Mathilde Fontez, editor-in-chief of the scientific magazine Epsiloon today details the issues that remain to be resolved before the departure of Artemis originally scheduled for November 16. Mission that has already been delayed three times.
franceinfo: Lhe Artemis mission to the Moon is about to take off for the third time. The rocket should take off on Wednesday, November 16, according to NASA. Everything is ready ?
Mathilde Fontez: For this part of the mission, everything seems to be ready. Well, it’s the third time we’ve said that, the third time that the huge SLS rocket is advancing on the launch pad. It had to be returned to the shed at the end of September, because of Hurricane Ian, and last spring, for technical problems.
But this time could be the right one: the first stage of the mission to return to the Moon: a first flight of the rocket and its Orion capsule without a crew, before a test flight with a crew planned for 2024, and a return of 4 astronauts on the Moon – two will land – in 2025.
So off we go!
Yes, except that now that things are becoming concrete, we realize the mountain that remains to be climbed – technically – before the real return to the Moon. It remains to manufacture the lander, the ship that will land on the lunar ground. But that seems to be on the right track, in the hands of the Space X company. Above all, a spacesuit remains to be designed for the astronauts.
The combination is not ready?
It seems crazy, we could say that all the same, it is not such a trivial object as a combination that could derail the great return to the Moon. Yes, except that a combination, in fact, is nothing trivial. It is an incredibly technical object, very sensitive in the mission. Basically, it’s a spaceship unto itself. Except he’s in human form.
But we know how to make combinations of them. There are some in the ISS, there are those of the Apollo missions…
But none of these combinations can be used for the return to the Moon. Those of the ISS are simply not made for that. They are not resistant, for example, to lunar dust: an incredibly abrasive and sticky dust. As for that of the Apollo missions, it no longer meets current safety criteria – it must be remembered that the Apollo astronauts took enormous risks, we would no longer tolerate that today.
So, there have been works for 10 years, but no prototype is up to par. Not to mention that NASA has just taken a rather radical decision last September: to entrust the design and manufacture to a private company, Axiom Space, which will have to work within extremely tight deadlines, despite its lack of experience.
The suit is due to fly in 2025, so it should be finished by the end of 2023, for astronaut training. So yes in a few days, the rocket may take off. But it may be the suit that will be the grain of sand that will delay the return to the Moon.