The Artemis Project was a

private spaceflight Private spaceflight is spaceflight or the development of spaceflight technology that is conducted and paid for by an entity other than a government agency. In the early decades of the Space Age, the government space agencies of the Soviet U ...

venture to establish a permanent, self-supporting base on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width ...

by 2002. It was named after

Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, Kourotrophos, care of children, and chastity. ...

, the goddess of the hunt, in some myths the moon, and twin sister of

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

(a reference to the Apollo project). The project's creators, the Lunar Resources Company, formed the Artemis Society as a non-profit

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...

in 1994. They planned to cover the costs by exploiting the entertainment value in creating a lunar colony.Gregory Bennett, "The Artemis Project: Selling the Moon," ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'', January 1995 They also believed that their costs would be a small fraction of what a government agency, such as

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...

, would have spent. The project studied other

space colonization Space colonization (also called space settlement or extraterrestrial colonization) is the use of outer space or celestial bodies other than Earth for permanent habitation or as extraterrestrial territory. The inhabitation and territor ...

projects as well, including colonies on outer planet moons.

Overview

The ''Reference Mission'' was designed to provide enough infrastructure to create a small lunar base. No flight hardware was built.

Mission hardware

Lunar transfer vehicle

The Lunar transfer Vehicle consisted of a single

Spacehab Astrotech Corporation, formerly Spacehab Inc., is a technology incubator headquartered in Austin, Texas, Austin, Texas. Astrotech uses technology sourced internally and from research institutions, government laboratories, and universities to fun ...

module with communications equipment,

Solar panels A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a phot ...

and an added booster stage. The Lunar Transfer Vehicle would have carried the crew as they travel from the Earth to the Moon. It would have been left in

Lunar orbit In astronomy, lunar orbit (also known as a selenocentric orbit) is the orbit of an object around the Moon. As used in the space program, this refers not to the orbit of the Moon about the Earth, but to orbits by spacecraft around the Moon. T ...

as the crew descend to the lunar surface.

Lunar base habitat

The lunar habitat consisted of three

modules and a descent stage. It also would have contained other equipment such as

solar panels A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a phot ...

radiators Radiators are heat exchangers used to transfer thermal energy from one medium to another for the purpose of cooling and heating. The majority of radiators are constructed to function in cars, buildings, and electronics. A radiator is always a ...

and communications equipment.

Ascent stage

The ascent stage was to have been used by the crew to return to a lunar orbit from the surface of the Moon. Unlike the

Lunar Module The Apollo Lunar Module (LM ), originally designated the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM), was the lunar lander spacecraft that was flown between lunar orbit and the Moon's surface during the United States' Apollo program. It was the first crewed ...

of the Apollo Program, the ascent stage was not to have maintained a breathable

atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. ...

. Because of this, a protective

space suit A space suit or spacesuit is a garment worn to keep a human alive in the harsh environment of outer space, vacuum and temperature extremes. Space suits are often worn inside spacecraft as a safety precaution in case of loss of cabin pressure ...

would have to be worn throughout the flight to protect the

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

from the harsh conditions of

space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually con ...

Mission profile

The main mission hardware components would have been assembled in a

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never m ...

. Then the ''stack'' would have boosted to a lunar orbit. The

s would have transferred from the lunar transfer vehicle to the ascent stage. After a deorbit and braking burn, the lunar base habitat and the ascent stage would have been landed on the lunar surface. Following this, the crew would have unpacked and set up the new lunar base for future operations. Once the lunar operations were completed, the crew was to transfer to the ascent stage, where they were to enter into a lunar orbit and dock with the lunar transfer vehicle where they would have remained for the journey back to

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surf ...

Future plans

Once a base had been built on the Moon it was hoped that a lunar hotel would have been established. However it is not known how economically feasible this would have been because low-cost access to space (possibly involving

single-stage-to-orbit A single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) vehicle reaches orbit from the surface of a body using only propellants and fluids and without expending tanks, engines, or other major hardware. The term usually, but not exclusively, refers to reusable vehicles ...

two-stage-to-orbit A two-stage-to-orbit (TSTO) or two-stage rocket launch vehicle is a spacecraft in which two distinct stages provide propulsion consecutively in order to achieve orbital velocity. It is intermediate between a three-stage-to-orbit launcher and a hy ...

vehicles) had yet to be developed.

Notes

External links

{{The Moon Exploration of the Moon Private spaceflight companies Colonization of the Moon