomous seismometer suite called the Lunar Environment Monitoring Station, or LEMS. LEMS will characterize the regional structure of the moon’s crust and mantle to inform the development of lunar formation and evolution models. Another instrument is Lunar Effects on Agricultural Flora, a.k.a. LEAF, which will investigate the impact of the lunar surface environment on space crops. The third instrument is the Lunar Dielectric Analyzer, or LDA, an internationally contributed payload that will measure the regolith’s ability to propagate an electric field. [30]

Related Research Articles

Human spaceflight programs have been conducted, started, or planned by multiple countries and companies. Until the 21st century, human spaceflight programs were sponsored exclusively by governments, through either the military or civilian space agencies. With the launch of the privately funded SpaceShipOne in 2004, a new category of human spaceflight programs – commercial human spaceflight – arrived. By the end of 2022, three countries and one private company (SpaceX) had successfully launched humans to Earth orbit, and two private companies had launched humans on a suborbital trajectory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moonbase</span> Long-term human settlement on the Moon

A moonbase is a facility on or below the surface of the Moon, enabling human activity on the Moon. As such, it is different from a lunar space station in orbit around the Moon, like the planned Lunar Gateway of the Artemis program. Moonbases can be for robotic or human use, in both cases not necessarily including lunar habitation facilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orion (spacecraft)</span> American–European spacecraft class for the Artemis program

Orion is a partially reusable crewed spacecraft used in NASA's Artemis program. The spacecraft consists of a Crew Module (CM) space capsule designed by Lockheed Martin and the European Service Module (ESM) manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space. Capable of supporting a crew of four beyond low Earth orbit, Orion can last up to 21 days undocked and up to six months docked. It is equipped with solar panels, an automated docking system, and glass cockpit interfaces modeled after those used in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. A single AJ10 engine provides the spacecraft's primary propulsion, while eight R-4D-11 engines, and six pods of custom reaction control system engines developed by Airbus, provide the spacecraft's secondary propulsion. Orion is intended to launch atop a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, with a tower launch escape system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artemis 2</span> Artemis programs second lunar flight

Artemis 2 is a scheduled mission of the NASA-led Artemis program. It will use the second launch of the Space Launch System (SLS) and include the first crewed mission of the Orion spacecraft. The mission is scheduled for no earlier than September 2025. Four astronauts will perform a flyby of the Moon and return to Earth, becoming the first crew to travel beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972. Artemis 2 will be the first crewed launch from Launch Complex 39B of the Kennedy Space Center since STS-116 in 2006.

<i>dearMoon</i> project Planned crewed circumlunar mission and art project

The dearMoonproject is a lunar tourism mission and art project conceived and financed by Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa. It will make use of a SpaceX Starship spacecraft on a private spaceflight flying a single circumlunar trajectory around the Moon. The passengers will be Maezawa and eight other civilians, and there may be one or two crew members. The project was unveiled in September 2018 and was scheduled to launch in 2023. It has since been indefinitely delayed until Starship completes development. The project objective is to have eight passengers travel with Maezawa for free around the Moon on a six-day tour. Maezawa said that they expect the experience of space tourism to inspire the accompanying passengers in the creation of something new. If successful, the art would be exhibited some time after returning to Earth with the goal of promoting peace around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lunar Gateway</span> Lunar orbital space station under development

The Lunar Gateway, or simply Gateway, is a space station which Artemis program participants plan to assemble in an orbit near the Moon. The Gateway is intended to serve as a communication hub, science laboratory, and habitation module for astronauts. It is a multinational collaborative project: participants include NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC). The Gateway is planned to be the first space station beyond low Earth orbit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue Moon (spacecraft)</span> Lunar lander family developed by Blue Origin for the Artemis program

Blue Moon is a family of lunar landers and their associated infrastructure, intended to carry humans and cargo to the Moon, currently under development by a consortium led by Blue Origin and including Lockheed Martin, Draper, Boeing, Astrobotic, and Honeybee Robotics. Two versions of Blue Moon are under development: a robotic lander planned to land on the Moon in 2024, and a larger human lander planned to land a crew of four astronauts on the lunar surface for the NASA Artemis V mission in 2029.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2020s in spaceflight</span> Spaceflight-related events during the 2020s

This article documents expected notable spaceflight events during the 2020s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SpaceX Starship</span> Reusable super heavy-lift launch vehicle

