‘We’re the connection’: Australia’s vital role in historic lunar mission

In 2024 or ’25 they’ll fly the Orion capsule spacecraft around the moon in a crucial 10-day test-run ahead of an actual moon landing.

As well as transmitting critical comms and data, the Canberra complex is also an emotional lifeline for the humans who, once launched, will become the most isolated souls in the solar system.

“We’re the connection to their families,” Nagle said. “Astronauts can send emails and do video chats. That human connection is so important – they’re heading off to the depths of space, and we need to make sure that they always have that connection to us.”

The complex’s 85 staff are preparing for takeoff just as hard as the astronauts, Nagle said, and are drilling for communication failures, spacecraft faults and course re-alignments if a thruster malfunctions.

Nagle recalled the 1970 explosion of an oxygen tank on Apollo 13 halfway between Earth and the moon. Communication went down due to two radio signals cancelling each other out on the spacecraft.

“It took the team here in Canberra to separate those signals and reestablish communication, which was essential,” Nagle said.

NASA chief Bill Nelson visited Australia a fortnight ago, when Minister for Industry and Science Ed Husic awarded $4 million in grants to two consortiums, under the Australian Science Agency’s Trailblazer program, to begin work on a locally designed semi-autonomous rover.

The program aims to have an Australian-built rover collect lunar soil and scour it for water by 2026.

“Australia needs to be an active participant and not a bystander in humanity’s return to the moon,” the head of the Australian Space Agency, Enrico Palermo, said.

“The Trailblazer program will help us secure our seat in future international space missions to the moon and beyond.”

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Nagle said the Canberra team are looking forward to playing a part in returning humankind to the moon. The complex still maintains the antenna that beamed Neil Armstrong’s historic lunar steps around the world.

“If Artemis II is successful, then Artemis III in 2025-26 will be the next mission to go with a crew, but this time to land boots on the surface of another world,” Nagle said.

“I’m sure there will be another generation as affixed as I was as an eight-year-old, watching Neil Armstrong walk on the moon.”

Liam Mannix’s Examine newsletter explains and analyses science with a rigorous focus on the evidence. Sign up to get it each week.