AFP UK

Hydrogen trains have become a promising way to decarbonise the rail sector and replace climate-warming diesel, which still powers 20 percent of journeys in Germany

Germany on Wednesday inaugurated a railway line powered entirely by hydrogen, a “world premiere” and a major step forward for green train transport despite nagging supply challenges.

A fleet of 14 trains provided by French industrial giant Alstom to the German state Lower Saxony has replaced diesel locomotives on the 100 kilometres (60 miles) of track connecting the cities of Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Bremervoerde and Buxtehude near Hamburg.

“We are very proud to put this technology into operation together with our strong partners as a world premiere,” Alstom CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge said in a statement.

Hydrogen trains have become a promising way to decarbonise the rail sector and replace climate-warming diesel, which still powers 20 percent of journeys in Germany.

Billed as a “zero emission” mode of transport, the trains mix hydrogen on board with oxygen present in the ambient air, thanks to a fuel cell installed in the roof. This produces the electricity needed to pull the train.

Regional rail operator LNVG said the fleet, which cost 93 million euros (dollars), would prevent 4,400 tonnes of CO2 being released into the atmosphere each year.

– Run for its money –

Designed in the southern French town of Tarbes and assembled in Salzgitter in central Germany, Alstom’s trains — called Coradia iLint — are trailblazers in the sector.

The project created jobs for up to 80 employees in the two countries, according to Alstom. 

Commercial trials have been carried out since 2018 on the line with two hydrogen trains but now the entire fleet is adopting the groundbreaking technology.

The French group has inked four contracts for several dozen trains between Germany, France and Italy, with no sign of demand waning. 

In Germany alone “between 2,500 and 3,000 diesel trains could be replaced by hydrogen models”, Stefan Schrank, project manager at Alstom, told AFP.

“By 2035, around 15 to 20 percent of the regional European market could run on hydrogen,” according to Alexandre Charpentier, a rail expert at consultancy Roland Berger.

Hydrogen trains are particularly attractive on short regional lines where the cost of a transition to electric outstrips the profitability of the route. 

Currently, around one out of two regional trains in Europe runs on diesel.

But Alstom’s competitors are ready to give it a run for its money. German behemoth Siemens unveiled a prototype hydrogen train with national rail company Deutsche Bahn in May, with a view to a roll-out in 2024.

But, despite the attractive prospects, “there are real barriers” to a big expansion with hydrogen, Charpentier said.

For starters, trains are not the only means of transport hungry for the fuel.

The entire sector, whether it be road vehicles or aircraft, not to mention heavy industry such as steel and chemicals, is eyeing hydrogen to slash CO2 emissions.

– Colossal investment –

Although Germany announced in 2020 an ambitious seven-billion-euro plan to become a leader in hydrogen technologies within a decade, the infrastructure is still lacking in Europe’s top economy.

It is a problem seen across the continent, where colossal investment would be needed for a real shift to hydrogen.

“For this reason, we do not foresee a 100-percent replacement of diesel trains with hydrogen,” Charpentier said.

Furthermore, hydrogen is not necessarily carbon-free: only “green hydrogen”, produced using renewable energy, is considered sustainable by experts. 

Other, more common manufacturing methods exist, but they emit greenhouse gases because they are made from fossil fuels. 

The Lower Saxony line will in the beginning have to use a hydrogen by-product of certain industries such as the chemical sector.

The French research institute IFP specialising in energy issues says that hydrogen is currently “95 percent derived from the transformation of fossil fuels, almost half of which come from natural gas”. 

Europe’s enduring reliance on gas from Russia amid massive tensions over the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine poses major challenges for the development of hydrogen in rail transport.

“Political leaders will have to decide which sector to prioritise when determining what the production of hydrogen will or won’t go to,” Charpentier said. 

Germany will also have to import massively to meet its needs. 

Partnerships have recently been signed with India and Morocco, and Chancellor Olaf Scholz sealed a green hydrogen deal with Canada on a visit this week, laying a path for a transatlantic supply chain.

