NASA is set to return to the moon. Here are 4 reasons to go back
Updated November 14, 2022 at 3:02 PM ET
President John F. Kennedy delivered a famous speech in 1962 outlining his administration's challenge to land Americans on the moon. "We choose to go to the moon," he declared, not because it is easy, but because it is hard.
As difficult a technological feat as the Apollomoon program proved, within seven years NASA had met Kennedy's challenge and ultimately sent a dozen astronauts to the surface on six missions between 1969 and 1972 at a cost of about $25 billion — roughly $250 billion in today's dollars.
Sixty years after Kennedy's speech, NASA is again getting ready to send humans to the moon. Proving that rocket science is still hard, NASA will be making a third attempt on Wednesday to launch the uncrewed Artemis I after two previous launches were scrubbed due to technical issues. Once it finally gets off the ground, the mission will be the first test flight of the hardware that will be used to send astronauts in the next few years.
No doubt, many people are wondering: Why go back?
There's a lot of science to be done on the moon
The rock samples brought back by Apollo astronauts decades ago taught scientists a lot about the geologic history of Earth and the moon.
What can be gathered by today's astronauts could tell us even more, says David Kring, a lunar geologist at the Center for Lunar Science & Exploration in Houston, Texas.
It's easier to set down a spacecraft near the moon's equator, so that's where all six Apollo landings occurred. But now, NASA has more ambitious aims.
In August, just ahead of the first launch attempt, NASA announced 13 possible landing sites, each in the south pole region, where water ice has been confirmed deep inside craters that never see sunlight. A crewed lunar flyby, Artemis II, is anticipated for 2024. And the first crewed landing, Artemis III, could come as early as 2025.
The sites "are some of the best places to go for lunar geology and understanding lunar ice and sampling lunar ice," says Bethany Ehlmann, associate director of the Keck Institute for Space Studies at the California Institute of Technology.
Kring calls the lunar south pole region "absolutely extraordinary geologic terrain."
"If you really want to understand the origin of the evolution of the solar system, there is no better place ... to go [than] the moon," Kring says. Because the moon has never had an atmosphere or flowing water, it is not subject to weathering and erosion and has thus preserved evidence of its origin, he says.
As technology has steadily improved in the decades since Apollo, the level of detail on the moon's surface revealed by such probes as the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter "is so extraordinary that we've already identified rocks on the lunar surface that we want the astronauts to collect," Kring says.
Having astronaut boots on the moon has other advantages, too, says Craig Hardgrove, an associate professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University. He considers himself "a huge fan of robotic exploration," but nonetheless acknowledges that rovers and landers are limited by the scientific instruments they carry with them. They also have a harder time capturing as much data on the detailed geologic context and landscape as an astronaut trained in geology can.
Humans, by contrast, "are able to collect a large number of samples much quicker than robots," says Hardgrove, who is principal investigator of the Lunar Polar Hydrogen Mapper (LunaH-Map) mission, set to launch aboard the Artemis I rocket. The shoebox-size probe aims to pinpoint the location of polar ice deposits.
With astronauts selecting the best samples and bringing them home, laboratories and universities can examine them with a wider range of sophisticated tools, he says. "If we can bring them back to Earth, I think we have a much better shot at answering even more questions than we can if we're limited to rovers."
It's a stepping stone to Mars
Mars is at least 200 times farther from Earth than the moon, which means an enormous challenge in keeping astronauts safe from such things as radiation exposure, Hardgrove says.
"The launch windows to get to Mars are once every two years," he says. "So, we would be thinking about keeping our astronauts on the surface of Mars for a long period of time. I personally feel like we would be doing them a service and everyone a service if we test out all these technologies on the moon first."
Apollo was mostly about beating the Soviet Union to the moon. It succeeded, but there was no long-term plan to create a sustainable human presence there.
Artemis could change that, says Clive Neal, a professor of civil and environmental engineering and Earth sciences at the University of Notre Dame. He's especially keen to see a gradual shift toward a permanent human presence on the moon.
Given that SpaceX, a commercial venture, has been chosen to provide the vehicle that will land Artemis astronauts on the lunar surface, that prospect may not be as far off as once thought.
