The human being already waited more than 55 years to return to the Moon. And that wait will last about two more years, if all the tests and plans continue their correct course.
That time, which for many scientists is eternal and seems never to come, will finally conclude with NASA’s new Artemis project, so that a man and a woman can step on the gray surface of our natural satellite.
While testing and building the powerful Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, The American Space Agency trains potential future astronauts with different exercises and exams.
In what was the biggest test ever carried out, NASA tested the skills of two astronauts and different equipment in the desert volcanic field from San Francisco near Flagstaff, in the state of Arizona.
This is how, surrounded by hundreds of people, including prominent scientists, famous astronauts and senior NASA officials, NASA astronauts Kate Rubins and Andre Douglas had the opportunity to act out moonwalk scenarios in space suit replicas in a landscape similar to the Moon.
Their path was dimly lit by the helmet lights of their spacesuit, as they sought to find geological treasures in the volcanic landscape: moon rocks that they could collect and bring back to Earth, that would reveal secrets of this frozen world that NASA plans to revisit.
Not just to stay for a day, but the long-term goal now is to send people to the surface of the Moon to stay for about 10 to 15 days. and do deep experiments there, during the mission known as Artemis III to be launched at the end of 2026. And in the future, It will be the installation of a first human colony.
For this reason, NASA is now training its astronauts to make the most of their precious time on our natural satellite, given that no human being has set foot on the lunar surface since the last Apollo crew took off in December 1972. .
“There are many things we need to relearn or discover. And that is why we are charting the path as we navigate it,” says Juliane Gross, planetary scientist at the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas, who will oversee Artemis’ samples when they return to Earth.
“We are incorporating from the beginning that scientific rigor that these missions are going to need,” Rubins later added.
NASA this week published images from the test site in San Francisco, where You can see the astronauts putting on space suits to walk that desert. They also operated different instruments, vehicles and tools to work and collect samples.
Precisely for the latter, in addition to NASA experts, there were the most prominent geologists of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) that helped train Apollo astronauts in the 1960s. This month’s test, known as JETT5 by the Joint Human Mobility Test Team and the exercise of extravehicular activitiess (EVA) on the Surface, was carried out on private land near a cinder cone known as SP Crater in Flagstaff.
To mimic the lighting conditions at the lunar south pole, JETT5 test organizers built a “solar car,” which was actually a giant spotlight that moves over the landscape. To Rubins and Douglas, the light looked like the distant Sun floating just above the horizon.
The astronauts walked carefully through the dark landscape, relying on some lights they carried in their helmets and in their hands to help them in their work. Rubins in particular was delighted to have a handheld light that she could direct where she wanted, in addition to helmet-mounted lights that pointed only in the direction she was looking. “Is totally necessary a light that illuminates the area near my feet”he told mission control during the walk, information that could help astronauts when they do the same 400,000 km away on the gray surface of the Moon.
He JETT5’s goal was to develop tools and procedures that work for Artemis III astronauts on the lunar surface. “Field testing plays a critical role in helping us test all the systems, hardware and technology we will need to conduct successful lunar operations during the Artemis missions,” he said. Barbara Janoiko, director of field tests at the Johnson Space Center.
He added: “Our engineering and science teams have worked together seamlessly to ensure we are prepared every step of the way for when astronauts set foot on the Moon again.”
The Final test consists of four simulated moonwalks that follow planned operations for Artemis III and beyond, as well as six technologically advanced tours. During the advanced races, teams will demonstrate technology that can be used for future Artemis missions.
Science is a fundamental part of the Artemis programaccording to NASA, and that is why astronaut training has been intensified to incorporate more field geology, to learn more about the types of rocks and dust they will be walking around and collecting to bring to Earth.
During the last three Apollo missions, NASA intensified that training, when each astronaut received approximately 1,000 hours of scientific studies, according to Dean Eppler, a lunar geologist who participated in the adventure. “We consider Apolo to be the way to do it because it was very successful“, it states.
In 1971, on Apollo 15, for example, two former test pilots detected and brought home a glowing fragment of what turned out to be the primordial lunar crust. That sample, dubbed Genesis Rock, helped geologists understand how the Moon solidified from an ocean of molten magma more than four billion years ago.
In the 2000s and 2010s, NASA trained astronauts to observe Earth from the International Space Station. Now, through visits to places like asteroid craters and volcanic terrain, astronauts experience what the Moon will be like.
“That way they know, when you get to the surface of the Moon, if things are not as you had in mind, that’s okay,” he remarked. Cynthia Evans JSC geologist who directs astronaut geology training. The Johnson Space Center science team will develop several scientific objectives for future field tests.
The testing performed included the generation of geological maps, a list of scientific questions, and priority moonwalk locations for the primary and backup “landing sites” for the test. The next ones will be more complicated, challenging and even some that simulate possible accidents.
