Although the founder of SpaceX Elon Musk Although known for his outspoken and controversial comments on his social networking site X, he has been relatively reserved in recent years when it comes to US space policy.
For example, he rarely criticized NASA or its overall goal of returning humans to the Moon through the Artemis program. On the contrary, Musk, who has long favored Mars as a destination for humans, has more or less demonstrated team spirit when it comes to the space agency’s Moon-focused projects.
This is understandable from a financial point of view, because EspaceX has contracts worth billions of dollars to not only build a human landing system under the Artemis program, but also to provide food, cargo and other logistical services to a planned lunar gateway orbiting the moon.
But privately, Musk has criticized NASA’s plans, suggesting that the Artemis program is moving too slowly and is too dependent on contractors who seek cost-plus government contracts and are less interested in getting results.
Politicians are no longer silent
Over the past 10 days, Musk has begun to publicly express some of his private thoughts. On Christmas Day, for example, Musk wrote about“The Artemis architecture is extremely inefficient because it is a jobs-maximizing program, not an outcomes-maximizing program. Something entirely new is needed.
Then, Thursday evening, he added this: “No, we’re going straight to Mars. The moon is a distraction.”
These are definitive statements that directly contradict NASA’s plans to send a series of human missions to the lunar south pole later this decade and establish a lasting base of operations there with the Artemis program.
It would be one thing if Musk was simply expressing his opinion as a private citizen. But since playing a significant role in Donald Trump’s election as US president last year, Musk has taken on an important advisory role to the new administration. He is also partly responsible for the expected nomination of private astronaut Jared Isaacman as NASA’s next administrator. Even though Musk doesn’t lead U.S. space policy, he certainly has a say in what happens.
So what does this mean for Artemis?
The fate of Artemis is an important question not only for NASA but also for the U.S. commercial space industry, the European Space Agency and other international partners who have aligned themselves with returning humans to the Moon. With Artemis, the United States is competing with China to establish a significant presence on the surface of the Moon.
Based on conversations with people involved in crafting the Trump administration’s space policy, I can make some educated guesses about how to interpret Musk’s comments. None of these people, for example, would disagree with Musk’s assertion that “the Artemis architecture is extremely inefficient” and that some changes are warranted.
That said, the Artemis program probably isn’t going away. After all, it was the first Trump administration that created this program about five years ago. However, perhaps less remembered is the fact that the first Trump’s White House pushed for bigger changes, including a “major course correction” at NASA.
“I call on NASA to adopt new policies and adopt a new mindset,” Mike Pence, then vice president, said in May 2019. “If our current contractors cannot achieve this goal, we will find others who will.” (Speaking of the vice president, the National Space Council is unlikely to be reconstituted under JD Vance).
