The race to get back to the moon is on.
Or is it? For more than 50 years, the
footprints left by the 12 Apollo mission
astronauts have remained undisturbed on
the moon's surface, perfectly preserved
as a symbolic trophy of cold war
rivalry.
Through NASA's Arteimus missions, the
plan was to get back there by 2024 and
this time not just leave footprints, but
to stay. Since then, things have slipped
a bit, but Optimus 1, an uncrrewed
mission to put the SLS rocket and Orion
capsule to the test, eventually launched
on the 16th of November, 2022. Its
follow-up, Arteimus 2, was scheduled for
launch in February this year. But guess
what? It's still stuck on the ground on
the launch pad. In fact, no lunar
footprints in sight. So, what is going
on with NASA's Arteimus? Will phase 2 be
taking off anytime soon, or are there
larger problems that are finally coming
to the surface?
I'm Alex Mccoan, and you're watching
Astramm. Join me today as we propel
ourselves into the inner workings of the
Artemus program. From the technical
glitches currently grounding Artemus 2
to the unexpected announcement that
Artemus 3 will no longer land on the
moon, we're going to delve into the
science and strategy of our return to
the lunar frontier. Will we ever get
there?
Arteimus is arguably the most complex
engineering endeavor in human history,
aiming to establish a permanent
sustainable presence on another world.
Yet, as we stand on the threshold of
this new era, it seems like the path to
get there is becoming increasingly
difficult. First announced in 2017, this
was to be the flagship NASA program for
the next decade. In many ways,
attempting to revive and perhaps even
outdo the feats achieved by Apollo in
the 60s. They made it to boots on the
moon in just 8 years before. And with
all the technical advances we've had
since then, surely the second time round
should be easy. It would seem not. 9
years after the initial announcements,
and we are nowhere near.
The immediate priority for NASA is
Arteimus 2, the first mission to carry
humans back to the vicinity of the moon
since 1972.
Its aim not to land on the surface, but
to prove NASA's life support systems,
navigation, communications, and safety
systems work in deep space, a 10-day
mission. The crew, consisting of Reed
Wisman, Victor Glover, Christina Cau,
and Jeremy Hansen were originally
scheduled to launch in early 2026.
However, the mission has faced a series
of technical delays since then, and the
launch window has slipped from early
February to 6th of March to the 1st of
April at the earliest. Why exactly?
Well, let's take a look at the timeline.
On the 17th of January 2026, the SLS or
Space Launch System rocket and attached
Orion spacecraft were moved to launchpad
39B in anticipation of an early February
launch. This was a success, but that's
sort of the end of things going right.
Nearly 2 weeks later came Wet Dress
Rehearsal 1, a full fueling test and
countdown simulation. Whilst it wasn't a
complete flop, teams detected a liquid
hydrogen leak whilst fueling. Hydrogen
is the smallest molecule in the
universe. And at the temperatures
required for flight, -252°
C, it is particularly difficult to
contain. So, a leak wasn't completely
unexpected, but it's not something you
can fly with either. So, it did require
replacing seals and a ground support
filter. Failure one. Wet dress rehearsal
2, which concluded on the 19th of
February, was much more successful. The
team loaded 2.6 million L of liquid
hydrogen oxygen into the rocket stages
and completed two countdown tests. There
were no leaks and the rocket was signed
off as good to go until it wasn't. Post
test. During a routine purge and
reressurization procedure, engineers
discovered that helium wasn't flowing
correctly deep within the interim
cryogenic propulsion stage, the upper
stage of the SLS. Helium is vital for
these rockets. It's used to maintain
pressure in the fuel tanks and to purge
the engine lines. So, a leak puts the
whole mission at risk. Without it, you'd
have no propulsion. The culprit was
eventually traced to a seal and check
valve, but because it was located in a
section of the rocket that is
inaccessible while sitting on the
launchpad, NASA was forced to roll the
entire 98 m tall stack back to the
vehicle assembly building for repairs.
