Written respectively by Mr. Thibaut Girard & Ms Rui Xu
“The American space agency Nasa has brought home its nextgeneration astronaut ship after a near-26-day mission to orbit the Moon” BBC
It can be seen has the success of the year concerning the return of human on the moon. Even though there were no people on board, the success of this mission of 26 days shows that NASA is the closest space agency able to bring human on the surface of the moon, but in a different way than the last mission on the moon 50 years ago with Apollo 17.
“Now, we are doing that again, but for a different purpose, because this time we go back to the Moon to learn to live, to work, to invent, to create, in order to go on out into the cosmos to further explore. The plan is to get ready to go with humans to Mars late in the decade of the 2030s, and then even further beyond,” Said Nasa
Administrator Bill Nelson.
What was this first mission Artemis about
The purpose of this first Artemis missions was to test and push to the limit the capsule Orion in order to be ready to carry out human inhabited space missions. Testing all the instruments and the communication systems to keep in contact with the Earth.
“The purpose of Orion aircraft is to carry astronauts between Earth and the Moon, but is not designated to land on the surface of the moon On future missions, the astronauts will transfer in orbit into a landing craft to take them down to the surface.
The landing system is being built for Nasa by SpaceX.” BBC, Artemis: How we get humans back to the Moon.
Orion performed two flight lunar flightbys travelling more than 2.2 million of kilometers and coming at the closest of the moon by 128 km during this mission.
Orion has two sections, the upper part is a crew module where astronauts
are going to be. That part had been built by the NASA, and the lower part is the service module build by the European Space Agency (ESA) which
carries all the guidance computers and thruster to manoeuvre the spaceship. This is a success story for the ESA given that the service module carries in the instruments that were tested during this first mission.
What is the next step for Artemis missions
Considered has a success, the next step for Artemis missions will
continue smoothly following the plan of sending, this time an inhabited
mission of Orion by 2024 or 2025.
“With splashdown we have successfully operated Orion in the deep space environment, where it exceeded our expectations, and demonstrated that Orion can withstand the extreme conditions of returning through Earth’s
atmosphere from lunar velocities.” said Mike Sarafin, Artemis I mission
manager.
The Artemis program is also related with the first ever space station orbiting the Moon named Gateway. Orion will dock with Gateway and
transfer astronauts to the moon.
My comment on Artemis program and Orion returning to the Earth
Carried by SLS rocket, Orion and the Artemis program has confirmed the US and NASA on the first position to reach the moon by human being
since Apollo misions.
The US government is reinvesting a lot in NASA and space programs since Space has brought a renewal to the SpaceX breaktrhoughs on the market. The regain of interest also comes from a competition between countries (especially Asian’s contries) and the understanding of how space and control over space technology will be the next geopolotics stakes to assure economical and political domination.
Sources:
BBC article on the return on earth of capsule Orion:
bbc.com/news/science-environment-63937345
Artemis: How we get humans back to the Moon
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-c2eecd7e-b73f-47c5-8b04-ae970d6ed7b5
Meet NASA’s Orion spacecraft:
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/meet-nasa-s-orionspacecraft
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/splashdown-nasa-sorion-returns-to-earth-after-historic-moon-mission
Morocco’s competitive aeronautics industry
The sector has 142 active companies, has created 20,000 jobs and last year had a turnover of 2 billion dollars
Morocco is not only the dark horse of this year’s World Cup, but also of the
aerospace industry.
The aerospace sector has been a central area for Morocco to expand its
international trade towards Europe and the United States. In the seven years from 2015 to 2021, the Moroccan aerospace industry will more than double its revenues to US$2 billion, double the number of employees to 20,000, increase the number of companies by 40% to 140, and increase the
participation of national companies in the export of aerospace products from 17% to 40%.
Tier 1 OEMs in the aerospace industry use products produced in Morocco,
and many key players in the industry have established successful long-term
partnerships with Morocco. This can be attributed to the geographical
location, as Morocco is the closest country in Africa to the United States,
Canada and Europe, providing easy access to the main aerospace markets
and ensuring on-time deliveries.
After the epidemic and the recession, the Moroccan aerospace industry is
showing positive signs. The resilience and stability of the Moroccan aerospace industry is reflected in the fact that there were around 140 aerospace companies in Morocco before the epidemic and that this number has not decreased, thanks to the cooperation of the Moroccan government and industry and the support of the King and Cabinet.
Enhancing the technological capacity of the national aerospace industry
remains a priority for the Moroccan government, including seeking technology transfer from international partners. In March this year, the Moroccan Minister of Industry and Trade, Ryad Mezzour, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with representatives from IAI, Israel, which will help the Moroccan aerospace industry in the areas of human resource development, manufacturing skills, research and development and innovation.
Source:
https://atalayar.com/en/content/moroccos-competitive-aeronautics-industry