Southern China has recorded its longest continuous period of high temperatures since records began in 1961

China’s autumn harvest is under “severe threat” from high temperatures and drought, authorities have warned, promising Wednesday fresh steps to protect crops in the face of the country’s hottest summer on record.

The world’s second-largest economy has been hit by record heat, flash floods and droughts this summer — phenomena that scientists say are becoming more frequent and intense due to climate change.

Southern China has recorded its longest continuous period of high temperatures since records began more than 60 years ago, the agriculture ministry said.

Four government departments urged the conservation of “every unit of water” to protect crops.

“The rapid development of drought superimposed with high temperatures and heat damage has caused a severe threat to autumn crop production,” a statement said Tuesday.

China produces more than 95 percent of the rice, wheat and maize it consumes, but a reduced harvest could mean increased demand for imports in the world’s most populous country — putting further pressure on global supplies already strained by the conflict in Ukraine.

State media reported Wednesday evening that the government had pledged 10 billion yuan ($1.45 billion) to help ensure good rice harvests this autumn.

A meeting of Beijing’s State Council, presided over by Premier Li Keqiang, had agreed the government should “do an even better job in fighting and reducing drought”, broadcaster CCTV said.

Officials also called for “a combination of measures to increase water sources to fight drought, first ensure drinking water for the people, ensure water for agricultural irrigation, and guide farmers to fight drought and protect autumn grain”, it added.

Temperatures as high as 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) have led multiple Chinese provinces to impose power cuts, as cities struggle to cope with a surge in demand for electricity partly driven by people cranking up the air conditioning.

The heat broke records in Sichuan, where a temperature of 43.9 degrees Celsius (111 Fahrenheit) was recorded Wednesday afternoon, the province’s Meteorological Service Centre said in a statement.

The megacities of Shanghai and Chongqing have turned off outdoor decorative lighting, while authorities in Sichuan have imposed industrial power cuts after water levels dropped at key hydroelectric plants.

The searing heat is also drying up the critical Yangtze River, with water flow on its main trunk about 50 percent lower than the average over the last five years, state media outlet China News Service reported last week.

– ‘Worst heatwave ever’ –

In Chongqing, where more than 1,500 people were evacuated from areas hit by multiple wildfires, locals were struggling.

“I feel too hot to sleep every night, and I’m awakened by the heat every morning,” Xu Jinxin, a 20-year-old student, told AFP.

“Because of the electricity shortage, we don’t leave the air conditioner on all day but rather turn it off once it’s cooled down a bit.”

The national meteorological service renewed warnings for drought and high temperatures on Tuesday, calling on 11 provincial governments to activate emergency responses.

Authorities have turned to cloud seeding — a method to induce rainfall — in parts of the country. 

CCTV published footage this month showing meteorological workers shooting catalyst rockets into the sky and firefighters transporting water to farmers in need.

It also broadcast images Wednesday of water trucks supplying people in villages in Sichuan and around Chongqing in a bid to counter shortages.

“The people with water supply difficulties in rural areas of Chongqing are mainly concentrated in mountain towns and relatively remote areas,” CCTV said.

“This is the worst heatwave ever recorded,” climate and energy expert Liu Junyan of Greenpeace East Asia told AFP.

“Climate science shows extreme heat is becoming exponentially worse,” she said.

“So it’s more likely that next year will have record-breaking heat.”

The extreme weather is raising public awareness of climate change in China, with state media “now coming around to covering climate impacts” with unprecedented urgency, Liu said.

Government climate expert Zhou Bing warned over the weekend of mass displacement caused by climate change, describing extreme weather as nature’s “revenge” on humanity.

China has experienced three other episodes of intense heat so far this century — in 2003, 2013 and 2017.

The gap between heatwaves is “significantly shortening”, according to Zhou.

For those living through the sweltering summer, “life goes on with some endurance”, said Xu, the Chongqing student.

