Humans may live on the Moon in this decade, says NASA
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Since Artemis lunar mission took off, there have been several speculations about humans living on the Moon. NASA thinks humans will be able to stay on the Moon for lengthy periods in this decade itself. The rocket is part of NASA's mission to take astronauts to the Moon.
The Orion spacecraft, which is being carried by Artemis, is equipped with a manikin that will record the effects of the flight on a human body. It is currently 134,000 km from the satellite. The lead of the programme Howard Hu told BBC that habitats on the lunar surface are necessary to support scientific missions.
Hu described the first Artemis mission to be a dream and the first step to long-term deep space exploration for not just the US but for the world. "We are going back to the Moon, we're working towards a sustainable programme and this is the vehicle that will carry the people that will land us back on the Moon again."
One of the most critical phases of the mission is getting the Orion module safely back to Earth. It is due back on 11 December.
Once the safety of the systems is analysed and proven, the goal is to set up humans to live on the moon "in this decade," He told BBC. "We're going to be sending people down to the surface and they're going to be living on that surface and doing science," added the expert.
The NASA official said if the current Artemis flight is successful, the next one will carry a crew. And the third one will take astronauts with the intention of landing on the Moon for the first time since the Apollo mission in 1972.
Artemis' main goal is to assess the presence of water at the south pole of the Moon. If there is water, it can be used in making fuel for crafts going deeper into space. "It's really going to be very important for us to learn a little bit beyond our Earth's orbit and then take a big step when we go to Mars. The Artemis missions enable us to have a sustainable platform and transportation system that allows us to learn how to operate in that deep space environment," said Howard Hu.