These recurring leaks weren't just
annoying. In many ways, they were a sign
of a bigger problem. More tech isn't
necessarily better. Not only is there a
lot more to go wrong with Arteimus than
the initial Apollo missions, but we
don't launch them very often either. In
November 1967, Apollo 4 was the first
flight of the Saturn 5 rocket. Less than
2 years later, the Apollo 11 crew was
delivered to the moon by one. The last
time the SLS went up was in 2022 as part
of Opimus 1. That's nearly 4 years ago
at the time of recording. NASA
administrator Jared Isaacman has noted
that launching a rocket as complex as
the SLS only once every 3 years leads to
skill atropy among the workforce. In
other words, people aren't getting
enough practice which is leading to
mistakes. To combat this, NASA has a new
plan. Increase the frequency of launches
to once every 10 months. This is meant
to keep the hardware and the teams
sharp, but it's still a long way off.
Optimus 2 needs to get up in the air and
then out of it first.
Beyond the plumbing and what NASA seems
to be politely hinting at as a rusty
skill set, there is also a deeper, more
sobering reality setting in the sheer
risk of what we are trying to do. It has
been over 50 years since a man
spacecraft left Earth's orbit for the
moon. And recently, NASA officials have
been under fire for sidest stepping
questions regarding likelihood of
mission failure, or to put it bluntly,
death. In the Apollo era, we were taking
steps into the unknown, and the end
results were seen as justifying the
extremely high risks. Now, we know it
can be done safely. The tolerance for
such potential disaster and the loss of
life is far less. And the truth is,
flying to the moon for the first time in
54 years is an inherently dangerous
gamble. We're using new software, new
contractors, and a rocket that has only
flown once before. Even though Arteimus
1 was considered a nearperfect test
flight, it revealed anomalies that could
be catastrophic with a crew on board.
NASA must balance the pressure to meet a
political schedule with the reality that
any single type A mishap could end the
program entirely.
After two aborted launch attempts, the
uncrrewed Arteimus 1 mission blasted off
on the 16th of November 2022 from Cape
Canaveral in Florida. This was the first
time NASA's SLS rocket and the Orion
module left the bounds of Earth. The
mission lasted for 25 days and 10 hours
before Orion splashed back down on
Earth. And as I mentioned, it was a
great success, proving that we can
indeed make it back to the moon with a
craft capable of transporting humans.
The European Service Module went one
step further, generating so much extra
power within its solar arrays that it
had time to use them as a selfie stick.
This image is of Orion looking back at
Earth. It was only in the aftermath of
the mission that the anomalies appeared.
One of the most critical issues was
Orion's heat shield, particularly how it
behaved hurtling back to Earth at 40,000
km an hour. Post-flight inspections
found that the ablative material that
covers the shield called a coat had
chipped and eroded away in more than 100
places in ways that were never seen
during the Apollo era despite the same
material being used. This shield stands
between fragile human astronauts and the
extreme temperatures that friction
causes upon re-entry, and chunks of it
just broke off. NASA's investigation
into the damage found that gases
generated during the intense heating of
re-entry were getting trapped inside the
avoat material. Usually, these gases
vent out through the charred layer. But
because this specific material lacked
enough permeability, internal pressure
built up until the shield literally
cracked. With enough damage, this could
lead to the entire capsule burning up,
which is not a risk you can take with
people inside.
On the back of this discovery, NASA has
made a rather controversial decision.
Rather than redesigning the shield, they
are instead changing the way astronauts
return to Earth. On Artimus 1, Orion
used a skip entry maneuver where the
capsule dips into the atmosphere, skips
back out like a stone being skimmed on a
lake, and then re-enters. The whole
process, reducing the speed of the
capsule, while it also reduces the
geforce on the crew, it actually makes
the heat shield problem worse by
allowing gases to build up during that
skip phase. For Optimus 2, NASA will
skip the skip, performing a steeper,
more direct re-entry that is harder on
the astronaut's body, but safer for the
shield and hopefully in the long run,
the astronauts themselves. Short-term
pain, long-term gain, they'll be alive.
It's a fairly large change to the
mission, but is in no way the biggest to
hit the news lately.