High summer temperatures and low rainfall have seen trees shed their leaves in the UK in a phenomenon dubbed 'false autumn'

Searing summer temperatures in the UK have not just parched the earth and dried up rivers, lakes and reservoirs but are also seeing trees shed their leaves early.

Instead of green, many gardens, parks and woods are now a sea of orange, yellow, red and brown, with thick carpets of leaves on the ground.

The early leaf fall — dubbed a “false autumn” — is a sign of stress, as trees shed their leaves to try to retain moisture.

But experts say while older trees with deep roots can withstand the drier conditions, younger, less established ones could be at risk.

“The trees are enacting the hormones they use in autumn to just retract and ensure their survival,” said Rosie Walker, of the Woodland Trust conservation charity.

“They’ll keep going like this for a few years but it is going to start impacting our trees if we’re not very careful,” she told BBC radio.

Temperatures soared above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) for the first time in Britain in July, with the month the driest on record in many parts of southern and eastern England.

Climate change has been blamed for the searing heatwave, which has led to drought being declared and a ban on the use of hosepipes to save water in some areas.

The Woodland Trust said fallen leaves are most likely to come from birch, silver birch and rowan trees.

“We saw the first turn in silver birch on August 12, which is incredibly early,” said Walker, adding that other species were also shedding their leaves.

The Trust meanwhile said it recorded its earliest ever appearance of ripe wild blackberries — normally an autumn fruit — on June 28.

That, and the premature ripening of other berries and nuts, could hit wildlife such as small mammals and birds who store energy in September and October for the cold winter months.

Animals such as dormice consume high-fat foods such as hazelnuts and other hedgerow fruits in autumn but could struggle if they are gone by August.

Steve Hussey, from the Devon Wildlife Trust in southwest England, said: “Nature’s timing is everything for our wildlife.

“The climate crisis is bringing with it seasonal weather patterns which our wildlife is just not adapted to.

“Our long, hot summer and the ‘false autumn’ will have a knock-on for many species right into the real autumn months and beyond.”

From Wednesday, only hydrogen-powered trains will run on a German regional line in 'world first'

Germany on Wednesday inaugurated a railway line powered entirely by hydrogen, a “world premiere” and a major step forward for green train transport despite nagging supply challenges.

A fleet of 14 trains provided by French industrial giant Alstom to the German state Lower Saxony has replaced diesel locomotives on the 100 kilometres (60 miles) of track connecting the cities of Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Bremervoerde and Buxtehude near Hamburg.

“We are very proud to put this technology into operation together with our strong partners as a world premiere,” Alstom CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge said in a statement.

Hydrogen trains have become a promising way to decarbonise the rail sector and replace climate-warming diesel, which still powers 20 percent of journeys in Germany.

Billed as a “zero emission” mode of transport, the trains mix hydrogen on board with oxygen present in the ambient air, thanks to a fuel cell installed in the roof. This produces the electricity needed to pull the train.

Regional rail operator LNVG said the fleet, which cost 93 million euros (dollars), would prevent 4,400 tonnes of CO2 being released into the atmosphere each year.

– Run for its money –

Designed in the southern French town of Tarbes and assembled in Salzgitter in central Germany, Alstom’s trains — called Coradia iLint — are trailblazers in the sector.

The project created jobs for up to 80 employees in the two countries, according to Alstom. 

Commercial trials have been carried out since 2018 on the line with two hydrogen trains but now the entire fleet is adopting the groundbreaking technology.

The French group has inked four contracts for several dozen trains between Germany, France and Italy, with no sign of demand waning. 

In Germany alone “between 2,500 and 3,000 diesel trains could be replaced by hydrogen models”, Stefan Schrank, project manager at Alstom, told AFP.

“By 2035, around 15 to 20 percent of the regional European market could run on hydrogen,” according to Alexandre Charpentier, a rail expert at consultancy Roland Berger.

Hydrogen trains are particularly attractive on short regional lines where the cost of a transition to electric outstrips the profitability of the route. 

Currently, around one out of two regional trains in Europe runs on diesel.

