SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who has long spoken about his intention to send people to Mars, previously allowed himself to criticize NASA and the Artemis program only in private conversations, but now he has begun to express his opinions in public.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who has long spoken about his intention to send people to Mars, previously allowed himself to criticize NASA and the Artemis program only in private conversations, but now he has begun to express his opinions in public.
According to ArsTechnica, Musk’s reticence could be explained by the fact that SpaceX has billions of dollars in contracts not only to build a human landing system as part of NASA’s Artemis program, but also to deliver food, cargo, and other logistics services to the planned Lunar Gateway in orbit around the Moon.
But in private conversations, Musk has criticized the US space agency’s plans, suggesting that Artemis is moving too slowly and relies too much on contractors who are eager to get government contracts at the best prices and have less interest in achieving results.
Over the past 10 days, Elon Musk has begun to publicly express some of these private thoughts. «The Artemis architecture is grossly inefficient because it is a job-maximizing program, not a results-maximizing one. Something completely new is needed», — he wrote in late 2024.
The SpaceX founder added, «No, we’re going straight to Mars. The moon is a distraction.» These statements directly contradict NASA’s plans to send 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.
Previously, Musk’s words would have been just a private opinion. But after playing a significant role in electing Donald Trump as the next President of the United States last year, Musk has taken on a major advisory role for the new administration. He was also partly responsible for the expected nomination of private astronaut Jared Isaacman to be the next administrator of NASA. While Musk doesn’t direct U.S. space policy, he certainly has a significant influence on what happens.
The fate of Artemis is a major issue not only for NASA, but also for the U.S. commercial space industry, the European Space Agency, and other international partners involved in returning humans to the Moon. With Artemis, the United States is competing with China to establish a presence on the lunar surface.
It is likely that NASA will adopt a new Artemis plan that will encompass plans for both the Moon and Mars. When Musk said that «we are going straight to Mars,» he may have meant that this would be the main focus of SpaceX’s efforts, with NASA’s support. This does not preclude a separate initiative, perhaps led by Blue Origin with NASA’s help, to develop plans for a return to the Moon.
It was previously reported that Elon Musk and SpaceX are under three federal investigations by three different U.S. military agencies for alleged noncompliance with reporting protocols. In particular, the aerospace company repeatedly ignored requirements to disclose information about Musk’s trips and meetings with foreign leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Recall that engineers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and AeroVironment revealed the cause of the crash of the first Mars rover, Ingenuity, which occurred on January 18, 2024, and resulted in damage to the blades. Scientists also presented the concept of their next helicopter, which will explore the «red planet» from the sky — Mars Chopper.
