The Artemis XI Mission

First Astromancers on the Moon

by Dalton S. Spence

Last Updated:

When reconstructing the Artemis XI mission (Technomancer'sanswer to Apollo 11), the most important thing to remember is that mana-energy conversion spells were not invented until nearly a decade later, so all energy intensive astromancy would require large circles using large powerstones. Suffice it to say that even when using the most efficient means available, pristine powerstones large enough for ground-to-orbit teleports will cost millions of dollars to produce. This and the long recharge times they required would make 1960's astromancy missions as expensive and infrequent as their mundane counterparts, although with powerstones as permanent capital investments the space program itself would be more likely to survive the climactic mission simply through fiscal inertia. (One wonders who ended up with those quirked powerstones NASA either didn't get or spoiled themselves due to spell backfires. :) )

The basic outline of the Artemis program was as follows:

1. Build a permanent orbital station (Hermes) to use as a base of operations. The original Hermes station was likely little more than an orbital construction shack with radiation shielding and life support; the modern spinning torus would have been added later after the Artemis program had completed its mission.

2. Construct the Artemis lunar transfer vehicle (LTV) in orbit. The craft itself would have been a mircle of modular design, since each compartment would have to teleported up separately, with many of them heavily enchanted to provide maximum utility for minimum mass. Several important features include:

   1. As the LTV will never enter the atmosphere or land, it can have an extralight frame and minimum armor. Micrometeorite protection would be provided by a Missile Shield enchantment cast on that armor at 16 points/sf surface area.
   2. A minimum limited lifesystem enhanced with Powered Purify Air and Water enchantments to make it effectively a full life support system.
   3. After the Artemis I prototype was nearly destroyed during a 1967 ground test (disaster was averted by the quick casting of the Extinguish Fire spell), it was decided to cast a Fireproof enchantment over the entire vehicle (except for the rocket engine, of course).
   4. The power system consisted of solar panels (retractable to facilitate easier manuvering) backed up by a rechargable closed fuel cell for when the craft orbited into the Earth's/Moon's shadow. There were LH2, LOX and water tanks (all ultrlight self sealing) and an electrolysis unit to crack the water from solar power.
   5. Since the orbit of the Hermes station is listed as 220 miles [T108], to maintain continuous contact ground stations must be no more than 2,240 nautical miles apart. This requires 10 of them evenly spaced around the equator avery 36 degrees of longitude (+/- 1 degree). Since this was not possible (both logistically and politically), geosynchronus satellite links could be used to prevent periodic LOS (loss of signal). [The Apollo missions didn't do this because the CSM/LM/SIVB stack only remained in parking orbit for a few revolutions.] Note that a 20 degree tight beam transmitter centered on the Earth from GEO will cover orbits up to 600 miles out and a very sensitive receiver can pick up a medium range broadcast or a short range tight beam transmitter at that distance in space. Once the Artemis LTV goes beyond GEO itself, it can focus its own medium range tight bean transmitter and very sensitive receiver on Earth for direct communication.
   6. Onboard navigation is handled primarily by the Inertial Navigation System backed up by a set of Precision Navigation Instruments. (One of my favorite scenes from the movie Apollo 13 was somebody [I forget who] "shooting the stars" through the cabin window as would a mariner of old.)
   7. Onboard computers of the Apollo era were little more than sophisticated calculators using hardwired programs to control the engine "burns" with split-second accuracy. With only 11 kilobytes of RAM the systems were constantly getting memory overflow errors, and had to be rebooted and fed data and limited instructions manually through a numeric keypad and a few console switches. New data and command sequences were received from mission control via the voice channel, noted down on an input form and read back for confirmation before being input into the computer. I doubt magic could improve computers significantly at that time; however the craft could be permanently Animated to provide a backup pilot.
   8. As the LTV will have an extralight frame, the maximum thrust of the rocket engine should not exceed (body surface area × 50/3) lbs. in order to prevent its HT score from going below 10 (actually 9.5, but it's rounded up). Remember that the structure will never be subject to gravity, so thrust is the only load factor it has to worry about. Whether or not the rocket engine uses a Propel enchantment instead of reaction mass, burn times can be adjusted to provide the appropriate delta-v.
3. to 10. To calculate total delta-v required for either Powerstone (for Propel enchanted engines) or fuel tankage capacity, I used Apollo 16 mission data from the Artemis Project site which is an RL venture to establish commercial exploitation of the moon. (Thank you Mike Miller <cray74@hotmail.com>.)

In the Apollo program this was done by the Saturn IVB third stage booster which was jettisoned after the LM was picked up. Because the LTV is designed to be totally reusable this is not an option, and unless a Propel enchantment and Powerstones are used for thrust, the reaction mass tankage will have to be included.

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