The Artemis program is a

Moon exploration The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

program that is led by the United States'

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

and was formally established in 2017 via

Space Policy Directive 1 The space policy of the Donald Trump administration, as of December 2020, comprises five Space Policy Directives and an announced "National Space Strategy" (issued March 28, 2018), representing a directional shift from the policy priorities and g ...

. The Artemis program is intended to reestablish a human presence on the Moon for the first time since

Apollo 17 Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon or traveled beyond low Earth orbit. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on ...

in 1972. The program's stated long-term goal is to establish a permanent base on the Moon to facilitate

human missions to Mars The idea of sending humans to Mars has been the subject of aerospace engineering and scientific studies since the late 1940s as part of the broader exploration of Mars. Some have also considered exploring the Martian moons of Phobos and Deim ...

. Two principal elements of the Artemis program are derived from the now-cancelled

Constellation program The Constellation program (abbreviated CxP) was a crewed spaceflight program developed by NASA, the space agency of the United States, from 2005 to 2009. The major goals of the program were "completion of the International Space Station" and a " ...

: the

Orion spacecraft Orion (officially Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle or Orion MPCV) is a Reusable spacecraft, partially reusable crewed spacecraft used in NASA's Artemis program. The spacecraft consists of a Crew Module (CM) space capsule designed by Lockheed ...

and the

Space Launch System The Space Launch System (SLS) is an American super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle developed by NASA. As of 2022, SLS has the highest payload capacity of any rocket in operational service, as well as the greatest liftoff thrust of any r ...

(as a reincarnation of

Ares V The Ares V (formerly known as the Cargo Launch Vehicle or CaLV) was the planned cargo launch component of the cancelled NASA Constellation program, which was to have replaced the Space Shuttle after its retirement in 2011. Ares V was also plan ...

). Other elements of the program, such as the Lunar Gateway space station and the

Human Landing System The Artemis program is a robotic and human Moon exploration program led by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) along with three partner agencies: European Space Agency (ESA), Japan Aerospace Exploration ...

, are in development by government space agencies and private spaceflight companies. This collaboration is bound together by the

Artemis Accords The Artemis Accords are a series of non-binding multilateral agreements between the United States government and other world governments participating in the Artemis Program, an American-led effort to return humans to the Moon by 2025, with the u ...

and governmental contracts. The Space Launch System, Orion spacecraft and the Human Landing System form the main

spaceflight Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly spacecraft into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such as satellites in or ...

infrastructure for Artemis, and the Lunar Gateway plays a supporting role in human habitation. Supporting infrastructures for Artemis include the

Commercial Lunar Payload Services Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) is a NASA program to contract transportation services able to send small robotic landers and rovers to the Moon's south polar region mostly with the goals of scouting for lunar resources, testing in situ ...

, VIPER rover, development of ground infrastructures, Artemis Base Camp on the Moon, Moon rovers and spacesuits. Some aspects of the program have been criticized, such as the use of near-rectilinear halo orbit and the sustainability of the space program. Orion's first launch on the Space Launch System was originally set in 2016, but was rescheduled and launched on 16 November 2022 as the

Artemis 1 Artemis 1, officially Artemis I and formerly Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), was an uncrewed Moon-orbiting mission. As the first major spaceflight of NASA's Artemis program, Artemis 1 marked the return of the agency to lunar exploration original ...

mission, with robots and mannequins aboard. According to plan, the crewed

Artemis 2 Artemis 2 (officially Artemis II) is the second scheduled mission of NASA's Artemis program, and the first scheduled crewed mission of NASA's Orion spacecraft, currently planned to be launched by the Space Launch System (SLS) in May 2024. The c ...

launch will take place in late 2025, the

Artemis 3 Artemis 3 (officially Artemis III) is planned as the first crewed Moon landing mission of the Artemis program and the first crewed flight of the Starship HLS lander. Scheduled for launch in 2025, Artemis 3 is planned to be the second crewed Ar ...

crewed lunar landing in 2026, the Artemis 4 docking with the Lunar Gateway in 2028, and future yearly landings on the Moon thereafter.

Overview

The Artemis program is organized around a series of

(SLS) missions. These space missions will increase in complexity and are scheduled to occur at intervals of a year or more. NASA and its partners have planned Artemis 1 through Artemis 5 missions; later Artemis missions have also been proposed. Each SLS mission centers on the launch of an SLS launch vehicle carrying an

. Missions after

will depend on support missions launched by other organizations and spacecraft for support functions.

SLS missions

(2022) was the successful uncrewed test of the SLS and Orion, and was the first test flight for both craft. The Artemis 1 mission placed Orion into a lunar orbit and then returned to Earth. The SLS Block 1 design uses the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) second stage, which performs the trans-lunar injection burn to send Orion to lunar space. For Artemis 1, Orion braked into a polar distant retrograde

lunar orbit In astronomy, lunar orbit (also known as a selenocentric orbit) is the orbit of an object around the Moon. As used in the space program, this refers not to the orbit of the Moon about the Earth, but to orbits by spacecraft around the Moon. The ...

and remained for about six days before boosting back toward Earth. The Orion capsule separated from its service module, re-entered the atmosphere for aerobraking, and splashed down under parachutes.

(2025) is planned to be the first crewed test flight of SLS and the Orion spacecraft. The four crew members will perform extensive testing in Earth orbit, and Orion will then be boosted into a free-return trajectory around the Moon, which will return Orion back to Earth for re-entry and splashdown. Launch is scheduled for no earlier than September 2025.

(2026) is planned to be the first American crewed lunar landing since Apollo 17 in December 1972. The mission depends on a support mission to place a Starship Human Landing System (HLS) in a near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) of the Moon prior to the launch of SLS/Orion. After Starship HLS reaches NRHO, SLS/Orion will send the Orion spacecraft with a crew of four to rendezvous and dock with HLS. Two astronauts will transfer to HLS, which will descend to the lunar surface and spend about 6.5 days on the surface. The astronauts will perform at least two EVAs on the surface before the HLS ascends to return them to a rendezvous with Orion. Orion will return the four astronauts to Earth. Launch is scheduled for no earlier than September 2026. Artemis 4 (2028) is planned to be the second crewed lunar landing mission. Orion and an upgraded Starship HLS will dock with the Lunar Gateway station in NRHO prior to the landing. A prior support mission will deliver the first two Gateway modules to NRHO. The extra power of this mission's SLS Block 1B will allow it to deliver the I-HAB Gateway module for connection to the Gateway. Launch is scheduled for no earlier than September 2028.

Artemis 5 Artemis 5 (officially Artemis V) is the fifth planned mission and third crewed landing of NASA's Artemis Program. The mission will launch four astronauts on a Space Launch System rocket and an Orion to the south pole of the Moon. In additio ...

(2029) is planned to be the third crewed lunar landing, which will deliver four astronauts to the Gateway Space Station. The mission will deliver the

European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...

ESPRIT Esprit or L'Esprit may refer to: * the French for Spirit; as a loanword: ** Enthusiasm, intense interest or motivation ** Morale, motivation and readiness ** Geist "mind/spirit; intellect" * Esprit (name), a given name and surname * ''Esprit'' (m ...

refuelling and communications module and

Canadarm3 The Lunar Gateway, or simply Gateway, is the first planned extraterrestrial space station in lunar orbit intended to serve as a solar-powered communication hub, science laboratory, and short-term habitation module for government-agency a ...

, a Canadian-built robotic arm system for the Gateway. Also delivered will be NASA's

Lunar Terrain Vehicle The Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) is an unpressurized rover being developed by NASA that astronauts can drive on the Moon while wearing their spacesuits. The development of the LTV is a part of NASA's Artemis Program which involves returning astrona ...

