Hey, we're going back to the moon again

[DrFfybes]

I wonder how many houses the fuel from an Artemis rocket would heat?

As it is fuelled by a mixture of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, I suspect the answer would be "quite a lot, very quickly and very briefly"

[scrumpyjack]

The cost is about 10 dollars per us citizen or the cost of 2 or 3 big macs. Much better spent on space exploration than the burgers!

[ReformedCharacter]

The cost is about 10 dollars per us citizen or the cost of 2 or 3 big macs. Much better spent on space exploration than the burgers!

Close to $60 for development, not including the $20 spent on the cancelled Ares 1 per US citizen and perhaps $10 per launch. Add about another $60 for the Orion development. That's expensive when you consider that for the first few flights they will be re-using Shuttle main engines and upgraded Shuttle solid rocket boosters. It's not an entirely valid comparison but SpaceX are already making Starships at a rate one every few months at a projected cost of a few cents per US citizen. The SLS already looks like the end of an era for manned space flight.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Launch_System

https://www.inverse.com/innovation/sls-vs-starship

But yes, it's good to see planned lunar missions again. I watched the first lunar landing in my pyjamas as a child.

RC

[BullDog]

Bring it on! Well overdue that man returns to the moon. The spin offs in technological advances will probably be massive. High quality employment opportunities directly and indirectly generated will be in the thousands. A shame we can't do stuff like it here in the UK.

[Lootman]

Bring it on! Well overdue that man returns to the moon. The spin offs in technological advances will probably be massive. High quality employment opportunities directly and indirectly generated will be in the thousands. A shame we can't do stuff like it here in the UK.

Exactly. Those who claim we should instead spend the money on welfare are missing the point that we should strive to be aspirational and not adequate.

As for the UK space effort, didn't that die with the cancellation of the Blue Streak rocket 60 years ago?

[pje16]

Great news
I remember it first time round
The UK was gripped
I kept staring at the moon and thinking there are 2 men up there on it, mind-blowing when you are 10 years old

edit: what a let-down just read the article
it is unmanned, hardly call that progress over 50 years later

[BullDog]

Bring it on! Well overdue that man returns to the moon. The spin offs in technological advances will probably be massive. High quality employment opportunities directly and indirectly generated will be in the thousands. A shame we can't do stuff like it here in the UK.

Exactly. Those who claim we should instead spend the money on welfare are missing the point that we should strive to be aspirational and not adequate.

As for the UK space effort, didn't that die with the cancellation of the Blue Streak rocket 60 years ago?

Very sad, but yes it pretty much did. As bad and short sighted a decision as cancelling TSR2. As an aside, a real life TSR2 can be seen at the RAF museum in Cosford. Makes me want to weep looking at it and reflecting on the missed opportunities.

[Urbandreamer]

edit: what a let-down just read the article
it is unmanned, hardly call that progress over 50 years later

It's a new system. Just as Apollo was in 66 when they started unmanned tests.
It seems that Apollo 7 was the first manned Apollo mission, though Gemini etc were manned before.

Folks might enjoy the song "fire in the sky".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqL7Yllgeew

[88V8]

I watched the first lunar landing in my pyjamas as a child.

Me too, well as a teenager.

A foretaste of the future that was. Now, we use a tele to go to work in our pyjamas.

V8

[ReformedCharacter]

An introduction to the Lunar Gateway an international program which will eventually orbit the moon. It's an interesting orbit shown here (highly elliptical seven-day near-rectilinear halo orbit):

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/6b/Lunar_Gateway_orbit_animation.webm/Lunar_Gateway_orbit_animation.webm.720p.vp9.webm

The LG will not be used for the first few lunar landings but will eventually become a science facility and staging post for astronauts and cargo between the earth and the moon.

