It is a practical set of principles for international cooperation in space exploration initiated by the US in 2020 with seven other founding member nations— Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. Based on the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, the Artemis Accord wants to focus on transparency, interoperability, and peaceful collaboration. It also aims to avoid conflicts in space, promote responsible and sustainable use of space resources, and encourage data sharing. To date, 39 countries have joined the accords.

Did you know The program’s name is derived from Artemis, the Greek goddess of the moon, and also represents the program’s goal of inclusion by landing the first woman on the moon.

The Artemis program was initiated with the successful launch of Artemis 1 in 2022 completing a 25.5-day lunar mission and traveling a total distance of 1.4 million miles. It was an uncrewed flight to test the safety of the Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion spacecraft’s ability to reach the moon, perform in lunar orbit, and return successfully to Earth. The SLS rocket carried 10 cubesats, a type of nano-satellite, that will collect results to help monitor Earth, guide future projects, and protect astronauts. Artemis I is the first successful flight test for the world’s most powerful rocket, SLS, and is a step forward to the next stage of the program.

Artemis II is the first crewed mission in the Artemis program involving a 10-day mission with four astronauts. Building on the success of Artemis I, Artemis II will carry humans farther from Earth than ever traveled before—marking a momentous feat in humankind’s history.

The mission will prove if Orion’s life support systems are prepared to sustain the astronauts on longer missions. This lunar flyby aims to evaluate the spacecraft’s systems and capabilities while carrying the crew in deep space.
The mission will have a fuel-efficient trajectory in which Orion will give the spacecraft the big push needed to break away from Earth’s orbit, setting it on an outbound trip to the far side of the Moon. For the return, the spacecraft will not need propulsion as it harnesses the Earth-Moon gravity field to pull Orion back naturally by Earth’s gravity for the free return portion of the mission.

Moon Playlist

NASA is creating a playlist for this mission. Some of the songs included are:

David Bowie: Space Oddity

Frank Sinatra: Fly Me to the Moon

Elton John: Rocket Man

Billie Holiday: Blue Moon

The Beatles: Across the Universe

Adele: Skyfall

Coldplay: A Sky Full of Stars

Duran Duran: New Moon on Monday

Katy Perry: E.T.

Foo Fighters: Learn to Fly

Ariana Grande: NASA

BTS: Mikrokosmos

Artemis wants to establish a sustainable presence on and around the Moon, which involves building infrastructure like habitats, power sources, and communication systems. Artemis II is a crucial step in the process of setting up the foundation for consequent Artemis missions.

While predominantly a test flight, observations and experiments of Artemis II will help drive the success of Artemis III. Artemis 2 will be used to take images of the impact rays on the far side of the Moon which remains less explored. This information will be valuable in deciding landing sites for Artemis 3. Artemis 2 will study the impact of deep space travel on human bodies and also carry space biology payloads with fungi, bacteria, etc. And lastly, Artemis 2 will also test the viability of a new astronaut training program, NASA’s Lunar Fundamentals that will provide Artemis crew with a more comprehensive understanding of lunar geology.

Along with building our presence on the moon, it also envisions building the Lunar Orbital Platform Gateway, humanity’s first space station in lunar orbit. Housing crews for one to three months, it will help with deep space experiments for a longer duration. Gateway will be a multi-purpose outpost that will support surface missions on the moon, experiments in lunar orbit, and human exploration further into the cosmos. It will be carried into the lunar orbit by the SLS rocket. In-situ resource utilization is another key aspect of space exploration and Artemis aims to utilize lunar resources like water ice in craters. It can be used for drinking, oxygen, and rocket fuel.

South Pole Aitken is the largest and oldest impact basin on the Moon with a diameter of 2600km and 8km deep. The distance from its depths to the tops of the highest surrounding peaks is twice the height of Mount Everest.

The Artemis program has deployed various innovative and cutting-edge technologies to bring this lunar dream to fruition.

Space Launch System rocket

The USA has built the world’s most capable and powerful rocket, Space Launch System (SLS). It is a super-heavy-lift rocket that provides the foundation for human exploration beyond Earth’s orbit. It is the only rocket that can catapult the Orion spacecraft into deep space along with astronauts and large cargo on a single mission. With its unprecedented power and capabilities, SLS is designed with various configurations that can be adjusted as per the mission requirements. Another unique feature of this flagship rocket is the reusability of some of its parts like the solid rocket boosters that are derived from the Space Shuttle program and are designed for recovery and refurbishment.

Orion Spacecraft

Orion will be the spacecraft that takes humans farther than they have ever been in space. This new generation spacecraft has been designed to carry humans to the moon and ultimately to Mars. In Artemis I, Orion has already traveled around the moon and surpassed the record for distance traveled by a spacecraft designed to carry humans, previously set during Apollo 13. Along with carrying the crew for deep space exploration, Orion also comes equipped with a Launch Abort System for emergency and life support for the crew. The crew module of the spacecraft is also designed as a reusable component, thereby reducing costs.

Lunar Terrain Vehicles

These are vehicles that astronauts will use to travel on the moon’s surface to conduct experiments, transport scientific equipment and collect samples from places that cannot be reached on foot. NASA has selected three private space companies to build these lunar rovers— Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost, and Venturi Astrolab. The LTVs need to withstand extreme conditions and feature advanced technologies like autonomous driving, among others.

While the immediate goal of Artemis is to establish a lunar presence, the long-term mission is to send humans to Mars. As our close neighbor and one of the only other planets where life may have existed, Mars is a significant destination for scientific exploration. Understanding the Red Planet can help us decode our existence and even help create an alternate home for the future. Mars probe will help answer some of the fundamental questions of how life began and are we alone in the solar system or if there is life beyond Earth.
From understanding life support systems for longer duration travel to discovering successful ways to extract resources for fuel—the success of Artemis will play a significant role in driving the Mars missions. Artemis will lay the groundwork for Mars, the next leap in space travel.

Upcoming Space Missions :

• NASA launch of Europa Clipper, the first mission to conduct a detailed science investigation of Jupiter’s moon Europa.
• Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Martian Moons eXploration (MMX), into orbit around Mars in 2027
• EnVision by European Space Agency (ESA), to investigate Venus

The Artemis program will herald the dawn of a new space era that will redefine how humans travel and explore not just the moon but the cosmos at large. This mission is bringing back the excitement of landing on the moon, but also pushing the conversation by being more diverse and inclusive. This new era of exploration pushes boundaries, fosters global cooperation, and inspires future generations.