. Launch is scheduled for no earlier than September 2029. The mission will also be the first to use

Blue Origin Blue Origin, LLC is an American private spaceflight, privately funded aerospace manufacturer and sub-orbital spaceflight services company headquartered in Kent, Washington. Founded in 2000 by Jeff Bezos, the founder and executive chairman of Am ...

Blue Moon A blue moon is an additional full moon that appears in a subdivision of a year: the third of four full moons in a season. The phrase in modern usage has nothing to do with the actual color of the Moon, although a visually blue Moon (the Moon a ...

lander to bring astronauts down to the Moon's surface.

Support missions

Support missions include robotic landers, delivery of Gateway modules, Gateway logistics, delivery of the HLS, and delivery of elements of the Moon base. Most of these missions are executed under NASA contracts to commercial providers. Under the

(CLPS) program, several robotic landers will deliver scientific instruments and robotic rovers to the lunar surface after Artemis 1. Additional CLPS missions are planned throughout the Artemis program to deliver payloads to the Moon base. These include habitat modules and rovers in support of crewed missions. A Human Landing System (HLS) is a spacecraft that can convey crew members from NRHO to the lunar surface, support them on the surface, and return them to NRHO. Each crewed landing needs one HLS, although some or all of the spacecraft may be reusable. Each HLS must be launched from Earth and delivered to NRHO in one or more launches. The initial commercial contract was awarded to SpaceX for two

Starship HLS Starship HLS, or Starship Human Landing System, is a lunar lander variant of the Starship spacecraft that will transfer astronauts from a lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon and back. It is being designed and built by SpaceX under contract ...

missions, one uncrewed and one crewed as part of Artemis 3. These two missions each require one HLS launch and multiple fuelling launches, all on SpaceX Starship launchers. NASA later exercised an option under the initial contract to commission an upgraded Starship HLS for Artemis 4 and a separate contract to

to develop a third crewed lunar lander, which will make its first crewed flight as part of the Artemis 5 mission. The first two Gateway modules (PPE and HALO) will be delivered to NRHO in a single launch using a Falcon Heavy launcher. Originally planned to be available prior to Artemis 3, as of 2021 it is planned for availability before Artemis 4. The Gateway will be resupplied and supported by launches of

Dragon XL American private space transportation company SpaceX has developed and produced several spacecraft named Dragon. The first family member, now referred to as SpaceX Dragon 1, Dragon 1, flew 23 cargo missions to the ISS between 2010 and 2020 befor ...

spacecraft launched by Falcon Heavy. Each Dragon XL will remain attached to Gateway for up to six months. The Dragon XLs will not return to Earth, but will be disposed of, probably by deliberate crashes on the lunar surface.

History

Early history

The Artemis program incorporates several major components of previously cancelled

programs and missions, including the

and the

Asteroid Redirect Mission The Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM), also known as the Asteroid Retrieval and Utilization (ARU) mission and the Asteroid Initiative, was a space mission proposed by NASA in 2013; the mission was later cancelled. The Asteroid Retrieval Robotic ...

. Originally legislated by the NASA Authorization Act of 2005, Constellation included the development of

Ares I Ares I was the crew launch vehicle that was being developed by NASA as part of the Constellation program. The name "Ares" refers to the Greek deity Ares, who is identified with the Roman god Mars. Ares I was originally known as the "Crew Launch ...

, and the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle. The program ran from the early 2000s until 2010. In May 2009, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

established the Augustine Committee to take into account several objectives including support for the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...

, development of missions beyond

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...

(including the Moon, Mars, and

near-Earth object A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into proximity with Earth. By convention, a Solar System body is a NEO if its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU). ...

s), and utilization of the commercial space industry within defined budget limits. The committee concluded that the Constellation program was massively underfunded and that a 2020 Moon landing was impossible. Constellation was subsequently put on hold. On 15 April 2010, President Obama spoke at the Kennedy Space Center, announcing the administration's plans for NASA and cancelling the non-Orion elements of Constellation on the premise that the program had become nonviable. He instead proposed US$6 billion in additional funding and called for development of a new heavy-lift rocket program to be ready for construction by 2015 with crewed missions to Mars orbit by the mid-2030s. On 11 October 2010, President Obama signed into law the NASA Authorization Act of 2010, which included requirements for the immediate development of the Space Launch System as a follow-on launch vehicle to the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...

, and continued development of a Crew Exploration Vehicle to be capable of supporting missions beyond low Earth orbit starting in 2016, while making use of the workforce, assets, and capabilities of the Space Shuttle program, Constellation program, and other NASA programs. The law also invested in space technologies and robotics capabilities tied to the overall space exploration framework, ensured continued support for Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, Commercial Resupply Services, and expanded the Commercial Crew Development program. On 30 June 2017, President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

signed an executive order to re-establish the

National Space Council The National Space Council is a body within the Executive Office of the President of the United States created in 1989 during the George H. W. Bush administration, disbanded in 1993, and reestablished in June 2017 by the Donald Trump administrati ...

, chaired by Vice-President

Mike Pence Michael Richard Pence (born June 7, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 50th ...

. The Trump administration's first budget request kept Obama-era human spaceflight programs in place: Commercial Resupply Services, Commercial Crew Development, the Space Launch System, and the Orion spacecraft for deep space missions, while reducing Earth science research and calling for the elimination of NASA's education office.

Redefinition and naming as Artemis

On 11 December 2017, President Trump signed

, a change in national space policy that provides for a U.S.-led, integrated program with private sector partners for a human return to the Moon, followed by missions to Mars and beyond. The policy calls for the NASA administrator to "lead an innovative and sustainable program of exploration with commercial and international partners to enable human expansion across the

Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...

and to bring back to Earth new knowledge and opportunities". The effort intends to more effectively organize government, private industry, and international efforts toward returning humans to the Moon and laying the foundation of eventual human exploration of Mars. Space Policy Directive 1 authorized the lunar-focused campaign. The campaign (later named Artemis) draws upon legacy US spacecraft programs, including the Orion space capsule, the Lunar Gateway space station, and

, and creates entirely new programs such as the

. The in-development

is expected to serve as the primary launch vehicle for Orion, while commercial launch vehicles will launch various other elements of the program. On 26 March 2019, Vice President

announced that NASA's Moon landing goal would be accelerated by four years with a planned landing in 2024. On 14 May 2019, NASA Administrator

Jim Bridenstine James Frederick Bridenstine (born June 15, 1975) is an American military officer and politician who served as the 13th administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Bridenstine was the United States representative fo ...

announced that the new program would be named

Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...

