NASA delays moon landing until after 2025

A NASA decided to postpone by at least a year the next manned mission to the Moon. According to Bill Nelson, head of the American space agency, the moon landing mission is now scheduled to start in 2025. The previous goal, 2024, had been announced by the administration of former President Donald Trump, when launching the program. Artemis. However, the initiative faced several delays, including in the development of vehicles necessary for the space endeavor.

“We are estimating a no earlier than 2025 target for Artemis 3, which would be the first human-manned vehicle in the first demonstration of a vehicle that won a SpaceX competition,” Bill Nelson said on a conference call. He further blamed the delay on Congress' failure to raise sufficient funds to develop the human landing system and on the Trump administration for overestimating the United States' space capabilities. "The Trump administration's goal of a human landing by 2024 was not based on technical feasibility," a US special agency spokesperson said.

A NASA also blamed other factors for delays and rising costs. In addition to the litigation Blue Origin break the relationship between SpaceX and NASA, Nelson argued that the scope of the Orion project had increased over time and that the health crisis faced in recent years had caused disruptions in the supply chain that affected production. “We lost nearly seven months in litigation, and that likely made the first human landing likely not occur until 2025,” Nelson said.

Nelson also revealed that there will be an unmanned satellite landing "shortly before" humans set foot on the lunar surface. THE Artemis 1 should launch its rocket in February next year. With a total cost of US$9,3 billion, the special program is above the previous estimate of US$6,7 billion. To meet the new schedules, however, more funding from Congress will be needed, warns the head of the NASA.

Artemis program predicted moon landing in 2024

The program Artemis is led by NASA and the United States which, among other goals, intends to send the first woman and the first black person to the Moon. The program also aims to establish a permanent US presence on the Moon by the end of this decade. According to experts, the space agency's intention is to "colonize" the natural satellite to have a place for astronauts (and eventually anyone) to stay before traveling to the final planet: Mars.

The first integrated test of all technologies developed by NASA and other space companies will be done with the mission Artemis I. The flight will be unmanned and is expected to take place in 2022. "The spacecraft will launch the most powerful rocket in the world and will fly farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown," the statement said. NASA in a statement. The expectation is that the ship Orion travel 450.000 kilometers for three weeks and stay in space without attaching yourself to a space station.

"This is a mission that will really do what hasn't been done and learn what we don't know," said Mike Sarafin, manager of the Artemis I mission at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “This will open a path for people to follow on the next Orion flight.”

Humans landed on the Moon for the last time in 1972, on the Apollo 17 mission. NASA, the Artemis program will have an investment of around US $ 35 billion.

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Source: Interesting Engineering.