Starship is a two-stage super heavy lift launch vehicle under development by American aerospace company SpaceX. It is the largest and most powerful rocket ever flown. Starship is intended to be fully reusable, allowing both stages to be recovered after a mission and to be rapidly reused. SpaceX has stated that a long-term goal for the Starship system is to achieve frequent space launches at low cost. Development follows an iterative and incremental approach, involving often destructive test flights of prototype vehicles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artemis program</span> NASA-led lunar exploration program

The Artemis program is a Moon exploration program that is led by the United States' NASA and was formally established in 2017 via Space Policy Directive 1. The Artemis program is intended to reestablish a human presence on the Moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972. The program's stated long-term goal is to establish a permanent base on the Moon to facilitate human missions to Mars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artemis 4</span> Fourth orbital flight of the Artemis program

Artemis 4 is a planned mission of the NASA-led Artemis program. The mission will include the fourth use of a Space Launch System (SLS) launch vehicle, will send an Orion spacecraft with four astronauts to the Lunar Gateway space station, install a new module on the Gateway, and conduct the second lunar landing of the Artemis program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artemis 5</span> Fifth orbital flight of the Artemis program

Artemis 5 is the fifth planned mission of NASA's Artemis program and the first crewed flight of the Blue Moon lander. The mission will launch four astronauts on a Space Launch System rocket and an Orion to the Lunar Gateway and will be the third lunar landing of the Artemis program. In addition, Artemis V will also deliver two new elements to the Gateway Space Station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boeing Lunar Lander</span> Abandoned lunar lander proposal

The Boeing Human Landing System (HLS) was the name of a proposed lunar lander concept by Boeing that was submitted by Boeing to NASA on 5 November 2019 as part of the Artemis program and the NextSTEP H. The proposal was presented as the "quickest and simplest method" for a 2024 Moon landing. The lunar lander concept was not selected for funding by NASA as part of Artemis in the 30 April 2020 announcement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Starship HLS</span> Lunar lander variant of SpaceX Starship

Starship HLS is a lunar lander variant of the Starship spacecraft that is slated to transfer astronauts from a lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon and back. It is being designed and built by SpaceX under the Human Landing System contract to NASA as a critical element of NASA's Artemis program to land a crew on the Moon.

The Integrated Lander Vehicle (ILV) was a human spaceflight lunar lander design concept proposed in 2020/21 for the NASA Human Landing System (HLS) component of the Artemis program. Blue Origin was the lead contractor for the multi-element lunar lander that was to include major components from several large US government space contractors including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Draper Laboratory.

The Dynetics Autonomous Logistics Platform for All-Moon Cargo Access (ALPACA)—also known as Dynetics HLS—(ILV) is a human spaceflight lunar lander design concept proposed in 2020/21 for the NASA Human Landing System (HLS) component of the Artemis program. Dynetics was the lead contractor for the ALPACA lander—other contractors included Sierra Nevada Corporation—for NASA's Artemis Program.

A Human Landing System (HLS) is a spacecraft in NASA's Artemis program that is expected to land humans on the Moon. These are being designed to convey astronauts from the Lunar Gateway space station in lunar orbit to the lunar surface, sustain them there, and then return them to the Gateway station. As of 2024 NASA intends to use Starship HLS for Artemis III, an enhanced Starship HLS for Artemis IV, and a Blue Origin HLS for Artemis V.

