Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Image credit: NASA

NASA’s “re-booting” of the Moon via the Artemis program faces multiple challenges, according to a new Government Accountability Office (GAO).

“NASA and its contractors have made progress, including completing several important milestones, but they still face multiple challenges with development of the human landing system and the space suits. As a result, GAO found that the Artemis III crewed lunar landing is unlikely to occur in 2025.”

The GAO points out that Moon lander provider, SpaceX and its Starship vehicle, must complete a significant amount of complex technical work to support the Artemis III lunar landing mission.

That SpaceX work includes developing the ability to store and transfer propellant while in orbit.

A critical aspect of SpaceX’s plan for landing astronauts on the Moon for Artemis III is launching multiple tankers that will transfer propellant to a depot in space before transferring that propellant to the human landing system.

SpaceX Starship human lander design to carry NASA astronauts to the surface of the Moon under the Artemis program.
Credit: SpaceX

The GAO flags the fact that NASA documentation has stated SpaceX has made limited progress maturing the technologies needed to support this aspect of its plan.

The GAO-identified issues include:

An ambitious schedule: The Human Landing System program is aiming to complete its development—from project start to launch—in 79 months, which is 13 months shorter than the average for NASA major projects. The complexity of human spaceflight suggests that it is unrealistic to expect the program to complete development more than a year faster than the average for NASA major projects, the majority of which are not human spaceflight projects. GAO found that if development took as long as the average for NASA major projects, the Artemis III mission would likely occur in early 2027.

Delays to key events: As of September 2023, the Human Landing System program had delayed eight of 13 key events by at least 6 months. Two of these events have been delayed to 2025—the year the lander is planned to launch. The delays were caused in part by the Orbital Flight Test, which was intended to demonstrate certain features of the launch vehicle and lander configuration in flight. The test was delayed by 7 months to April 2023. It was then terminated early when the vehicle deviated from its expected trajectory and began to tumble. Subsequent tests rely on successful completion of a second Orbital Flight Test.

Image credit: NASA

Notional Depiction of the Human Landing System

A large volume of remaining work: SpaceX must complete a significant amount of complex technical work to support the Artemis III lunar landing mission, including developing the ability to store and transfer propellant while in orbit. A critical aspect of SpaceX’s plan for landing astronauts on the moon for Artemis III is launching multiple tankers that will transfer propellant to a depot in space before transferring that propellant to the human landing system. NASA documentation states that SpaceX has made limited progress maturing the technologies needed to support this aspect of its plan.

Space suit challenges: Axiom is leveraging many aspects of NASA’s prior work to develop modernized space suits, but significant work remains to resolve design challenges. For example, NASA’s original design did not provide the minimum amount of emergency life support needed for the Artemis III mission. As a result, Axiom representatives said they may redesign certain aspects of the space suit, which could delay its delivery for the mission.

Go to the GAO report — “NASA Lunar Programs: Improved Mission Guidance Needed as Artemis Complexity Grows” – at:

https://www.gao.gov/assets/d24106256.pdf