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By Prashansani de Mel · Sep 27, 2022
Artemis mission: Another giant leap for 'mankind'?
The first moon landing in 1969 was indeed a giant leap for mankind and an unforgettable historic moment. Although five other lunar landing missions followed until the final Apollo mission in December 1972, humans have not set foot on the moon since, as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) shifted its focus to low-Earth orbit post the Apollo missions. The Artemis program is NASA’s plan to return humans to the moon, establish a long-term lunar presence, and serve as the first step toward the next giant leap of sending astronauts to Mars and beyond. However, the program has had its share of problems and setbacks; delays, cost overruns, and, most recently, engine issues, which twice postponed the launch of Artemis 1, the first uncrewed mission. The Artemis mission has attracted a lot of attention and has faced criticism as many question whether NASA has efficiently used resources to enable the space agency to go back to the moon, a place where it has already been, half a century ago. According to the latest updates from NASA, the first launch will likely be in October or November (delayed from its previously planned September launch due to hurricane Ian).
In this Edge insight, we take a look at what the Artemis mission is and how it has evolved from previous NASA missions, its ecosystem, and prominent players as well as the risks of the program.
What is the Artemis mission?
The Artemis mission is NASA’s first mission to the moon since its last Apollo mission back in 1972. The Artemis program aims to conduct the first-ever exploration of the lunar south pole and return humans to the lunar surface as soon as 2025. In order for NASA and its partner space agencies to gain a fresh foothold off-world, the Artemis program was established to make repeated trips to the moon and develop a sustained human presence by having an orbiting lunar outpost, called the Gateway. The ambitious project also intends to construct reusable technology that can eventually enable human exploration of Mars and maybe beyond as well as a continuous presence on the moon.
The Artemis program is a series of spaceflights starting with Artemis 1, the first planned launch with an uncrewed test flight. This will be followed by Artemis 2, scheduled to orbit the moon with a crew by 2024, and then Artemis 3, which is scheduled to make a moon landing with a crew by 2025. In addition, this will mark the first landing of a woman and a person of color on the moon's surface. The uncrewed mission will test every new component that will enable future deep space exploration prior to crewed missions aboard Artemis 2 and Artemis 3.
Source: NASA
Artemis I (which was postponed due to technical issues and bad weather) will launch from the Kennedy Space Center, from the same pad used by the last Apollo mission 50 years ago and will go on a 26-42 day journey in which the Orion spacecraft will travel 40,000 miles (64,000 kilometers) beyond the moon, the farthest that any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown.
Although Orion’s inaugural voyage is uncrewed, it will be loaded with data from the flight. In order to replicate what humans may feel, three mannequins will ride onboard Artemis I with sensors attached to show how much vibration they felt, how much radiation they were exposed to, and how useful their flight suits and radiation jackets were. The flight will also release cubesats to collect information on the moon and surroundings.
First woman to land on the moon
While 24 American astronauts had the privilege of making a trip to the moon during the Apollo missions (out of which 12 walked on the moon), they were all white men from the US. The Artemis program aims to break this trend by sending diverse astronaut teams to the moon and will take the first woman and first person of colour in its first Artemis crewed flight. While the first woman to travel to the moon has not been named yet, NASA has shortlisted 18 astronauts for the Artemis moon mission, which includes nine females.
Female astronauts are less likely to be selected for missions than their male counterparts, as their bodies have a tendency to reach NASA's maximum acceptable radiation threshold sooner than a male’s. However, the space agency intends to increase its acceptable threshold, in line with most other major space agencies, which would help reduce the importance of gender when choosing mission candidates. The Artemis 1 will carry two mannequins (Helga and Zohar) that are made from materials to mimic the bones, soft tissue, and organs of a female, in order to study the effects of radiation on the female body. Helga will fly unprotected while Zohar will wear a radiation protection vest (AstroRad), which will help NASA identify the extent to which the vest will protect astronauts from harmful radiation.
Additionally, the Artemis mission intends to improve the representation of women involved in the program. While there was only one woman working in the firing room in the launch control center when Apollo 11 was launched, female representation now stands at 30% in that same control center for the Artemis program.
