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When the first Trump administration announced a
pledge to reestablish America’s human presence
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on the moon, the goal was to create a permanent
base on the lunar surface,
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which could be used to help facilitate missions
to Mars.
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In 2019, the cost estimate for the program,
dubbed Project Artemis was suggested by NASA to
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be between 20 and $30 billion.
And while that’s a big number,
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it actually pales in comparison to the revised
figure that came two years later when the
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agency’s Office of Inspector General.
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suggested the true cost would be $93 billion
and that was just through 2025.
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Speaking of 2025, here we are.
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And the updates taking place over the past few
weeks don’t seem to bode well for Project
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Artemis.
A new report from Bloomberg says the program
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may be poised for a shake-up, and they’re
looking at recent comments from Boeing to
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support that theory.
Boeing revealed that it was looking to Reduce
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staffing on its space launch system or SLS team
by 400 in the next few months,
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which amounts to more than a third of the staff
assigned to this effort.
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They say it’s to align with revisions to the
Artemis program and cost expectations,
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and there’s a lot to unpack here.
From a cost perspective,
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the SLS rocket alone is expected to cost nearly
24 billion through year end.
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And test and development delays mean that the
original timeline has been blown.
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In 2022, the SLS Artemis I sent an uncrewed
flight around the moon,
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and a crude launch of Artemis Two is expected
for April 2026 and a lunar landing for 2027,
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a far cry from the pledge ex-NASA administrator
Jim Brienstein made in 2019.
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That Artemis was going to the moon in 2024,
quote, Whatever that takes.
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The other major factor is SpaceX founder and
Boeing Space Race competitor Elon Musk and his
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influence on the Trump administration.
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Late last year, Musk called the Artemis
architecture extremely inefficient.
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Adding that something entirely new is needed.
Will President Trump defend Boeing’s role in
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helping Americans reach the lunar surface, or
has he moved on?
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Skeptics point to the commander in chief’s
comments during his inauguration speech where
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he mentioned planting the stars and stripes on
the planet Mars,
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leaving the moon out of it entirely.
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I’m Anna Wells and this is manufacturing now.