Elon Musk Calls Out NASA’s Moon Ambitions: ‘We’re Going Straight to Mars’

Although the founder of SpaceX Musk Known for his outspoken and controversial comments on social media site X, he has been relatively restrained when it comes to U.S. space policy in recent years.

For example, he rarely criticized NASA or its overall goal of returning humans to the moon through its Artemis program. Instead, Musk has long preferred Mars as a destination for humans and is more or less a team player when it comes to the space agency’s moon-focused plans.

This is understandable from a financial perspective because Space Exploration Technologies Corporation has contracts worth billions of dollars not only to build human landing systems as part of the Artemis program, but also to provide food, cargo and other logistics services to the planned Lunar Gateway in orbit around the moon.

But privately, Musk has been critical of NASA’s plans, arguing that the Artemis program is progressing too slowly and relying too much on contractors who seek cost-plus government contracts and are less interested in delivering results. interest.

No more silence on policy

Over the past 10 days, Musk has begun to express some of these private thoughts publicly. Take Christmas as an example, Musk wrote on”, “The Artemis structure is extremely inefficient because it is a plan to maximize employment, not a plan to maximize results. We need something completely new.

Then, Thursday night, he added this: “No, we’re going straight to Mars. The moon will distract us.”

These clear statements directly contradict NASA’s plans to launch a series of human missions to the moon’s south pole later this decade and establish a sustainable base of operations there through the Artemis program.

It would be one thing if Musk was simply expressing his opinion as a private citizen. But since playing a major role in electing Donald Trump as the next president of the United States last year, Musk has taken on a key advisory role for the incoming administration. He was also partially responsible for the nomination of private astronaut Jared Isaacman as the next administrator of NASA. While Musk doesn’t direct U.S. 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 issue not only for NASA, but also for the U.S. commercial space industry, the European Space Agency and other international partners supporting a return of humans to the moon. Through the Artemis program, the United States is competing with China to establish a meaningful presence on the lunar surface.

Based on conversations with people involved in shaping space policy in the Trump administration, I can make some educated guesses about how to interpret Musk’s comments. For example, none of these people would disagree with Musk’s assertion that the “Artemis architecture is extremely inefficient” and that some changes are needed.

That being said, Project Artemis may not be going away. After all, the first Trump administration instituted the plan nearly five years ago. However, it may be less remembered that Trump’s first White House pushed for more significant changes, including a “major course correction” for NASA.

"I call on NASA to adopt new policies and embrace new thinking," Then-Vice President Pence said May 2019. “If our existing contractors can’t make it happen, then we’ll look for contractors who can make it happen.” (Speaking of the vice president, it’s unlikely the National Space Council will be reorganized under J.D. Vance).