Artemis and After

Artemis is NASA’s way of peering into the future of interplanetary travel to Mars; thus, Artemis astronauts should not only be masters of the present but individuals who are as forward-looking as NASA itself. The ideal team would be composed of a geophysicist who analyzes samples of the water frozen on the lunar surface for insight into the geological evolution of the moon and the past of our solar system, an environmental biologist who carries out horticultural experiments to efficiently harness sunlight for cultivation, a doctor who provides medical care and conducts biological experiments that influence designs for future manned expeditions, and a veteran pilot with aeronautical engineering expertise who can troubleshoot Orion's flight systems and navigate the lunar surface. Like Artemis’ arrowheads, each member of the team should be sharp and formidable in their respective fields; however, they should also be open to developing their knowledge in their teammates' fields. They must be analytical and methodical scientists, but they must also be creative individuals who can adapt to unpredictable situations and communicate constructively. The fifth crewmate would be the Communications Intelligence Program for Research and Environmental Support (CIPRES), which is an AI in a solar-powered robotic body that monitors the astronauts' environment and health cues and tracks the position of and responds to the crew. CIPRES's neural network enables it to change the astronauts' environment, analyze surface samples, adapt to the astronauts' socio-emotional cues, and continue researching and informing NASA's engineers about the lunar surface after the crew's departure. CIPRES’s position as a source of enviro-social support and as an additional point of contact between NASA and the crew is combined with the interdisciplinary knowledge of the crew itself, ensures that this team will have the intelligence, skill, and redundancy of ability needed to realize NASA’s dream for Artemis.