NASA\u2019s Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the moon this decade amid a renewed international push for lunar exploration, is facing some lengthy delays, the space agency has announced. <\/p>\n
The Artemis III mission, planned to hit the the crucial milestone of landing humans on the moon for the first time since the Apollo program, will not take off until at least September 2026, NASA officials said at a news conference Tuesday. The journey had previously been slated for 2025. <\/p>\n
The primary reasons for the delay include SpaceX\u2019s outlook for developing Starship, the gargantuan rocket and spacecraft system that is expected to ferry astronauts from lunar orbit to the moon\u2019s south pole. Two Starship test flights in 2023 ended in explosions. <\/p>\n
SpaceX has a long road ahead in developing its lunar lander. Even after Starship demonstrates the ability to make it safely to Earth\u2019s orbit, the company must hash out how to get the vehicle enough propellant to travel out to the moon, a feat that is expected to involve at least 10 refueling flights, according to Jessica Jensen, SpaceX\u2019s vice president of customer operations and integration. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe must be realistic. \u2026 We\u2019re looking at our Starship progress and need for propellant transfer, the need for numerous landings,\u201d NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free told reporters Tuesday. <\/p>\n
Jensen said SpaceX could be ready \u2014 and receive the necessary regulatory approvals \u2014 for its third Starship test flight by February. <\/p>\n
NASA officials added that they are also expecting delays in engineering the spacesuits astronauts will wear while on the moon\u2019s surface. Both SpaceX\u2019s Starship development and the spacesuits were factors that government watchdogs, including NASA\u2019s inspector general, have cited as potential factors that could cause delays for the Artemis III mission. <\/p>\n
That delay is linked in part to issues with the Orion crew capsule that will be home to the astronauts during the mission. The space agency previously disclosed that the spacecraft\u2019s heat shield, which keeps Orion from burning up as the vehicle reenters the Earth\u2019s atmosphere, became charred and eroded in an unexpected way during the uncrewed Artemis I mission in 2022, according to Amit Kshatriya, the deputy associate administrator for NASA\u2019s Moon to Mars Program. <\/p>\n
There is also still much work to do on the Orion crew capsule\u2019s life support system and valves that failed during testing, Kshatriya said. NASA officials indicated that they expect the lift support systems to take the longest to prepare for flight. <\/p>\n
NASA is still targeting 2028 for the launch of its Artemis IV mission, which will aim to send astronauts to a forthcoming space station that will orbit the moon, called Gateway. <\/p>\n
The altered timeline and mission shuffling marks a major realignment of expectations for the Artemis program, which is NASA\u2019s current flagship human space exploration effort. <\/p>\n
The Artemis program\u2019s underlying goal is to establish a permanent human presence on the moon as rival nations, including China, chase similar ambitions. <\/p>\n
China has already led a robotic return to the moon in the 21st century, launching the first uncrewed lander ever to touch down on the moon\u2019s far side, and plans to put its own astronauts on the lunar surface by the end of the decade. <\/p>\n
\u201cI really do not have a concern that China\u2019s gonna land before us,\u201d NASA administrator Bill Nelson said Tuesday. \u201cI think that China has a very aggressive plan. I think they would like to land before us \u2026 but the fact is that I don\u2019t think they will.\u201d <\/p>\n
The announcement of delays for NASA\u2019s crewed Artemis missions also comes as the space agency\u2019s robotic lunar exploration program, called CLPS or Commercial Lunar Payload Services programs, suffered a setback. <\/p>\n
The space agency has partnerships with four companies to develop landers that can carry science instruments and other cargo to the moon \u2014 and the first of those landers to launch, the Astrobotic Peregrine lander, failed in the hours after it took flight on Monday. <\/p>\n
The company is currently assessing how it will dispose of the vehicle as it runs of out of propellant en route to the moon. <\/p>\n\n
NASA\u2019s Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the moon this decade amid a renewed international push for lunar exploration, is facing some lengthy delays, the space agency has announced. The Artemis III mission, planned to hit the the crucial milestone of landing humans on the moon for the first time since the Apollo <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":13805,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13804","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}