The most powerful rocket ever built sits on a launchpad in Florida. Over an intercom, crowds of onlookers listen to the countdown – “4, 3, 2…” – and then the bottom of the rocket begins to rumble. The vibrations first travel through the soles of the watchers’ feet and then hit their bodies like an ocean wave. Jets of steam and fire ricochet off the concrete, and suddenly the rocket is blasting skyward. The astronauts within watch the countryside shrink below them as they begin their journey to the moon.
This scene could be from six decades ago – or it could be from just a few years in the future. The launches of the Artemis missions that the US hopes will soon return people to the moon will look very similar to the Apollo launches of the 1960s. But that is where the similarities end. “Apollo was awesome, but a lot of it was to just prove that we could do it,” says NASA’s Steve Creech. “I’m not saying it wasn’t important, but this time we want to do it in a way that’s sustainable and that leads to next steps.” In other words, this isn’t just about going back to the moon. It is the first glimmerings of what many hope will be a sustained campaign of human space exploration.
NASA’s plans could hardly be bigger. TheyĚýfeature astronauts on moon buggies andĚýlong-term bases with power grids and mining operations. And with the first steps already being taken, this is set to happen by roughly the end of the decade. All of which seems wildly ambitious – and begs the question, what fresh technologies will suchĚýadventurous feats require?
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What are the goals of the Artemis missions?
To begin with, the Artemis missions will largely be repeating feats managed during the space race. Artemis I will pass 100 kilometres above the moon’s surface and orbit for several days, allowing the Orion craft – the capsule intended to carry astronauts – to be tested in space. Artemis II, planned for 2024, will involve a crewed fly-by of the moon. Then, in 2025, theĚýthird mission in the programme is set to see people land and walk on the moon again, including the first woman to do so. “I think that seeing women, people of colour, the nextĚýgeneration, walking on the moon can do a lot of the things that it did in the 1960s, can inspire people to go into science and drive the technical state of the art,” says , a former deputy administrator of NASA.
From here, the plan is for things to change radically. For starters, NASA aims to put a space station known as Gateway in lunar orbit. The idea is that this will allow a reusable lander to shuttle between orbit and the surface, making trips to the moon’s surface cheaper and easier. The agency has already contracted the aerospace company Northrop Grumman to build two founding components of Gateway: a place for astronauts to live, known as the Habitation and Logistics Outpost, and a segment to provide power and propulsion. Artemis IV, which may launch in the second half of the 2020s, will carry these components into lunar orbit. Artemis V, the last mission NASA officially has planned (with no set date as yet), will be the first to see humans drive a rover on the moon. It will also deliver a new refuelling module to Gateway, built by the European Space Agency and partner companies.
Aside from all that new infrastructure, the science carried out on these missions will be different too. The plan is for the Artemis landings to be near the moon’s south pole, which is of particular interest because of its abundant water ice (see “Going off piste” below). Astronauts staying on the moon will need a local supply of drinking water, as it is too heavy to transport from Earth. What’s more, water can be split into oxygen and hydrogen, the first being vital for breathing and the second for fuel to power the rockets that could potentially launch from our lunar staging post to Mars and elsewhere.
The moon’s water ice
The moon’s water ice is far colder than the ice cubes in your freezer and it is distributed through the lunar rock. Understanding how the ice behaves and how we can best make use of it is going to be crucial, and it will require aĚýhost of new technologies. Investigations areĚýdue to begin later this year, when a robotic lander called Nova-CĚý– a partnership between NASA and US aerospace firm Intuitive MachinesĚý– will try drilling almost a metre into the lunar “soil” to extract and analyse the ice.
The next step will come when humans return to the moon as part of Artemis III. A key element of their mission will be to retrieve ice samples and bring them back to Earth, where they can be more thoroughly analysed. That might sound simpleĚý– we have freezers, after all. But we will need to invent a special kind ofĚýfreezer. “The samples will have to be kept extremely cold at all times, so those freezers need to be able to be transported between allĚýofĚýour vehicles and stay cold,” says Erika Alvarez, part of NASA’s Artemis team.
It is not just ice in the moon’s crust that scientists are interested in. China has recently announced that samples of the moon returned to Earth in 2020 through its Chang’e-5 mission . This mineral contains phosphate, a key nutrient for plants, and helium-3, which could potentially be used as a fuel.
Eventually, the plan is to construct a surface habitat called Artemis Base Camp so that astronauts can remain on the moon’s surface for days or perhaps even weeks, collecting samples and data. And though it might seem like a small step from spending a few hours on the surface to staying for a few days, it requires a huge leap in technology.
