Picture credit score: NASA
NASA’s “re-booting” of the Moon by way of the Artemis program faces a number of challenges, in line with a brand new Authorities Accountability Workplace (GAO).
The GAO factors out that Moon lander supplier, SpaceX and its Starship car, should full a big quantity of advanced technical work to help the Artemis III lunar touchdown mission.
That SpaceX work consists of growing the power to retailer and switch propellant whereas in orbit.
A vital facet of SpaceX’s plan for touchdown astronauts on the Moon for Artemis III is launching a number of tankers that may switch propellant to a depot in area earlier than transferring that propellant to the human touchdown system.
SpaceX Starship human lander design to hold NASA astronauts to the floor of the Moon below the Artemis program.
Credit score: SpaceX
The GAO flags the truth that NASA documentation has said SpaceX has made restricted progress maturing the applied sciences wanted to help this facet of its plan.
The GAO-identified points embrace:
An bold schedule: The Human Touchdown System program is aiming to finish its growth—from challenge begin to launch—in 79 months, which is 13 months shorter than the common for NASA main initiatives. The complexity of human spaceflight means that it’s unrealistic to count on this system to finish growth greater than a 12 months sooner than the common for NASA main initiatives, nearly all of which aren’t human spaceflight initiatives. GAO discovered that if growth took so long as the common for NASA main initiatives, the Artemis III mission would doubtless happen in early 2027.
Delays to key occasions: As of September 2023, the Human Touchdown System program had delayed eight of 13 key occasions by at the least 6 months. Two of those occasions have been delayed to 2025—the 12 months the lander is deliberate to launch. The delays had been precipitated partly by the Orbital Flight Check, which was supposed to reveal sure options of the launch car and lander configuration in flight. The check was delayed by 7 months to April 2023. It was then terminated early when the car deviated from its anticipated trajectory and commenced to tumble. Subsequent checks depend on profitable completion of a second Orbital Flight Check.
Picture credit score: NASA
Notional Depiction of the Human Touchdown System
A big quantity of remaining work: SpaceX should full a big quantity of advanced technical work to help the Artemis III lunar touchdown mission, together with growing the power to retailer and switch propellant whereas in orbit. A vital facet of SpaceX’s plan for touchdown astronauts on the moon for Artemis III is launching a number of tankers that may switch propellant to a depot in area earlier than transferring that propellant to the human touchdown system. NASA documentation states that SpaceX has made restricted progress maturing the applied sciences wanted to help this facet of its plan.
House swimsuit challenges: Axiom is leveraging many points of NASA’s prior work to develop modernized area fits, however vital work stays to resolve design challenges. For instance, NASA’s authentic design didn’t present the minimal quantity of emergency life help wanted for the Artemis III mission. Because of this, Axiom representatives stated they might redesign sure points of the area swimsuit, which may delay its supply for the mission.
Go to the GAO report — “NASA Lunar Packages: Improved Mission Steerage Wanted as Artemis Complexity Grows” – at:
https://www.gao.gov/belongings/d24106256.pdf
