The Artemis project is, to this day, the most exciting project of all NASA assets. Returning to the Moon more than 50 years after the human being stepped on it for the last time is a milestone, not so much because of the technical complexity of the mission, a problem that was already successfully addressed back in the sixties of the last century, as well as because it supposes a return to space exploration as it was conceived in the space program launched by JF Kennedy.
Not many know it, but the Apollo program, which was canceled before completion, was not satisfied with reaching the Moon, but rather proposed the creation of a base on our natural satellite. Had it not suffered budget cuts that prevented the continuation of the Apollo program, it is very likely that NASA would have been able to establish a lunar colony in the 1970sand that such a facility would have completely changed the pace of space exploration.
More than fifty years have passed and the world situation has completely changed. The space race at that time was a competition between the United States and the Soviet Union, while today, although the war between Russia and Ukraine has also greatly affected this field, international collaborations are the order of the day, so so that it can be considered that the advancement of each space agency is a global success.
Proof of this are the statements by Jim Free, NASA associate administrator for the development of exploration systems that we can read in Space, in which he states that NASA’s Artemis program can build multiple bases around the moon instead of a single base camp at the lunar south pole, as it was announced in 2020. Something for which the US agency is openly considering collaboration with other space agencies, such as the European, Canadian and Japanese, which in fact are already part of the Artemis program.
These plans are certainly not short-term.. For now, after the success of Artemis I, the goal is Artemis II, the first manned mission in the NASA program, in which the spacecraft will travel from Earth to lunar orbit, and then return to our planet. In this mission, all the systems that will be necessary for Artemis III will be tested, the mission that will mean the return of the human being to the surface of the Moon.
The deployment of lunar colonies is a terribly complex challenge, which will also require unparalleled logistics. Before it is possible to establish a first base, it will be necessary to transport all the necessary infrastructure and support elements, many of which have yet to be designed or produced. Thus, while waiting for more official data to be revealed in this regard, the associate administrator of NASA proposes that it will be possible to start working on the deployment of lunar bases between the Artemis VII and Artemis IX missions.
