NASA will attempt a moon launch in November. So will someone else.
November could be a hectic month for launches to the moon.
Yes, that’s “launches,” plural.
If there were any skepticism on whether the world has entered a new space race, the dueling lunar-bound liftoffs this month could be the smoking gun. After NASA waived-off two launch attempts in late August and early September — followed by delays courtesy of Hurricane Ian and Tropical Storm Nicole — the U.S. space agency will try again to send up its first Artemis mission on Nov. 16, with a backup date of Nov. 19.
That period dovetails with that of another mission lesser-known in the United States, but also slated to leave from its soil. A Japanese commercial company focused on building moon landers, called ispace, plans to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as early as Nov. 22. This first mission of the Hakuto-R program would carry cargo from several customers and put two rovers from the Emirati and Japanese space programs on the moon.
“We recognize that NASA’s Artemis SLS’s launch is scheduled during the same timeframe, and we believe this sends the message that a new era is opening for the cislunar economy with these two historic missions — one government and one commercial,” the company said in a statement to Mashable. “Cislunar” is the region of space between Earth and the moon, including the moon itself.
NASA happens to also be one of ispace’s customers, hoping to receive moon dust samples from the private lander’s trip. If the Tokyo-based company succeeds, it would be the first to land a Japanese spacecraft on the moon. What’s more, it could be the first successful private delivery of cargo to the lunar surface ever. Others have tried to make the journey: In 2019, an Israeli company crashed into the moon, and may have scattered some intriguing artifacts.
Brad Jolliff, director of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, believes the next five years will be chock full of commercial missions to perform landings, lug cargo to the moon, and facilitate science experiments.
“There’s a business case for the moon,” Jolliff told Mashable. This new era of lunar exploration and travel “won’t be done entirely by NASA, it will be done with international partners and with commercial partners.”
“There’s a business case for the moon.”
Both U.S.-made rockets, Artemis’ mega Space Launch System and SpaceX’s Falcon 9, will take their moonshots from Kennedy Space Center on the Florida coast, firing their engines at launch pads about six miles apart.
It’s even conceivable that they could both lift off within three days of each other. The Space Force, which oversees the spaceport operations in Cape Canaveral, Florida, has already supported a “2-in-24” launch posture this year, said Heather Scott, a spokeswoman for the agency’s Eastern Range; the team assisted two launches in the span of 13 hours on Aug. 4 — the fastest since 1967.
“The command aims to support a launch when the customer needs to launch,” Scott told Mashable. “While one launch a week was the goal just a few years ago, the range can support two launches in a single day.”
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Two moonshots, one month
NASA’s Artemis I mission sets out to be the agency’s first deep space flight of a capsule built to carry astronauts in a half-century. If all goes according to plan, the Orion spacecraft will travel more than a quarter-million miles from Earth, including a 40,000-mile swing past the moon, on a whirling journey. No one will be inside Orion for this ride, but a successful uncrewed test flight would clear the way for up to four passengers aboard the spaceship on Artemis II. That flight is currently scheduled for 2024.
Under the new program, NASA is preparing for a revival of human-led space exploration, an era that ended in 1972 with the final Apollo flight. Since then, hundreds of astronauts flew into space aboard the agency’s legendary shuttles, but they stayed in orbit around Earth.
Future deep space plans include building a lunar-orbiting moon base, seeing the first woman and person of color walk on the moon’s surface, and learning how to sustain life there for long periods, all while keeping one eye fixed on the Red Planet some 140 million miles in the distance: The idea is to use what astronauts learn on the moon to eventually get to Mars.
NASA is targeting 1:04 a.m. ET Nov. 16 for its third crack at Artemis I. It’s a two-hour launch window in the dead of night.
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The first Artemis attempt was “scrubbed” after the launch crew discovered an engine that appeared not to be cooling fuel properly. After the team investigated the issue, NASA determined the problem was an inaccurate sensor, not unchilled fuel. During the second try, launch controllers encountered a large hydrogen fuel leak at the base of the rocket that couldn’t be stopped.
Then, when NASA was ready to try again, hurricane season derailed plans. The space agency was forced to roll back the Statue of Liberty-sized rocket to its towering hangar to protect its billions of dollars’ worth of hardware. Just after it crept back out for another shot at the moon, Nicole reared its head, forcing the team to postpone yet again.
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The new launch timeline comes with a reconfigured spaceflight, from 42 days to 25. The shortened mission would involve Orion flying a half-lap, instead of 1.5 laps around the moon in a wide orbit, before returning to Earth in the Pacific Ocean on Dec. 11.
The length of the mission isn’t arbitrary. NASA looks at the date and the timing of the sun, Earth, and moon’s alignment to determine the schedule. Crucial factors, like the forces of gravity and conditions in the atmosphere, influence what time of day Orion would return, and dictate whether the agency would pursue the six-week mission versus the three-plus-week version. The team needs daylight when the capsule splashes down to aid its water recovery.
Though spending more time orbiting the moon would give NASA more data, mission leaders say they can still meet their goals.
“We will be able to accomplish all of our mission objectives on a short-class mission,” said Rick LaBrode, lead Artemis I flight director, in an August press briefing. “They’re just closer together.”
While the rocket is in storage, maintenance crews are making minor repairs to insulation foam and recharging batteries onboard the rocket and for pieces of cargo.
Though the NASA and SpaceX rockets are trying to leave Earth around the same time next month, ispace’s private mission is expected to take a lot longer to reach its destination. Using a lengthy lunar trajectory to save on fuel costs, the mission wouldn’t land on the moon for another three to four months.
If they do land — a challenging feat — they’ll make history.
This story originally published on Oct. 15, 2022. It has been updated to reflect new launch dates for both flights.