"We need to build an infrastructure that's going to say, 'OK, we're going to have human permanence on the moon and transition to commercial operations there in the future,'" Neal says. "And we can have a blueprint then at the moon of how to do these things sustainably that can be applied to more distant destinations."
It could spur new technologies
Dozens of new technologies created to go into space and to the moon have also brought substantial benefits to people on Earth — spawning everything from hand-held computers to insulin pumps and freeze-dried food.
Artemis could spark similar innovations.
A 2013 study commissioned by NASA estimates that commercial products emerging from the space agency's research return between $100 million and $1 billion annually to the U.S. economy. Many of those "spinoffs" had their origin in the Apollo program.
The Apollo Guidance Computer, for example, was a technological marvel of its day. It was an early demonstration of digital fly-by-wire technology that is used in modern passenger jets and military aircraft.
"We're still reaping the rewards of miniaturization of electronics that happened during Apollo," Neal says. "Think about mobile phones. This is a technology that maybe would not have happened without Apollo."
New flame-retardant fabrics first developed for spacesuits, to withstand very high temperatures and still remain lightweight, are found today in clothing to protect firefighters around the country.
A "super insulation" developed for NASA in the 1960s can now be "found hidden inside the walls and roofs of buildings, in cryogenic tanks and MRI machines, in winter gear, and in cases for electronic devices, among other applications," according to NASA.
It has the potential to inspire a generation of engineers and scientists
It's often said that the Apollo moonshot inspired thousands of new engineers and scientists. While numbers are impossible to quantify, according to a 2009 survey of 800 researchers, "the Moon landings deserve credit for motivating a large fraction of today's scientists ... who have published in Nature in the past three years."
With Artemis, "we're going to get nearly live video from the surface of the moon and people are going to start thinking about the moon as a real place," Hardgrove, of ASU, says.
"I think it can absolutely be inspirational, hopefully not just for people like me, but [also] people who may not be thinking about careers in space exploration or engineering," he says.
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NASA imeweka mpango wa kurudi kwenye mwezi "Mwanzoni mwa mwaka wa 1962, Rais John F. Kennedy alitoa hotuba maarufu ya ""Kushinda"" ya utawala wake wa kupeleka Wamarekani kwenye mwezi." "Tunachagua kwenda kwenye mwezi", akatangaza, si kwa sababu ni rahisi, bali kwa sababu ni vigumu. "Kama mafanikio magumu ya kiteknolojia kama programu ya Apollon ilivyothibitisha, ndani ya miaka saba NASA ilikuwa imekutana na changamoto ya Kennedy na hatimaye ilituma wanahistoria kadhaa kwenye uso wa dunia katika misheni sita kati ya 1969 na 1972 kwa gharama ya karibu dola bilioni 25 - karibu dola bilioni 250 kwa dola za leo. """ Miaka 60 baada ya Kennedy kutoa hotuba yake, NASA imepanga tena kupeleka binadamu kwenye mwezi. NASA imesema kuwa itafanya jaribio la tatu la kurusha chombo cha Artemis I bila wafanyakazi baada ya majaribio mawili ya awali kuahirishwa kwa sababu ya matatizo ya kiufundi. Baada ya kuwasili, safari hiyo itakuwa ya