Over the years, rumors about civilization on the moon have circulated around, but those rumors are finally becoming a reality through the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Artemis Program. While the Artemis Program’s main goal is to eventually land astronauts on Mars, sending astronauts to the moon is an important step along the way.
In 2009, NASA released the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which is a robotic spacecraft that orbits the moon and maps the surface. The data collected by the LRO is important in planning future trips to the moon. On the LRO, there is a tool called the Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP). LAMP is used to find water on the moon.
Within the past decade, NASA found pockets of water molecules on the moon’s surface (the technical term for this is the regolith). This has caused renewed interest in the moon since water is needed to sustain any walk of life. With the renewed interest among NASA scientists, the Artemis Program was created.
The program was named after the Greek mythology goddess Artemis, twin sister of Apollo. The program aims to land the first female astronaut and the next male astronaut on the moon by 2024. By 2028, with extremely generous donations and collaborative work with other countries, NASA plans to achieve sustainable exploration. On every trip, they want to leave new technology that will sustain humans on the moon. NASA is building technology with sustainable architecture including the Orion Spacecraft. This spacecraft will be the main exploration vehicle that is used to transport astronauts to the moon, sustain them while they are there, and safely transport them back to Earth.
This program hasn’t been in the media much, but the workings are already underway. NASA has started building the sustainable technology and even released the spacesuit that astronauts are going to wear. I don’t know about you, but I am extremely excited to see what will be accomplished in the next decade.
Thank you for reading! I plan on keeping you updated with the progress of the Artemis Program, but, for now, I am now departing in 3… 2… 1…
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