ARTEMIS II LUNAR MISSION POSTPONED BY NASA

It’s been more than half a century since humans last set foot on the moon. The last of the crewed lunar missions was Apollo 17 back in December 1972.

Remarkably, by that time, the public had already become jaded with trips to the Moon. Although interest had waned, the crew did leave a lasting legacy.

As Apollo 17’s three modules, America, Casper and Challenger, left Earth orbit for the Moon, Harrison Schmitt snapped a photo of our planet. The resulting Blue Marble, or Whole Earth, image became iconic as humanity’s first view of our entire planet.

WE’VE NEVER RETURNED TO THE MOON

Despite Apollo’s many triumphs, we’ve never returned to the Moon, and all our other Solar System missions have involved uncrewed vessels. Even so, NASA plans to change that with Project Artemis.

In 2022, NASA completed a spectacularly successful uncrewed Artemis test flight. The Space Launch System (SLS) lifted an uncrewed Orion spacecraft into orbit.

Orion travelled 2.3 million kilometres, past the Moon and back to Earth. Artemis I provided us with another iconic image; it captured a stunning picture of the dark side of the Moon.

NASA ANNOUNCED DELAY IN ARTEMIS II

This week, NASA announced a delay in the program’s first crewed mission, Artemis II. Instead of launching this November, the mission won’t lift off until September 2025.

Artemis II will take carry a four-person crew on a flyby mission, similar to the Apollo 8 space flight that set the stage for the Apollo 11 moon landing. NASA is now scheduling a new crewed lunar landing, Artemis IV, for September 2026.

These delays have several causes. The rocket and spacecraft that drive the program have been in the works since the space shuttle fleet wound down back in 2011.

ARTEMIS PROGRAM IS INCREDIBLY COMPLEX

Like Apollo, the Artemis program is incredibly complex. Dr. Scott Pace is a director of the Space Policy Institute and a professor at George Washington University.

Professor Pace told Scientific American, “If you look at Artemis—say, a half-dozen major items—every one of them is a challenging systems engineering problem. But then, stepping back, you have to have this ensemble also come together.”

These delays are just the latest in a long series of Artemis rescheduling setbacks. Understandably, NASA is extremely risk averse, especially where human crews are involved.

NASA LEADERSHIP IS IMMUNE TO POLITICAL PRESSURE

Ever since the Challenger disaster in 1986, NASA’s leadership has become virtually immune to political pressure to rush space missions. As the Smithsonian Institution’s Jennifer Lavasseur told Scientific American, ““If NASA says in advance, ‘We need extra time on this,’ there is a really solid reason they need extra time.”

One reason for the delay is the performance of Orion’s heat shield. NASA designed the Orion capsule to slow down by skipping off of Earth’s atmosphere before its final re-entry, to make it easier to control.

Artemis I completed the maneuver correctly and splashed down as planned. Even so, NASA engineers observed unanticipated stresses to the heat shield from the maneuver.

NASA PLANS TO IMPROVE HEAT SHIELD’S DESIGN

The shield released more char than expected, and it showed some unusual pitting. Although this wouldn’t have posed a risk to the crew, NASA plans to improve the heat shield’s design.

There are also some issues with Orion’s life support system. NASA detected a design flaw in a valve circuit could allow carbon dioxide to build up in the astronauts’ air supply.

The batteries powering Orion’s launch abort system also need improvement. NASA will be addressing all these potential hazards before Artemis II’s crewed mission lifts off.

PLANNED LUNAR LANDING POSES MORE CHALLENGES

Artemis III’s planned lunar landing poses even more challenges and complexities. The current plan is for Orion to dock with a SpaceX-operated Starship rocket.

Starship will be the lunar module, ferrying the astronauts down to the moon’s surface and back up to Orion. The trouble is, Starship isn’t ready for prime time.

SpaceX has conducted two Starship launch attempts, both of which were catastrophic failures. The first attempt exploded, destroying itself and the launch facility.

The second Starship test flight made it through its stage separation, after which the booster rocked blew up. The Starship capsule exploded shortly afterward, failing to reach its planned altitude.

PROPELLANT TRANSFER HAS NEVER BEEN ATTEMPTED

Assuming SpaceX eventually manages to get Starship into Earth orbit, NASA then needs Starship rockets to transfer propellant between two orbiting Starship vehicles. Nobody in the history of space flight has ever even attempted this maneuver.

Even so, it’s the only way SpaceX can provide Starship with enough fuel to make it to the Moon and back. To pull off this propellant transfer while in orbit, SpaceX will have to complete ten other Starship flights.

SPACEX DEVELOPMENT ISSUES

NASA’s contract with SpaceX also requires the company to land an uncrewed Starship capsule on the moon before Artemis III’s crew lifts off. SpaceX is scheduling to complete this test landing in 2025, but that seems optimistic to say the least.

SpaceX hasn’t even managed to launch a Starship rocket into orbit, so I must say I’m sceptical they can hold up their end of the bargain. It seems much more likely that SpaceX will delay the Artemis program even further.

AND ANOTHER THING…

Meanwhile, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen will have to continue their training and bide their time. No doubt their day will come eventually, after all, everyone loves a Hero’s Journey story.

“We should not mince words about how many risks for Artemis’s schedule NASA has taken on by going with SpaceX,” the Planetary Society’s Casey Dreier told Scientific American.“If it works, even if it’s late, it has huge ramifications. But of course, anything so technically ambitious is going to run into problems.”

We always have more to learn if we dare to know.

Learn more:

NASA’S Moon Program Faces Delays

Humans in Space: Artemis II

Artemis I Returns Home After Successful Mission

Artemis I on Its Way to the Moon

Lunar Missions: Stories of Triumph and Disaster