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Sci-Tech

What Lies Ahead for Artemis and Moon Missions?

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Surface of moon with Earth in background (NASA)
NASA’s Artemis II mission brought back stunning images from space, including one of Earth setting beyond the moon’s surface. (NASA)

NASA’s Artemis program sent the Orion spacecraft around the moon, carrying astronauts farther from Earth than ever before, as millions back home watched. Now the space agency is planning missions that will land astronauts on the moon and build a permanent base on the lunar surface to serve as a jumping-off point for human space flight to Mars.

“The Moon Base will be America’s and humanity’s first outpost on another celestial world,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman says of the base , planned to open by 2032. “Every mission, crewed and uncrewed, will be a learning opportunity as we return to the lunar surface, build the infrastructure to stay, and master the skills required to live and operate in one of the most demanding and dangerous environments imaginable.”

Artemis missions blend public and private-sector technology and enlist international partners. On crewed missions, the Space Launch System heavy lift rocket propels astronauts from Earth. The Orion spacecraft and a human landing system will work together to deliver the first humans to the moon’s surface since NASA’s last Apollo mission in 1972.

Graphic with timeline for first four Artemis missions and images of spacecraft and spacesuit (State Dept.)
(State Dept.)

During Artemis II’s lunar flyby in April, astronauts (including Canadian Jeremy Hansen) aboard the Orion spacecraft they nicknamed “Integrity” sent back pictures of the far side of the moon and a solar eclipse, an image seldom seen from space.

Over the next several years, the Artemis program will launch dozens of uncrewed missions that will use robotic spacecraft to survey sites for the moon base and deposit supplies for astronauts’ future use, says Carlos García-Galán, NASA’s Moon Base program manager.

The agency next sends astronauts into space on Artemis III, set to launch in 2027. The crew  of NASA astronauts Randy Bresnik, Andre Douglas and Frank Rubio, along with the European Space Agency’s Luca Parmitano, will test Orion’s interoperability with lunar landers in Earth orbit in preparation for a moon landing mission the following year.

Artemis IV, planned for 2028, will land two astronauts on the moon for a weeklong stay near the lunar South Pole. NASA expects to return to the moon with Artemis V later that year to begin building the moon base. Future crewed missions will continue at a pace of at least once per year, NASA says.

Orion spacecraft in foreground with moon and Earth in distance (NASA)
The Orion spacecraft seen alongside the moon, with Earth in the distance. (NASA)

Artemis missions are guided by the Artemis Accords , a set of nonbinding principles and norms for civil space exploration. Started in 2020, the accords now have the support of 67 signatory nations.

“We are reaching for the stars once again with the same ingenuity, courage, and indomitable spirit that have defined our national story for 250 years,” President Trump said in May, calling for “a new Golden Age of space exploration.”

Artemis II crew group photo in Orion spacecraft (NASA)
The Artemis II crew of NASA’s Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen (second from left), seen on their journey home. (NASA)

For The Silo, Charles Hoskinson/ShareAmerica.

Sci-Tech

Astrolab FLEX Moon Rover Nears South Pole Mission

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Monaco, April 2024 The American company Venturi Astrolab, Inc. (Astrolab), a strategic partner of the Monegasque Venturi Group, has been awarded a NASA contract to support the development of Artemis campaign’s lunar terrain vehicle. Its rover, known as FLEX, is equipped with batteries and wheels developed by Gildo Pastor’s teams in Monaco and Switzerland.

Gildo Pastor is no stranger to specialized high-performance vehicles- here with Bugatti EB110 he drove to win the world record for fastest car on ice in 1995.

Astrolab is one of three teams to win contract awards. Astrolab’s contract is worth up to $1.9 billion usd / $2.56 billion cad. Collectively the three contract winners may be awarded task orders over the next 13 years with a total potential value of $4.6 billion usd/ $6.2 billion cad over the life of the program. The contracts allow for two additional years for the completion of services.
With this announcement, and after two decades dedicated to high-performance terrestrial electric vehicles, Venturi is taking another major step forward. Indeed, the industrial Group led by its President Gildo Pastor designs and manufactures the lunar vehicle’s wheels and batteries. The hyper-deformable wheels, developed and manufactured by the Venturi’s Swiss entity in collaboration with Astrolab, were presented at the Paris Air Show in June 2023. As for the batteries, these will be manufactured in Monaco in specifically designed facilities at the heart of the Venturi’s historic headquarters.

SpaceX’s Starship launch and landing system will deliver FLEX to the lunar surface in mid-2026.

Astrolab first revealed the full-scale working prototype for its Flexible Logistics and Exploration (FLEX) rover in March of 2022. In the years since, Astrolab, has conducted thousands of hours of laboratory and field testing that has led to numerous design improvements. The improvements to the wheels and batteries came as a result of tests Astrolab conducted together with Venturi’s engineers.

As required by NASA, FLEX can carry two suited astronauts, accommodate a robotic arm to support science exploration, perform robotic cargo logistics, and survive the extreme temperatures at the lunar South Pole, which is a technological challenge, particularly for the hyper-deformable wheels and batteries. FLEX can be operated remotely from Earth even when astronauts are not present, or it can be operated by suited astronauts.
Once FLEX arrives on the lunar surface, Astrolab expects that FLEX will become the largest and most capable rover to ever travel to the Moon. With a maximum combined rover and cargo mass of more than two tons, the FLEX rover is nearly three times the mass of its largest predecessor. This increased capacity provides significantly more opportunities to conduct scientific experiments and commercial endeavors on the lunar surface.
“Through our strategic partnership with Astrolab, I am proud to see the Venturi Group’s know-how validated by NASA. After 20 years of innovation and world speed records in the field of terrestrial electric vehicles, we are now involved in an adventure that will go down in the history books: when Man returns to the Moon! When I see this rover, equipped with our wheels and batteries, operating up there I will have made my greatest dream come true“. – Gildo Pastor, President of the Venturi Group.

“Astrolab is honored to have its FLEX rover selected by NASA to participate in the development of creating a Lunar Terrain Vehicle for the Artemis Campaign. Our entire team, together with our business partners, including our strategic partner Venturi Group, are committed to delivering to NASA an LTV that serves as a critical tool in the agency’s efforts to establish a long-term human presence on the Moon.” – Jaret Matthews, founder & CEO, Astrolab.