But Alstom’s competitors are ready to give it a run for its money. German behemoth Siemens unveiled a prototype hydrogen train with national rail company Deutsche Bahn in May, with a view to a roll-out in 2024.

But, despite the attractive prospects, “there are real barriers” to a big expansion with hydrogen, Charpentier said.

For starters, trains are not the only means of transport hungry for the fuel.

The entire sector, whether it be road vehicles or aircraft, not to mention heavy industry such as steel and chemicals, is eyeing hydrogen to slash CO2 emissions.

– Colossal investment –

Although Germany announced in 2020 an ambitious seven-billion-euro plan to become a leader in hydrogen technologies within a decade, the infrastructure is still lacking in Europe’s top economy.

It is a problem seen across the continent, where colossal investment would be needed for a real shift to hydrogen.

“For this reason, we do not foresee a 100-percent replacement of diesel trains with hydrogen,” Charpentier said.

Furthermore, hydrogen is not necessarily carbon-free: only “green hydrogen”, produced using renewable energy, is considered sustainable by experts. 

Other, more common manufacturing methods exist, but they emit greenhouse gases because they are made from fossil fuels. 

The Lower Saxony line will in the beginning have to use a hydrogen by-product of certain industries such as the chemical sector.

The French research institute IFP specialising in energy issues says that hydrogen is currently “95 percent derived from the transformation of fossil fuels, almost half of which come from natural gas”. 

Europe’s enduring reliance on gas from Russia amid massive tensions over the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine poses major challenges for the development of hydrogen in rail transport.

“Political leaders will have to decide which sector to prioritise when determining what the production of hydrogen will or won’t go to,” Charpentier said. 

Germany will also have to import massively to meet its needs. 

Partnerships have recently been signed with India and Morocco, and Chancellor Olaf Scholz sealed a green hydrogen deal with Canada on a visit this week, laying a path for a transatlantic supply chain.

Southwestern China is enduring an unprecedented heatwave

The lights are out along a once-bustling boulevard in a tourist spot at the epicentre of China’s hottest summer on record, as people take refuge indoors from the searing heat engulfing the country’s southwest.

The region is suffering through its longest continuous period of high temperatures since records began more than 60 years ago, with scientists warning such hot and dry spells will worsen as climate change warms the planet.

Temperatures as high as 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) have forced authorities to impose power cuts to cope with a surge in demand for electricity partly driven by people cranking up the air conditioning.

On the streets of Chongqing, a city of 30 million, locals line up for mandatory Covid tests in the wee hours of the morning, keen to avoid long queues in the scorching heat of the day.

One woman told AFP she took shelter in a local ballroom during the day — a spot particularly busy as the elderly seek shelter from the sun and while away the hours dancing under a dimmed light.

The power shortages have now forced locals to scale back their use of air conditioning, making life a struggle.

“Since the heatwave, I feel too hot to sleep every night, and the heat wakes me up every morning,” Xu Jinxin, a 20-year-old student, told AFP.

“Because of the electricity shortage, we don’t leave the AC on all day,” he said. 

“We’re trying to use less and save more, trying to use fans if we can, and life goes on with some endurance.”

At Chongqing’s most popular tourist spot along the Jialing River, the lights have been cut to save power and the once-busy street has gone quiet.

Locals bathe in what water remains in the dried-out riverbed and pose for photos.

The Jialing is a tributary of the mighty Yangtze — a key node for southwestern China’s trade that is now drying up, with water flow on its main trunk about 50 percent lower than the average over the last five years.

Local businesses — already hit hard by two years of Covid-19 — are suffering, with one bar worker saying the power shortages had affected nightlife.

“Most of the equipment like the ice-maker and the lighting in the bar are high-power machines, and the recent electricity shortage has compelled the bar to suspend business,” Liu, a singer, told AFP. 

“This affects my work and my life as well.”

Even the taps are running hot.

“In previous summers when we turned on the faucet, we might get hot water flowing for one minute, and cool water after that,” said Zhang, a 25-year-old woman who did not give her first name.

