Although SpaceX founder Elon Musk is known for his outspokenness and controversial comments on his social media site X, he has been relatively restrained when it comes to American space policy in recent years.
For example, he has rarely criticized NASA or its overall goal of returning humans to the Moon through the Artemis program. Rather, Musk, who has long preferred 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 to not only build a human landing system as part of the Artemis program, but also to supply food, cargo and other logistical services to a Portal. Planned lunar orbit around the moon.
But privately, Musk has criticized NASA’s plans, suggesting that the Artemis Program has been moving too slowly and is too reliant on contractors who seek government contracts with additional costs and are less interested in getting results.
They are no longer silent on politics
Over the past 10 days, Musk has begun to publicly air some of these private thoughts. On Christmas Day, for example, Musk wrote in X“The Artemis architecture is extremely inefficient, as it is an employment-maximizing program, not a results-maximizing program. Something completely new is needed.”
Then on Thursday night, 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 with the Artemis program.
It would be one thing for Musk to simply express his opinion as a private citizen. But since playing a major role in electing Donald Trump as the next US president last year, Musk has taken on an important advisory role to the incoming administration. He was also partly responsible for the long-awaited appointment of private astronaut Jared Isaacman as NASA’s next administrator. Although Musk doesn’t direct American 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 American commercial space industry, the European Space Agency and other international partners who have aligned themselves with the return of humans to the Moon. With Artemis, the United States competes with China to establish a significant presence on the surface of the moon.
Based on conversations with people involved in developing space policy for the Trump administration, I can make some educated guesses about how to interpret Musk’s comments. None of these people, for example, would disagree with Musk’s claim that “the Artemis architecture is extremely inefficient” and that some changes are warranted.
That said, the Artemis program probably won’t go away. After all, it was the first Trump administration that created the program about five years ago. It may not be as well remembered, however, that Trump’s first 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 meet this goal, we will find others who will.” (Speaking of the vice president, it is unlikely that the National Space Council will be reconstituted under JD Vance.)