Sending Canadians to the moon
Col. Jeremy Hansen, an astronaut and Artemis II mission specialist, will be the first Canadian sent to the moon.
He was a part of the Canadian Space Agency’s third round of astronaut recruitment in 2009. Given the Canadian Space Agency’s relatively small size, the milestone pleasantly surprised fellow Canadian Jake Robbins, the co-host of Off Nominal.
“It's only been American astronauts who have ever left low-Earth orbit, and if you knew nothing about this mission, and you'd asked yourself in the past which nation is likely to accomplish number two, I don't think Canada would have been the likely pick for that,” Robbins said. “I think that speaks to the relationship our two countries have.”
The two countries’ space relationship started in earnest with the Space Shuttle program and the Canadarm.
Officially the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System, the Canadarm was installed on each Space Shuttle and was used to deploy, capture and maneuver different payloads.
“I like to think of it as the very Canadian way to approach space, because it's this thing that has a very silly name and sounds kind of silly on the surface, but it's actually a really critical component of the entire operation,” Robbins said. “The Canadarm is what the Space Shuttle used to deploy the Hubble Space Telescope and many other payloads. It's a pretty clutch part of that. We contribute the arm, and then you fly some of our astronauts to space, and we have a grand old time with it.”
There are now three iterations of the Canadarm. Canadarm2 was installed on the ISS in 2001 to service payloads and assist in external maintenance. Canadarm3 will be Canada’s contribution to NASA’s Gateway, a lunar space station launching no earlier than 2029.
According to Robbins, Canada’s enthusiasm for space has historically been more muted than the United States. A notable exception was Cmdr. Chris Hadfield, the first Canadian to command an ISS expedition.
Robbins hopes this next wave will spark the same enthusiasm.
“I think once we have an astronaut around the moon, taking pictures of the moon with that Maple Leaf there, [...] he's probably going to speak French at the moon,” Robbins said. “These are little cultural things that matter a lot to us, and I think once they start rolling in, you're going to see the enthusiasm ramp up pretty fast.”
Building on Artemis I, preparing for Artemis III
NASA’s Artemis II – carrying a crew of four astronauts on a trip around the moon and back – could launch as early as next month, bringing years of preparation to a head.
Artemis I launched November 16, 2022 to test the functionality of the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. Les Johnson, former NASA chief technologist at Marshall Space Flight Center, said the mission went as planned.
“They checked out all the systems on board Orion. Everything on the SLS rocket worked like a charm, which is, by the way, very unusual for the first launch of a new rocket. I've personally experienced first launches with a payload on board in the past that did not go well,” Johnson said. “There were some concerns raised about the heat shield after the reentry, and that's what really delayed the time between the Artemis I flight and Artemis II to better characterize some of the damage that was sustained by the heat shield on reentry to the Earth's atmosphere, and figure out what they could do to mitigate that and fix the problem.”
Humans have not returned to the Moon in more than 50 years since the last Apollo mission. Since then, technology has evolved substantially.
The Saturn V rocket that brought the first humans to the moon is very different from the rocket sending the Artemis II crew up early this year. SLS is smaller, provides much more launch thrust and adds room for another astronaut.
“I've had a lot of people ask me, ‘Why don't you just rebuild the Saturn V?’ And my answer is, ‘Why would you want to?’” Johnson said. “A lot of the equipment – the steel, the alloys, the electronics – none of that's made anymore, and you really had to do something new. But this vehicle, the SLS, really builds on the heritage of the shuttle and a lot of things we learned from the shuttle program.”
The infrastructure required for Artemis III – which aims to land humans on the lunar surface – is largely uncharted territory. Both SpaceX’s and Blue Origin’s proposed lunar lander systems rely on in-space fueling from an unmanned tank to safely make it to the moon and back – a feat that has never been attempted.
The mission also marks a significant departure from the Apollo-era timeline. Astronauts, rather than spending a little under two weeks in space, will spend around 30 days in space during the Artemis III mission. Johnson said there is a lot to be considered in terms of life support and mental well-being for the crew.
NASA, however, faces mounting pressure to move quickly. It is unclear what will happen with the south pole of the moon if the U.S. doesn’t arrive first. The area would be vital for human occupation, containing ice from comets that have crashed into the moon. Water opens many possibilities for fuel, agriculture and survival.
“The Artemis Accords, many countries are involved in this. We're going to be establishing the open access and the rules of the road for who can go and come from this small area of real estate on the south pole of the moon, and I think the U.S strategically wants to set that up as a free passing zone open to all, and not claim any territory or land or operational zone around the landing site,” Johnson said. “And if we're not there first, there's a risk that some other country might say, ‘Hey, we're here. You land somewhere else.’ And there really is nowhere else good to go.”
