Several UK-based companies are making contributions to the upcoming NASA voyage to the moon, named the Artemis I mission.
NASA’s Artemis programme aims to bring both the first woman and the first person of colour to the moon by 2025.
Global partners will reportedly collaborate to achieve a sustainable presence on the lunar surface as a milestone in humanity’s first mission to Mars.
December this year will mark 50 years since the last human lunar landing, Apollo 17.
The Artemis I mission sees the first launch of the new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which will take NASA’s Orion capsule with a European-built service module to the moon.
Artemis I, an unmanned flight, will set off first before NASA sends a crewed mission into space in 2024, with the intention of achieving a moon landing. Artemis I is set to launch from Florida on 29 August at around 1:30pm BST.
The Artemis I mission will be trackable in the UK from Goonhilly Earth Station in Cornwall, which the government claims is an important milestone in the UK’s capacity for lunar communications.
Several other UK-based companies are also making contributions to the mission.
Aerospace manufacturer Thales Alenia Space’s UK branch is set to provide the refuelling module on the Lunar Gateway, a space station which is currently in development and set to orbit the moon as part of the Artemis programme.
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd developed the Lunar Pathfinder spacecraft, which is intended to support communications and navigation services on the moon’s surface from 2025.
Multiple UK organisations are also involved in NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Service (CLPS) missions that will see the delivery of lunar payloads.
The US also worked with the UK and other spacefaring nations to develop the Artemis Accords, a set of principles to ensure a shared understanding of safe operations, use of space resources, minimising space debris and sharing scientific data. In 2020, the UK signed the agreement.
