Witnesses at a House Science, Space, and Technology subcommittee hearing today urged the next NASA administrator to prioritize restructuring the Artemis program to ensure its success and long-term sustainability.
“A revised Artemis campaign plan should be a high priority for the new administrator,” said Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University.
The future of the Artemis program, launched during President Donald Trump’s first term to return humans to the moon and eventually send missions to Mars, is uncertain.
While President Trump initially supported the moon’s role in NASA’s Mars plans, he later criticized the program, tweeting in 2019 that NASA should focus on Mars instead. He doubled down on this in his inaugural address, stating, “We will pursue our Manifest Destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars.”
However, witnesses today expressed their belief that Artemis’s “Moon to Mars” agenda remains the best pathway for the U.S. to be the first nation to send astronauts to Mars.
“The discussion is not moon or Mars, rather timing dictates that we must first master the moon and then proceed to Mars,” said Dan Dumbacher, adjunct professor at Purdue University.
“To be dominant in space is a critical national security and economic concern. This is about the long-term drive to be present, to lead, and to become the first to establish the rules of the road, thus managing the lunar domain for the purposes of science, exploration, and commercial development,” Dumbacher said. “Today’s race is about continuous presence, values, and technical leadership. The nation that leads is the nation that benefits.”
While both witnesses support Artemis as the essential space agenda for this administration, they also acknowledge that it is not without its challenges.
According to Pace, the current Artemis program presents many challenges, with a primary concern being the Space Launch System, which is expensive and not reusable.
“It’s had one flight but has trouble meeting the congressional target of two cores per year. It’s time to consider alternatives from going to the Earth to the moon and back. Ideally, NASA should be able to buy heavy lift services to send payloads to the moon,” Pace said.
While there may be some painful adjustments with industry and international partners, Pace believes it’s better to make those changes now than to continue an unsustainable and unaffordable path.
“The Artemis policy is a good one supported by Congress and multiple administrations. However, we need a more sustainable and credible approach to maintain the confidence of the White House, Congress, industry, and our international partners,” Pace added.
According to Dumbacher, the new administration and Congress need to ease up on regulations to allow for more flexibility and innovation in the Artemis program.
“If you give the leadership and the team at NASA and in government a little bit more leeway to go do their job, they will go do it,” he said, adding that, “Given the right leeway, the right motivation, and the right resources,” NASA staffers can accomplish anything.
President Trump has nominated billionaire astronaut Jared Isaacman as the next NASA administrator, though no date has been set for a confirmation hearing.
