ILLINOIS – For the very first time, humanity is experiencing the far side of the Moon — a milestone reached Monday in NASA’s historic Artemis II mission.

The crewed Orion spacecraft is pushing new boundaries, made possible by the people supporting the mission from Earth.

Among them is an Illinois woman leading the team that is monitoring the spacecraft’s systems and ensuring its astronauts remain safe. 

What we know:

Jennifer Madsen is playing a key role in the Artemis II mission from the Johnson Space Center in Houston — the heart of NASA’s spaceflight operations.

Inside the Mission Evaluation Room (MER), Madsen and her team serve as Orion’s life-support system — Earthside.

“It was definitely surreal to be here and see the launch, because myself and this whole team have been working for years designing and testing this spacecraft,” said Jennifer Madsen, lead of NASA’s Artemis II Orion Mission Evaluation Room.

During the 10-day mission, engineers are constantly analyzing the spacecraft’s in-flight systems and helping astronauts troubleshoot issues. It’s a job that doesn’t stop — from launch until splashdown.

“In the Mission Control Center, we have the Flight Control Room, where they’re sending communication back and forth with the spacecraft. In this room, our Orion engineers are watching all the data that’s coming from the spacecraft, trending to see if the vehicle is doing what we expect, talking with the Flight Control Team about things we want the spacecraft to do — or if the spacecraft is giving us a signature that we’re not expecting, doing some troubleshooting on that anomaly,” Madsen explained. 

Dig deeper:

Madsen’s story begins in Illinois. She hails from the Quad Cities, where she attended Alleman High School in Rock Island. She then studied aerospace engineering at the University of Illinois before continuing her education in electrical engineering at the University of Houston — a path that prepared her to become the deputy manager for Orion’s Avionics, Power, and Software, and Mission Evaluation Room Lead. 

“They’re going to be taking images, working with the scientists, examining the craters, looking at the different lighting conditions. And so, our team during that time is going to be having our eyes on the spacecraft while the crew has their eyes on the Moon,” Madsen said. 

Just days before liftoff, Madsen visited the Adler Planetarium to discuss her role in the mission and answer questions from future scientists.

She says the most special part of this journey is taking humanity further than they’ve ever gone.

“That human portion of this mission is what’s really interesting, and it’s honestly where I think we’ve been learning the most about the spacecraft, because when we flew Artemis I, we did not have any people on it,” Madsen said. “The words that they’re bringing us, the pictures that they’ll be able to take is why we have this mission and we put humans on this spacecraft.”

What’s next:

Splashdown is scheduled for Friday, April 10. While the exact timing remains flexible, the spacecraft is projected to land in the Pacific Ocean around 7 p.m. Central Time.

You can track the progress of the Artemis II mission throughout its journey on NASA’s website.

CHICAGO (WLS) — The I-Team reported in February that there were 164 operating data centers in Illinois, with dozens more in the works.

The city of Joliet recently voted to approve plans for a large data center.

That vote came after hours of public meetings, packed with people eager to weigh in. Joliet city leaders said it would bring tax revenue and financial benefits for the community.

Some residents expressed concerns about the potential environmental impacts.

But, what exactly is a data centers and why are some communities eager to attract them?; Why are so many people opposed to them?

“A data center is going to be a building that provides the space, the power and the infrastructure for everything that we do online today,” said Brad Tietz, the director of state policy for the Data Center Coalition. “So, when you look at where demand is going, for data, so everything we’re doing on the internet, the average household has 21 connected devices to it. We’re going to use twice the amount of data in the next five years than we’ve used in the last ten years.”

When it comes to the types of jobs created by data centers, he says it depends on the size of the facility.

“There’s going to be technicians, service engineers, etcetera. The real value, especially for Illinois residents, is going to be on the construction side,” Tietz said.

In some communities considering data centers, residents are concerned about their water usage.

“The data center industry has been a large water user, historically, but by no means the largest compared to other industries. And if you look at how efficient the industry is getting, and I’ll remind you too, not every data center uses water. Some are actually using, especially in a colder climate like Illinois, the outdoor air temperature to help cool their facilities,” Tietz said.

Jen Walling is the Chief Executive Officer of the Illinois Environmental Council.

She wrote in Crain’s that “Big Tech” is coming to Illinois and that the state isn’t ready.

“We don’t have the guardrails in place that are going to be necessary to protect our environment, to keep our rates low, to protect our communities and most importantly, protect our water,” Walling said.

She says the Alliance for the Great Lakes has put out a report where they’ve looked at water usage, and some data centers aren’t using much water.

“Some data centers are using up to five million gallons of water a day. These are huge water users, and they can be taking from different sources including Lake Michigan,” she explained.

“We’re also very concerned about air pollution and the energy usage, these are huge energy users,” Walling said.

She also explained the concerns for people living nearby.

“They need to be on with energy all the time. So, all of these facilities have backup diesel generators. And the residents in the [Aurora] community said that they could smell the methane gas that was being burned, the diesel gas that was being burned. And that’s particulate matter, it’s odor, so these communities face real consequences when something happens,” she said.