NASA postpones the return to the Moon (also due to Bezos and Musk)
NASA astronauts will not go to the moon before 2026. Blue Origin's lawsuit for a NASA contract awarded to SpaceX for the construction of a new lunar lander is also responsible for the delay
The return of humans to the moon "will not happen before 2026".
This is what emerges from the report by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of NASA, the American space agency, published on Monday .
Already last week, NASA officials announced that they had delayed plans for the landing of American astronauts from 2024 to 2025.
But now the control body of NASA is still extending the timetable for the Moon.
In the latest report, the Office of the Inspector General explains that the Artemis program to bring Americans back to the moon is encountering "technical difficulties and delays accentuated by the Covid-19 pandemic and weather events".
In addition, NASA administrator Bill Nelson cited delays due to legal disputes as one of the main reasons for extending the scheduled date. Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin company has filed a lawsuit over a NASA contract with Elon Musk's SpaceX to build the Artemis lunar landing vehicle.
The mission would mark the first moon landing for NASA astronauts on the lunar surface since the 1970s.
All the details.
NASA'S TIMETABLE FOR RETURN TO THE MOON IS EXPECTED
The first moon landing mission probably won't take off until 2026, according to the OIG.
Already last week, NASA had updated the history of the program. An unmanned test flight of the lunar rocket and spacecraft Orion was planned as early as February, followed by a piloted flight around the moon no earlier than May 2024 and the first landing in 2025.
Then the schedule of the American space agency slips again.
TRUMP PLANS POSTPONED
This is NASA's first official recognition that the Trump administration's target date of 2024 for the Artemis 3 mission – the first moon landing – is no longer considered feasible.
The Trump administration had previously advanced the deadline for a new landing from 2028 to 2024.
"The Trump administration's goal of human landing in 2024 was not based on technical feasibility," NASA chief Bill Nelson pointed out last week.
WHERE IS THE ARTEMIS PROGRAM
At the moment, NASA is preparing the first Space Launch System rocket and an Orion capsule – Artemis 1 – for launch on an unmanned journey over the moon and back as early as February. However, the Inspector General's Office expects the flight to be postponed for several more months.
THE COST OF NASA'S RETURN TO THE MOON
The Artemis program is estimated to cost nearly $ 93 billion through 2025, according to the report.
PRAISE FOR SPACEX
Beyond the accumulated delays, the audit praised the "fast pace" of SpaceX production, thanks to a system that "produces many parts and engine components in-house".
During August visits to the headquarters in California and factories in Texas, the OIG said 20 Starship prototypes and 100 Raptor engines were ready.
Over the past 15 years, the average time between being awarded a contract and the first flight has been eight and a half years. SpaceX should achieve this in half the time, reports the OIG.
DESPITE THE DISPUTE WITH BLUE ORIGIN
Among the accumulated delays, the NASA number one also cited legal disputes over a contract with Elon Musk's SpaceX to build the lunar landing vehicle as one of the main reasons for extending the planned date.
A federal judge on November 4 threw out a lawsuit by Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin against the US government over NASA's decision to award a $ 2.9 billion contract for a lunar lander to SpaceX.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/la-nasa-rinvia-il-ritorno-sulla-luna-anche-per-colpa-di-bezos-e-musk/ on Tue, 16 Nov 2021 15:20:06 +0000.