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60 “The European Space Agency [ESA] has a vision for 2050 to achieve a circular economy in space, within which all ESA members will be responsible for anything they put up in space.” Balson explains. “They would be charged with bringing it back down or otherwise remanufacturing or repurposing it in space. “Only through accountability and transparency can that policy come into effect, which is where our platform is really coming to the fore. It’s allowing organisations to see satellites in a precise, detailed and fine-grained sense for the first time, so that they can be tracked really closely as to how they’re being used or misused, cared for or neglected, and recycled or discarded.” The Moon NASA is pushing forward with its Artemis programme to return astronauts to the Moon, despite problems with its efforts to launch the initial Artemis I uncrewed Moon-orbiting mission. Artemis I comprises NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) expendable rocket and the partially reusable Orion spacecraft. A faulty reading from a redundant sensor prompted the cancellation of the first launch attempt, on August 29 this year, while a hydrogen leak scuppered the second attempt on September 3. The third launch opportunity was on September 27, but trajectory forecasts for (then) Tropical Storm Ian now mean the mission is expected to begin in November this year. The mission will test the Orion’s subsystems and performance in deep space by sending it on an uncrewed flight test around the Moon and back, with a crewed mission to follow on a future Artemis II mission. Specifically, Artemis I will test the Orion’s navigation and comms systems without help from the Earth’s comms satellites, and examine how its radiation sensors and shielding perform outside the protection of the Earth’s magnetic field. It also carries the world’s largest heat shield, which will be tested during a high-speed return from the Moon. The uncrewed Orion will have a gross lift- off weight of 32,650 kg, including 7250 kg of propellant. During its journey, most of its propulsion (as well as thermal management and electric power) will come from the service module provided by the ESA. That therefore carries 14,000 kg of propulsion equipment, composed of 24 reaction control system thrusters, each producing 23 kg of thrusting force, and eight auxiliary engines each producing 50 kg of thrust, with an orbital manoeuvring system that creates a further 2700 kg of thrust. Also, four solar arrays comprising 15,000 photovoltaic cells will extend out from the Orion’s service module to a full length of 19 m, collectively to generate up to 11 kW of electrical power. October/November 2022 | Uncrewed Systems Technology The Artemis I mission includes an uncrewed Orbiter spacecraft that will fly around the Moon and back, to test its subsystems and launch a fleet of research CubeSats (Courtesy of NASA) The Skycopter UAV from Skypersonic is being used on Mt Etna, in Italy, for simulating a future Mars mission, in which astronauts would remotely monitor uncrewed systems BVLOS on the Red Planet (Courtesy of Skypersonic)