The pathway through the Arteimus mission
has been somewhat set since the word go.
Arteimus one prove our rocket and
spacecraft can make it to the moon.
Arteimus 2 add in the astronauts to test
and verify all the other systems needed
as they do a lunar flyby. Arteimus 3
land on the moon. For 9 years, Arteimus
3 was marketed as the grand return. the
moment human boots would finally touch
the lunar soil again. But as of February
2026, that plan has been scrapped.
Arteimus 3 will no longer land on the
moon. Instead, it has been redefined as
a 30-day allup systems test in low Earth
orbit. I'll explain what this is in a
minute, but the reason for this change
is safety and complexity. An independent
safety panel warned that the previous
plan carried a compounded level of
technical risk. To land on the moon, the
Orion capsule will first have to dock
with SpaceX's Starship human landing
system, the vehicle that will transfer
them to the surface in a very specific
lunar orbit. But Starship is a massive
vehicle that requires more than a dozen
tanker flights just to refuel before it
can leave for the moon. NASA realized
that attempting a lunar landing with so
many firsts all in one go, the first
crew docking, the first cryogenic fuel
transfer, and the first of new space
suits was perhaps not the best way to do
it. Instead, Arteimus 3 is now doing
what Apollo 9 did in 1969, staying near
Earth to test the Luna module before
anyone is allowed to take it to the
moon. In 2027, Optimus 3 will see Orion,
Rondoo, and Dog with either SpaceX's
Starship or Blue Origins Blue Moonlander
right here in Earth's backyard. This
allows them to test life support,
communications, and docking procedures
without the life or death stakes of
being nearly 390,000
km away. This shakeup in mission
planning also involves a radical change
to the rocket itself. For years, the
plan was to upgrade the space launch
system to a more powerful version called
block 1B, which features a massive new
upper stage called the exploration upper
stage or EU.
But the EU has been long criticized due
to delays and cost overruns. Under the
new leadership of Jared Isaacman, NASA
has cancelled the EU entirely along with
the Block 1B and Block 2 upgrades. In a
major move to standardize the fleet,
NASA has taken a different route,
officially selecting United Launch
Allianc's Centaur 5 as the new upper
stage for the SLS, starting with
Arteimus 4. The Centaur 5 is a dual
engine stage already in use on ULA's
Vulcan rocket and it represents a near
dropin replacement that allows NASA to
abandon the costly development of the
EU. While it holds about twice as much
fuel as the existing ICPS, it is
compatible with the current mobile
launcher 1, the ground structure that is
used to assemble, process, and launch
NASA's SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft.
Meaning they don't have to wait for the
construction of more massive launch
infrastructure. It's by sticking to this
standardized SLS that they hope to
escape the cycle of three-year gaps
between launches and move towards the
mission every 10 months that I mentioned
before.
So, to the big question I know you're
all asking. If Artimus 3 is now a dress
rehearsal in Earth orbit, when will we
actually land on the moon? Well, I'm
afraid it's quite a way off. The new
target for Arteimus 4 is in early 2028.
What I will say though is that the
scientific payoff at the lunar south
pole is where the real depth of this
mission lies and it'll be worth the
wait.
Unlike the Apollo landing sites near the
equator, Arteimus 4 is set to land at
the south pole of the moon, a world of
eternal shadows and brutal extremes.
Because the moon's axis is nearly
vertical, tilted only 1.5 degrees, the
sun stays low on the horizon, casting
shadows that haven't moved in billions
of years. These are the permanently
shadowed regions or PSRs.
Inside these craters, temperatures can
be as low as nearly -240°
C, colder than the surface of Pluto.
This is where the gold rush of the 21st
century begins. The search for water
ice. We now know that these dark craters
act as coal traps, preserving ice that
likely arrived via comets and asteroids
eons ago. And this isn't just a
scientific curiosity, it's a strategic
resource. If we can harvest water ice
from the moon, we can split it into
oxygen for breathing and hydrogen for
rocket fuel. The moon becomes a deep
space gas station, the essential first
step for any future mission to Mars.