, after the goddess of the Moon in

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

who is the twin sister of

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

. Despite the immediate new goals, Mars missions by the 2030s were still intended . In mid-2019, NASA requested US$1.6 billion in additional funding for Artemis for fiscal year 2020, while the Senate Appropriations Committee requested from NASA a five-year budget profile which is needed for evaluation and approval by

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

. In February 2020, the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

requested a funding increase of 12% to cover the Artemis program as part of its fiscal year 2021 budget. The total budget would have been US$25.2 billion per year with US$3.7 billion dedicated toward a Human Landing System. NASA Chief Financial Officer

Jeff DeWit Jeffrey DeWit (born 1972/73) is an American businessman and politician from the state of Arizona. A member of the Republican Party, DeWit became the State Treasurer of Arizona in 2015, succeeding Doug Ducey. DeWit said in 2016 that he did not pl ...

said he thought the agency has "a very good shot" to get this budget through Congress despite Democratic concerns around the program. However, in July 2020 the House Appropriations Committee rejected the White House's requested funding increase. The bill proposed in the House dedicated only US$700 million toward the Human Landing System, 81% (US$3 billion) short of the requested amount. In April 2020, NASA awarded funding to Blue Origin, Dynetics, and SpaceX for competing 10-month-long preliminary design studies for the HLS. Throughout February 2021, Acting Administrator of NASA Steve Jurczyk reiterated those budget concerns when asked about the project's schedule, clarifying that "The 2024 lunar landing goal may no longer be a realistic target ... On 4 February 2021, the Biden administration endorsed the Artemis program. More specifically, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki expressed the Biden administration's "support orthis effort and endeavor". On 16 April 2021, NASA contracted

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal of ...

to develop, manufacture, and fly two lunar landing flights with the

lunar lander. Blue Origin and Dynetics protested the award to the

GAO Gao , or Gawgaw/Kawkaw, is a city in Mali and the capital of the Gao Region. The city is located on the River Niger, east-southeast of Timbuktu on the left bank at the junction with the Tilemsi valley. For much of its history Gao was an impor ...

on 26 April. After the GAO rejected the protests, Blue Origin sued NASA over the award, and NASA agreed to stop work on the contract until 1 November 2021 as the lawsuit proceeded. The judge dismissed the suit on 4 November 2021 and NASA resumed work with SpaceX. On 25 September 2021, NASA released its first digital, interactive graphic novel in celebration of National Comic Book Day. "First Woman: NASA's Promise for Humanity" is the fictional story of Callie Rodriguez, the first woman to explore the Moon. On 15 November 2021, an audit of NASA's Office of Inspector General estimated the true cost of the Artemis program at about $93 billion until 2025. In addition to the initial SpaceX contract, NASA awarded two rounds of separate contracts in May 2019 and September 2021, on aspects of the HLS to encourage alternative designs, separately from the initial HLS development effort. It announced in March 2022 that it was developing new sustainability rules and pursuing both a Starship HLS upgrade (an option under the initial SpaceX contract) and new competing alternative designs. These came after criticism from members of Congress over lack of redundancy and competition, and led NASA to ask for additional support.

Launch

was originally scheduled for late 2016, and as delays accrued, eventually for late 2021, but the launch date was pushed back to 29 August 2022. Engine sensor problems caused a delay on that date; the next launch window was September 3. A fuel supply line leak in a quick disconnect arm on a ground tail service mast caused a further delay to a period between 23 September and 4 October. While the leak was partially repaired to a satisfactory condition, weather delays due to

Hurricane Ian Hurricane Ian was a large and destructive Category 4 Atlantic hurricane that was the deadliest hurricane to strike the state of Florida since the 1935 Labor Day hurricane. Ian caused widespread damage across western Cuba and the southeast Unit ...

forced NASA managers to begin preparing for the stack's rollback to the

Vehicle Assembly Building The Vehicle Assembly Building (originally the Vertical Assembly Building), or VAB, is a large building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC), designed to assemble large pre-manufactured space vehicle components, such as the massive Saturn V and th ...

and call off the September–early October launch window. In October 2022, NASA launch managers decided on a new launch date of 14 November, with backup options for 16 November and 19 November. In early November, NASA launch managers ruled out the 14 November option and made preparations to secure the SLS at the pad for Hurricane Nicole, after which launch was planned for 16 November. On 16 November at 01:47:44 EST (06:47:44 UTC),

successfully launched from the

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968 ...

. Artemis 1 was completed at 09:40 PST (17:40 UTC) on 11 December, when the Orion spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, west of Baja California, after a record-breaking mission, which saw Artemis travel more than 1.4 million miles on a path around the Moon before returning safely to Earth. The splashdown occurred 50 years to the day since NASA's

Moon landing, the last astronaut mission to touch down on the lunar surface.

Supporting programs

Implementation of the Artemis program will require additional programs, projects, and commercial launchers to support the construction of the Gateway, launch resupply missions to the station, and deploy numerous robotic spacecraft and instruments to the lunar surface. Several precursor robotic missions are being coordinated through the

(CLPS) program, which is dedicated to scouting and characterization of lunar resources as well as testing principles for

in-situ resource utilization In space exploration, in situ resource utilization (ISRU) is the practice of collection, processing, storing and use of materials found or manufactured on other astronomical objects (the Moon, Mars, asteroids, etc.) that replace materials that ...

Commercial Lunar Payload Services

In March 2018,

established the

(CLPS) program with the aim of sending small robotic

landers Landers may refer to: People * Landers (surname), a list of people surnamed Landers (including fictional people) Places * Landers, California, United States * Landers Peaks, group of peaks in the northern portion of Alexander Island, Antarct ...

and rovers mostly to the lunar south pole region as a precursor to and in support of crewed missions. The main goals include scouting of lunar resources, in situ resource utilization (ISRU) feasibility testing, and lunar science. NASA is awarding commercial providers indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts to develop and fly lunar landers with scientific payloads. The first phase considered proposals capable of delivering at least of payload by the end of 2021. Proposals for mid-sized landers capable of delivering between and of cargo were planned to also be considered for launch beyond 2021. In November 2018, NASA announced the first nine companies that were qualified to bid on the CLPS transportation service contracts (see list below). On 31 May 2019, three of those were awarded lander contracts:

Astrobotic Technology Astrobotic Technology is an American privately held company that is developing space robotics technology for lunar and planetary missions. It was founded in 2007 by Carnegie Mellon professor Red Whittaker and his associates with the goal of w ...

, Intuitive Machines, and

OrbitBeyond Orbit Beyond, Inc., usually stylized as ORBITBeyond, is a aerospace company that builds technologies for lunar exploration. Its products include configurable delivery lunar landers with a payload capacity of up to , and rovers. On 1 July 2019, NASA announced the selection of twelve additional payloads, provided by universities and industry. Seven of these are scientific investigations while five are technology demonstrations. The Lunar Surface Instrument and Technology Payloads (LSITP) program was soliciting payloads in 2019 that do not require significant additional development. They will include technology demonstrators to advance lunar science or the commercial development of the Moon. In November 2019, NASA added five contractors to the group of companies who are eligible to bid to send large payloads to the surface of the Moon under the CLPS program:

Ceres Robotics Ceres Robotics Inc. is a private, commercial company dedicated to the development and manufacturing of robotic lunar landers and rovers. In November 2019, Ceres Robotics was granted the right to bid on contracts by NASA's Commercial Lunar Paylo ...

Sierra Nevada Corporation Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) is an American, privately held aerospace and national security contractor specializing in aircraft modification and integration, space components and systems, and related technology products for cybersecurity and ...

, and

Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems was an American company designing and building satellites. It started as a designer, builder and provider of nanosatellite and CubeSat space vehicle products and services for government and commercial customers. Ty ...

. In April 2020, NASA selected Masten Space Systems for a follow-on CLPS delivery of cargo to the Moon in 2022. On 23 June 2021, Masten Space Systems announced it was delayed until November 2023. Dave Masten, the founder and chief technology officer, blamed the delay on the COVID pandemic and industry-wide supply chain issues. In February 2021, NASA selected Firefly Aerospace for a CLPS launch to Mare Crisium in mid-2023.

VIPER

The

VIPER The Viperidae (vipers) are a family of snakes found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, and various other isolated islands. They are venomous and have long (relative to non-vipers), hinged fangs tha ...

(Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) is a lunar rover by NASA planned to be delivered to the surface of the Moon in November 2024. The rover will be tasked with prospecting for lunar resources in permanently shadowed areas in the lunar south pole region, especially by mapping the distribution and concentration of

water ice Water ice could refer to: *Ice formed by water (as opposed to other substances) *The alternate term for various similar frozen fruit-flavoured desserts: **Italian ice primarily in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley **Sorbet Sorbet (), also c ...

. The mission builds on a previous NASA rover concept called

Resource Prospector Resource Prospector is a cancelled mission concept by NASA of a rover that would have performed a survey expedition on a polar region of the Moon. The rover was to attempt to detect and map the location of volatiles such as hydrogen, oxygen and lu ...

, which was cancelled in 2018. The VIPER rover is part of the Lunar Discovery and Exploration Program managed by the

Science Mission Directorate The Science Mission Directorate (SMD) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) engages the United States’ science community, sponsors scientific research, and develops and deploys satellites and probes in collaboration with NAS ...

at NASA Headquarters, and it is meant to support the crewed Artemis program. NASA's Ames Research Center is managing the rover project. The hardware for the rover is being designed by the

Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late U ...

, while the instruments are provided by Ames Research Center,

, and

Honeybee Robotics Honeybee Robotics Spacecraft Mechanisms Corporation is a small spacecraft technology and robotics company Erik Baard,Alligators Below City? Try Robo-Inchworms ''The New York Times'' BUSINESS: DIARY; November 10, 2002 headquartered in Brooklyn, ...

. , the estimated cost of the mission is US$433.5 million. The VIPER rover will operate near the lunar south pole at Nobile Crater. VIPER is planned to travel several kilometers, collecting data on different kinds of soil environments affected by light and temperature — those in complete darkness, occasional light, and in constant sunlight. Once it enters a permanently shadowed location, it will operate on battery power alone and will not be able to recharge them until it drives to a sunlit area. Its total operation time will be approximately 100 Earth days. Both the launcher and the lander to be used will be competitively provided through the

(CLPS) contractors, with Astrobotic delivering the Griffin lander and SpaceX providing the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle.

International contractors

Artemis Accords

On 5 May 2020,

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

reported that the

Trump administration Donald Trump's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 45th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Donald Trump, his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican Party ...

was drafting a new international agreement outlining the laws for mining on the Moon. NASA Administrator

officially announced the Artemis Accords on 15 May 2020. It consists of a series of bilateral agreements between the governments of participating nations in the Artemis program "grounded in the Outer Space Treaty of 1967". The Artemis Accords have been criticized by some American researchers as "a concerted, strategic effort to redirect international space cooperation in favor of short-term U.S. commercial interests". The Accords were signed by the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, Luxembourg, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates on 13 October 2020, and later signed by Ukraine. In May 2021, South Korea joined as the 10th signatory state of the Artemis Accords, with New Zealand following later the same month. Brazil became the 12th signatory country in June 2021. Poland became the 13th signatory country in October 2021. Mexico signed in December 2021. Israel signed in January 2022, Romania and Singapore in March 2022,

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

signed in May 2022, France signed in June 2022, followed by Saudi Arabia in July 2022. In June 2023,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

signed the Accords. Argentina signed in July 2023.

Exploration Ground Systems (EGS)

The Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) Program is one of three NASA programs based at NASA's

in Florida. EGS was established to develop and operate the systems and facilities necessary to process and launch rockets and spacecraft during assembly, transport, and launch. EGS is preparing the infrastructure to support NASA's

(SLS) rocket and its payloads, such as the

for

Gateway Logistics Services

The Lunar Gateway is a station set to be constructed in lunar orbit, and the Gateway Logistics Services program will provide cargo and other supplies to the station, even when crews are not present. , only

's supply vehicle, known as

, is planned to supply the Gateway. Dragon XL is a version of the

Dragon spacecraft American private space transportation company SpaceX has developed and produced several spacecraft named Dragon. The first family member, now referred to as Dragon 1, flew 23 cargo missions to the ISS between 2010 and 2020 before being retired ...

, to be launched by the Falcon Heavy. Unlike Dragon 2 and its predecessor, it is intended to be an expendable spacecraft.

Supporting Earth-launch vehicles

As of the early mission concepts outlined by NASA in May 2020 and refined by the HLS contract award in July 2021, the primary Earth-launch vehicles planned to support the Artemis program will include the NASA

for the Orion vehicle, the Falcon Heavy for various components of the Lunar Gateway, and the

configuration for the eventual delivery of the HLS vehicle. Other standard SpaceX Starships may also possibly be used later on to meet other later and yet to be determined crew/ cargo handling mission needs. Additional launch vehicles will also be employed later on for the various CLPS cargo services. The European Ariane 6 has also been proposed to be part of the program in July 2019. The

Power and Propulsion Element The Power and Propulsion Element (PPE), previously known as the Asteroid Redirect Vehicle propulsion system, is a planned solar electric ion propulsion module being developed by Maxar Technologies for NASA. It is one of the major components of ...

(PPE) module and the

Habitation and Logistics Outpost The Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO),

(GLS) will be in charge of the resupply missions. GLS has also contracted for the construction of a resupply vehicle,

, capable of remaining docked to the Gateway for one year of operations, providing and generating its own power while docked, and capable of autonomous disposal at the end of its mission. In May 2019, the plan was for components of a crewed lunar lander to be deployed to the Gateway on commercial launchers before the arrival of the first crewed mission,

. An alternative approach where the HLS and Orion dock together directly was discussed. As late as mid-2019, NASA considered use of Delta IV Heavy and Falcon Heavy to launch a crewed Orion mission given SLS delays. Given the complexity of conversion to a different vehicle, the agency ultimately decided to use only the SLS to launch astronauts.

Space Launch System

The

(SLS) is a United States super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle, which has been under development since its announcement in 2011. The SLS is the main Earth-launch vehicle of the Artemis lunar program, . NASA is required by the U.S. Congress to utilize SLS Block 1, which will be powerful enough to lift a

payload Payload is the object or the entity which is being carried by an aircraft or launch vehicle. Sometimes payload also refers to the carrying capacity of an aircraft or launch vehicle, usually measured in terms of weight. Depending on the nature of ...

of to

(LEO), and will launch

, 2, and 3. Starting in 2028, Block 1B is intended to debut the

Exploration Upper Stage The Exploration Upper Stage (EUS) is being developed as a large second stage for Block 1B and Block 2 of the Space Launch System (SLS), succeeding Block 1's Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage. It will be powered by four RL10C-3 engines burning ...

(EUS) and launch the notional Artemis 4-7. Starting in 2029, Block 2 is planned to replace the initial Shuttle-derived boosters with advanced boosters and would have a LEO capability of more than , again as required by Congress. Block 2 is intended to enable crewed launches to

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

. The SLS will launch the

and use the ground operations capabilities and launch facilities at NASA's

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

In March 2019, the

released its Fiscal Year 2020 Budget Request for NASA. This budget did not initially include any money for the Block 1B and Block 2 variants of SLS, but later a request for a budget increase of $1.6 billion towards SLS, Orion, and crewed landers was made. Block 1B is currently intended to debut on Artemis 4 and will be used mainly for co-manifested crew transfers and logistics rather than constructing the Gateway as initially planned. An uncrewed Block 1B was planned to launch the Lunar Surface Asset in 2028, the first lunar outpost of the Artemis program, but now that launch has been moved to a commercial launcher. Block 2 development will most likely start in the late 2020s after NASA is regularly visiting the lunar surface and shifts focus towards Mars. In October 2019, NASA authorized

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

to purchase materials in bulk for more SLS rockets ahead of the announcement of a new contract. The contract was expected to support up to ten core stages and eight

s for the SLS 1B to transfer heavy payloads of up to 40 metric tons on a lunar trajectory.

