This book describes the future of theArtemisLunar Program from the years 2017 to about 2030. Despite the uncertainty of the times and the present state of space exploration, it is likely that what is presented in this book will actually happen, to one degree or another. As history has taught us, predictions are often difficult, but one can see enough into the future to be somewhat accurate. As the Bible says, Wesee thru the glass, but darkly. All of the elements of the proposed program are described from several perspectives: NASAs, the commercial space industry and our International partners. Also included are descriptions of the many vehicles, habitats, landers, payloads and experiments. The book tells the story of the buildup of a very small space station in a strange new lunar orbit and the descent of payloads and humans, including the first women and next man, to the lunar surface with the intent to evolve a sustained presence over time.

Dutch Von Ehrenfried has worked in both the space flight and aviation fields for about 25 years. He was a NASA Flight Controller in Mission Control for many Mercury, Gemini and Apollo Missions. Dutch also worked on some of the Apollo Lunar Experiment Packages from an operations point of view as well as experiments that went into Skylab from an Earth Resources Program perspective. He later worked in the NASA Headquarters Space Station Task Force and the Program Office as a contractor for about 10 years, and the FAA Aviation Safety Office for a year. In recent years he has written several insightful books in the Springer-Praxis series.

Frontispiece                                                                                                             

Dedication                                                                                                     

Acknowledgments                                                                                                    

Preface                                                                                              

 

1    Introduction

2    The Artemis Lunar Program Overview

            2.1 NASAs Concept

            2.2 Summary of the Elements

            2.3 The Controversy 

            2.4 The Budget

            2.5 Politics

3    Spacecraft, Landers, Rovers and Payloads

            3.1 Commercial Spacecraft

            3.2 Commercial Lunar Payload Services

            3.3 Commercial Payloads and Instruments

            3.4 Lunar Science Participation

            3.5 Landing Sites

4    Elements, Crew Landers, Launch Vehicles and Upper Stages

            4.1 Propulsion and Power Element

            4.2 Habitat and Logistics Modules

            4.3 Crew Landers and Transfer Element Studies

            4.4 Launch Vehicles

            4.5 Upper Stages

5    NASA and Commercial Crew Development

            5.1 Crew Selection and Training

            5.2 Commercial Crew ISS Missions

            5.3 Artemis Missions

            5.4 The Next Generation Space Suit

            5.5 Commercial Crew Space Suits

            5.6 Crew Health

6    Artemis Lessons for Exploration

            6.1 Utility of the Gateway

            6.2 Sustainability

            6.3 Impact on Future Hardware Design

            6.4 Long Duration Science Operations

            6.5 Launch Vehicle Payload Capability

7    Enabling Technology Advances

            7.1 NASA Programs

            7.2 Navigation and Precision Landing

            7.3 Deep Space Atomic Clock

            7.4 In-Situ Resource Utilization

            7.5 Lunar Power

            7.6 Protection from Radiation

            7.7 Advances in Optical Communications

            7.8 Lunar IceCube

8    Artemis Influence on Mars Planning

            8.1 Mission Concepts and Plans

            8.2 Technologies and Capabilities

            8.3 Artemis Science Influence on Mars

            8.4 Robotics

            8.5 Regolith Mining and Processing

            8.6 3D Printing          

9    Conclusions

 

Appendices

1     The National Space Councils Role in Artemis and Mars

2     Community Letter to Congress Regarding NASAs Lunar Discovery             

       and Exploration Program

3     NASAs Gateway Memorandum for the Record

4     Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit

5     Solar Electric Propulsion and Hall Effect Thrusters

6     Technology

7     Timeline

8     Artemis Mythology

9     The Moon Village Association

10   The Chinese Lunar Program

11    Crew Selection: A History and Prediction

12   Quotes    

                                                           

References

Glossary

About the Author

Index