Americans watched their nation’s first moon landing on black and white television. For generations to come, it may be surprising that, despite modern technological advances, the United States lost its ability to reach the moon half a century ago.
NASA hasn’t had a powerful rocket to send astronauts into space since it retired the last Saturn V in 1973.
But since Nov.16, NASA has returned to the moon business. When the Space Launch System, NASA’s new 322-foot megarocket, tore through space with the first test of the Orion spacecraft, it meant the beginning of something new – the quest to replicate the human race on Earth. Although no one is aboard Orion for the Artemis I mission, the empty test flight will pave the way for future astronauts, with a follow-up mission planned from 2024.
With these new tools, NASA wants to one day build a base around the moon to carry astronauts to a lunar base, see the first woman and man of color walk on the surface, and spend a lot of time there doing research. and sample collection. During this time, the agency will keep one eye on the red planet at a distance of about 140 million kilometers.
“Commitment to the moon should be seen as a commitment to Mars,” Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s science director, told Mashable. “This is probably one of the most difficult things we can do as humans, in terms of technology, in terms of goals. It’s harder than going to the moon, it’s harder than the Apollo program. And the way we’re doing it is very different. We’re doing it as a country, not as a country.”
That ambitious vision, a future where humans can go and survive on Mars, means that NASA needs to try and it can’t do it single-handedly. By the time the agency is ready to send the first astronauts to the moon in a few years, for example, it will have spent about $93 billion on the project, according to a federal agency. To become a multi-planet operator requires many other astronauts and commercial partners to develop the lunar resources necessary to support unprecedented space missions.
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NASA just blasted off its new megarocket on the first trip to the moon
“It’s more difficult than the Apollo program. And the way we’re doing it is very different. We’re doing it as a country, not as a country.”
Despite its scientific merits, America was always reluctant to continue exploring the moon. Although many scientists have continued to consider it useful to understand the history of the earth through its undisturbed geology, politicians have taken a different view. President Barack Obama spoke 12 years ago saying that NASA should jump and focus on flying to Mars and other new places, like asteroids.
“I have to be clear here: we’ve been there before,” Obama said.
Why has interest increased after all these years?
The discovery of water on the moon – once thought of as a barren desert – was a game changer. Suddenly, a satellite orbiting the earth provided a huge opportunity for science and money making.
The discovery of water on the moon sparked renewed interest in lunar exploration.
Credit: NASA illustration
The precious water of the moon
The ice in the dark holes in the trees of the moon was mined for drinking water. It can also be broken down into oxygen and hydrogen to make rocket fuel. Some think that the fuel will not only be used in space, but perhaps the thousands of satellites that companies are putting into space for various purposes.
Avoiding the high cost of extra fuel for a rocket, which requires a lot of thrust to break the Earth’s gravity, would save a lot of money. This means that the moon can act as a refueling station in space.
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Lunar water mining alone could be a $206 billion industry over the next 30 years, according to Watts, Griffis, and McOuat, a land and mining research firm.
The same has been applied to metals found on the moon. Iron, titanium, aluminum, silicon, calcium, and magnesium, among others, may be too expensive to sell in large quantities from Earth, but finding these elements in space can help astronauts make tools and structures.
“This is what we have to prove,” said Brad Jolliff, director of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. Louis, told Mashable. “The business case is that it’s cheaper to build things on the moon than to launch them from Earth.”
NASA wants to lead the way. It has already announced 13 potential regions of the moon’s South Pole that astronomers will look for during Artemis III and future missions. It is a place where geologists suspect that astronauts will hit the ice on the banks of dark rivers. The proposed site is far from the old Apollo landing site near the lunar equator.
Artemis astronauts land on the lunar surface away from Apollo’s space station.
Credit: NASA illustration
NASA wants a deal
The US Space Agency has been getting buy-in on its plans from other countries through the Artemis Accords, an international agreement to set standards for safe and cooperative space exploration. But NASA has competition. China has been developing a strong military-driven program. It has made several trips to the moon and recently completed its space station, Tiangong.
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Meanwhile, others, such as India and the Israeli team, have tried to land on the moon in the past few years without success. Both missions landed on the surface of the moon. Ispace, the Japanese rocket-powered outfit SpaceX, is expected to launch in November, with plans to land on Earth early next year.
“Until recently, you never heard NASA talk about the ‘space race,’ but I actually heard Administrator Bill Nelson say, ‘We’re in a race,'” Jolliff said. “He just as he came out and said.”
For NASA, returning to the moon via Artemis is not just a repeat of Apollo. This time, instead of sending astronauts for a short time, for two or three days, they want to go for days and weeks at a time to learn how to actually live there. Scientists say the moon will be a vital testing ground for life far from Earth, preparing humans for multi-year journeys into space.
The challenges are great: dealing with deep radiation, extreme heat, lack of air, and lack of food.
Business of the month
That’s why Scott Amyx, managing partner of Astor Perkins, an investment fund, calls the moon the “eighth continent,” the industrial age.
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“It’s more than a science experiment,” Amyx told Mashable, thinking ambitiously about missions even beyond Mars into the future. “It’s a stepping stone. The moon represents the machinery of invention and innovation that can be the starting point for us to follow.”
“It’s more than a science experiment. It’s a stepping stone.”
Soon, it is believed, all major manufacturing companies will want to participate in the lunar economy, which will provide opportunities to earn money in mining, energy, housing development, transportation, telecommunications, computer power and data storage, and tourism.
Yes, tourism.
A few companies have already announced big plans to build space hotels and multi-use spaces with hundreds of reception areas. Think about the vertical hydroponic agriculture needed to feed these people, Amyx said. They see trillions of dollars in new business.
NASA wants to use the moon as a test to survive far from Earth.
Credit: NASA
“Many family offices made their money during the Gold Rush not from gold, but from having a business,” he said. “They were the first store to sell goods and sell things to the miners. They came from different places, and that’s how they got rich… That’s the way things are.”
But some criticism of human-cost exploration, which has existed since NASA’s Apollo days, still follows the agency. Today, skeptics wonder why the agency bothers to launch humans into space when robots, which don’t need air, water, or companionship, can explore.
It is arguable that Zurbuchen, one of the organization’s top communicators, has a difficult time spreading the word. According to his opinion, the benefits of sending astronauts, who are able to think critically, use critical thinking to make decisions, and have knowledge of situations, than what machines can do.
“It’s funny because that’s not how we do science on Earth,” he said. “The volcano is about to erupt, you see geologists climbing the walls of the volcano. It’s dangerous. They go to the Antarctic, why? You can’t send a robot? You can, but you’ll learn a lot. A lot is a person.”