SpaceX Starship

The SpaceX Starship system is a fully-reusable super heavy-lift Earth-launch system which is under development. It consists of a first-stage booster named Super-Heavy and a second-stage space vehicle which is generally named

Starship A starship, starcraft, or interstellar spacecraft is a theoretical spacecraft designed for interstellar travel, traveling between planetary systems. The term is mostly found in science fiction. Reference to a "star-ship" appears as early as 188 ...

and which will have several variants. A Starship HLS mission will use three variants: a tanker, a propellant depot, and the

itself which will be designed only for lunar landings and takeoffs, and not for Earth landings. Some variants will be able to return to Earth for reuse. The second-stage Starships are fully self-contained spacecraft, complete with their own propulsion systems. The combined Starship system using standard Starship variants for its second-stage is planned to launch crews and cargo, which may then be used to support the various developmental needs of the Artemis program, and also to support the needs of other NASA and SpaceX programs. The SpaceX Starship is also qualified to be bid for

(CLPS) launches, and in 2021 was the winning NASA bid for a crewed lunar landing.As Artemis Moves Forward, NASA Picks SpaceX to Land Next Americans on Moon
NASA. Apr 16, 2021. By Monica Witt. Retrieved 2023-04-16.

Falcon Heavy

The SpaceX Falcon Heavy is a partially reusable heavy-lift launcher. It will be used to launch the first two Gateway modules into NRHO. It will also be used to launch the Dragon XL spacecraft on supply missions to Gateway, and it is qualified to be bid for other launches under the CLPS program. It was selected under CLPS to launch the VIPER mission.

CLPS launchers

Under the CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Service) program, qualified CLPS vendors can use any launcher that meets their mission requirements.

Space vehicles

Orion

Orion is a class of partially reusable spacecraft to be used in the Artemis program. The spacecraft consists of a Crew Module (CM)

space capsule A space capsule is an often-crewed spacecraft that uses a blunt-body reentry capsule to reenter the Earth's atmosphere without wings. Capsules are distinguished from other satellites primarily by the ability to survive reentry and return a payl ...

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...

and the European Service Module (ESM) manufactured by

Airbus Defence and Space Airbus Defence and Space is the division of Airbus SE responsible for the development and manufacturing of the corporation's defence and space products, while also providing related services. The division was formed in January 2014 during the ...

. Capable of supporting a crew of six beyond

, Orion is equipped with

solar panels A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a phot ...

, an automated docking system, and

glass cockpit A glass cockpit is an aircraft cockpit that features electronic (digital) flight instrument displays, typically large LCD screens, rather than the traditional style of analog dials and gauges. While a traditional cockpit relies on numerous mech ...

interfaces modeled after those used in the

Boeing 787 Dreamliner The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American wide-body jet airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After dropping its unconventional Sonic Cruiser project, Boeing announced the conventional 7E7 on January 29, 2003, ...

. It has a single

AJ10 The AJ10 is a hypergolic rocket engine manufactured by Aerojet Rocketdyne (previously Aerojet). It has been used to propel the upper stages of several launch vehicles, including the Delta II and Titan III. Variants were and are used as the servic ...

engine for primary propulsion, and others including

reaction control system A reaction control system (RCS) is a spacecraft system that uses thrusters to provide attitude control and translation. Alternatively, reaction wheels are used for attitude control. Use of diverted engine thrust to provide stable attitude contr ...

engines. Although designed to be compatible with other

launch vehicle A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pad, launch pads, supported by a missile launch contro ...

s, Orion is primarily intended to launch atop a

(SLS) rocket, with a tower

launch escape system A launch escape system (LES) or launch abort system (LAS) is a crew-safety system connected to a space capsule that can be used to quickly separate the capsule from its launch vehicle in case of an emergency requiring the abort of the launch, suc ...

. Orion was originally conceived by Lockheed Martin as a proposal for the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) to be used in NASA's

. Lockheed Martin's proposal defeated a competing proposal by

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense technology company. With 90,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $30 billion, it is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military techn ...

, and was selected by NASA in 2006 to be the CEV. Originally designed with a service module featuring a new "Orion Main Engine" and a pair of circular solar panels, the spacecraft was to be launched atop the

rocket. Following the cancellation of the Constellation program in 2010, Orion was heavily redesigned for use in NASA's Journey to Mars initiative; later named Moon to Mars. The

SLS SLS may refer to the Space Launch System, a launch vehicle developed by NASA. It may also refer to: Education * Stanford Law School, California, U.S. * Sydney Law School, Australia * Symbiosis Law School, India * Same language subtitling, of TV ...

replaced the

as Orion's primary launch vehicle, and the service module was replaced with a design based on the

's Automated Transfer Vehicle. A development version of Orion's CM was launched in 2014 during

Exploration Flight Test-1 Exploration Flight Test-1 or EFT-1 (previously known as Orion Flight Test 1 or OFT-1) was the first test flight of the crew module portion of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle. Without a crew, it was launched on December 5, 2014, at 12:0 ...

, while at least four test articles were produced. By 2022, three flight-worthy Orion crew modules have been built, with an additional one ordered, for use in the Artemis program; the first of these was due to be launched on 30 November 2020, however

did not launch until 16 November 2022. It was reported that

and

had found a failure with a component in one of the Orion spacecraft's power data units but

later clarified that it did not expect the issue to affect the

launch date. Gateway Space Station Module Map

Dragon XL

Human Landing System (HLS)

The Human Landing System (HLS) is a critical component of the Artemis mission. This system transports crew from lunar orbit (the Gateway or an Orion spacecraft) to the lunar surface, acts as a lunar habitat, and then transports the crew back to lunar orbit. In 2021 SpaceX's

program was awarded the winning NASA bid for the production of a crewed lunar landing vehicle. In May 2023,

was selected as the second provider for lunar lander services.

Early developmental history of the HLS vehicle

Bidding for NASA's HLS lunar landing vehicle began in 2019. At that time, NASA elected to have the HLS designed and developed by commercial vendors. Eleven competing contracts were initially awarded in May 2019. In April 2020, NASA awarded three competing design contracts, and in April 2021, NASA selected the

to proceed to development and production. Separate from its early design and development program for its first HLS spacecraft, NASA retains multiple smaller contracts to study various elements of alternative HLS designs.

Starship HLS

The Starship Human Landing System (Starship HLS) was the winner selected by NASA for potential use for long-duration crewed lunar landings as part of NASA's Artemis program. Starship HLS is a variant of SpaceX's Starship spacecraft optimized to operate on and around the Moon. In contrast to the Starship spacecraft from which it derives, Starship HLS will never re-enter an atmosphere, so it does not have a

heat shield In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is al ...

or flight control surfaces. In contrast to other proposed HLS designs that used multiple stages, the entire spacecraft will land on the Moon and will then launch from the Moon. Like other Starship variants, Starship HLS has

Raptor Raptor or RAPTOR may refer to: Animals The word "raptor" refers to several groups of bird-like dinosaurs which primarily capture and subdue/kill prey with their talons. * Raptor (bird) or bird of prey, a bird that primarily hunts and feeds on v ...

engines mounted at the tail as its primary propulsion system. However, when it is within "tens of meters" of the lunar surface during descent and ascent, it will use high-thrust meth/ox RCS thrusters located mid-body instead of the Raptors to avoid raising dust via plume impingement. A solar array located on the nose below the docking port provides electrical power. Elon Musk stated that Starship HLS would be able to deliver "potentially up to 200 tons" to the lunar surface. Starship HLS would be launched to Earth orbit using the SpaceX Super Heavy booster, and would use a series of tanker spacecraft to refuel the Starship HLS vehicle in Earth orbit for lunar transit and lunar landing operations. Starship HLS would then boost itself to lunar orbit for rendezvous with Orion. In the mission concept, a NASA Orion spacecraft would carry a NASA crew to the lander, where they would depart and descend to the surface of the Moon. After lunar surface operations, Starship HLS would lift off from the lunar surface acting as a

single-stage-to-orbit A single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) vehicle reaches orbit from the surface of a body using only propellants and fluids and without expending tanks, engines, or other major hardware. The term usually, but not exclusively, refers to reusable vehicles ...

