With Artemis, NASA envisions a multiplanetary future for humanity

November 17, 2022

The Christian Science Monitor

Eva Botkin-Kowacki

NASA’s quest to return humans to the moon has finally gotten off the ground. After being stymied by repairs and hurricanes, the Artemis 1 mission launched from Florida’s Cape Canaveral early Wednesday morning.

This first mission is an uncrewed test of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft – shooting all the way to the moon and back – so that everything goes smoothly when humans do climb aboard for a trip to Earth’s companion.

But Artemis 1 is more than just a technological test. Success would signal momentum toward a broader vision for a multiplanetary future for humanity. Complete with construction of a permanent lunar outpost, the Artemis program is designed to establish a way station for travel to Mars – and beyond. Behind the audacity of that goal, shared by NASA and numerous private space companies, is a faith in the potential of human ingenuity.

A NASA launch Wednesday is designed to pave the way for humans to return to the lunar surface after a five-decade gap. The motivations go far beyond exploring the moon itself.

“The capabilities that we will develop for the Moon to Mars Program can and will enable a multiplanet species,” says Patrick Troutman, a NASA space architect for the agency’s Moon to Mars vision.

That future will be shaped by motivations – from security to exploration – that have already defined much of human experience on Earth, experts say.

Money will also be a factor. It’s not a question of whether we can land humans on Mars or establish a permanent outpost on the moon, says Roger Launius, former chief historian of NASA. “The question is, how much resources will it take? And do we want to expend [them] in that particular way?”

God, gold, and glory

One option now is for humans to skip the trip. Plenty of important science missions can be undertaken – more cheaply and with much less risk – using automated vehicles and instruments. But throughout our species’ history, humanity has expanded its footprint across landscapes, first filling spaces devoid of other humans and then jostling with other civilizations for the same places. To some, human spaceflight is a natural next step.

“Expansion,” Mr. Troutman says, “has always been part of what humans do.”

When it comes to outer space, he adds, expansion continues to be top of mind for spaceflight leaders in both the public and the private sectors. Many have used terms like “colonization” to refer to a multiplanetary future, connecting their visions to past expansions.

Historically, expansions have largely been motivated by three themes, says Dr. Launius, which he calls “the three Gs.” God, gold, and glory.

Glory was a strong motivation behind the space race of the 1960s, Dr. Launius says. Then, the Soviet Union launched the first satellite and first human into space, and the United States landed the first human on the moon. The world powers were grappling for prestige on the global stage, using the technological feat of going to space as a measuring stick. (Former President John F. Kennedy famously said, “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”)

Gold and God both came into play when European powers colonized many parts of the rest of the world in the 1500s, Dr. Launius says. Extraction of resources outside Europe established who led the Western powers at the time, and missionaries frequently accompanied colonists and conquistadors to convert Indigenous people to Christianity.

The cultural belief of “manifest destiny” in the 1800s in the U.S. is another clear example of religious views motivating expansion, as it was quite literally the idea that the nation was destined to spread its political and economic systems across the continent.

Today, there is a “profit motive, which is the gold part of this,” Dr. Launius says. “If we find something we want on the moon or Mars that is economically viable, there will be a gold rush like we have never seen before.”

Scoping out what resources might be on the moon is one of the objectives of the Artemis program, Mr. Troutman says.

Today’s motivation for human spaceflight goes beyond extraction. One could argue that there is also a “God” component today, Dr. Launius says. And he has made just that argument, identifying how some people relate to spaceflight in ways that fit the criteria for what constitutes a religion in the eyes of the government.

Some space enthusiasts still make what Dr. Launius calls a pilgrimage to rocket launches, and he has witnessed an outpouring of emotions at such events.

One primary criteria for considering a set of beliefs a religion, he says, is salvation theology. Advocates for a multiplanetary future often cite the need to establish homes for humanity in other places in order to ensure our species’ long-term survival. The thinking goes, Dr. Launius says, “If we get off this planet, we as a species can be saved.”

There’s likely an additional intangible element driving human spaceflight efforts, too, says Savannah Mandel, an outer space anthropologist and a Ph.D. candidate at Virginia Tech. “The motivations for sending humans to outer space are incredibly emotional and full of heart. There’s just this intense drive to see it with our own eyes firsthand,” she says. “Seeing Florida on a postcard is not the same as standing on a Florida beach. And even though it might be more financially smart or politically smart or socially smart not to go to Florida, you still want to go and stand on that beach.”

Creating a lunar future

Following the uncrewed test flight that is the Artemis 1 mission, NASA will send its second mission of the program with humans on board. Neither of the first two missions will land on the lunar surface. Subsequent missions are planned to touch down, however, landing the first woman on the surface of the moon and sending off expeditions.

The vision is for crewed missions to establish a lunar outpost from which research and resource reconnaissance can be conducted. Mr. Troutman likens it to settlements established across the American West in the days of the Lewis and Clark expedition…..

Stable Genus

Stable Genus

With Artemis, NASA envisions a multiplanetary future for humanity

God, gold, and glory

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