Optimus 4 will carry a suite of advanced
instruments to investigate this
frontier. One of the most important is
Duster, the dust and plasma environment
surveyor. Luna Dust is one of the
greatest threats to human exploration.
It's not like Earth dust. Instead, it's
made of tiny, jagged shards of volcanic
glass that are electrostatically charged
by the solar wind. It sticks to
everything, grinds away its seals, and
is toxic if inhaled. Duster, mounted on
a small autonomous rover called MAP,
will study how this dust behaves when a
lander touches down or when astronauts
walk through it. Alongside Duster will
be the South Pole Seismic Station or
SPSS. This seismometer will listen to
the heartbeat of the moon, measuring
moon quakes and the frequency of
meteorite impacts. The astronauts will
even use a thumper, a device that
creates controlled seismic waves to map
the structure of the ground beneath
their feet, looking for the telltale
signatures of buried ice deposits. One
specific area of interest is Shackleton
Crater, which is 21 km wide and 4 km
deep. a place where the walls are so
steep they exceed a 30° slope, creating
a perfect trap for ancient volatiles. To
operate in this environment, the
astronauts need more than just a rocket.
They need a new skin. The next
generation of explorers will wear the
Axiom extra vehicular mobility unit or
Aximu.
These suits developed in partnership
with Axiom Space and even the fashion
house Prada are a massive leap over the
Apollo A7L suits. The old Apollo suits
were notoriously stiff. Astronauts often
had to bunny hop because they couldn't
easily bend their knees or waist. The
Axe Emu uses a hybrid design of hard
shell parts and advanced fabric joints
that provide a range of motion never
seen before in a pressurized garment.
The suit is essentially a self-contained
spacecraft. It features a life support
system that can withstand the extreme
cold of the PSRs for at least 2 hours.
It includes 4G LTE communications
developed with Nokia and a high-tech
visor system developed with Oakley. Most
importantly, it is built with seals and
materials specifically designed to keep
the abrasive Luna dust out of the joints
and the airlock. Arteimus 3 will be the
first time these suits are tested in the
actual vacuum of space before they are
relied upon for the landing in 2028.
But as well as all this cool science,
there's something else going on in this
race to get back to the moon.
Geopolitics.
Despite increased costs and a desire to
prove that they can execute on their
promise to go back to the moon, NASA's
urgency for another lunar landing has
another big driver. what they are
calling credible competition from China.
Beijing has been methodically checking
off milestones, including returning
samples from the moon's far side and
announcing their own plans for a crude
landing by 2030.
US officials are concerned about a space
sector capture, the idea that China
could establish a presence at the
resourcerich South Pole and effectively
claim it as their own territory. If that
happens, then NASA's plans for future
Mars missions and beyond could crumble
into moon dust. It's turned Arteimus
from a scientific mission into a
strategic necessity to win the race.
Only time can tell if they will come out
on top.
The journey to the moon has always been
a story of trial and error. In 1969, we
reached the lunar surface because we
were willing to take enormous risks in a
race against time. and the Russians.
Today, the stakes are different. We
aren't racing to plant a flag. We're
racing to build an economy. The
transition to a standardized SLS with
the Centaur 5 stage, the low Earth orbit
test of Arteimus 3, and the deep science
of Arteimus 4 represent a move towards a
sustainable, repeatable presence. Simply
putting a person back on the moon won't
be enough to win the geopolitical war.
The moon's south pole remains the most
significant scientific target in our
solar system. A place where the history
of our planet is frozen in shadow. Where
the fuel for our future is waiting to be
found. The road to 2028 may be longer
and more complex than we anticipated.
But the foundation we are building now
is meant to last not for a decade but
for a century. On the 12th of March,
NASA gave the official go for crew to
prepare for a 1st of April launch on
Arteimus 2. With the astronauts in
quarantine and the rocket back on the
launchpad, I for one really hope it
takes off. After all, regardless of the
technical failures, budget overruns, and
changing geopolitical landscape that
have forced a radical rethink of how we
get back to the moon, it would be great
to watch another moon landing,
especially for those of us who weren't
around to see it the first time.
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