Por Anna Desmarais andAP
Published •Latest update
Z The Orion capsule is fresh from the Pacific OceanNASA is already planning the next phase of its Artemis program.
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Artemis II offered unpublished images the hidden side of the moona solar eclipse seen from lunar orbit and a new distance record for humans in space.
This mission is the last in a series planned by NASA that will eventually land humans on the moon and will allow to create a permanent base there.
“The next mission it is not far away” said flight manager Rick Henfling after the crew disembarked on Friday.
Last month, NASA unveiled a phased plan to build a permanent base on the moon, in which the Artemis III and IV missions will play a key role.
Preparation for landing on the moon
Artemis III was originally intended to be a lunar landing mission, but in March NASA announced that it would will be a demonstration mission to test the lunar landing modules of SpaceX, Elon Musk’s company, and Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ company.
On the new Artemis III, scheduled for next year, astronauts will dock their Orion capsule with the lunar lander in low Earth orbit to certify the spacecraft before a manned landing on the moon.
SpaceX and Blue Origin are competing to be the first to prepare their lunar landing modules. Blue Origin plans to implement later this year unmanned test launch of its Blue Moon module, while SpaceX’s Starship-based module has been plagued by delays and is still awaiting key milestones.
After Artemis III, NASA says it plans to send a mission to the moon every year. On Artemis IV, scheduled for early 2028, astronauts will transfer from Orion to a commercial lunar lander that will take them to the surface.
“Moon Base Plans”
In these lunar base plans, NASA explains that the initial missions will send rovers, instruments and technology to the surface to learn how to generate energyhow communications could work and how to navigate the terrain.
The next phase will be to erect partially habitable buildings and establish regular deliveries, which will include cooperation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), which developing a car under pressure for surface exploration by crews.
In the final phase, larger groups will be sent and finally a continuous human presence will be established, moving from a short stay to a permanent base.
NASA already signed cooperation agreements with Italy and Canada and plans to include new contributions in terms of habitat, land mobility and logistics.
The agency announced the changes to align its work with the United States’ National Space Policy, released last December, which tasks NASA with returning astronauts to the moon, redefining the country’s role in commercial space operations, and maintain global leadership in space exploration.
