Arizona Tribune - Artemis II's Record-Setting Flyby Paves Way for Moon Base and Beyond

WASHINGTON, D.C. / ACCESS Newswire / April 6, 2026 / NASA's Artemis II mission has broken the record for the farthest distance humans have traveled from Earth. At 1:57 pm EDT today, the Artemis II astronauts broke the previous record of 248,655 miles, set by Apollo 13 back in 1970.

Tonight, around 7pm EDT, the astronauts will reach a new record distance of 252,757 miles from Earth when they loop around the dark side of the moon. In doing so, their mission will help create the next trillion-plus dollar space economy and potentially life-saving solutions here on Earth.

American DeepTech recognizes this milestone as a defining inflection point that validates a new generation of deep-space hardware and opens the door to transformative scientific research and commercial enterprise beyond low Earth orbit.

"The Artemis II mission shows humanity is ready to return to the Moon and build a lasting presence there," said Dr. Anna Brady-Estevez, Founder and Managing Partner of American DeepTech, a venture and infrastructure investment firm. "The science being conducted aboard Orion right now, and the commercial infrastructure being built around the Artemis program, can help reshape industries and create new investment opportunities in the decades ahead." According to the World Economic Forum and McKinsey, space tech is expected to be a trillion-plus dollar industry by the year 2035.

American DeepTech has made investments in a number of companies with potential to drive the cislunar economy. American DeepTech's team has decades of experience that builds on work at prior institutions where members previously led investments across space tech including: reusable rockets, artificial intelligence, satellite communications, position navigation and timing, asteroid mining, in-situ resource utilization, in-space manufacturing, in-space biotechnology, in-space semiconductors and advanced materials, habitats and platforms, moon infrastructure, gravitational and force modification, fusion, energy production, energy storage, radiation hardening, advanced communications, cybersecurity of space based assets, digital assets, space situational awareness, quantum, advanced physics and anomalous phenomena, and several other areas.

The Far Side of the Moon: A Distinct Frontier

The far side of the Moon is geologically, scientifically, and strategically different from the side visible from Earth.

• Different Geology, Different Resources: Just like the Earth has different resources across its terrain, the same can be said for the moon. The near side is dominated by ancient lava flows enriched with a material scientists call KREEP: (K) potassium, (REE) rare earth elements, and (P) phosphorus. The far side has a thicker, cratered surface and has a noticeably different chemical composition. Its rocks formed under different conditions and may harbor different mineral deposits. Orbital surveys and sample analysis continue to reveal the extent of these differences.

• The South Pole: Straddling the boundary between near and far side, the Moon's south polar region's permanently shadowed craters are believed to contain significant deposits of water ice, a resource that could be converted into drinking water, breathable oxygen, and rocket propellant for missions deeper into the solar system. The south pole is the target landing zone for NASA's Artemis surface missions, and its resources may prove foundational to any sustained human presence on the Moon.

• Radio Silence: The far side of the Moon is naturally shielded from radio wave interference generated by human activity on and around Earth, making it one of the quietest environments in the inner solar system for radio astronomy. The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) has established a permanent committee devoted to protecting the far side's radio quietness, and NASA has already begun deploying radio telescopes to the lunar surface, including the ROLSES instrument delivered to the south pole in 2024.

What This Means for Science

Experiments the Artemis II crew is conducting as they fly by the far side of the moon include:

• Bone Marrow and Radiation Research (AVATAR): This experiment uses lab-grown tissue model about the size of a flash drive that contain living human cells engineered to behave like real bone marrow organs. Bone marrow is particularly sensitive to radiation, making it a key target for evaluating health risks during missions beyond Earth's magnetic field. Post-flight molecular analysis will assess how thousands of genes responded to deep-space conditions.

• Crew Health and Performance (ARCHeR): Experiments monitor astronaut stress levels, movement, sleep, and cognitive performance via wrist-mounted devices. This real-time data will help researchers understand how confinement, isolation, and radiation affect human health and teamwork in deep space.

• Immune System Monitoring: Astronauts are collecting saliva samples throughout the mission to track immune changes linked to deep-space stressors. Scientists will also monitor dormant viruses, including those related to chickenpox and shingles, that have been observed to reactivate during spaceflight aboard the International Space Station.

• Pathway to Mars: Every dataset collected aboard Artemis II can inform NASA's planning for longer-duration missions, including eventual crewed expeditions to Mars.

What This Means for Commercial Opportunity

The Artemis program is architected around public-private partnership, and Artemis II's success may accelerate a commercial ecosystem that extends well beyond NASA:

• AI and Lunar Digital Twins: Artificial intelligence and high-resolution digital twin technology are emerging as critical enablers for lunar exploration and commercial development. NASA is already developing sub-centimeter-resolution lunar digital twins which are immersive, AI-driven virtual replicas of the Moon's surface. Astronauts and stakeholders can carry out assessment, visioning activities, and mission drills. As Artemis II's flyby provides new observational data of the far side of the Moon, AI-powered mapping and simulation platforms may play a growing role in planning surface operations, identifying resource-rich sites, guiding autonomous rovers, and supporting commercial decision-making for future mining, construction, and logistics operations. The ability to build detailed digital models of terrain that has never been visited by humans, particularly the far side and the south polar region, represents a significant opportunity for the commercial space and technology sectors.

• Lunar Surface Access: NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program has already contracted with private companies to deliver science instruments and technology demonstrations to the lunar surface, creating a recurring revenue model for commercial lunar landers.

• "Moonfra" & Deep-Space Infrastructure: The validation of Orion and SLS for crewed flight de-risks the broader Artemis architecture, including commercial human landing systems, for subsequent missions and private-sector participants.