“This year, even after two or three minutes, it still feels like boiling water.”

burs-oho/mca/axn

A resident makes his way by boat along a waterlogged street in Sukkur, Sindh province

Record monsoon rains were causing a “catastrophe of epic scale”, Pakistan’s climate change minister said Wednesday, announcing an international appeal for help in dealing with floods that have killed more than 800 people since June.

The annual monsoon is essential for irrigating crops and replenishing lakes and dams across the Indian subcontinent, but each year it also brings a wave of destruction.

Heavy rain continued to pound much of Pakistan Wednesday, with authorities reporting more than a dozen deaths — including nine children — in the last 24 hours.

“It has been raining for a month now. There is nothing left,” a woman named Khanzadi told AFP in badly hit Jaffarabad, Balochistan province.

“We had only one goat, that too drowned in the flood… Now we have nothing with us and we are lying along the road and facing hunger.”

Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman said authorities would launch an appeal for international help once an assessment was complete.

“Given the scale of the disaster there is no question of the provinces, or even Islamabad, being able to cope with this magnitude of climate catastrophe on their own,” she told AFP. 

“Lives are at risk, thousands homeless. It is important that international partners mobilise assistance.”

Pakistan is eighth on a list of countries deemed most vulnerable to extreme weather caused by climate change, according to the Global Climate Risk Index compiled by environmental NGO Germanwatch.

– From heatwave to flood –

Earlier this year much of the nation was in the grip of a heatwave, with temperatures hitting 51 degrees Celsius (124 Fahrenheit) in Jacobabad, Sindh province.

The city is now grappling with floods that have inundated homes and swept away roads and bridges.

In Sukkur, about 75 kilometres (50 miles) away, volunteers were using boats along the flooded streets of the city to distribute food and fresh water to people trapped in their homes. 

Zaheer Ahmad Babar, a senior met office official, told AFP that this year’s rains were the heaviest since 2010, when over 2,000 people died and more than two million were displaced by monsoon floods that covered nearly a fifth of the country.

Rainfall in Balochistan province was 430 percent higher than normal, he said, while Sindh was nearing 500 percent.

The town of Padidan in Sindh had received over a metre (39 inches) of rain since August 1, he added.

“It is a climate catastrophe of epic scale,” Rehman said, adding three million people had been affected.

The National Disaster Management Authority said in a statement that nearly 125,000 homes had been destroyed and 288,000 more were damaged by the floods.

Some 700,000 livestock in Sindh and Balochistan had been killed, and nearly two million acres of farmland destroyed, officials added.

Nearly 3,000 kilometres of roads had also been damaged.

Southern China has recorded its longest sustained period of high temperatures and low rain "with the widest in scope and the highest average intensity since 1961"

China’s autumn harvest is under “severe threat” from high temperatures and drought, authorities have warned, urging action to protect crops in the face of the country’s hottest summer on record.

The world’s second-largest economy has been hit by record temperatures, flash floods and droughts this summer — phenomena that scientists have warned are becoming more frequent and intense due to climate change.

Southern China has recorded its longest sustained period of high temperatures and sparse rain since records began more than 60 years ago, the agriculture ministry said.

Four government departments issued a notice on Tuesday urging the conservation of “every unit of water” to protect crops.

“The rapid development of drought superimposed with high temperatures and heat damage has caused a severe threat to autumn crop production,” the statement said.

China produces more than 95 percent of the rice, wheat and maize it consumes, but a reduced harvest could mean increased demand for imports in the world’s most populous country — putting further pressure on global supplies already strained by the conflict in Ukraine.

Temperatures as high as 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) have led multiple Chinese provinces to impose power cuts, as cities struggle to cope with a surge in demand for electricity that is partly driven by people cranking up the air conditioning.

The heat broke records in the province of Sichuan, where a temperature of 43.9 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit) was recorded on Wednesday afternoon, the province’s Meteorological Service Centre said in a statement.