(SSTO) vehicle and return the crew to Orion.

Blue Origin HLS

On May 19, 2023, NASA announced an additional contract to Blue Origin to develop a second crewed lunar lander, which will make its first crewed flight as part of the

mission. Blue Moon is smaller than the SpaceX HLS lander, having only 20 tons of payload capacity. The lander is fueled with a combination of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants.

Lunar Gateway

NASA's Gateway is an in-development mini-space station in

intended to serve as a solar-powered communication hub, science laboratory, short-term habitation module, and holding area for rovers and other robots. While the project is led by NASA, the Gateway is meant to be developed, serviced, and utilized in collaboration with commercial and international partners: Canada (

Canadian Space Agency The Canadian Space Agency (CSA; french: Agence spatiale canadienne, ASC) is the national space agency of Canada, established in 1990 by the ''Canadian Space Agency Act''. The president is Lisa Campbell, who took the position on September 3, 2020 ...

) (CSA), Europe (

) (ESA), and Japan (

JAXA The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into orb ...

2024 Lunar Gateway concept art, March 2020

The

(PPE) started development at the

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States. Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...

during the now canceled

(ARM). The original concept was a robotic, high performance

solar electric A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell, is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect, which is a physical and chemical phenomenon.

spacecraft that would retrieve a multi-ton boulder from an asteroid and bring it to lunar orbit for study. When ARM was canceled, the solar electric propulsion was repurposed for the Gateway. The PPE will allow access to the entire lunar surface and act as a

space tug ''Space Tug'' is a young adult science fiction novel by author Murray Leinster. It was published in 1953 by Shasta Publishers in an edition of 5,000 copies. It is the second novel in the author's Joe Kenmore series. Groff Conklin gave it a mixe ...

for visiting craft. It will also serve as the command and communications center of the Gateway. The PPE is intended to have a mass of 8-9 tonnes and the capability to generate 50 kW of

solar electric power Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar power to generate electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating), and solar architecture. It is an essenti ...

for its ion thrusters, which can be supplemented by chemical propulsion. The Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO), also called the Minimal Habitation Module (MHM) and formerly known as the Utilization Module, will be built by

Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems (NGIS) was a sector (business segment) of Northrop Grumman from 2018 through 2019. It was formed from Orbital ATK Inc. a company which resulted from the merger of Orbital Sciences Corporation and parts of Alli ...

(NGIS). A single Falcon Heavy equipped with an extended fairing will launch the PPE together with the HALO in November 2024. The HALO is based on a Cygnus Cargo resupply module to the outside of which radial docking ports, body mounted radiators (BMRs), batteries and communications antennae will be added. The HALO will be a scaled-down habitation module, yet, it will feature a functional pressurized volume providing sufficient command, control, and data handling capabilities, energy storage and power distribution, thermal control, communications and tracking capabilities, two axial and up to two radial docking ports, stowage volume, environmental control and

life support system A life-support system is the combination of equipment that allows survival in an environment or situation that would not support that life in its absence. It is generally applied to systems supporting human life in situations where the outsid ...

s to augment the Orion spacecraft and support a crew of four for at least 30 days. NASA_and_ESA's_Lunar_Gateway

In March 2020, Doug Loverro, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations at that time, removed the Gateway construction from the 2024 critical path to clear up funding for the HLS. He stated that the PPE could face delays and that moving it back to 2026 would allow for a more refined vehicle. It is also worth noting that the international partners on the Gateway would not have their modules ready until 2026. It was made a requirement that all Human Landing System proposals would be capable of free flight without the Gateway. On 30 April 2020, a key to NASA's vision for a "sustainable" crew presence on or near the Moon, the Gateway station, was announced to be optional, rather than required, in mission planning. NASA officials originally hoped the Gateway would be in position near the Moon in time for the Artemis 3 mission in 2024, allowing elements of the lunar lander to be assembled, or aggregated, at the Gateway before the arrival of astronauts on an Orion crew capsule.

told Spaceflight Now, the Artemis 3 mission will no longer go through the Gateway, but NASA is not backing away from the program. In late October 2020, NASA and

(ESA) finalized their agreement to collaborate in the Gateway program. ESA will provide a habitat module in partnership with

(I-HAB) and a refueling module (

). In return, Europe will have three flight opportunities to launch crew aboard the Orion crew capsule, which they will provide the service module for.

Astronauts

On 10 January 2020, NASA's 22nd astronaut group, nicknamed the "Turtles", graduated and were assigned to the Artemis program. The group includes two

(CSA) astronauts. The group earned their nickname from the prior astronaut group, " The 8-Balls", as is a tradition dating back to " The Mercury Seven" in 1962 which subsequently provided the "

Next Nine NASA Astronaut Group 2, also known as the Next Nine and the New Nine, was the second group of astronauts selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Their selection was announced on September 17, 1962. The group augmen ...

" with their nickname. They were given this name, for the most part, because of

Hurricane Harvey Hurricane Harvey was a devastating Category 4 hurricane that made landfall on Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, causing catastrophic flooding and more than 100 deaths. It is tied with 2005's Hurricane Katrina as the costliest t ...

. Some of the astronauts will fly on the Artemis missions to the Moon and may be part of the first crew to fly to Mars.

Artemis team

On 9 December 2020,

Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

announced the first group of 18 astronauts (all American, including 9 male and 9 female from different backgrounds), the 1st Artemis team, who could be selected as astronauts of early missions of the Artemis program: * Joe Acaba *

Kayla Barron Kayla Jane Barron (born September 19, 1987) is an American submarine warfare officer, engineer and NASA astronaut. Barron was selected in June 2017 as a member of the NASA Astronaut Group 22, and later qualified as an astronaut in 2020. Barron ...

Raja Chari Raja Jon Vurputoor Chari (born June 24, 1977) is an American test pilot and NASA astronaut. He is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, and has over 2,000 flyi ...

* Matthew Dominick * Victor Glover *

Warren Hoburg Warren Woodrow "Woody" Hoburg (born September 16, 1985) is an American engineer and NASA astronaut. Early life and education Warren Hoburg was born on September 16, 1985, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Jim and Peggy Hoburg. While attending No ...

* Jonny Kim *

Christina Koch Christina Hammock Koch ( ; born January 29, 1979) is an American engineer and NASA astronaut of the class of 2013. She received Bachelor of Science degrees in electrical engineering and physics and a Master of Science in electrical engineering a ...

Kjell Lindgren Kjell Norwood Lindgren (born January 23, 1973) is an American astronaut who was selected in June 2009 as a member of the NASA Astronaut Group 20. He launched to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of Expedition 44/ 45 on July 22, 201 ...

* Nicole Mann *

Anne McClain Anne Charlotte McClain (born June 7, 1979) is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, engineer and a NASA astronaut. Her call sign, "Annimal", dates back to her bruising rugby days; she also uses the call sign in her Twitter handle, AstroAnnimal ...

