The Moon is shown in its cold and austere reality in the latest images sent by the Orion spacecraft. The capsule sent for the Artemis I mission to the terrestrial satellite has not only gone to carry out scientific and investigative tasks, it has also taken the opportunity to capture new images of the Moon as we have not seen it for a long time. Today, he posted a series of photos that show us the barren wasteland that awaits humanity in 2030.
These images were captured during the approach of the Orion spacecraft to the surface of the Moon; event that took place earlier in the week. Of course, NASA took the opportunity to provide the Artemis I mission with new satellite images, and despite the gloomy panorama, it represents an amazing postcard.
NASA uploaded the photos to its Flickr account. Here, not only the Moon appears, there are also images from before the launch of the Artemis I program. In fact, our planet also appears in all blue detail, and images of some astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
Orion photos prepare astronauts for what’s to come
In the images we see details as deep as the craters on the Moon captured by one of the 16 cameras on the Orion spacecraft. Although it seems that the lunar surface was completely gray, the truth is that NASA has taken the images in black and white. In fact, other studies have revealed that our satellite has more color than we can see.
How did all these craters get to the Moon? So far, we know that the satellite formed about 4 billion years ago, after a theoretical celestial object the size of Mars collided with our planet. Since then, the surface has remained unprotected with no atmosphere, making it an ideal pincushion for any celestial body entering its orbit.
In order to take these images, NASA has had to deal with years of delay with its SLS rocket. On November 16, he finally managed to launch it, with the Orion ship as the protagonist. Now the ship still faces a few days of orbit around the Moonbut will soon be back on Earth to provide more details on future trips to our satellite.
In a few years, a group of astronauts will be living and orbiting the lunar surface Thanks to the Orion spacecraft. The images shown by NASA are a representation of what this group of people chosen to colonize the natural satellite will see daily.