NASA plans to build more than one lunar base for the Artemis program missions.

POT continues its long-term plan to return astronauts to Earth. Moon in 2025 and send the first men and women to Mars years later. To do this, one of the most important goals is to create a stable base on the surface of the indicated star, but, according to the latest statements by representatives of the space agency, the program provides for not one, but several such lunar bases.

Jim Freeadministrator associated with POT for the development of intelligence systems, mentioned last Monday that the program Artemis you can build multiple bases around Moon instead of the only camp at the south pole of the satellite Earthwhich was already in the agency’s plans from 2020.

“It is very difficult to say that we will have one base camp, because if we miss the launch window, we may have to wait a month to return to this place.”said For free journalists attending the briefing 38 space symposium.

NASA’s plan will be even more ambitious

POT he could work with his international partners to establish a series of lunar camps scattered across the lunar surface to maximize exploration and exploration of the site. For free He noted that the agency is exploring whether it might not be better to use a distributed approach with multiple moon bases, including some potentially provided by international partners such as European Space Agency, Canada or Japanwho signed up as program partners Artemis.

“So we can have two or three sites that contribute to scientific diversity, since the main reason we do Artemis it’s science”explained For free.

original plan Artemis belonging POT assumed the main lunar base at the south pole of the moon, possibly in a crater Shackleton, which has long been on the agency’s list of candidates to study during the mission because it is known to have water ice in its dark regions. The base will serve as a center for a crewed landing on the moon of Artemis and support a crew of four astronauts for a week.

Such habitat will include energy infrastructure, radiation shielding, waste disposal facilities and a landing platform for visiting crews. It will also house a lunar rover that will allow astronauts to travel around the Moon, and a “habitable mobile pad” that crews can use to visit other places on the Moon. Moon no more than 45 days in a row.

Creating moon bases will still take time

It is stated for free that having several bases Artemis smaller on the Moon could improve access to the lunar surface. However, the official stated that POT he won’t be building these additional habitats anytime soon. NASA’s next Artemis mission Artemis 2, which will deliver four astronauts to lunar orbit no earlier than November 2024. Earlier this month, NASA unveiled the Artemis 2 crew. The first manned landing on the moon, the Artemis 3 mission, is scheduled for 2025.

“Artemis 3 It consists in lowering the crew, leaving it for six and a half days and returning it back, and we will gradually increase the time the crew stays, and then the number of crew members on the surface.explained For free.

As these longer and larger missions are deployed POT hopes to send moon rovers to astronauts from Artemis bring them down Moonranging from a non-pressurized all-terrain vehicle to a pressurized truck-like vehicle. The Japanese Space Agency has partnered with Toyota to build such a lunar truck. After that, a permanent habitat for shift crews will be built. “Therefore, probably in later missions such as [Artemis] On 7, 8 and 9 we will begin to consider adding permanent surface habitat.”he added.

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