Interestingly, the mission’s name is quite symbolic; Artemis was a Greek moon goddess who is today an icon of feminine power and self-reliance, as she was also a virgin goddess of the wilderness and hunting. Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology, and a daughter of Zeus, the chief god of the Olympians.
Why is NASA going back to the moon?
While the first lunar landing attracted a lot of interest from the public, this interest eventually waned, and Americans lost interest in watching moon missions. While the Apollo program cost a total of USD 25.4 billion (equivalent to USD 150 billion–175 billion in 2019), the US public did not consider space a national priority. In addition to the ongoing Vietnam War and riots on American streets, Congress was unable to defend continuing to fund a space program that had already cost so much. The last Apollo mission to the moon was launched in December 1972, and no human has returned to the moon since. With this, NASA’s plans to develop a lunar base by 1976 and prepare human missions to Mars in the early 1980 came to an end. The Apollo program was replaced by NASA’s space shuttle program, a setback at the time, as it could only achieve Earth orbit.
In addition to returning humans to the lunar surface, the Artemis program is likely to generate many positive outcomes for the US, including the following:
- Scientific discovery: The moon has water and undiscovered lunar minerals and resources, which could have potential benefits and support long-term human presence on the moon. In addition to discovering these resources, NASA is carrying seeds on Artemis 1 to understand whether these could adapt to spaceflight conditions for future use in growing crops.
- Economic benefits: The program carries a hefty economic impact and supports new industries and provides employment for a skilled workforce. The economic activity from “Moon to Mars” programs in the US includes over 69,000 jobs, spending which supports over USD 14 billion in total economic output, and an estimated USD 1.5 billion in tax revenues across the US. In addition, the supplier base is spread nationwide and supports the country’s domestic supply chain.
- Maintain American leadership in lunar exploration: With the increased interest in lunar exploration missions from other countries such as China, the US has put its focus back on the moon to stay ahead of the space race.
- Stepping stone to Mars and beyond: The landing on the moon will act as a preparation for human missions to Mars and beyond, as the experience gained from the moon such as building shelters, flying through deep space, and extracting water from ice deposits could help guide future manned exploration of Mars. The gateway space station’s crew quarters could support long-term human missions and will serve as a staging point for deep space exploration.
- Build a global alliance: Although NASA leads the Artemis mission, international partnerships are vital in achieving a sustainable lunar presence, and the space agency has invited other countries to participate. Canada and Japan have already committed to support the development of the Gateway. Furthemore, around 20 countries have signed “The Artemis Accords,” a shared vision for principles, grounded in the Outer Space Treaty of 1967.
The space race: This time, it’s US vs. China
There have been 70 successful and partially successful moon missions since 1958 (Appendix 5), while another 41 missions remained unsuccessful. Until 1990, the US and the Soviet Union were the only countries competing with moon missions. Japan joined the race in 1990 while the European Union, China and India joined in the 2000s.
While the Apollo mission was carried out as a result of a space race between the US and the Soviet Union, the Artemis mission is also likely a result of a new tit-for-tat moon race, this time with China. The recent success of China’s space activities has intensified the space race between the two countries. While NASA was going through the frustration around the postponement of Artemis 1 launch, China successfully completed its rocket engine test for moon landing, claimed to be twice as powerful as the SLS, and announced plans to send astronauts to the moon in 2030. China has already deployed the unmanned Chang'e 5 mission to the moon in 2020 to gather and return rock samples and has also planted a Chinese flag on the lunar surface. Chinese astronauts are currently excluded from the International Space Station (ISS), as US law bans NASA from sharing its data with China, which resulted in China building its own space station, Tiangong. Furthermore, China collaborated with Russia in 2021, to build a lunar space station. China has upped its game in the space race in recent years although its government spending on space technologies in 2021 was ~1/5th of that of the US. With recent developments, there will likely be heated competition between the US and China to first set foot on Mars. The Artemis missions are the US' strategy of maintaining American leadership in lunar and deep space exploration.
The Artemis ecosystem: Who are the key partners?
