Although SpaceX founder Elon Musk is known for his outspokenness and controversial comments on his social media site, he has been relatively restrained when it comes to US space policy in recent years.
For example, he rarely criticized NASA or its overall goal of returning humans to the Moon through the Artemis program. Instead, Musk, who has long favored Mars as a destination for humans, has been more or less a team player when it comes to the space agency’s Moon-focused plans.
This is understandable from a financial perspective, as SpaceX has contracts worth billions of dollars not only to build a human landing system as part of the Artemis program but also to supply food, cargo and other logistics to the planned lunar gateway in orbit around it. the moon.
But privately, Musk criticized NASA’s plans, noting that the Artemis program was moving too slowly and too dependent on contractors seeking over-cost government contracts and were less interested in delivering results.
Silence on politics is no longer
Over the past 10 days, Musk has begun airing some of these private thoughts publicly. On Christmas Day, for example, Musk wrote on X“The Artemis architecture is largely inefficient, because it is a function-maximizing program, not a results-maximizing program. Something completely new is needed.”
Then on 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 sustainable base of operations there using the Artemis program.
It would be different if Musk was just expressing his opinion as an ordinary citizen. But since Musk played an important role in electing Donald Trump as the next president of the United States last year, he has taken on an important advisory role for the incoming administration. He was also partly responsible for the expected nomination of private astronaut Jared Isaacman to become the next administrator of NASA. Although Musk does not direct US space policy, he certainly has a meaningful say in what happens.
So what does this mean for Artemis?
The fate of Artemis is an important question, not just for NASA, but for the US commercial space industry, the European Space Agency, and other international partners lined up to return humans to the moon. With Artemis, the United States is competing with China to establish a meaningful presence on the moon.
Based on conversations with people involved in developing the Trump administration’s space policy, I can make some educated guesses about how Musk’s comments might be interpreted. For example, none of these people would disagree with Musk’s assertion that “the Artemis architecture is completely inefficient” and that some changes are warranted.
However, Artemis probably won’t go away. After all, it was the first Trump administration that created the program about five years ago. However, we may not remember so well that the first Trump White House pushed for more significant changes, including a “major course correction” at NASA.
“I call on NASA to adopt new policies and adopt a new mindset.” Then-Vice President Mike Pence said in May 2019. “If our current contractors cannot achieve this goal, we will find contractors who will.” (Speaking of the vice president, it is unlikely that the National Space Council will be reconstituted under J.D. Vance.)