Jessica Meir Jessica Ulrika Meir (IPA: ; ; born ) is an American-Swedish NASA astronaut, marine biologist, and physiologist. She was previously an assistant professor of anesthesia at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, following ...

* Jasmin Moghbeli * Kathleen Rubins * Frank Rubio * Scott Tingle *

Jessica Watkins Jessica Andrea Watkins (born May 14, 1988) is an American NASA astronaut, geologist, aquanaut and former international rugby player. Watkins was announced as the first Black woman who will complete an International Space Station long-term missi ...

Stephanie Wilson Stephanie Diana Wilson (born September 27, 1966) is an American engineer and a NASA astronaut. She flew to space onboard three Space Shuttle missions, and is the second African American woman to go into space, after Mae Jemison. her 42 days i ...

Chief Astronaut The Chief of the Astronaut Office is the most senior leadership position for active astronauts at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The Chief Astronaut serves as head of the NASA Astronaut Corps and is the principal advi ...

Reid Wiseman Gregory Reid Wiseman (born November 11, 1975) is an American astronaut, engineer, and naval aviator. He served as Chief of the Astronaut Office until November 14, 2022. Wiseman was selected in June 2009 as a member of the NASA Astronaut Group 2 ...

said in August 2022, however, that all 42 active members of the NASA Astronaut Corps, and the ten more training as NASA Astronaut Group 23, are eligible for Artemis 2 and later flights.

Artemis 2 Crew

On 3 April 2023, NASA announced the astronauts who will be the crew of the Artemis 2 mission.

Planned surface operations

Shelter building construction

The Artemis Base Camp is the proposed lunar base to be established at the end of the 2020s. The Base camp is to be located in the south pole region near the two adjacent

Shackleton Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of An ...

and de-Gerlache craters, due to this area's wide variety of lunar geography and also due to the abundance of water ice that is believed to exist in the lunar soils of the crater floors. The environs of these craters fall under the guidelines of the Outer Space Treaty. Most probably it will be a site that has already been visited by prior robotic missions. It will consist of three main modules: # The Surface Habitat (SH) module, which is the initial dwelling structure and home base for the residents of the Base. # The Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV), which is an unpressurized rover cart for transporting suited astronauts around in the vicinity of the Base. # The Pressurized Rover (PR), a pressurized vehicle complete with longer range habitation facilities, thus enabling multi-day and longer-range explorations tens of kilometers away from the Base.Artemis Deep Space Habitation: Enabling a Sustained Human Presence on the Moon and Beyond
August, 2022. By Paul Kessler. Retrieved 2023-04-18. The Artemis Base Camp will support missions of up to two months and will be used to study technologies to use on Mars. The Base may be used regularly for decades to come through both Government and commercial programs.

Surface Habitat (SH) module

Most of the information about the Surface Habitat (SH) comes from studies and launch manifests which manifests include a reference to its launch. It will be commercially built and commercially launched in 2028 along with the Pressurized Vehicle (PV). The SH was formerly referred to as the Artemis Surface Asset. Current launch plans show that landing it on the surface would be similar to the HLS. The Surface Habitat would be sent to the Gateway where it would then be attached to a descent stage and subsequently transported down to the lunar surface with a commercial launcher. It would utilize the same lunar transfer stage as used for the HLS. Other designs from 2019 see it being launched from an SLS Block 1B as a single unit and landing directly on the surface. It would then be hooked up to a surface power system launched by a CLPS mission and tested by the Artemis 6 crew.

Transportation on Moon

Cargo vehicle option

NASA has specified its need for a Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) that has a cargo capacity of 800 kg, traversal distances of up to 20 km without battery recharging, continuous operations for 8 hours within a 24-hour period, the ability to survive the lunar night, and the ability to traverse grades as steep as ±20 degrees.

Pressurized Rover (PR)

The Pressurized Rover (PR) is a large, pressurized rover used to transport crews across large distances. NASA had developed multiple pressurized rovers including what was formerly called the

Space Exploration Vehicle The Space Exploration Vehicle (SEV) is a modular vehicle concept developed by NASA. It would consist of a pressurized cabin that can be mated either with a wheeled chassis to form a rover for planetary surface exploration (on the Moon and elsew ...

(SEV). This rover was built for the

and was fabricated and then tested. In the 2020 flight manifest it was later referred to as the "Mobile Habitat" suggesting it could fill a similar role to the ILREC Lunar Bus. It would be ready for the crew to use on the surface but could also be autonomously controlled from the Gateway or other locations. Mark Kirasich, who is the acting director of NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems, has stated that the current plan is to partner with

and

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

to develop a closed cabin rover to support crews for up to 14 days (currently known as Lunar Cruiser). "It's very important to our leadership at the moment to involve JAXA in a major surface element", he said. "... The Japanese, and their auto industry, have a very strong interest in rover-type things. So, there was an idea to — even though we have done a lot of work — to let the Japanese lead development of a pressurized rover. So right now, that's the direction we're heading in". In regard to the PR, senior-lunar-scientist Clive Neal said "Under Constellation NASA had a sophisticated rover put together. It's pretty sad if it's never going to get to the Moon". However Neal also said that he understands the different mission objectives of the Constellation Program vs: those of the Artemis Program and the need of the Artemis Program to focus more on international collaboration. On April 9th 2024, it was announced that JAXA and NASA had signed an agreement stipulating that Japan would design, develop, and operate a pressurized rover for crewed and uncrewed exploration of the Moon. In return, Nasa will provide the launch and delivery of the rover to the Moon, as well as providing seats for two Japanese astronaut missions to the lunar surface, with the goal of these astronauts being the first non Americans to travel to the Moon's surface. The rover is planned to accommodate two astronauts for up to 30 days. NASA plans to use the pressurized rover from Artemis VII and subsequent missions, over an approximate 10 year lifespan.

Resource prospecting and research programs

As of February 2020, a lunar stay during a Phase 1 Artemis mission will be about seven days and will have five extravehicular activities (EVA). A ''notional'' concept of operations (i.e., a hypothetical but possible plan) would include the following: On Day 1 of the stay, astronauts touchdown on the Moon but do not conduct an EVA. Instead, they prepare for the EVA scheduled for the next day in what is referred to as "The Road to EVA". On Day 2, the astronauts open the hatch on the Human Landing System and embark on EVA 1, which will be six hours long. It will include collecting a contingency sample, conducting public affairs activities, deploying the experiment package, and acquiring samples. The astronauts will stay close to the landing site on this first EVA. EVA 2 begins on day 3. The astronauts characterize and collect samples from permanently shadowed regions. Unlike the previous EVA, the astronauts will go farther from the landing site, up to , and up and down slopes of 20°. Day 4 will not include an EVA, but Day 5 will. EVA 3 may include activities such as collecting samples from an ejecta blanket. Day 6 will have the two astronauts deploy a geotechnical instrument alongside an environmental monitoring station for in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). Day 7 will have the final and shortest EVA; this EVA will only last one hour rather than the others' six hours in duration from egress to ingress and mostly comprises preparations for the lunar ascent, including jettisoning hardware. Once the final EVA is concluded, the astronauts will return to the Human Landing System and the vehicle will launch from the surface and join up with Orion/Gateway.

Specialized lunar equipment development

Moon rover

Lunar Terrain Vehicle development

In February 2020, NASA released two requests for information regarding both a crewed and uncrewed unpressurized surface rover. The LTV would be prepositioned by a CLPS vehicle before the Artemis 3 mission. It would be used to transport crews around the exploration site and serve a similar function to the Apollo

Lunar Roving Vehicle The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) is a battery-powered four-wheeled rover used on the Moon in the last three missions of the American Apollo program ( 15, 16, and 17) during 1971 and 1972. It is popularly called the Moon buggy, a play on the t ...

