2023-08-18 08:43:07
Since the beginning of 2021, Futura has been warning about NASA’s inability to land its astronauts on the Moon by 2025. The facts have confirmed our concerns, with many programs needed for Artemis III far behind their initial plans. This situation could force NASA to review its mission and consider an alternative to the initial objective of landing two American astronauts on the Moon in December 2025.
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Initiated under the presidency of Trump, the project of returning the United States to the MoonMoon could take longer than expected. Despite the initial goal of 2024, then pushed back to 2025, it seems increasingly likely that NASANasa will have to postpone this mission for a few years.
Artemis: why the Americans will not return to the Moon before 2025, or even 2028?
The work still to be done to finalize SpaceX’s lunar lander, life support systems and spacesuits that astronauts will wear, all under budget constraints, makes NASA’s ability to be ready to land unlikely. a crew of two astronauts on the lunar surface by 2025. In addition, problems with the heat shield of the Orion capsule, which suffered more damage than expected during the return to Earth of Artemis I, come add to other challenges.
A different mission envisaged
Today, NASA is gradually beginning to recognize the impossible aspect of a landing on the Moon in December 2025. During a conference held on August 8, the agency recalled that the date for the return to the Moon was still set for December 2025, but she hinted that the Artemis III mission could evolve into a “different mission” if delayed, without giving further details on that alternative. It is clear that we are heading towards a manned mission without landing, unless we consider that NASA is ready to accept a gap of several years (four, even five) between Artemis II, scheduled for 2024, and the barracks on the Moon with Artemis III.
This is not the first time that NASA has considered modifying the architecture of the Artemis III mission. In September 2020, it was less a question of a return date to the Moon than of making the task easier by landing on the equatorial grounds of the Apollo missions, rather than directly targeting a site at the South Pole which poses several technical problems. This idea, pushed by Jim Bridenstine, then NASA administrator, was finally abandoned.
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