Artemis I Mission Being Accomplished

Mankind has always been fascinated with exploring the Moon, and that will probably always be the case.  At first, in the time leading up to the famous first moon landing in 1969, the goal was simply to reach the moon, and spend a short time looking around, and return to earth safely.  Now, 50 years […]

Mankind has always been fascinated with exploring the Moon, and that will probably always be the case.  At first, in the time leading up to the famous first moon landing in 1969, the goal was simply to reach the moon, and spend a short time looking around, and return to earth safely.  Now, 50 years later, the goal is more ambitious since technology can support so much more.  The first objective today is to reach the moon, and stay there.  The next goal would be to use the moon as a landing pad to support exploration of things beyond the moon, most notably Mars.  The NASA Artemis Missions will be the way these objectives are accomplished.

The Artemis Mission is comprised of six projects which together will allow NASA to accomplish its goals of reaching the moon, staying on the moon for long term exploration, and getting closer to the ultimate goal of being able to send men and women beyond the moon.  The six projects include:

Ground Systems – Upgrading Earth ground systems to support the larger rockets which will be needed

Space Launch System – The new and more powerful rocket that will launch man toward the moon and beyond

Orion – The spacecraft that will bring astronauts to the moon’s orbit, and return them to earth from the moon’s orbit

Gateway – The outpost spacecraft which will orbit the moon and be living quarters for the astronauts when they are not on the moon surface

Lunar Landers – The spacecraft which will transfer astronauts between the Gateway and the moon Surface, and

Space Suits – The new and improved suits that the astronauts will need to carry out their mission.

The timeline for this mission has three major milestones, namely:

Artemis I – an unmanned flight to test the Space Launch System and Orion

Artemis II – a manned flight to test the Space Launch System and Orion

Artemis III – A manned flight to the moon that will return man to the moon.

Artemis I, the mission whose goal was an unmanned flight of Orion to the moon, is now in progress.  So far, the mission has been wildly successful.  The Launch was flawless in mid-November, showing the advanced capabilities of the Space Launch System.  Orion reached the moon on November 25 without any issues and has been orbiting the moon since then.  On December 1, 2022, Orion will start its trip back to earth.

As of December 1, 5681 pounds of propellant have been used, a bit less than scientists had expected.

The trip back to earth will have include more tests than had originally been planned, and indication that NASA scientists are feeling good about the trip. 

This is a truly ambitious mission, and an even more ambitious schedule for missions that follow.

ATI offers a plethora of courses which relate to Space exploration.  Check out our list of Space related courses here.    If you are interested in the legal aspects of Space exploration, you can express interest in our Astropolitics Seminar which will be offered in conjunction with the 2023 Space Symposium

Although the author thinks Space Exploration is exciting and important, and I fully endorse all of the goals of the Artemis Mission, I can’t help but wonder why the Government is not spending at least as much money on exploration of the deep oceans.  I would challenge the US to start investing more money in Ocean Exploration, but not at the expense of Space Exploration.  Both are important.  I am curious what readers think about this issue, please leave your comments below.

And, if you are interested in Ocean Exploration, ATI has a few courses which may be of interest to you too.  Please check out our full list of offerings here.

And if you simply want to learn more about the Artemis Mission, you can go to the NASA Artemis site that describes the mission in more detail. 

What The Heck is Astropolitics?

Since ATI has offered a course called Astropolitics for many years, and since our Astropolitics instructor is a noted expert in his field, and since we have an upcoming offering of Astropolitics, it only seemed natural that I, the new Science Advisor for ATI, should figure out “What the Heck is Astropolitics?” Most of the […]

Since ATI has offered a course called Astropolitics for many years, and since our Astropolitics instructor is a noted expert in his field, and since we have an upcoming offering of Astropolitics, it only seemed natural that I, the new Science Advisor for ATI, should figure out “What the Heck is Astropolitics?”

Most of the definitions found on the internet seem to say that Astropolitics is the theory and study of the effects that Space has on politics.  Seemingly, any political decision by any country which involves Space issues or Space implications would fall under Astropolitics.

Astropolitics includes topics such as International Space Treaties, Space Law, International Conflict in Space Exploration, and International Space Economics.  The one topic addressed by Astropolitics which the author finds most compelling is the political impact of any contact which may someday occur with extraterrestrial intelligence.  That’s right, the body that conceived of and defined the field of Astropolitics actually considered the possibility that mankind may someday discover intelligent life someplace besides earth.  As an editorial note, the author of this blog finds this inclusion to be compelling, because of his firm belief that intelligent extraterrestrial life does exist elsewhere, although it may not be discovered in our lifetime, or forever, for that matter (and I certainly do not believe these lifeforms have ever visited earth, yet.)  Although there is no currently accepted doctrine for how countries will react to the discovery of extraterrestrial life, there are ongoing efforts by multiple countries to develop a set of structured rules, standards, guidelines, or actions that governmental entities plan to follow in the event of confirmed signals form extraterrestrial civilizations.  Perhaps there are even Astropolitics discussions occurring today in some extraterrestrial civilization.  Of note, extraterrestrials are always welcome to attend ATI courses if they have a way to travel to live classes, log into virtual classes, and pay with earth currency.

For many ATI courses, including our upcoming Astropolitics Course, potential students have the opportunity to attend a free one-hour virtual short-session.  This is an opportunity for students to learn more about what will be covered in the course, and meet the instructor.  Even if you have no intention of taking the full course, you may find the Free session informative, and you may even change your mind about attending the full course.  You can learn more about both the Astropolitics Free Session, and Astropolitics – ATI Courses at these links.  While there, you will also be able to register for the Free Session or the Class, or both.

And, as always, you can learn about the full set of courses offered by ATI at www.aticourses.com