From The Moon To Mars: What’s Next For NASA’s Artemis Mission?

Moon to Mars: What’s Next For The Artemis Mission?

The Artemis II mission is officially complete. On Friday, the Orion capsule made a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, and the crew was safely recovered.

But what happens now? Is there another Artemis mission ahead?

Yes, there are several more planned for the years ahead. They could even make it possible for humans to live on the moon. Here’s what is happening next.

Artemis III (2027)

The next phase in the series of missions, Artemis III, will be all about testing tech and preparing for the steps ahead.

Originally, the final goal — spoiler alert for Artemis IV — of landing people on the moon would have been the very next mission.

But in February, NASA announced that it may have been a little overambitious in committing to achieving all of the benchmarks required prelaunch and all of the tasks that will take place in space, in just one more phase. Now, it has broken it up into two and is making sure the foundation is firm and safe first.

On this mission, once again, we will see crew members in the Orion spacecraft, but now it will be on top of a standardized Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

[MORE: The Farthest Humans Have Ever Been From Earth: Artemis II Makes History]

The SLS is revolutionary in that it is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts and cargo all directly to the moon in just a single launch.

One of the main facets of the mission is to test rendezvous and docking capabilities between Orion and commercial spacecraft needed to land astronauts on the moon.

And not just astronauts. The idea there is grand: space tourism. Essentially, the hope is to one day be able to send everyday people out into the stars.

Up until now, the Artemis mission has been mostly in NASA’s hands, so in the next phase, this new collaboration will come with some changes. Both companies still need to work out some of the details of their spacecraft to prepare.

This phase will also test facets of the Human Landing System (HLS), which will later be used in lunar orbit to descend to the surface.

Artemis IV (2028)

That’s how NASA describes this phase of this mission: Artemis IV.

Two crew members will descend to the surface, for the first time in more than 50 years, near the South Pole of the moon — a place that no one has ever been to.

They will spend about a week there, conducting research, making observations and collecting samples and data. Astronauts will search for the moon’s water and use it, test environmental conditions, do field geology and learn how to live and work there.

Then they will return to lunar orbit for the journey back to Earth with the rest of their crew.

[MORE: “A Bright Spot On The Moon:” Artemis II Crew Dedicates Crater to Commander’s Deceased Wife]

This scientific discovery will not only teach us a lot about the moon but also the sun, Earth and beyond.

“The moon is a 4.5-billion-year-old time capsule, pristinely preserved by the cold vacuum of space. It is a witness to billions of years of solar activity and large collisions that allowed life to gain a foothold in the solar system,” NASA says. “The moon holds clues to the evolution of Earth, the planets, the sun and even cosmic rays from across the galaxy.”

Artemis V (2028) And Beyond

Little is known about what an Artemis V could be as of now. But two moon landings in a single year, with Artemis IV also projected in 2028, is already a big aspiration.

NASA is expected to begin building its moon base at this point and aims to launch future missions about once per year after this. The base is a crucial point in establishing “an enduring presence” there, NASA says.

And farther than that, this time on the moon, one of Earth's closest habitable neighbors, is one more step toward a mission to Mars.

What a crewed mission to Mars can teach us, according to NASA, is straight out of sci-fi: It could help answer whether life exists beyond our home planet.

Mars is one of the only other places that we currently know about where life may have existed in the solar system, according to NASA.

“Our goal is a human mission to Mars, with our time on the Moon helping us learn about our systems while doing critical science,” Jim Free, associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said. “We want to make sure the architecture we develop, the capabilities we build and the technologies we invest in all feed forward to that goal.”