Congress began working seriously last week on the future of NASA’s Artemis program.
Mike Khalidporos, the new representative of the Space Coast in the US home, led the US home space and aviation subcommittee at a hearing against the threat of losing China with a new race to return to the moon.
“We are at a crossroads. The world is watching, and like communist China, our competitors are racing to beat us there,” Khalid Pollus, chair of the subcommittee, said during his remarks. “We can’t afford to be late. This is an opportunity to prove that America is still leading the world with exploration and innovation.”
Although NASA officials did not come to the hearing, they featured two witnesses discussing the period of time they would stick to the current Artemis program, with many critics including Trump’s close advisor and SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
Khalidporus asked witnesses to assess the risks and benefits of modifying the Artemis program.
One witness, former NASA official Dandanbacher, warned against shifting focus to Mars. He said NASA should pay short-term attention to the month.
“It’s about doing the right thing at the right time,” Dunbacher said. “Therefore, the argument is not the moon or Mars, but at timing, it decides that you must first master the moon and then proceed to Mars.”
Another witness from Scott Pace, former executive director of the National Space Council, currently director of George Washington University’s Space Policy Research Institute, agreed that the moon should be the focus, but called for a quick revision of the current Artemis program.
“The main concern is space launch systems, which are expensive and cannot be reused,” he said. “Now is the time to consider alternatives to get from Earth to the moon and back.”
He said instead of NASA drafting a complicated SLS rocket bill, agents should be able to purchase heavy lift services to send payloads to the moon.
So far, I have reached space, an art mission that I would not land on an unplanned moon by April 2026, and by the summer of 2027 it will not be the next stage.
The Artemis consists of Orion Capsules built by Lockheed Martin and SLS Rocket, consisting of core stages built by Boeing and Northrop Grumman solid rocket boosters.
The NASA office of the Inspector General Audit in late 2023 cited the cost of each SLS rocket to taxpayers for $2.5 billion. This is part of the overall expansion cost of Artemis, which was projected to exceed $93 billion by the time the Artemis II was launched. According to an audit, the SLS rocket represents 26% of its cost up to $23.8 billion.
“The revised Artemis Campaign Plan should be a top priority for new managers,” Pace said. “There may be painful adjustments between the industry and our international partners, but it’s better to do so now than continue on an unsustainable and affordable path.”
The OIG Audit recommended that NASA consider alternatives to heavy lift services. This cited both the spacecraft in development and the new Glenn Rocket from Blue Origin as optional.
However, existing contractors and many NASA officials are baffled to stick to current plans as the quickest way to get back to the moon, as major changes can often mean big delays.
For example, Orion was originally part of a constellation program announced under President George W. Bush, but was cancelled under the Obama administration. The revival as what ultimately called the Artemis program began in 2012, but it took over a decade for its first launch.
Pace estimates that the switch from constellations to Artemis added at least five years in national efforts to return to the moon. He said that discarding Artemis completely would mean that the US would not be able to beat the target China stated to land their Taiconout on the moon by 2030.
But both Pace and Danbacher questioned whether Americans would step into the moon by 2030.
Recently, Danbacher, CEO of the American Aerospace Academy and now an adjunct professor at Purdue University, said he should stick to his current SLS rockets through at least two missions:
When asked what he would do to ensure the US would return to the moon before China, he said, “I’ve already used the hardware that’s in the barn, and the hardware available to the Artemis II and III can use to make it happen.”
“We are at a critical intersection for space leadership. Our global competitors, primarily China and its allies, are overtaking and overtaking us with their willingness to become dominant in space,” he said. “This is a critical national security and economic concern.”
He said there is no reason to believe China will not meet its 2030 goals.
“China has filled any space milestones they proposed in a positive or negative year,” he said. “The United States is to protect potential economic opportunities, protect national security, lead the construction of necessary infrastructure and, importantly, guide road rules.”
