Why is NASA now depending on Elon Musk to put humans on the Moon?


The return of humans to the Moon is already guaranteed with the missions of NASA’s Artemis program, the ambitious successor to the Apollo program. The first of these, the Artemis 1 unmanned mission, is already flying over the natural satellite and is testing that the new vehicles are completely safe.

However, to replicate the same feat after five decades, this time the US space agency relies on South African tycoon Elon Musk and his private company. SpaceX Doesn’t the most important aeronautical institution in the world have enough technology to take a group of men and women to the lunar surface?

The last time humans stepped on the Moon was in 1972, as part of the Apollo space program. Photo: NASA

NASA does not have a ship to go to the Moon

In 2004, the US President George W. Bush announced a plan to return humans to the Moon with technology other than space shuttles, reusable vehicles developed in the 1980s that had serious tragedies in their history: the Challenger in 1986 and the Columbia in 2003.

The space shuttle program ended in 2011, but by then, NASA had not been able to build a replacement vehicle to take it to the satellite, since funds granted by the US Congress were spent on completion. of the International Space Station and other equally important tasks.

Until that date, the US space agency had developed its own means of transportation, however, it was there that it decided to take another path: invest in private companies to build their own vehicles and then sell them to them, reports The Planetary Society.

Thus, NASA was able to obtain the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, key pieces of the Artemis program that were built by the Lockheed Martin and Boeing companies, but are now their property.

The issue of the budget, however, continues to be a big problem and that is where the current owner of Twitter comes in, who promises to have a more powerful, cheaper and reusable mega-rocket available, which he has called starship. The vehicle is Musk’s stronghold in the aviation industry, as it will transport humans to the Moon and Mars in the future.

Starship, designed by SpaceX, is the megaship chosen by NASA to transport humans back to the Moon during the Artemis 3 mission. Photo: SpaceX

Starship, designed by SpaceX, is the megaship chosen by NASA to transport humans back to the Moon during the Artemis 3 mission. Photo: SpaceX

Waiting for the Starship Mega Rocket

In April 2021, NASA awarded SpaceX a contract for $2.9 billion so that he develops a Starship that allows him to land on the Moon during Artemis 3 (the second manned mission of the program and the first to land on the satellite).

As if that was not enough endorsement, on November 15, 2022, he announced another contract with Musk’s company to develop an improved version of the megaship for 1.15 billion dollars, known as Option B. The Starship will serve as a shuttle from the Orion capsule to the lunar surface on a round trip.

“Continuing our collaborative efforts with SpaceX through Option B advances our resilient plans for regular manned transport to the lunar surface and establishes a long-term human presence under Artemis,” Lisa Watson-Morgan, manager, said in a statement. NASA’s Human Landing System (HLS) program.

Despite all the efforts, there is a problem: the Starship is still in development and has not even managed to make its first orbital flight. Even during a test carried out on July 12, one of the engines that drive the ship exploded.

While NASA is still waiting for Elon Musk to prove that Starship is safe to send humans to the Moon, it is simultaneously running another call for other companies to develop the technology to extend the useful life of SpaceX’s ship.

The Starship ship has been designed by SpaceX, owned by tycoon Elon Musk.  It will be the vehicle that takes humans to the Moon and also to Mars.  Photo: SpaceX

The Starship ship has been designed by SpaceX, owned by tycoon Elon Musk. It will be the vehicle that takes humans to the Moon and also to Mars. Photo: SpaceX

Source-larepublica.pe