Parts of Artemis missions that operate mainly with a fixed-price arrangement have paved the way for startups to provide services, enabling public-private partnerships in which the companies take on a significant portion of development costs. With NASA projected to spend USD 93 billion (Appendix 4) on the Artemis missions upto 2025, several startups, in addition to incumbents, stand to benefit from the program.
Key startups that stand to benefit
- SpaceX: Considering the current accomplishments, SpaceX is well poised to benefit from a successful Artemis program and eventually transport humans to Mars. Its fully reusable Starship rocket is designed to take astronauts to Mars and is more powerful yet cheaper than SLS. The company is working toward making life multiplanetary and has beat incumbents like Boeing (main contractor of SLS) to the launch pad with its crewed flight in 2020, while Boeing is yet to launch its crewed flight test. Additionally, SpaceX’s average cost per passenger is USD 55 million for orbital flights, much cheaper than the estimated average cost of USD 90 million for Boeing. NASA’s confidence in SpaceX was seen when NASA announced that SpaceX will be the sole provider of the lunar lander, a rather unusual move, as NASA typically selects contractors in pairs to continue with the program even if one contractor fails to deliver (e.g., NASA’s commercial crew program includes SpaceX and Boeing). Cost-wise, this is a positive move for NASA.
- Astrobotic: The company focuses on multi-agent robotic missions and surface autonomy. Astrobotic has developed two lunar landers; Griffin, its small-class lunar lander (the first American spacecraft to land on the moon since the Apollo program) and Peregrine, its medium-class lunar lander that was selected to deliver NASA’s water-hunting VIPER rover to the lunar south pole in 2023. The company acquired Masten Space System in 2022, and the deal included a range of Masten’s space technologies, including its vertical take-off and landing (VTVL) rocketry and propulsion test facilities.
- Intuitive Machines: The company is a diversified space exploration, infrastructure, and services company that provides extreme lunar mobility with µNova (Micro Nova) Hopper, which can carry payloads as well as hop into and out of permanently shaded regions (PSR), providing a first look into undiscovered areas that could provide information needed to sustain a human presence on the moon. It is a leading participant in NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, securing contracts for three missions, more than any other contractor.
- Axiom Space: Axiom Space is a provider of human spaceflight services and developer of human-rated space infrastructure, operating end-to-end missions to the ISS while privately developing its successor–the World’s first commercial space station. The company was selected to build Artemis moonwalking spacesuits for a base value of USD 228.5 million with a potential total value of USD 3.5 billion across the life of the program.
- Rocket Lab: Rocket Lab designs and manufactures the Photon satellite platform, selected to support NASA missions to the moon and Mars, as well as the first private commercial mission to Venus. The company was developing the Neutron 8-ton payload class launch vehicle, designed for mega constellation deployment, deep space missions, and human spaceflight, which could have the potential to improve and eventually expand to human transportation to the moon.
Possible beneficiaries of the Artemis program
Blue Origin: Although Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin did not receive the contract to further develop and demonstrate its lunar lander for the Human Landing System (HLS) despite receiving initial funding, the company has expertise in launch vehicles, space stations, and lunar landers and is a close competitor of SpaceX.
OrbitFab: Dubbed The Gas Station in Space, the company provides refueling services to spacecrafts via depots in low Earth orbit (LEO), geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO), and cis-lunar orbits, which has the potential to become a more active destination with a successful Artemis program.
Offworld: If the Artemis program eventually acts as a stepping stone to Mars and beyond, space mining companies such as Offworld would benefit, as the company is already developing a first-of-its-kind universal industrial robots that can work under human supervision to be purposed for heavy-duty industrial work on the moon, asteroids, and Mars.
The Risks: Delays and blown budgets
Since its inception in 2010, NASA’s SLS rocket has had its share of controversies and has faced a series of delays and blown budgets. While the Artemis 1 mission is already over five years behind schedule, the launch was called off three times in 2022 due to engine issues and unfavourable weather.
The SLS has so far incurred costs of over USD 23 billion vs. budgets of USD 6 billion for an initial launch date in 2016. The SLS reuses engines and solid rocket boosters from previously flown Space shuttles; yet, it is unable to compete with startups like SpaceX, mainly because it uses outdated technology that is not reusable (as its core stage and engines will be dropped in the Atlantic, similar to Apollo missions).