More about the LG - Scott Manley, 'NASA's Lunar Gateway Is Being Skipped In The Race To The Moon'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHtmSL08xPM

RC

[ReformedCharacter]

Scott Manley: 'What's The Big Deal About Artemis - NASA's New Massive Moon Rocket'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H93KDxYKeKU

RC

[pje16]

This is more like it

"Astronauts in orbit on the next Artemis mission will be the furthest from the Earth that humans have ever been."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/id ... 970d6ed7b5

[pje16]

Too funny

[ReformedCharacter]

For those enthusiasts who would like to watch the launch:

https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive

More information about the progress to launch, and probably coverage too:

https://spaceflightnow.com/

RC

[Itsallaguess]

A timely release of this great article from the Guardian, with some rarely seen re-mastered photographs of NASA's Apollo missions -

Nasa’s original moon mission photographs, kept locked in a freezer in Houston, are some of the most vital artefacts of human endeavour.

Now, they have been remastered for a new century -

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/aug/26/apollo-space-moon-missions-photographs-remastered-neil-armstrong

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[dave559]

Thanks so much for highlighting this. I was aware that the program was underway, but I had thought that it had a rather longer timescale and I had literally absolutely no idea that they were actually ready for a mission (albeit uncrewed, but still highly technically impressive) around the moon already! It's sad that with so much bad news around these days, something as inspiring and exciting as this hasn't as yet had more coverage in the mainstream news. I'll certainly be excited to watch the launch footage on Monday and mission photos/videos in due course! (Of course, if the much missed Tomorrow's World was still on the air, I'm sure it would have been covering this for months already!)

[ReformedCharacter]

Thanks so much for highlighting this. I was aware that the program was underway, but I had thought that it had a rather longer timescale and I had literally absolutely no idea that they were actually ready for a mission (albeit uncrewed, but still highly technically impressive) around the moon already!

Already? Variants of the current SSL, using Shuttle derived components have been on the drawing board since 1995 (Advanced Transportation System Studies). That's only 27 years ago! Most of the engine technology is pretty ancient, the upcoming Exploration Upper Stage uses an updated version of an engine originally designed in the early '60's. The first stage uses Shuttle main engines and upgraded solid rocket boosters from the '70's. Politics \ funding issues have been the reason that this didn't happen 10-15 years ago, but better late than never

I'll certainly be excited to watch the launch footage on Monday and mission photos/videos in due course! (Of course, if the much missed Tomorrow's World was still on the air, I'm sure it would have been covering this for months already!)

James Burke is still around, it'd be great to see him commentating on the lunar landing whenever that occurs.

RC

[kiloran]

James Burke is still around, it'd be great to see him commentating on the lunar landing whenever that occurs.

RC

And with a live Pink Floyd soundtrack
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/pink-floyd ... -moonhead/

Though it wouldn't be the same without Rick Wright

--kiloran

[dave559]

Already? Variants of the current SSL, using Shuttle derived components have been on the drawing board since 1995 (Advanced Transportation System Studies). That's only 27 years ago! Most of the engine technology is pretty ancient, the upcoming Exploration Upper Stage uses an updated version of an engine originally designed in the early '60's. The first stage uses Shuttle main engines and upgraded solid rocket boosters from the '70's. Politics \ funding issues have been the reason that this didn't happen 10-15 years ago, but better late than never

Yes, OK, there's certainly an awful lot of "standing on the shoulders of giants" when it comes to much of the technology involved, but what I meant was that with all the "stops and starts", "off and on again" and substantial changes in direction there have been over the years, I hadn't realised that the current "on" period had actually reached this stage: I had it in my head that we wouldn't be seeing anything exciting until at least 2025 or so, so it is good to see things happening, even if perhaps rather later than 'originally' planned…

[Itsallaguess]

For those enthusiasts who would like to watch the launch:

https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive

Just a bump-reminder that the Artemis launch is scheduled for around 12.30pm UK time today.

Here's a link to a live YouTube launch channel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5KfrDAM2Bo

Cheers,

Itsallaguess