The megacities of Shanghai and Chongqing have turned off outdoor decorative lighting, while authorities in Sichuan have imposed industrial power cuts after water levels dropped at key hydroelectric plants.

The searing heat is also drying up the critical Yangtze River, with water flow on its main trunk about 50 percent lower than the average over the last five years, state media outlet China News Service reported last week.

– ‘Worst heatwave ever’ –

In Chongqing, where more than 1,500 people were evacuated after hot and dry conditions sparked multiple wildfires, locals were struggling.

“I feel too hot to sleep every night, and I’m awakened by the heat every morning,” Xu Jinxin, a 20-year-old student, told AFP.

“Because of the electricity shortage, we don’t leave the air conditioner on all day but rather turn it off once it’s cooled down a bit.”

The national meteorological service renewed its warnings for drought and high temperatures on Tuesday, calling for 11 provincial governments to activate emergency responses.

Authorities have already turned to cloud seeding — a method to induce rainfall — in parts of the country. 

State broadcaster CCTV published footage this month showing meteorological staff shooting catalyst rockets into the sky and firefighters transporting water to farmers in need.

“This is the worst heatwave ever recorded,” climate and energy expert Liu Junyan of Greenpeace East Asia told AFP.

“Climate science shows extreme heat is becoming exponentially worse,” she said.

“So it’s more likely that next year will have record-breaking heat.”

This year’s extreme weather is raising public awareness of climate change in China, with state media “now coming around to covering climate impacts” with unprecedented urgency, Liu said.

Government climate expert Zhou Bing warned over the weekend of mass displacement caused by climate change, describing extreme weather as nature’s “revenge” on humanity.

China has experienced three other episodes of intense heat so far this century — in 2003, 2013, 2017.

The gap between heatwaves is “significantly shortening”, according to Zhou.

For those living through the sweltering summer, “life goes on with some endurance”, said Xu, the Chongqing resident.

Southern China has recorded its longest sustained period of high temperatures and low rain "with the widest in scope and the highest average intensity since 1961"

China’s autumn harvest is under “severe threat” from high temperatures and drought, authorities have warned, urging action to protect crops in the face of the country’s hottest summer on record.

The world’s second-largest economy has been hit by record temperatures, flash floods and droughts this summer — phenomena that scientists have warned are becoming more frequent and intense due to climate change.

Southern China has recorded its longest sustained period of high temperatures and sparse rain since records began more than 60 years ago, the agriculture ministry said.

Four government departments issued a notice on Tuesday urging the conservation of “every unit of water” to protect crops.

“The rapid development of drought superimposed with high temperatures and heat damage has caused a severe threat to autumn crop production,” the statement said.

China produces more than 95 percent of the rice, wheat and maize it consumes, but a reduced harvest could mean increased demand for imports in the world’s most populous country — putting further pressure on global supplies already strained by the conflict in Ukraine.

Temperatures as high as 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) have led multiple Chinese provinces to impose power cuts, as cities struggle to cope with a surge in demand for electricity that is partly driven by people cranking up the air conditioning.

The megacities of Shanghai and Chongqing have cut outdoor decorative lighting, while authorities in Sichuan province have imposed industrial power cuts after water levels dropped at key hydroelectric plants.

The searing heat is also drying up the critical Yangtze River, with water flow on its main trunk about 50 percent lower than the average over the last five years, state media outlet China News Service reported last week.

– ‘Worst heatwave ever’ –

In Chongqing, where more than 1,500 people were evacuated after hot and dry conditions sparked multiple wildfires, locals were struggling.

“I feel too hot to sleep every night, and I’m awakened by the heat every morning,” Xu Jinxin, a 20-year-old student, told AFP.

“Because of the electricity shortage, we don’t leave the air conditioner on all day but rather turn it off once it’s cooled down a bit.”

The national meteorological service renewed its warnings for drought and high temperatures on Tuesday, calling for 11 provincial governments to activate emergency responses.

Authorities have already turned to cloud seeding — a method to induce rainfall — in parts of the country. 

