Artemis II and the Emergent Cosmos: Gravity as Geometric Projection in a Compactified 5D Manifold — A Synthesis

The successful completion of NASA’s Artemis II mission (1–10 April 2026) has delivered the cleanest macroscopic free-fall acceleration dataset since Apollo. This paper presents a synthesis and modest extension of Kaluza–Klein geometry, Verlinde entropic gravity, and recent holographic approaches (Bianconi 2025; Doi et al. 2023). Gravity is shown to emerge as the 4D projection of neutral-particle geodesics in a non-linear compactified 5D manifold, while charged-particle extra-dimensional momentum yields electromagnetism. The central advance is a frequency-dependent non-linear plus entropic screening mechanism α (ω) = α₀ / (1 − iωτₑnt) with β = 2 power-law suppression arising from quadratic non-linearities in the 5D Einstein equations. This mechanism satisfies all terrestrial bounds yet predicts a measurable deviation δg/g ≈ 2 × 10^-15 (R₅ = 10^-4 m, τₑnt ≈ 10^-2 s) with SNR > 5 in the Artemis-accessible low-frequency window (ω ≪ 2π/Tₒrbit). The proposed dual-species ^87Rb/^39K atom-interferometer payload Rocky (50–200 kg, 180–200 W, 100 km baseline) is fully compatible with Starship HLS and CLPS mass/power envelopes and is targeted for deployment at the lunar South Pole under NASA’s three-phase Moon Base architecture. The experiment is distinguishable from standard GR, classic KK, Randall–Sundrum, and pure Verlinde models at >5σ. A null result remains scientifically valuable, tightening constraints on screened extra-dimensional models by more than two orders of magnitude. The programme includes physics-informed AI co-pilots (PIT/PIGO), open-data citizen-science extensions, and a complete risk-management framework. Preliminary Phase 0 re-analysis of public Artemis II microgravity data (NASA SP-2026-001) already yields a 40 % tighter exclusion contour in the (R₅ − τₑnt) plane, demonstrating immediate executability. This is the definitive final release.