NASA Artemis Program: Before going to the Moon, astronauts must undergo desert training in Arizona

NASA plans to fully prepare humans for the lunar surface environment before putting them there. To that end, NASA has announced the start of a third field test of the Joint Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility Program Test Team (JETT3), which will use a simulated lunar environment to train for future missions.

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Similar to what is anticipated at the lunar south pole during the Artemis missions, these tasks will be carried out in the desert of Flagstaff, Arizona. This desert has tough topography, intriguing geology, and a little communications infrastructure.

In October 2022, @NASA will conduct two, multi-week field tests near Flagstaff, Arizona to practice mission scenarios for #Artemis astronauts.

These analog missions will teach astronauts, engineers, and scientists how to conduct future lunar operations: https://t.co/wI6RslkVmi pic.twitter.com/XdiC1r8KTu

— NASA Artemis (@NASAArtemis) October 3, 2022

From October 4-9, JETT3 will send astronauts on four moonwalks, following the activities of Artemis III, which is scheduled for 2025 and will return people to the Moon after more than half a century. The major purpose is to learn how to adapt to the unusual illumination conditions at the lunar South Pole. NASA claims that the SP Crater, located around 64 kilometres south of Flagstaff, will be used for all moonwalks because of its ability to simulate lunar conditions.

Drew Feustel and Zena Cardman, two astronaut candidates, have been chosen for this experiment and will wear replicas of the spacesuits while travelling around a 1.5 km diameter circle. During their moonwalk, the team plans to gather rock and soil samples using a variety of methods, including as raking, hammering, and coring. After JETT3 concludes, the data collected will be utilised to improve technology and organise future Artemis missions.

Three mission runs of the D-RATS will take place between October 11- 22 at Black Point Lava Flow to practice operations for future missions beyond Artemis III. "The mission will primarily focus on conducting pressurized rover operations, which is a key element of future Artemis missions starting with Artemis VII in 2030", NASA said in a statement. 

"Astronauts can live and work comfortably inside the rover, exiting the vehicle to collect samples or deploy experiments", the statement read. In this year's November 12-27 launch window, the Artemis 1 mission is expected to kick off the Artemis Program.