State broadcaster CCTV published footage this month showing meteorological staff shooting catalyst rockets into the sky and firefighters transporting water to farmers in need.

“This is the worst heatwave ever recorded,” climate and energy expert Liu Junyan of Greenpeace East Asia told AFP.

“Climate science shows extreme heat is becoming exponentially worse,” she said.

“So it’s more likely that next year will have record-breaking heat.”

This year’s extreme weather is raising public awareness of climate change in China, with state media “now coming around to covering climate impacts” with unprecedented urgency, Liu said.

Government climate expert Zhou Bing warned over the weekend of mass displacement caused by climate change, describing extreme weather as nature’s “revenge” on humanity.

China has experienced three other episodes of intense heat so far this century — in 2003, 2013, 2017.

The gap between heatwaves is “significantly shortening”, according to Zhou.

For those living through the sweltering summer, “life goes on with some endurance”, said Xu, the Chongqing resident.

The Artemis 1 rocket on Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center

Fifty years after the last Apollo mission, the Artemis program is poised to take up the baton of lunar exploration with a test launch on Monday of NASA’s most powerful rocket ever.

The goal is to return humans to the Moon for the first time since the last Apollo mission in 1972 — and eventually to Mars.

The 322-foot (98-meter) Space Launch System (SLS) rocket is scheduled to blast off at 8:33 am (1233 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida.

The mission, more than a decade in the planning, may be uncrewed, but is highly symbolic for NASA, which has been under pressure from China and private rivals such as SpaceX.

Hotels around Cape Canaveral are booked solid with between 100,000 and 200,000 spectators expected to attend the launch.

The massive orange-and-white rocket has been sitting on KSC’s Launch Complex 39B for a week.

“Ever since we rolled out to the pad last week, you can feel the excitement, the energy,” said Janet Petro, director of KSC. “It’s really, really palpable.”

The objective of the flight, baptized Artemis 1, is to test the SLS and the Orion crew capsule that sits atop the rocket.

Mannequins equipped with sensors will take the place of crew members, recording acceleration, vibration and radiation levels.

Cameras will capture every moment of the 42-day trip and include a selfie of the spacecraft with the Moon and Earth in the background.

– Splashdown in Pacific –

The Orion capsule will orbit around the Moon, coming within 60 miles (100 kilometers) at its closest approach and then firing its engines to get to a distance 40,000 miles beyond, a record for a spacecraft rated to carry humans.

One of the primary objectives of the mission is to test the capsule’s heat shield, which at 16 feet in diameter is the largest ever built.

On its return to the Earth’s atmosphere, the heat shield will have to withstand a speed of 25,000 miles per hour and a temperature of 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius).

Orion, its descent slowed by parachutes, will end its voyage with a splashdown off the coast of San Diego in the Pacific.

Monday’s liftoff will be at the mercy of the weather, which can be unpredictable in Florida at this time of year, and NASA has built in a two-hour launch window.

If the rocket is unable to take off on Monday, September 2 and 5 have been penciled in as alternative flight dates.

Otherwise, it’s all systems go.

NASA gave the green light for the mission on Tuesday after a detailed inspection known as a flight readiness review.

That doesn’t mean things can’t go wrong with a rocket and a capsule flying for the first time.

– ‘Inherent risk’ –

“We’re doing something that is incredibly difficult to do and does carry inherent risk in it,” said Mike Sarafin, the Artemis 1 mission manager.

Because it is an uncrewed flight, Sarafin said the mission will continue in conditions that would not be acceptable for a flight with astronauts.

“If we had a failed solar array deployment we would proceed, and that is something that we wouldn’t necessarily do on a crewed flight,” he said.

A complete failure would be devastating for a program that is costing $4.1 billion per launch and is already running years behind schedule.

The next mission, Artemis 2, will take astronauts into orbit around the Moon without landing on its surface. The crew of Artemis 3 is to land on the Moon in 2025 at the earliest.

While the Apollo astronauts who walked on the Moon were exclusively white men, the Artemis program plans to include the first woman and person of color.

