NASA’s Orion Space passes 80 miles from the moon during the Artemis I mission in 2022. Credit: NASA
The United States are in the middle of a second space of space and NASA is in a time crisis.
The space agency is preparing to send American astronauts to the moon for the first time by the Apollo era. But after delaying the lunar landing of Artemis III twice in 2024, there is a lot of work to do. And experts believe that NASA is on the clock.
“The world is located in the Moon Race 2.0, this time between the United States and China,” said Clayton Swope, Senior colleague of the Department of Defense and Security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), an influential Think Tank of Space Defense in Capitol Hill. “But the United States have already landed humans on the moon … The real race is for Mars, both for a human landing and even for a return mission of the champion of Mars. Nobody has ever done none of these.”
According to Swope, NASA in the short term can focus on the return of rock and dust champions from Mars, where it is Perseverance Rover has been connecting them since 2021. But to actually land humans on the red planet, Artemis III is a fundamental launch stone.
Because we are going
Artemis III will try to land the Astronauts of NASA where no human being has ever set foot: the Lunar South Polo. There, the sunlight is so scarce that the valleys of some craters are permanently wrapped in darkness.
Scientists believe that these dark regions can contain water ice, which could help researchers better understand the history of the solar system. It could also be re -proposed to help astronauts to live on the moon or prepare for the missions on Mars and beyond.
“You can extract oxygen and hydrogen from the ice,” said Swope. “Strategically, it would be important to have access to these elements to feed the missions on Mars and other parts of the solar
system.”
If the goal is to use the moon as a base or waypoint for longer missions, the United States will have to get there first. The complicating questions are China, which plans to land an astronaut at the South Lunar pole in 2030 and build a research base there.
“My personal point of view is that the United States should work to bring astronauts back to the moon again before China arrives there for the first time,” said Swope.
Speed safety
Artemis III was pushed in January 2025 to 2026, then again in December from 2026 to the middle of 2027
The delays largely derive from a security problem with the NASA Orion capsule, which will make the crew fly into space. Orion flew on the mission of Artemis the unjustified in 2022. But while the capsule returned to the atmosphere, the pieces of charred material flew away from its heat shield.
NASA did not know why until a few months ago. The officials said that the ORION external layer is designed to wear out while protecting from the temperatures that approach 15,000 degrees Fahrenheit. But the gases trapped inside the heat shield created cracks, causing expulsion of large pieces.
The engineers have spent months studying the main cause of the anomaly to ensure the safety of the crew. At the same time, NASA Nasa administrator Bill Nelson said that the modification of the heat shield for Artemis II could delay Artemis III even later at the end of 2028. Therefore, rather than changing the material, NASA will instead change the Orion approach to Earth to limit the accumulation of gas inside the heat shield. A fresh heat shield will be installed for Artemis III.
More work to do
NASA now has a level for the orion heat shield, even if “it takes more time than we thought,” said an official in December, to update the vital support system of the capsule.
Much more work must be done before Artemis II and Artemis III can fly, and not everything is under the control of the space agency. For example, take the Spacex contractor, who must demonstrate key test objectives with his rocket for gigantic spaceships and a super heavy booster. A variant of a human landing system (HLS) of Astronave will land the Astronauts of Artemide III on the Moon.
Spacex in 2024 obtained an unprecedented capture of booster, returning super heavy to the launch unharmed following a test flight. But NASA by the end of the year expects the astronave to flights to the moon and return. Before then, he will have to transfer a superboolence propelled between two spaceships in orbit – another unrelated maneuver – among other milestones.
“We tend to discuss spaceships that succeeds as a fact of realization and we must remember that, for all the success that Spacex has had, is pushing the technological boundaries in different ways that have never happened before,” said Casey Dreier, head of spatial policy for planetary society. “There is still a long way to go before it provides the ability they intend to have.”
Under a new management
NASA and Spacex have a lot of work to do. But in December the FAA authorized the spaceship for further test flights. In the same month, the US president Donald Trump exploited the CEO of Shift4 Jared Isaacman, a key spacex ally, as head of NASA to replace Nelson.
For Dreier, the selection is not orthodox given the lack of government experience by Isaacman. But his passion for space is undeniable.
“It is provided with this asterisk that has been in the space twice,” said Dreier. “These were not just passive tourist flights, up and down. These were very elaborate, risky, but well managed
efforts. “
Isaacman and his Polaris program purchased three missions from Spacex, the third of which is destined to be the first flight of Starship crew. Elon Musk, CEO of Spacex, also seems to have Trump’s ear as a presumed guard of the Department of Efficiency of the proposed government. It is not clear how exactly how Sway Musk and Isaacman could have on the coming administration.
But Musk was brought to the fold to cut public spending and Isaacman described the launch system of the NASA space (SLS) – the launch vehicle for the Artemis campaign – as “outrageously expensive”. According to the inspector general of NASA, a single artemis launch that uses the SLS would cost $ 4 billion north.
Dreier said that the probability that SL be demolished is “the highest that has ever been … makes it probable? I don’t necessarily think I can say it”.
The challenge, he said, will break the “solid rock” congress coalition which has repeatedly supported the SLS. A strong push to Ax could cost the confirmation votes of Isaacman by senators in the Republican states, where most of the SLS workforce is found. But Isaacman is also a democratic political donor and his presentation as politically moderate could gain support through the corridor.
Dreier has also provided that Isaacman will bring a “commercial mentality” to NASA, which could help him navigate in an increasingly narrow budget environment.
“We have already seen it to a certain extent that NASA has lost a couple of percentages on the upper line – confused with inflation, you are talking about a couple of billions of dollars of purchasing of purchasing in recent years,” he said.
Despite the limited indemnity, Dreier provides that the new direction makes Artemis a priority. The outsourcing more work to private contractors could free NASA to zero in some key mission elements.
From the point of view of the second space of space, Isaacman’s comments on Mars Bode Bene, said Dreier. He found notable that, following his nomination, Isaacman on social media underlined the landing on both the moon AND Mars. The Moon to Mars initiative of NASA has not yet traced a course on the red planet. But perhaps this could change under Isaacman.
“I would also have felt I read too much in this,” said Dreier. “But I think you tell you where the general administration general will be in terms of what topics will naturally integrate into their philosophy.”
Note of the editor: A version of this story appeared originally Fly. The column appeared for the first time in the February 955 of the Fly Printed edition.