. In July 2020, NASA established a program office for the rover at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. On April 3, 2024, NASA announced that Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost and Venturi Astrolab are the three companies developing the LTV in a 12-month feasibility and demo phase.A source selection statement by NASA provided further details on cost and overall feasibility on 9 April, 2024. The Intuitive Machines proposal was for $1.692 billion, Lunar Outpost for $1.727 billion and Astrolab for $1.928 billion to develop the vehicle. Separately, a Lunar Cruiser is also under development for the program by

. The lander will be used for missions starting with Artemis 7. JAXA and NASA agreed for two JAXA astronauts to land on the moon as part of the agreement finalized in April 2024.

Artemis space suits

The Artemis program will make use of two types of space suit revealed in October 2019: the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU), and the Orion Crew Survival System (OCSS). On 10 August 2021, a NASA Office of Inspector General audit reported a conclusion that the spacesuits would not be ready until April 2025 at the earliest, likely delaying the mission from the planned late 2024. In response to the IG report, SpaceX indicated that they could provide the suits.

Commercial spacesuits

NASA published a draft RFP to procure commercially-produced spacesuits in order to meet the 2024 schedule. On 2 June 2022, NASA announced that commercially produced spacesuits would be developed by Axiom Space and

Collins Aerospace Collins Aerospace is an American technology corporation that is one of the world's largest suppliers of aerospace and defense products. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, it is a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies. History On No ...

Artemis flights

Orion testing

A prototype version of the Orion Crew Module was launched on

on 5 December 2014 atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket. Its

and other components were tested during two medium Earth orbits, reaching an apogee of and crossing the Van Allen radiation belts before making a high-energy re-entry at . The

Ascent Abort-2 Ascent Abort-2 (AA-2) was a test of the launch escape system (LAS) of NASA's Orion spacecraft. The test followed Orion's Pad Abort-1 test in 2010, and Exploration Flight Test-1 in 2014 in which the capsule first flew in space. It precedes an u ...

test on 2 July 2019 tested the final iteration of the launch abort system on a Orion boilerplate at maximum aerodynamic load, using a custom

Minotaur IV Minotaur IV, also known as Peacekeeper SLV and OSP-2 PK is an active expendable launch system derived from the LGM-118 Peacekeeper ICBM. It is operated by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems, and made its maiden flight on 22 April 2010, carrying ...

-derived launch vehicle built by Orbital ATK.

Artemis 1–6

, all crewed Artemis missions will launch on the Space Launch System from

Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39B Launch Complex 39B (LC-39B) is the second of Launch Complex 39's three launch pads, located at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida. The pad, along with Launch Complex 39A, was first designed for the Saturn V launch vehicle, w ...

. Current plans call for some supporting hardware to be launched on other vehicles and from other launch pads.

Artemis 7–11

In November 2021, plans to return humans to the Moon in 2024 were cancelled, and the

mission was delayed until at least 2025. However, , plans remain in place for crewed Artemis 4 through 9 missions to launch yearly starting from 2028, testing in situ resource utilization and

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...

on the lunar surface with a partially reusable lander. Artemis 7 would deliver in 2031 a crew of four astronauts to a Surface lunar outpost known as the Foundation Habitat along with the Mobile Habitat. The Foundation Habitat would be launched back to back with the Mobile Habitat by an undetermined super heavy launcher and would be used for extended crewed lunar surface missions.. "NASA's "notional" plan for a human return to the Moon by 2024, and an outpost by 2028". Prior to each crewed Artemis mission, various payloads to the Gateway, such as refueling depots and expendable elements of the lunar lander, would be deployed by commercial launch vehicles.. "After Artemis 3, NASA would launch four additional crewed missions to the lunar surface between 2025 and 2028. Meanwhile, the agency would work to expand the Gateway by launching additional components and crew vehicles and laying the foundation for an eventual Moon base". The most updated manifest includes missions suggested in NASA's timelines that have not been designed or funded from Artemis 4-9.

Support missions schedule

Artemis support missions are robotic missions flown through the CLPS program and

Gateway program The Gateway Program is a C$3.0 billion regional transportation project for Metro Vancouver that is being managed by the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation. The ministry introduced the Gateway Program on January 31, 2006, as a means to ...

, and HLS demo and delivery missions.

Criticism

The Artemis program has received criticisms from several space professionals. Mark Whittington, who is a contributor to '' The Hill'' and an author of several space exploration studies, stated in an article that the "lunar orbit project doesn't help us get back to the Moon". Aerospace engineer, author, and

Mars Society The Mars Society is a nonprofit organization that advocates for human Mars exploration and colonization, founded by Robert Zubrin in 1998. It is based on Zubrin's Mars Direct plan, which aims to make human mission to Mars as lightweight and fe ...

founder Robert Zubrin has voiced his distaste for the Gateway which is part of the Artemis program as of 2027. He presented an alternative approach to a 2024 crewed lunar landing called "

Moon Direct The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

", a successor to his proposed

Mars Direct Mars Direct is a proposal for a human mission to Mars which purports to be both cost-effective and possible with current technology. It was originally detailed in a research paper by Martin Marietta engineers Robert Zubrin and David Baker in 1990 ...

. His vision phases out the SLS and Orion, replacing them with the SpaceX launch vehicles and SpaceX Dragon 2. It also proposes using a heavy ferry/lander that would be refuelled on the lunar surface via in situ resource utilization and transfer the crew from LEO to the lunar surface. The concept bears a heavy resemblance to NASA's own

Space Transportation System The Space Transportation System (STS), also known internally to NASA as the Integrated Program Plan (IPP), was a proposed system of reusable crewed space vehicles envisioned in 1969 to support extended operations beyond the Apollo program. ...

proposal from the 1970s.

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, an ...

astronaut

Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin (; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission. As the Lunar Module ''Eagle'' pilot on the 1969 A ...

disagrees with NASA's current goals and priorities, including their plans for a lunar outpost. He also questioned the benefit of the idea to "send a crew to an intermediate point in space, pick up a lander there and go down". However, Aldrin expressed support for Robert Zubrin's "Moon Direct" concept which involves lunar landers traveling from Earth orbit to the lunar surface and back. The program attracted criticism for the fact that at least 15 launches will be required to refuel HLS in orbit per crewed mission. In 2024, SpaceX's Jennifer Jensen stated on a call that Starship HLS will require ten launches.

Gallery

File:Artemis Phase 1.jpg, Planned (outdated) missions of Artemis program File:The-Initial-Phase-Gateway-with-Orion,-an-HLS-and-a-logistics-module-docked.jpg, Phase 1 Gateway with an Orion and HLS docked on Artemis 3 File:Artemis program astronauts lunar craterv2.png, Concept of surface operations File:Artemis I map October 2021.jpg, Artemis 1 planned flight path File:Artemis I SLS in the VAB.jpg,

atop the MLP being carried by the CT out of the VAB

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * *

External links

Moon to Mars portal
at NASA
Artemis program
at NASA
Monthly report
by the Exploration Systems Development (ESD) * View Artemis 1 in NASA's Eye
Eyes on the Solar System - NASA/JPL
{{Portal bar, Astronomy, Stars, Spaceflight, Outer space, Solar System, United States 2010s in the United States 2020s in the United States 2020s in spaceflight Orion (spacecraft) Commercial Lunar Payload Services Exploration of the Moon Human spaceflight programs NASA programs Projects established in 2017