WASHINGTON \u2014 The pilot of the Artemis 2 mission says NASA\u2019s return to the moon should start with human landings in less challenging equatorial regions rather than go directly to the south pole.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the NASA Exploration Science Forum at Ames Research Center on July 21, Victor Glover made a plea to NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman to reconsider plans to have the first Artemis crewed landings go to the lunar south pole because of the difficulties of accessing that region.<\/p>\n
Asked in an extended discussion with conference attendees about his preferred landing site for the first crewed landing of the Artemis campaign, Glover emphasized the importance of \u201cfamiliar\u201d locations like those closer to the lunar equator used by the Apollo missions more than half a century ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you want to go fast, go familiar,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to get to the surface. If we want to land soon, familiar, daylight, equator.\u201d<\/p>\n
One reason he preferred equatorial regions is the ease of getting there and back. NASA\u2019s plans for landings at the lunar south pole had involved the use of a near-rectilinear halo orbit, a highly elliptical orbit that would also have been used by the Gateway. However, that orbit would have required astronauts to spend up to a week on the lunar surface before Orion or the Gateway would be in position for them to depart.<\/p>\n
Glover cited a hypothetical case of an astronaut who suffers a burst appendix during an Artemis landing mission. \u201cIf it ruptures on landing day, you\u2019re stuck for a week. That\u2019s a big deal to me, and I don\u2019t like that plan,\u201d he said. \u201cThe equator gives me opportunity to save that person.\u201d<\/p>\n
Polar landing sites pose other challenges. The sun is low on the horizon there, casting long shadows that can hamper landings and also make it difficult to walk or drive in the direction of the sun.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think driving home into the sunset is challenging? Imagine being on another celestial body and going from this room to low sun angle in a suit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He advocated for a more stepwise approach that would start with landings closer to the equator to build up experience toward polar landings, comparing it to test flight programs that incrementally expand the envelope in speed and altitude. \u201cYou have a process for accepting risk more and more, but also retiring it right,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we need to be realistic and work our way to the south pole, and maybe not try to go there first,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While the lunar south pole has been the target of Artemis crewed missions for several years, in large part because of the potential for ice deposits in permanently shadowed craters, Glover\u2019s comments are not the first time an agency official has suggested that alternative sites closer to the equator could be considered.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have opened up the performance specification for the early landing missions in as many ways as we can,\u201d Amit Kshatriya, NASA\u2019s associate administrator, said during a session of the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in March.<\/p>\n
That included different orbits around the moon from which the landing would be staged, as well as other, unspecified constraints, \u201cto make it as agile as possible\u201d and give the landing providers freedom to propose alternative approaches.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not yet giving up on the south pole, and I don\u2019t think we will,\u201d he added. \u201cWe need to challenge ourselves and we need to go to some place we\u2019ve never been.\u201d<\/p>\n