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NASA has announced that it is postponing the timelines for its Artemis Moon mission in order to prioritize safety and learn from test flights.
According to Nasa, there are several areas that can be improved to guarantee safe travel to the Moon.
Named after the goddess of the Moon in Greek mythology and the sister of Apollo, who inspired NASA’s first Moon missions, the Artemis program aims to build the Lunar Gateway, a new space station for astronauts to reside and conduct work.
As a component of the program, Nasa had intended to bring astronauts back to the Moon’s surface in 2025, which would mark the first mission since the last Apollo expedition in 1972.
“Ensuring safety is our primary concern, and in order to allow the Artemis teams additional time to address the complex tasks of first-time developments, operations, and integration, we have decided to extend the timelines for Artemis 2 and 3.”
Nasa Administrator Bill Nelson emphasized the importance of safety as a top priority and announced that the Artemis 3 mission has been postponed to September 2026.
In November of this year, there were plans for Artemis 2, the first scheduled manned mission of Nasa’s Orion spacecraft. It is currently set to be launched by the Space Launch System.
Unfortunately, this task has been delayed until at least September 2025.
In December of 2022, the Orion capsule from Nasa successfully landed in the Pacific Ocean after a 2.25 million km (1.4 million miles) test flight to orbit the Moon. This achievement sets the stage for future manned missions to the lunar surface.
The Artemis 1 rocket carried the spaceship when it was launched on November 16 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
According to Mr. Nelson, ensuring safety is our primary concern. In order to allow the Artemis teams sufficient time to address the difficulties of initial development, operations, and integration, we have decided to extend the timeline for Artemis 2 and 3.
“We have made changes to our timeline, with the goal of launching Artemis 2 in September 2025 and Artemis 3 in September 2026. This mission will be the first to send humans to the South Pole of the moon.”
The schedule for Artemis 4 is still set for September 2028. While there are obstacles to overcome, our teams are making impressive strides.
Amit Kshatriya, the deputy associate administrator for the Moon to Mars Programme in the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, stated that they are currently investigating the problem of small fragments of the heatshield breaking off during the re-entry of the Artemis 1 capsule.
Additional concerns impacting the program involve problems with battery performance, the advancements in designing new spacesuits, the advancements of SpaceX’s Starship, the requirement for propellant transfer, and the necessity for multiple landings.
Nelson was inquired about his worries regarding the potential delay causing China to send astronauts to the Moon before the Artemis program.
He responded, “I am not worried about China landing before us.”
I believe that China has a highly ambitious strategy. They may aim to reach a landing before us in order to gain a public relations advantage, but I don’t think they will achieve it.
“I believe it is accurate that the date they have announced continues to be moved up, but in regards to our landing in September of 26, that will be the initial landing.”
He stated: “We will not fly until everything is prepared – safety is the top priority.”
“We will not fly until we are ready, regardless of any concerns regarding China, on September 26 when we land.”
The news follows the latest effort to successfully reach the Moon, which had to be called off due to a fuel leak on Astrobotic’s Peregrine Mission One (PM1) shortly after its launch into space on Monday.
The goal of the spacecraft was to achieve the historic feat of being the first privately-funded mission to successfully land on the moon.
After separating from the Vulcan Centaur rocket of United Launch Alliance, the Astrobotic team discovered that Peregrine was facing difficulty in maintaining a stable orientation towards the Sun.
Astrobotic is one of three American companies that will try to launch a spacecraft to the Moon through Nasa’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.
Source: independent.co.uk
