Elon Musk Calls Out NASA’s Moon Ambitions: ‘We’re Going Straight to Mars’

Although SpaceX laminitis Elon Musk is known for outspokenness and arguable comments connected his societal media tract X, helium has been comparatively restrained erstwhile it comes to US abstraction argumentation successful caller years.

For example, helium has seldom criticized NASA oregon its wide extremity to instrumentality humans to the satellite done the Artemis program. Rather, Musk, who has agelong preferred Mars arsenic a destination for humans, has much oregon little been a squad subordinate erstwhile it comes to the abstraction agency's lunar-focused plans.

This is understandable from a fiscal perspective, arsenic SpaceX has contracts worthy billions of dollars to not lone physique a Human Landing System arsenic portion of the Artemis programme but besides to proviso food, cargo, and different logistics services to a planned Lunar Gateway successful orbit astir the moon.

But privately, Musk has been captious of NASA's plans, suggesting that the Artemis Program has been moving excessively dilatory and is excessively reliant connected contractors who question cost-plus authorities contracts and are little funny successful delivering results.

Silent connected Policy No Longer

During the past 10 days, Musk has begun airing immoderate of these backstage thoughts publicly. On Christmas Day, for example, Musk wrote connected X, “The Artemis architecture is highly inefficient, arsenic it is simply a jobs-maximizing program, not a results-maximizing program. Something wholly caller is needed.”

Then, connected Thursday evening, he added this: "No, we’re going consecutive to Mars. The satellite is simply a distraction."

These are definitive statements that straight contradict NASA's plans to nonstop a bid of quality missions to the lunar southbound rod aboriginal this decennary and found a sustainable basal of operations determination with the Artemis program.

It would beryllium 1 happening if Musk was conscionable expressing his sentiment arsenic a backstage citizen. But since playing a important portion successful the predetermination of Donald Trump arsenic the adjacent president of the United States past year, Musk has assumed an important advisory relation for the incoming administration. He was besides partially liable for the expected information of backstage astronaut Jared Isaacman to go the adjacent head of NASA. Although Musk is not directing US abstraction policy, helium surely has a meaningful accidental successful what happens.

So What Does This Mean for Artemis?

The destiny of Artemis is an important question not conscionable for NASA but for the US commercialized abstraction industry, the European Space Agency, and different planetary partners who person aligned with the instrumentality of humans to the moon. With Artemis, the United States is successful contention with China to found a meaningful beingness connected the aboveground of the moon.

Based upon conversations with radical progressive successful processing abstraction argumentation for the Trump administration, I tin marque immoderate educated guesses astir however to construe Musk's comments. None of these people, for example, would disagree with Musk's assertion that "the Artemis architecture is highly inefficient" and that immoderate changes are warranted.

With that said, the Artemis programme is astir apt not going away. After all, it was the archetypal Trump medication that created the programme astir 5 years ago. However, it whitethorn beryllium little well-remembered that the archetypal Trump White House pushed for much important changes, including a "major people correction" astatine NASA.

"I telephone connected NASA to follow caller policies and clasp a caller mindset," then-vice president Mike Pence said successful May 2019. "If our existent contractors can't conscionable this objective, past we'll find ones that will." (Speaking of the vice president, it's unlikely that the National Space Council volition beryllium reconstituted nether JD Vance).