The cost inefficiencies of the SLS rocket and the Artemis program stem from political agendas. Although NASA set out a new vision for space in 2009 by shutting down the space shuttle and building new commercial partnerships with investments on new technology, a legislation was passed directing NASA to use contracts from the space shuttle to build the SLS. Due to the economic impact of the SLS program with over 1,100 companies from across the US supporting its development, politicians opted to continue the program to increase their reelection chances, despite the inefficiencies.
NASA’s cost-reimbursement contracts (where the agency agrees to pay all allowable costs the contractor incurs in delivering the service or product) in addition to inconsistencies in the award fee structure (to incentivize better contractor performance) has resulted in ballooning costs for the program. Regardless of multiple delays, contractors continued to win award fees from NASA adding to costs.
While fixed-price contracts are beneficial for NASA, they could cripple certain startups especially during changing economic environments. For example Masten Space Systems filed for bankruptcy after its debts ballooned, stemming from the USD 76 million NASA contract awarded to the company in 2020 to deliver science and technology payloads to the Moon ahead of crewed Artemis missions. Although this was a big win for the company at the time, the project eventually ran far over budget with unforeseen Covid-related expenses (as the company had to adjust assumptions on the technologies that had to be developed in-house, instead of purchasing, as suppliers were hesitant to commit due to the pandemic’s unpredictable environment), while the company struggled to raise funds or pay salaries. The company was later acquired by Astrobotic Technology.
What’s next?
If Artemis missions are successful and enable NASA to establish sustainable habitats on the surface of the moon, it will be a stepping stone to Mars and beyond, providing the chance to eventually launch crewed missions beyond the moon. With the heated tit-for-tat space race with competing nations like China, NASA will have to set political agendas aside and focus on performance to stay ahead of the space race.
NASA will also have more options for launch vehicles that are technologically advanced, making them lighter, cheaper, and reusable. Competition between companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin could drive costs lower, providing NASA with affordable commercial options to transport crew to the moon and beyond.
Comparison of selected near-term medium-to-heavy lift launch vehicles
Source: NASA
Appendix 1: Brief history of the Artemis program
The origins of the Artemis program trace back to The Constellation Spaceflight program, which was to function as a successor to NASA’s space shuttle program. The constellation spaceflight programme was put in place to serve as NASA's human spaceflight program and was finalized in 2005 during President George W. Bush’s tenure. However, the Constellation program came to a halt in 2010 under the Obama administration due to delays and cost overruns. The congress passed a bill that same year to keep the Constellation crew capsule (Orion) and called for a new rocket (which became SLS), making use of existing space shuttle and constellation contracts.
While the plans for Orion and SLS improved over time, the current Artemis program was first announced in 2017 under the Trump administration, in an effort to send humans back to the moon, which would eventually help send astronauts to Mars. President Biden also supported the Artemis program, making it the first major funded deep-space human exploration effort to survive a change in presidents since the Apollo program.
Appendix 2: Apollo vs Artemis
Appendix 3: Components of Artemis 1
Artemis 1, the first planned launch with an uncrewed test flight, will test the ability to orbit the moon and return to Earth as well as the performance of Orion and the SLS rocket. NASA has collaborated with both commercial and international partners to establish its long-term presence on the moon.
The Orion spacecraft
This will carry astronauts to deep space and is made up of several components. The crew model (capsule) is built by main contractor Lockheed Martin and capitalizes on over 60 years of NASA space exploration experience. The initial contract was given in 2006 as part of the Constellation Spaceflight program. The Orion will launch on an SLS rocket.
Source: NASA
SLS rocket
SLS is the most powerful rocket created by NASA, with the capacity to carry a payload of ~60,000 lbs to the moon. The rocket uses parts of previously flown space shuttles like the engine and boosters; some boosters are as old as ones flown in 1984.
Source: NASA
Appendix 4: Artemis Cost Breakdown and Budget Projection through FY 2025
Appendix 5: Successful and partially successful moon missions
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