And since humans have already visited the Moon, Artemis has its sights set on another lofty goal — an eventual crewed mission to Mars.

The Artemis program is to establish a lasting human presence on the Moon with an orbiting space station known as Gateway and a base on the surface.

Gateway would serve as a staging and refueling station for a voyage to Mars that would take a minimum of several months.

“I think it’s going to inspire even more than Apollo did,” Bob Cabana, associate NASA administrator and a former astronaut, said of Artemis. “It’s going to be absolutely outstanding.”

NASA's Artemis 1 Moon rocket is rolled out to Launch Pad Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center, in Cape Canaveral, Florida

NASA’s Artemis 1 mission, scheduled to take off on Monday, is a 42-day voyage beyond the far side of the Moon and back.

The meticulously choreographed uncrewed flight should yield spectacular images as well as valuable scientific data.

– Blastoff –

The giant Space Launch System rocket will make its maiden flight from Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Its four RS-25 engines, with two white boosters on either side, will produce 8.8 million pounds (39 meganewtons) of thrust — 15 percent more than the Apollo program’s Saturn V rocket.

After two minutes, the thrusters will fall back into the Atlantic Ocean. 

After eight minutes, the core stage, orange in color, will fall away in turn, leaving the Orion crew capsule attached to the interim cryogenic propulsion stage.

This stage will circle the Earth once, put Orion on course for the Moon, and drop away around 90 minutes after takeoff.

– Trajectory –

All that remains is Orion, which will fly astronauts in the future and is powered by a service module built by the European Space Agency. 

It will take several days to reach the Moon, flying around 60 miles (100 kilometers) at closest approach.

“It’s going to be spectacular. We’ll be holding our breath,” said mission flight director Rick LaBrode. 

The capsule will fire its engines to get to a distant retrograde orbit (DRO) 40,000 miles beyond the Moon, a distance record for a spacecraft rated to carry humans.

“Distant” relates to high altitude, while “retrograde” refers to the fact Orion will go around the Moon the opposite direction to the Moon’s orbit around the Earth. 

DRO is a stable orbit because objects are balanced between the gravitational pulls of two large masses.

After passing by the Moon to take advantage of its gravitational assistance, Orion will begin the return journey.

– Journey home –

The mission’s primary objective is to test the capsule’s heat shield, the largest ever built, 16 feet (five meters) in diameter.

On its return to the Earth’s atmosphere, it will have to withstand a speed of 25,000 miles per hour and a temperature of 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius).

Slowed by a series of parachutes until it is traveling at less than 20 miles per hour, Orion will splashdown off the coast of San Diego in the Pacific.

Divers will attach cables to tow it in a few hours to a US Navy ship.

– The crew  –

The capsule will carry a mannequin called “Moonikin Campos,” named after a legendary NASA engineer who saved Apollo 13, in the commander’s seat, wearing the agency’s brand new uniform.

Campos will be equipped with sensors to record acceleration and vibrations, and will also be accompanied by two other dummies: Helga and Zohar, who are made of materials designed to mimic bones and organs.

One will wear a radiation vest while the other won’t, to test the impacts of the radiation in deep space.

– What will we see? –

Several on-board cameras will make it possible to follow the entire journey from multiple angles, including from the point of view of a passenger in the capsule.

Cameras at the end of the solar panels will take selfies of the craft with the Moon and Earth in the background.

– CubeSats –

Life will imitate art with a technology demonstration called Callisto, inspired by the Starship Enterprise’s talking computer.

It is an improved version of Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant, which will be requested from the control center to adjust the light in the capsule, or to read flight data.

The idea is to make life easier for astronauts in the future.

In addition, a payload of 10 CubeSats, shoebox-sized microsatellites, will be deployed by the rocket’s upper stage.

They have numerous goals: studying an asteroid, examining the effect of radiation on living organisms, searching for water on the Moon.

These projects, carried out independently by international companies or researchers, take advantage of the rare opportunity of a launch into deep space.