Artemis rocket to the moon: a mission full of made in Italy

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The Nasa SLS rocket with the Orion capsule at the top has finally departed towards the Moon, after the postponements of the past few weeks due to technical causes and also the arrival of a tornado which required the storage of the large rocket, the largest and most powerful never built. NASA’s Artemis program is therefore officially operational.

After 50 years we finally detach ourselves from low orbit, up to 1000 kilometers above the ground, and return to the Moon, this time with the full intention of staying there, making settlements for the astronauts and exploiting its resources, especially mining.

A takeoff of 4 billion

The Orion capsule was carried into orbit by the powerful rocket which ignited its 4 engines at 7:47 Italian time, taking off in a truly majestic way, given the dimensions, 100 meters in height and more, and the power of the vector, which burned in a few tens of seconds all the fuel. Certainly a unique and exciting show, even if very expensive, given that the take-off alone cost 4 billion dollars, a substantial fraction of the total cost of the project, 95 billion, wanted by President Obama and increased several times during these years, a few hours after take-off it will be known whether the series of maneuvers to bring the capsule into the final orbit, which will almost touch the Moon, has been successful.

26 day exploratory mission

This first mission is an exploratory and testing one, without astronauts, Orion will go to the Moon, stay there in orbit and reach a height of up to 100 kilometers above the ground of our satellite, take many photos and then move away up to 70,000 kilometers and then return to Earth next December 11, concluding its mission in 26 days, ending the first Artemis mission with the equally important test of the heat shield that protects the spacecraft. Indeed, Orion arrives in our atmosphere, on its return from the Moon, at over 26,000 kilometers per hour, and the friction with the air molecules brings the temperature of the heat shield to thousands of degrees, but a system of no less than 11 parachutes will slow it down to a speed of about forty kilometers per hour.

In the sign of made in Italy

A lot of Italian technology on board Orion, which makes us proud and in any case is tangible proof of the leading level that our country has maintained for years in the space field.