• Technology Transfer: Advances in radiation shielding, life-support systems, autonomous operations, and materials science developed for the Artemis program have potential commercial applications in terrestrial industries including healthcare, energy, advanced manufacturing, and telecommunications.

• Lunar Mining: A major long-term commercial opportunity unlocked by the Artemis program is the extraction of lunar resources. The Moon holds untapped resources that NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has valued in the hundreds of billions of dollars, with others providing even higher estimates. Two mining examples include:

• Rare Earth Elements: The lunar surface contains deposits of rare earth elements - the same critical minerals that underpin semiconductors, electric vehicle motors, wind turbines, advanced electronics, and defense systems. On Earth, supply chains for these materials are heavily concentrated, creating strategic vulnerability. Lunar probes have established that the Moon also contains common minerals including basalt, iron, quartz, silicon, manganese, and titanium. Lunar deposits, confirmed through analysis of Apollo-era samples and orbital surveys, represent a potential alternative source that could, over time, help diversify global supply dynamics.

• Helium-3: The Moon's commercially distinctive resource may be helium-3 (He-3), a non-radioactive isotope that has been deposited into the lunar regolith by the solar wind over billions of years. Helium-3 is extremely rare on Earth but relatively abundant on the Moon, with concentrations correlated to the titanium-bearing mineral ilmenite. Its applications span several high-impact technologies of the 21st century including quantum computing, medical imaging, nuclear fusion, and national security.

The Need for Leverage

Many of the areas above represent Moonfra or moon infrastructure. Dr. Brady-Estevez says the next industrial push would benefit from leverage, much like how we buy our homes here on Earth.

"On Earth, we build and buy homes and infrastructure like power plants, roads and hospitals with 20% down payments and the rest financed," said Dr. Brady-Estevez, "In space, however, we are too often still forced to pay 100% cash up front, often from equity or government budgets. We are effectively trying to build a multi-trillion-dollar frontier without the equivalent of a fully functioning scaled up space mortgage or debt market. To secure American leadership, we must move beyond the '1:1' equity model. For instance, if we could lever up the $20 billion moon base budget with 80% leverage that could enable us to finance and build $100 billion worth of infrastructure-grade assets."

The Furthest Point and a Moment of Reflection

This trip to the farthest point in space humanity has ever documented comes less than 24 hours after Easter. Speaking on Easter weekend, Captain Victor Glover addressed the holiday saying: "As we go into Easter Sunday, thinking about all the cultures all around the world, whether you celebrate it or not, whether you believe in God or not, this is an opportunity for us to remember where we are, who we are, and that we are the same thing, and that we've got to get through this together."

ABOUT AMERICAN DEEPTECH:

American DeepTech is a venture and infrastructure investment firm dedicated to scaling frontier technologies into foundational global assets. Bridging the gap between early-stage innovation and commercial infrastructure, the firm targets high-impact sectors including artificial intelligence, space technology, advanced energy, quantum and biotech. The American DeepTech leadership team brings decades of prior institutional experience, having previously backed and built companies from the ground up that have reached tens of billions of dollars in total valuation. Members have also provided strategic guidance and advanced scientific leadership and to some of the world's most complex and valuable infrastructure, including the International Space Station and enterprise platforms operating at the trillion-dollar market scale.

ADT Space Leadership Team: Dr. Donna Roberts, Chief Scientist, has previously served as the Deputy Chief Scientist for the International Space Station, a $150B+ in-space asset with the highest levels of research in microgravity to date. Leonard Dudzinski, Chief Technology Officer, has previously served as the CTO of the NASA Planetary Systems Directorate ($3B+ annual budget), where he served in critical roles helping with the build out of NASA's nuclear strategy as well as instrumentation and sensing relevant to the moon. Dr. David Beck formerly served as US Space Force Branch Chief active in the build out of the US Air Force and Space Force's deca-billion-dollar-plus annual industrial base. Larry Forsley has been active in 50+ years of nuclear and fusion research and development, including lattice confinement fusion work for NASA.

ABOUT ANNA BRADY ESTEVEZ:

Dr. Anna Brady-Estevez is the Founder and Managing Partner of American DeepTech. Her work centers on scaling breakthrough innovations advanced energy systems, space technology, artificial intelligence, UAP-inspired propulsion and technology, and advanced materials into real-world infrastructure.

Previously, at the National Science Foundation, Dr. Brady-Estevez led federal investment in high-impact technologies across space systems, energy, and digital infrastructure, helping shape the early pipeline of what is now becoming a new industrial era. She also served as the Co-Chair of the Digital Assets R&D Agenda (alongside White House), served as Co-Chair of the US Space Economy Interagency Working Group (alongside NASA), and helped establish the National AI Research Institutes. Brady-Estevez also served as the Senior Investment Advisor and Partner (Venture) for the Small Business Administration's $40B+ VC and private equity program.

Brady-Estevez has previously served as a management consultant for the early stages of what became a $T+ transformation, and served as Director of Strategy at the AES Corporation and Cummins Inc. She has worked across over $6B of infrastructure including strategy and investments.

Brady-Estevez is ranked globally as the #7 female investor on the Kauffman Fellows Fund Returners Index (a ranking complementary to the Forbes Midas list). Her early-stage investment recommendations and portfolios managed have grown from around $250M in early-stage capital and grants to over $20B in total company valuation.

She is focused on turning deep tech into deployable systems that enable sustained activity not just on Earth, but on the Moon and beyond, positioning the United States at the forefront of the next trillion-dollar economy.

Dr. Brady Estevez is available for TV, print and podcast interviews.

Media Contact:

Kathleen Foster/Foster Presence PR
[email protected]
(917) 667-2378

SOURCE: American DeepTech

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