A recent report has confirmed that Nasa is planning to set up an astronaut base on the south pole of the moon as part of its Artemis mission to return to the lunar surface.
There are even reports which suggest that the US space agency NASA has aimed to return to the moon by 2024 and is planning to create ‘Artemis Base Camp’ to allow people to live on the desolate surface.
The habitat would potentially be situated on the south pole of the moon in the Shackleton Crater which would allow up to four astronauts to stay there for a week.
Apart from this, it was also reported that at the main base, Nasa might also house two vehicles which would be used by astronauts to get around. The first vehicle would be used by astronauts to travel around the base, but the second vehicle would be identified as a habitable mobility platform. That would be under pressure and allow astronauts to make longer journeys across the surface of the moon.
The base and the vehicles are detailed in a 13-page Nasa study which is called the ‘Plan for Sustained Lunar Exploration and Development’ and claims that Artemis astronauts will use the moon base as a staging post for an eventual Mars mission.
Nasa has even revealed that Artemis Base Camp could also have a hopper which would be able to deliver science and development payloads across the moon and could be run by the crew at the Artemis Base Camp and will be replenished with locally supplied propellants.
The US space agency further added that ‘A lunar far-side radio telescope could also be remotely emplaced and operated from Artemis Base Camp — a sort of backyard radio-telescope at our first encampment on the moon,’.
Our news sources have reported that American astronauts would be launched on American rockets in this year from American soil to the International Space Station by NASA with a view to the Moon and Mars. Nasa confirmed that it would accept applications for the next Artemis Generation astronaut class from 2 to 31 March.