kwanza ya majaribio ya vifaa vya kusafirisha wanaanga katika miaka michache ijayo. Bila shaka, watu wengi wanajiuliza: Kwa nini turudi nyuma? Mwezi ni sehemu ya dunia ya kwanza na sehemu ya mwisho ya sayari ya dunia, na sampuli za miamba zilizoletwa na wanaanga wa Apollo miaka mingi iliyopita ziliwafundisha wanasayansi mengi kuhusu historia ya kijiolojia ya Dunia na Mwezi. "Kama vile wanavyoweza kugundua, ""mfano wa mlipuko wa mwezi"" ni muhimu sana kwa ajili ya utafiti wa kina wa sayari ya sayari, ""anasema David Kring, mtaalamu wa jiolojia ya mwezi katika Kituo cha Sayansi na Uchunguzi wa Mwezi huko Houston, Texas." Kwa mfano, ni rahisi kutua kwenye mwezi karibu na ikweta, na kwa hivyo ni mahali ambapo ndege zote sita za Apollo zilitua. Lakini sasa, NASA ina malengo makubwa zaidi. Mnamo Agosti, kabla tu ya jaribio la kwanza la uzinduzi, NASA ilitangaza maeneo 13 ya kutua, kila moja katika mkoa wa Ncha ya Kusini, ambapo barafu ya maji imethibitishwa ndani ya maporomoko ya maji ambayo hayaoni mwangaza wa jua. Ndege ya Artemis 2 itaruhusiwa kuruka karibu na mwezi mwaka 2024. Meli ya kwanza ya ndege ya Artemis III itashuka mnamo 2025. "Hizi ni baadhi ya maeneo bora ya kwenda kwa ajili ya jiolojia ya mwezi na kuelewa barafu ya mwezi na sampuli ya barafu ya mwezi, ""anasema Bethany Ehlmann, msaidizi mkurugenzi wa Taasisi ya Keck kwa ajili ya Mafunzo ya Anga katika Taasisi ya California ya Teknolojia." Kring huita eneo la ncha ya kusini ya mwezi "eneo lisilo la kawaida kabisa la kijiolojia". "Kama kweli unataka kuelewa asili ya mageuzi ya mfumo wa jua, hakuna mahali bora kwenda kuliko mwezi, ""Kring anasema." Kwa kuwa mwezi haujawahi kuwa na anga au maji, haujasumbuliwa na hali ya hewa na umajimaji, na hivyo umehifadhi uthibitisho wa asili yake. "Kama teknolojia imeboresha kwa kasi katika miongo tangu Apollo, kiwango cha maelezo juu ya uso wa mwezi kufunuliwa na uchunguzi kama vile Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter ""ni ajabu sana kwamba tayari tumetambua miamba juu ya uso wa mwezi kwamba tunataka wanaanga kukusanya,"" anasema Kring." """Kuwa na viatu vya anga kwenye Mwezi kuna faida nyingine pia,"" anasema Craig Hardgrove, profesa msaidizi katika Shule ya Uchunguzi wa Dunia na Anga katika Chuo Kikuu cha Jimbo la Arizona." Yeye hujiona kuwa "mshabiki mkubwa wa uvumbuzi wa roboti", lakini hata hivyo anakubali kwamba rover na landers ni mdogo na vyombo vya kisayansi wao kubeba pamoja nao. Pia, ni vigumu kwa wanaanga kupata habari nyingi kuhusu mazingira ya kijiolojia na mazingira kama vile wanaanga wanaofanya mazoezi ya kijiolojia. "Kwa upande mwingine, wanadamu wanaweza kukusanya sampuli nyingi haraka kuliko roboti,"" anasema Hardgrove, mtafiti mkuu wa mradi wa Lunar Polar Hydrogen Mapper (LHMAP), ambao utaanza kutolewa kwenye roketi ya Artemis." Chombo hicho chenye ukubwa wa sanduku la viatu kinakusudiwa kujua mahali ambapo barafu ya barafu iko. """Kwa kuwa wanaanga huchagua sampuli bora na kuzileta nyumbani, maabara na vyuo vikuu vinaweza kuzichunguza kwa kutumia vifaa mbalimbali vya kisasa,"" anasema." """Ikiwa tunaweza kuwaleta duniani, ninafikiri tuna nafasi kubwa zaidi ya kujibu maswali zaidi kuliko tunavyoweza ikiwa tu tunazingatia rover.""" Mars iko umbali wa mara 200 mbali na dunia kuliko mwezi, na hivyo ni changamoto kubwa kuwaweka wanaanga salama kutokana na athari za mnururisho. "Saa za uzinduzi wa kwenda Mars ni mara moja kila baada ya miaka miwili", asema. "Kwa hiyo, tungekuwa tukifikiria