NASA and the Artemis Vision: Go to the moon to stay

On April 9, NASA announced Artemis, the new program to return humans to the moon to stay, by 2024. Artemis includes many important firsts, including the first exploration of the only known source of water on the moon, at the lunar south pole. The agency’s lunar exploration plans are based on a two key strategic objectives, the first is focused on speed – landing astronauts on the Moon in five years – while the second will establish a sustained human presence on and around the Moon by 2028. NASA will use an orbiting lunar outpost called Gateway to access the Moon. The agency is targeting launch of the power and propulsion element in late 2022.

The video below captures the key phases of Artemis from  NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine.

Artemis will unfold in three key phases:

• Artemis One: First advanced, human enabled spacecraft to the moon
• Artemis Two: Humans return to the moon, and new orbiting gateways/supply systems in place
• Artemis Three: Crewed missions to gateway and lunar surface

This is very exciting for many reasons. One is getting humans to the moon to stay and the science that will come from the expedition. But it is also interesting to consider the impact this will have on our economy. We can expect many spin-offs and advancements of technology that will come from the focused innovation behind Artemis. We are 100% certain that it will cause changes to the the technology and business in our life. We have much less certainty over what those changes will be.

Since there is ambiguity over what innovations will come, the analysts at OODA are watching multiple aspects of this program and intend on providing assessments to at least characterize potential innovations. This will assist in corporate strategic planning. We capture our insights in reports like the OODA Guide to Innovation in Space. Also ensure you are on distro for our daily pulse to ensure you are updated as we publish changes to our assessments on space and related topics.

It is also important to track and respond to The Cyber Threat To Artemis

It is also interesting to note how NASA has approached the acquisition process around this. You can think of it as “Moon Exploration as a Service.”