References

  1. ↑ Gebhardt, Chris (22 September 2017). "SLS EM-1 and EM-2 launch dates realign; EM-3 gains notional mission outline". NASASpaceFlight.com. Archived from the original on 2 October 2017. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  2. ↑ Berger, Eric (16 April 2021). "NASA selects SpaceX as its sole provider for a lunar lander - "We looked at what's the best value to the government"". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  3. ↑ Brown, Katherine (16 April 2021). "As Artemis Moves Forward, NASA Picks SpaceX to Land Next Americans on Moon". NASA. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2021.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  4. 1 2 3 Foust, Jeff (9 January 2024). "NASA delays Artemis 2 and 3 missions". SpaceNews . Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  5. ↑ Loff, Sarah (16 October 2019). "NASA Commits to Future Artemis Missions With More SLS Rocket Stages". NASA. Archived from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 16 October 2019.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  6. ↑ Artemis : brand book (Report). Washington, D.C.: NASA. 2019. NP-2019-07-2735-HQ. MISSION NAMING CONVENTION. While Apollo mission patches used numbers and roman numerals throughout the program, Artemis mission names will use a roman numeral convention.
  7. ↑ Potter, Sean (23 March 2022). "NASA Provides Update to Astronaut Moon Lander Plans Under Artemis". NASA. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  8. ↑ Foust, Jeff (13 March 2023). "NASA planning to spend up to $1 billion on space station deorbit module". SpaceNews . Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  9. 1 2 Foust, Jeff (1 December 2023). "GAO report warns Artemis 3 landing may be delayed to 2027". SpaceNews. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  10. ↑ "NASA may delay crewed lunar landing beyond Artemis 3 mission". CNA. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  11. ↑ "NASA Acknowledges Challenges In Artemis III Schedule". aviationweek.com. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  12. ↑ Berger, Eric [@SciGuySpace] (8 August 2023). "There has been chatter for awhile that, if there are HLS and/or spacesuit delays, Artemis III could turn into a humans-to-Gateway mission. Gateway being ready, of course, is no slam-dunk either" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 8 August 2023. Retrieved 8 August 2023– via Twitter.
  13. ↑ Chang, Kenneth (25 May 2019). "For Artemis Mission to Moon, NASA Seeks to Add Billions to Budget" . The New York Times. Archived from the original on 25 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019. Under the NASA plan, a mission to land on the Moon would take place during the third launch of the Space Launch System. Astronauts, including the first woman to walk on the Moon, Jim Bridenstine said, would first stop at the orbiting lunar outpost. They would then take a lander to the surface near its south pole, where frozen water exists within the craters.
  14. ↑ Foust, Jeff (21 July 2019). "NASA outlines plans for lunar lander development through commercial partnerships". SpaceNews. Archived from the original on 1 October 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  15. ↑ Howell, Elizabeth (18 August 2022). "NASA's Artemis 3 mission: Landing humans on the moon". Space.com. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  16. ↑ "NASA unveils schedule for 'Artemis' 2024 Moon mission". France24. 23 May 2019. Archived from the original on 1 December 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  17. ↑ Berger, Eric (29 October 2019). "NASA shares details of lunar surface missions—and they're pretty cool". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 30 March 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  18. ↑ "At Least 15 Starship Launches Needed to Execute Artemis III Lunar Landing" . Retrieved 3 December 2023.
  19. ↑ Chojnacki, Kent. "Human Landing System" (PDF). NASA.
  20. ↑ Foust, Jeff [@jeff_foust] (31 October 2022). "Kirasich: no plans to reuse the Starship for the Artemis 3 landing. Will dispose of it by putting it on heliocentric orbit" (Tweet). Retrieved 31 October 2022– via Twitter.
  21. ↑ Sloss, Philip (4 December 2017). "NASA evaluates EM-2 launch options for Deep Space Gateway PPE". NASASpaceFlight.com. Archived from the original on 9 August 2019. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  22. ↑ Grush, Loren (17 May 2019). "NASA administrator on new Moon plan: "We're doing this in a way that's never been done before"". The Verge. Archived from the original on 4 July 2020. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  23. ↑ Gohd, Chelsea (16 March 2020). "NASA's "critical path" to the Moon no longer requires a lunar Gateway: Report". Space.com. Archived from the original on 16 May 2020. Retrieved 16 May 2020. NASA has removed the Lunar Gateway from its "critical path" to return humans to the Moon by 2024, according to a SpaceNews report.
  24. ↑ Foust, Jeff (14 May 2020). "NASA refines plans for launching Gateway and other Artemis elements". SpaceNews. Archived from the original on 16 May 2020. Retrieved 16 May 2020. ... Loverro reiterated previous statements that the Gateway will not be used for the Artemis 3 mission that will attempt to land humans on the Moon to "make that mission have a higher probability of success"
  25. ↑ "NASA's development of next-generation spacesuits" (PDF). 10 August 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 August 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2021. ... the suits would not be ready for flight until April 2025 at the earliest ... a lunar landing in late 2024 as NASA currently plans is not feasible.
  26. ↑ "Prada to design Nasa's new Moon suit". BBC News. 5 October 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
  27. ↑ Foust, Jeff (9 November 2021). "NASA delays human lunar landing to at least 2025". SpaceNews . Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  28. ↑ "NASA concerned Starship problems will delay Artemis 3". 8 June 2023.
  29. ↑ "SpaceX Starship problems likely to delay Artemis 3 moon mission to 2026, NASA says". Space.com . 9 June 2023.
  30. ↑ Cooper, Naomi (27 March 2024). "NASA Unveils 3 Lunar Instruments to Fly on Artemis III Mission" . Retrieved 1 April 2024.
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