juu ya kuwaweka wanaanga wetu juu ya uso wa Mihiri kwa kipindi kirefu cha wakati. """Mimi binafsi nahisi kama tungekuwa tukiwafanyia wao na kila mtu huduma ikiwa tutafanya majaribio ya teknolojia hizi zote kwenye mwezi kwanza." Apollo ilikuwa hasa kuhusu kushinda Muungano wa Sovieti kwenye mwezi. Ilifanikiwa, lakini hakukuwa na mpango wa muda mrefu wa kuunda uwepo wa binadamu endelevu huko. "Kama ilivyoelezwa hapo juu, ""Mwanamke huyo ni mwanafunzi wa uhandisi wa ujenzi na uhandisi wa mazingira na sayansi ya dunia katika Chuo Kikuu cha Notre Dame.""" Yeye hasa ni shauku ya kuona mabadiliko ya hatua kwa hatua kuelekea uwepo wa kudumu wa binadamu juu ya mwezi. Kwa kuwa SpaceX, kampuni ya kibiashara, imechaguliwa kutoa chombo ambacho kitawapeleka wanaanga wa Artemis kwenye uso wa mwezi, uwezekano huo hauwezi kuwa mbali kama ilivyodhaniwa hapo awali. """Tunahitaji kujenga miundombinu ambayo itasema, 'Sawa, tutakuwa na kudumu kwa binadamu kwenye mwezi na mabadiliko ya shughuli za kibiashara huko siku zijazo,'" Neal anasema." "Na tunaweza kuwa na ramani wakati huo kwenye mwezi wa jinsi ya kufanya mambo haya kwa njia endelevu ambayo yanaweza kutumika kwa maeneo ya mbali zaidi. """ "Tengenezo la teknolojia mpya, iliyoundwa kwenda angani na mwezi, pia imeleta faida kubwa kwa watu duniani, ikitokeza kila kitu kutoka kwa kompyuta za mkono hadi pampu za insulini na chakula kilichokaushwa kwa kufungia.""" Artemis aweza kuchochea uvumbuzi kama huo. Kulingana na utafiti uliofanywa na NASA, bidhaa za kibiashara zinazotokana na utafiti wa shirika hilo zaweza kuleta faida ya kati ya dola milioni 100 na bilioni 1 kwa mwaka kwa uchumi wa Marekani. Mengi ya "vitu hivyo vilivyotokana" yalitokana na programu ya Apollo. Kwa mfano, Kompyuta ya Kuongoza ya Apollo ilikuwa ajabu ya kiteknolojia ya wakati wake. Ilikuwa onyesho la mapema la teknolojia ya digital fly-by-wire ambayo hutumiwa katika ndege za kisasa za abiria na ndege za kijeshi. "Bado tunapata faida ya ubadilishaji mdogo wa vifaa vya elektroniki ambavyo vilitokea wakati wa Apollo", Neal anasema. "Hebu fikiria simu za mkononi. Hii ni teknolojia ambayo labda isingekuwa imetokea bila Apollo. " Vitambaa vipya vya kuzuia moto vilivyotengenezwa kwanza kwa ajili ya mavazi ya anga, ili kuvumilia joto la juu sana na bado kubaki nyepesi, vinapatikana leo katika mavazi ya kulinda wazima moto kote nchini. "Ufunguo wa ""super insulation"" uliotengenezwa kwa ajili ya NASA katika miaka ya 1960 sasa unaweza kupatikana ndani ya kuta na paa za majengo, katika tanki za cryogenic na mashine za MRI, katika vifaa vya majira ya baridi, na katika kesi za vifaa vya elektroniki, kati ya matumizi mengine,"" NASA inasema." "Kama ni kweli, ""Mwezi wa Apollo"" uliongoza maelfu ya wahandisi na wanasayansi." "Hata ingawa ni vigumu kuelezea idadi ya watu waliotua kwenye mwezi, kulingana na uchunguzi uliofanywa na watafiti 800 mwaka 2009, ""kufika kwenye mwezi ni jambo la kustahili kuheshimiwa kwa kuwa limechochea idadi kubwa ya wanasayansi wa leo... ambao wamechapisha katika jarida la Nature katika miaka mitatu iliyopita.""" """Kwa Artemis, tutapata video ya karibu ya moja kwa moja kutoka uso wa mwezi na watu wataanza kufikiria mwezi kama mahali halisi,"" anasema Hardgrove." "Nadhani inaweza kuwa ya kuchochea, kwa matumaini sio tu kwa watu kama mimi, lakini pia watu ambao wanaweza kuwa hawafikiria kazi katika utafutaji wa anga au uhandisi, ""anasema." Copyright 2021 NPR Kwa maelezo zaidi, tembelea www.nl.org.