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Speaker 1: Follow Kate talk on x at k Talk.

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Speaker 2: A bit of boyhood wonder has been part of my

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Speaker 2: morning reads when checking in on the Ottomus two crew.

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Speaker 2: They're on their way back home. They'll make splashdown in

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Speaker 2: the Pacific in the early hours of Friday morning, South

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Speaker 2: African time, but history making journey further from Earth than

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Speaker 2: any other humans before a major step towards returning people

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Speaker 2: to the Moon, the first time in the last fifty

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Speaker 2: years that NASA has embarked on a lunar program. But

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Speaker 2: many people don't know that behind the scenes, South Africa,

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Speaker 2: through the South Africa National Space Agency, has been quietly

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Speaker 2: and critically tracking the spacecraft relaying vital telemetry data. Joining

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Speaker 2: me now, Eugene of an unchief engineer at South African

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Speaker 2: National Space Agency Space Operations. Good morning, Eugene, really appreciate

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Speaker 2: your time. Just what role has South Africa been playing

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Speaker 2: behind the scenes with this Artemis mission.

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Speaker 1: It's good morning, Yeah. So SANTA has been tracking the spacecraft,

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Speaker 1: especially it's closer to Earth spheres. So what is needed

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Speaker 1: with this critically for this mission is very accurate orbital information.

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Speaker 1: So knowing the exact trajectory of the spacecraft is extremely

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Speaker 1: important as it guarantees the safe return of the astronauts

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Speaker 1: basically on the outward journey, making sure that the Transluna

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Speaker 1: injection burn was correct to ensure that it takes the

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Speaker 1: free return orbit around the Moon, and now on its

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Speaker 1: homeward journey, making sure that the burns to correct its

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Speaker 1: orbit for final reentry is accurate. How it's done is

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Speaker 1: through measurements of the return signals Dobbles's shift. So that

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Speaker 1: is a thing we called one way doppler. So that

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Speaker 1: is similar to the Noisey year when an ambulance part

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Speaker 1: is you the we when it comes past. So the

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Speaker 1: frequency changes as the orientation of the spacecraft to Earth.

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Speaker 1: So our ground station has been tracking the signal. Apart

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Speaker 1: from relaying Telemrigy, it has also been making extremely accurate

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Speaker 1: measurements of the frequency of the return signal. So in

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Speaker 1: combination with other ground stations across the Earth, the trajectory

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Speaker 1: can then be very accurately reconstructed and and and it

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Speaker 1: can give assurances that the space craft is on the

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Speaker 1: correct orbits.

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Speaker 2: And that's all through the have To based work space

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Speaker 2: station that's just north northwest of Joeburg. But what role

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Speaker 2: will South Africa play in future missions. This is just

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Speaker 2: but the second state. There was the Artemis one. This

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Speaker 2: is the Artemist two. I think there will be five

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Speaker 2: Artemis missions eventually to land on the Moon to search

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Speaker 2: and explore for war on the on the on the

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Speaker 2: lunar services. South poll what future participation does South Africa

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Speaker 2: have in this?

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Speaker 1: So South Africa was lined up in the initial planning

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Speaker 1: of the Artemis missions. Artemist fee would have been the

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Speaker 1: first lunar landing, and South Africa was planned to use

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Speaker 1: its new ground station under construction in Mikeys Fontaining to

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Speaker 1: also provide critical services to that mission. However, two weeks ago,

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Speaker 1: NASA Administrator Jack Eissman reshuffled announced reshuffling of the Artemis program,

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Speaker 1: so Artemis four will now be the first mission to

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Speaker 1: take the lunar landing. In the meantime, NASA has also

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Speaker 1: re prioritized certain of the activities, so we are currently

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Speaker 1: still standing by to provide the services for for the

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Speaker 1: later Artemis missions. But because of all the disruptions in

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Speaker 1: the in the program due to the new presidency there

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Speaker 1: we are awaiting for NASA to come back to us

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Speaker 1: and we firmly believe that we will still be supporting

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Speaker 1: the NASA Artemis program going forward from our new ground

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Speaker 1: station at Mikey Swat.

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Speaker 2: It is a global program. I know that there is

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Speaker 2: also what's known as the Artemis Treaty which brings in

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Speaker 2: international support. From what I understands, South Africa isn't a

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Speaker 2: signatory to that Artemis International Treaty, but still offering some

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Speaker 2: critical support to these missions.

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Speaker 1: Yes, so the Artemis Accords has been signed by many

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Speaker 1: nations across the world. However, South South Africa has not

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Speaker 1: ratified that accord, but that does not preclude us from

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Speaker 1: participating in the missions. So it is not a necessary

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Speaker 1: requirement to participate in supporting those missions, and we firmly

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Speaker 1: believe that we are still included in the plants.

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Speaker 2: Look, boy, would wonder, has I've been struck over the

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Speaker 2: last few days. I've been watching plenty of videos, reading

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Speaker 2: the reports in the morning, watching a lot of the

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Speaker 2: social media, even following some of the feed It really

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Speaker 2: takes these these moments, whether it be with NASA, whether

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Speaker 2: it be with China and the Tiger Notes, whether it

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Speaker 2: be India landing a probe on the lunar surfaces, Really

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Speaker 2: is the time to get younger Kids Group two to

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Speaker 2: STEM subjects to say, well, if you have a fascination

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Speaker 2: with space exploration, science technology, pay attention to this.

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Speaker 1: Yes. Absolutely, Yeah. So we live in in absolutely exciting

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Speaker 1: times for STEM, not just on terrestrial site but also

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Speaker 1: in the space. So these massive space programs are going on.

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Speaker 1: Access to space has become cheaper and cheaper with renewable

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Speaker 1: launchers and these large constellations of communications spacecraft. So it's

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Speaker 1: it's really an exciting field and it really requires all

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Speaker 1: of those STEM subjects to be taught and be taken

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Speaker 1: up by by the learners to ensure that we have

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Speaker 1: the workforce that will be able to support this exciting

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Speaker 1: times going forward.

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Speaker 2: Eugene Evan and Chief Engineer at the South Africa National

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Speaker 2: Space Agency Space Operations, really appreciate your time