Five Artemis Missions to Launch in 2022

Credit: NASA

Five Artemis missions (including support missions) are planned for this year. In this article, I will give an overview for each mission.

Artemis I

Artemis I will probably be the most important Artemis mission this year. It will be the first integrated flight of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft. For this mission, SLS Block 1 will be used to take an uncrewed Orion spacecraft around the moon in a Distant Retrograde Orbit. It will be the farthest a crew-rated spacecraft has ever gone, after Apollo 13 in 1970. After being fully stacked in the Vehicle Assembly Building last year, a series of integrated tests are being done. Recently, a gimballing test was done with the core stage's RS-25 engines (below).

Next up, NASA will do a second countdown test to make sure all the software works correctly. After this test and close outs are completed, the rocket will roll out to Launch Complex 39B for a wet dress rehearsal, which means NASA will fuel the core stage and do the entire countdown without engine ignition. The SLS will then be rolled back for check outs before being rolled back for launch, currently scheduled for March, from LC-39B at Cape Canaveral in Florida. If successful, the Orion spacecraft will be in space for 27 days, 17 of which in lunar orbit.

CAPSTONE

CAPSTONE (Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment) will be a small NASA spacecraft that will orbit the moon testing technologies that will be used on the Gateway lunar space station, including a unique halo orbit and solar propulsion. CAPSTONE will be operational for at least six months, during which many critical tests of the systems and orbit will be done. It will also do a laser relay test with NASA's LCRD (Laser Communications Relay Demonstration) spacecraft in Earth orbit. NASA partners with Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems for the cubesat. CAPSTONE will launch on Rocket Lab's Electron rocket on March 17, 2022, from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1A in New Zealand. Rocket Lab's Photon satellite bus will do the Trans Lunar Injection (TLI) burn and insert CAPSTONE into lunar orbit.

Credit: NASA

Peregrine

Peregrine is a lunar lander built by Astrobiotic as part of NASA's CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) program. CLPS is a program when NASA funds companies to land NASA instruments on the lunar surface. If successful, Peregrine will be the first commercial spacecraft to land on the moon. Peregrine will launch in June on the first flight of the United Launch Alliance's Vulcan-Centaur rocket from SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral in Florida. NASA says the payloads are:

"Surface Exosphere Alterations by Landers (SEAL): SEAL will investigate the chemical response of lunar regolith to the thermal, physical and chemical disturbances generated during a landing, and evaluate contaminants injected into the regolith by the landing itself. It will give scientists insight into the how a spacecraft landing might affect the composition of samples collected nearby. It is being developed at NASA Goddard.

Photovoltaic Investigation on Lunar Surface (PILS): PILS is a technology demonstration that is based on an International Space Station test platform for validating solar cells that convert light to electricity. It will demonstrate advanced photovoltaic high-voltage use for lunar surface solar arrays useful for longer mission durations. It is being developed at Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.

Linear Energy Transfer Spectrometer (LETS): The LETS radiation sensor will collect information about the lunar radiation environment and relies on flight-proven hardware that flew in space on the Orion spacecraft’s inaugural uncrewed flight in 2014. It is being developed at NASA Johnson.

Near-Infrared Volatile Spectrometer System (NIRVSS): NIRVSS will measure surface and subsurface hydration, carbon dioxide and methane – all resources that could potentially be mined from the Moon -- while also mapping surface temperature and changes at the landing site. It is being developed at Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California.

Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSolo): MSolo will identify low-molecular weight volatiles. It can be installed to either measure the lunar exosphere or the spacecraft outgassing and contamination. Data gathered from MSolo will help determine the composition and concentration of potentially accessible resources. It is being developed at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

PROSPECT Ion-Trap Mass Spectrometer (PITMS) for Lunar Surface Volatiles: PITMS will characterize the lunar exosphere after descent and landing and throughout the lunar day to understand the release and movement of volatiles. It was previously developed for ESA’s (European Space Agency) Rosetta mission and is being modified for this mission by NASA Goddard and ESA.

Neutron Spectrometer System (NSS): NSS will search for indications of water-ice near the lunar surface by measuring how much hydrogen-bearing materials are at the landing site as well as determine the overall bulk composition of the regolith there. NSS is being developed at NASA Ames.

Neutron Measurements at the Lunar Surface (NMLS): NMLS will use a neutron spectrometer to determine the amount of neutron radiation at the Moon’s surface, and also observe and detect the presence of water or other rare elements. The data will help inform scientists’ understanding of the radiation environment on the Moon. It’s based on an instrument that currently operates on the space station and is being developed at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Fluxgate Magnetometer (MAG): MAG will characterize certain magnetic fields to improve understanding of energy and particle pathways at the lunar surface. NASA Goddard is the lead development center for the MAG payload."

Credit: Astrobiotic

Nova-C 1 and Nova-C 2

Nova-C 1 and Nova-C 2 are CLPS missions that use Intuitive Machines' Nova-C lunar lander. Nova-C 1 will launch in Summer and Nova-C 2 will launch in December. Both will launch on SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets from either LC-39A or SLC-40 in Florida. NASA says the payloads for the first mission are:

Lunar Node 1 Navigation Demonstrator (LN-1): LN-1 is a CubeSat-sized experiment that will demonstrate autonomous navigation to support future surface and orbital operations. It has flown on the space station and is being developed at NASA Marshall.

Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies (SCALPSS): SCALPSS will capture video and still image data of the lander’s plume as the plume starts to impact the lunar surface until after engine shut off, which is critical for future lunar and Mars vehicle designs. It is being developed at NASA Langley, and also leverages camera technology used on the Mars 2020 rover.

Low-frequency Radio Observations for the Near Side Lunar Surface (ROLSES): ROLSES will use a low-frequency radio receiver system to determine photoelectron sheath density and scale height. These measurements will aide future exploration missions by demonstrating if there will be an effect on the antenna response or larger lunar radio observatories with antennas on the lunar surface. In addition, the ROLSES measurements will confirm how well a lunar surface-based radio observatory could observe and image solar radio bursts. It is being developed at NASA Goddard.

Credit: Intuitive Machines