Building and powering a moon base
Before they can even begin to build a base, the explorers will need a power grid. Solar power will be possible, but the base will have to stay operational through periods of darkness lasting about two weeks. Temperatures during these periods can dip below -173°C (279°F). “You’ve got to have a grid that can sustain itself in that environment, that can generate enough power to do everything from life support to literally keeping the lights on to operational support,” says Mary Lynne Dittmar at private firm AxiomĚýSpace. NASA is working with the US departments of energy and defence to develop a small nuclear power plant for the base.
Once power is established, there is the problem of actually constructing the base. When it comes to space flight, mass is everythingĚý– it isn’t feasible to send all the materials to build an entire base camp, along with tools, supplies and astronauts, to the moon. Instead, several teams of researchers areĚýevaluating how we might make building materials from the resources that will be readily available on the moon. This might mean mining stone, making bricks from lunar dust or even 3D printing with materials made from dust.
The trouble is that handling moon dust isĚýtricky in the extreme. Because there is noĚýwind or rain to smooth the particles, theyĚýare spiky and electrostatically charged, meaning they stick to everything, including spacesuits and tools. We know from the Apollo missions that it is tough to keep moon dust out of airlocks – and once it is inside, it can be breathed in, causing “space hay fever”. NASA is already working on dust mitigation strategies, from nanocoatings for equipment to special filtration systems for habitations. All of which is a reminder that everyday life for astronauts on the moon will be far from straightforward (see “ What will life be like on the moon?” below).
So how hard will it be to build a home on the moon? Very, is the short answer. As well as designing all this new technology, we will have to make sure it can withstand radiation from space. With no magnetic field to protect it, the moon is constantly exposed. One consolation, perhaps, is that at least the people who go the establish a base on the moon will have the option of coming home at speed if they need to. After another short countdown, they can fire their thrusters and be back within the embrace of Earth’s atmosphere in three short days.
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Going off-piste
Apollo-era missions stuck mostly to a small, relatively hospitable area of the moon’s surface. Now, we are set to explore far more widely
1. VIPER rover landing site
NASA has selected Nobile crater to be the landing site for its robotic VIPER rover inĚý2024. This will hunt for waterĚýice and other resources. NobileĚýis in almost permanent shadow, making it one of the coldest places in the solar system. The crewed Artemis missions will probably land near here too.
2. Beresheet crash site
In 2019, this craft from private firm SpaceIL crash-landed onĚýthe moon while carrying aĚýcargo of microscopic animalsĚýcalled tardigrades. Notoriously hardy, there was speculation that they could have survivedĚý– though subsequent experiments suggest the impact would haveĚýsmooshed them.
3. Titanium deposits
In 2011, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter produced a map of the moon that revealed the elements on its surface. Among other useful deposits, it found that rocks in the Sea of Tranquillity contain large amounts of titanium, with some areas holding 10 times more than typical Earth rocks.
4. Water ice
Successive studies have shown that shadowed, cold areas of the lunar surfaceĚý– anĚýarea totalling about 40,000Ěýsquare kilometresĚý– should contain water ice. Astronauts could harvest thisĚýto produce oxygen to breathe and hydrogen fuel.
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What will life be like on the moon?
The moon’s south pole, 2037. NASA and its contractors have built a habitation staffed by a rotating crew of astronauts, much like the International Space Station was until it was shuttered in the 2020s. There is a power gridĚýof solar panels and several rovers parkedĚýoutside. When the crew look out ofĚýthe windows, they can just make out theĚýwater ice mining station in permanent shadow at the bottom of the nearby crater.
Life here is no cakewalk. Because of the moon’s slow rate of rotation, astronauts willĚýface periods of two weeks of complete darkness and temperatures dipping below -173°C (279°F), followed by two weeks of around-the-clock sunshine and temperatures above 100°C (212°F). It means sleep can beĚýaĚýchallenge and going outside to make repairs and do science is dangerous.
The crew handle this by planning their outdoor adventures to coincide with the lunarĚýdawn, when temperatures are more reasonable. Their suits are also specially designed to reflect sunlight and resist heat, plus they have cooling systems inside. One ofĚýthe best things, they all agree, is that the suits are tailor-made, rather than coming in standard sizes like in the Apollo era.
The time delay for communications to Earth is just over a second, so they can place aĚývideo call home whenever they like and see their families’ faces. Occasionally, rich space tourists pay them a visit and the astronauts have to smile for a selfie.
