S02E19: European Astronauts to Join Artemis Moon Missions & UK-India Space Collaboration

[00:00:00] Gude, everyone and welcome to the Astronomy Daily podcast for Wednesday, the July 12th. 2023 my name is Halle and I will not be your host for today and as usual I have my favorite

[00:00:10] human in the studio with me. We are trying a little experiment as we both have free time today and to try and keep the interesting astronomy news flowing for our listeners. So over to you Tim.

[00:00:27] Thanks for a great introduction there Halle and as Halle has already said we're going to try a little experiment today what I call a one-story Wednesday, one story from Halle and one story from myself. So hopefully you will enjoy and as usual you can leave feedback on our

[00:00:44] Facebook page. Over to you Halle for your story. That's a great idea Tim. Here is my story for today. Artemis 4 and Artemis 5 Moon Missions will include European astronauts. I do everything to make sure that our commitment will be met, European Space Agency Chief Joseph Aschbacher says.

[00:01:04] We now know when Europeans will land on the moon alongside NASA astronauts. Both the Artemis 4 and Artemis 5 Moon Landing Missions, which are slated to launch in 2028 and 2029, respectively, will feature one European Space Agency astronaut, ESA Director Joseph Aschbacher

[00:01:21] said. Another ESA astronaut is guaranteed to fly on a future Artemis Moon mission, but which one is not decided yet? I'm very happy and very proud that NASA is relying on Europe as a partner in providing critical elements. For Artemis missions, Aschbacher said. He was speaking on

[00:01:39] July 1st hours after the launch of Euclid and ESA-led Dark Universe, mission that also has NASA participation and said the agencies seek to have a good dialogue about expectations for all missions. I do everything to make sure that our commitment will be met, Aschbacher added.

[00:01:56] ESA was an early signatory to the NASA-led Artemis Accords, which aim to set a path for moon exploration and to establish international peaceful norms for space exploration. The addition of India and Ecuador last month brings the number of Artemis Accord

[00:02:10] signatories to 27. Europe is also contributing the service module, which supplies electricity and other resources for NASA's Orion spacecraft, which will carry Artemis astronauts to the moon. And ESA is supplying, in partnership with Japan, a habitat module and a refueling module for

[00:02:30] NASA's Moon Orbiting Gateway Space Station, a key piece of Artemis infrastructure. ESA officials previously said that, in exchange, the agency will receive three flight opportunities for European astronauts to launch on Artemis missions, but did not name those flights.

[00:02:46] ESA also continues to send astronauts to the International Space Station, including Denmark's Andreas Mogensen, who is set to launch on SpaceX's crew 7 mission on August 15. European astronauts slated to launch on shorter ISS missions

[00:03:01] are also in training with the private company Axiom Space, which uses SpaceX hardware for space missions. Marcus Wante from Sweden will be the first of the group on Ax3, set to launch in late 2023. Artemis missions are already underway. In November 2022, NASA launched Artemis 1, an uncrewed round-the-moon trip that

[00:03:22] sent several mannequins and science experiments on a test of Orion and the Space Launch System rocket. The first crewed mission of the program, Artemis 2, is expected to launch in November 2024 to go around the moon and back. Its quartet of astronauts, named in April 2023,

[00:03:38] will be the first people to head toward the moon in more than 50 years. Canadian Jeremy Hansen will fly with three NASA astronauts in exchange for Canadarm3, slated to launch to Gateway later in the decade.

[00:03:54] Thanks for that great story, Hallie. Now don't forget, you can find all of our episodes at Spacenut.io and Bytes.com. And you can also get regularly Steve on Monday and myself on Friday.

[00:04:08] Now, down to my story for today. India and the UK, to connect their space clusters, UK science minister has said. India and the UK are also discussing how they can better harness low Earth observation orbits and the regulation of satellite communications, he said.

[00:04:26] Ramping up their cooperation in the area of space, India and the UK will connect their space clusters, starting with Leicester Space Park. UK's Minister for Science, Research and Innovation George Freeman has said. He also said that India and the UK are also discussing how

[00:04:43] they can better harness low Earth observation orbits and the regulation of satellite communications. According to Freeman both countries are also keen to work together in the field of nuclear energy and looking forward to collaborating on nuclear fission

[00:04:57] and nuclear fusion. We are looking to connect the UK space cluster parks with Indian space parks, starting with Leicester, so that we can grow the space economy and nurture the skills for the new generation of young Indian scientists working in the UK and innovators in a commercial

[00:05:16] space economy. Freeman was in Mumbai last week to attend the meeting of G20 science ministers. He also met his Indian counterpart, Dutendra Singh. He said the UK is investing in its space clusters that are spread around the country. Freeman added the UK is committed to not trying

[00:05:35] to grow a vertical integrated sovereign closed space economy but an open commercial global economy. The UK has passed the Space Act, the first nation in Europe to launch and set the Regulatory Framework for Space. He said in the next few months this summer we are looking at how

[00:05:52] quickly to develop these ideas so when Prime Minister Rishi Sunak comes to India later this year he and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have a very rich package of measures to announce. So talks are going on this summer, Freeman said. He said India and the UK are also

[00:06:11] looking at areas where the two countries have strategic interests and very strong synergy. In the area of future telecoms, satellite communications A and 5G, we see India as the world's largest democracy and rapidly becoming the biggest and influential economy. India's adoption

[00:06:30] of technologies and the regulation of those technologies would be absolutely key for global security. So we have agreed to work on those very important technologies to develop both technological cooperation and also regulatory cooperation the UK minister said. India's innovation

[00:06:50] economy, the scale of growth and the digital technologies mean the UK and India have a very very exciting few years ahead that Freeman added. That's my story for today and I do hope you

[00:07:02] enjoyed the show. Bye for now, see you next time. Bye. Thanks Tim TTFN. The astronomy daily podcast.