Why NASA Wants to Go Back to the Moon

The development of the Gateway robotic and habitat modules for crews, as well as a lunar rover, are some of the technologies that could be used on Mars. Life support and communication systems will be included in the next- generation spacesuits, which will allow for more mobility.

If the Artemis missions are a success, more components will be sent to the moon station and astronauts will be deployed for weeks at a time. They are getting more and more complex as we do them. The infrastructure to support them is more complicated.

Three mannequins will be carried in the capsule on Artemis 1. A public naming contest resulted in the use of Commander Moonikin Campos for vibration tests. The mannequins are made from materials that mimic the bones, soft tissues, and organs of an adult woman. Space radiation can be harmful to astronauts' health, so all of them will have sensors to detect it. The European Space Agency is sending a doll with the flight.

Some of the CubeSats will map the moon's surface and study its pockets of ice, while others will test a space radiation shield or go to a nearby asteroid.

The Artemis project will be used as a test bed for new technologies. NASA has already collaborated with Terran Orbital and Rocket Lab to launch a small craft, which is currently scouting the future of the lunar gateway The power and propulsion of Gateway will be provided by Maxar Technologies, while the HALO module, a small area where the first Gateway astronauts will live and conduct research, is being worked on by Northrop Grumman. The two of them will be on aFalcon Heavy rocket.

There are opportunities for global diplomacy created by grand programs. The European Space Agency is one of many international partners working with NASA on Artemis. A pressurized moon rover, inside which astronauts would be able to take off their bulky space suits, is being looked into by Japan's space agency. Canada's space agency is working on a robotic arm. The US government is attempting to establish best practices for future international exploration of the moon.

The return to the moon is not always a political winner. It costs one thing. The ballooning cost of the agency's building its own Space Launch System has been called out by a former deputy administrator. Changing political winds can affect programs with different space priorities. A program may not survive a change in power. George W. Bush and Donald Trump favored lunar missions, while Barack Obama wanted to send people to Mars. Artemis has spanned many presidential administrations. It is a large investment and there are still a lot of unknowns.