In recent years, the United States has pushed forward the Alchemist program, aiming to return to the moon in 2027. NASA’s Chief Executive Officer Sean Dafey recently said that the Alchemist 2 spacecraft, which carried out the manned moon-round mission, has completed the coupling with the new-generation U.S. moon-to-moon rocket Space Launch System, preparing for the manned mission.The U.S. plan to return to the moon is finally taking the real first step.
Wei Dongxu, military commentator of the main stationConsidering that the moon lander project in the manned lunar landing program "Armageddon" has just suffered a major setback,The U.S. plans to return to the moon in 2027 still exist.
Space Launch System carrying rocket
One of the three core systems is completely empty.
In 2019, the United States announced the Alchemist’s manned moon landing plan, and in November 2022 the Alchemist 1 conducted an unmanned test mission to fly around the moon.
In December last year, NASA announced that it would postpone the timetable for the Artemis 2 manned lunar orbiting mission and the Artemis 3 manned lunar mission again, postponing the two missions respectively. Until April 2026 and mid-2027.
Military commentator Wei Dongxu analyzed thatThe reason why Sean Duffy announced the completion of docking between Orion and Space Launch System in a high-profile manner was to use this "good news" to prove to the outside world that despite a series of problems such as project delays, technical and design adjustments, and budget overruns, the plan is still in progress.
But at the same time, Sean Duffy also announced a "bad news" a few days ago-due to the serious lag of American Space Exploration Technology Company in developing the lunar lander, NASA will reopen the bidding and solicit new solutions from other companies.
In other words,The launch vehicle and manned spacecraft for the United States to return to the moon have been built, but the lander has not yet been built.The three core systems of the manned lunar landing program, one of which is completely empty.
“Alchemist” one of the plans of the lunar lander in the moon landing program “complex lander”
In the previous bidding, Space Exploration Technology took the moon landing project at an ultra-low bid of $2.9 billion and a radical design proposal. Space Exploration Technology intends to transform the moon landing system on the basis of the "StarShip" spacecraft. First launch the "StarShip Lander" in close orbit, then launch the "StarShip Tank Spacecraft" to add fuel to the implementation of the orbit.
After landing on the moon, the "starship lander" will ignite and take off on the lunar surface, which has no launch site and is full of lunar dust, and return to Earth. The reality is thatThe "Starcraft" spacecraft is in the test phase, has not yet formed, and will not be able to carry out missions in 2027.。
Sean Duffy, acting administrator of NASA, can only hope for other options. The other two schemes previously bid with Space Exploration Technology Company are models jointly developed by multiple companies, and the technical risks they face are not small.
In August this year, the Starcraft took off from a launch base in southern Texas.
Complex outsourcing patterns will move all over.
He further analyzed,Artemis moon landing program has been delayed repeatedlyThere are many obstacles to the development of core systems, one of the important reasons is that NASA has adoptedExtremely complex outsourcing.。
- First, the U.S. Space Agency to balance the interests of various companies. Both to take care of traditional partners including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, but also to support space exploration companies, blue origin and other emerging space giants, at the same time also take into account a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises, which leads to the "Archimedes" moon landing program is extremely complex and easy to get involved.
- Secondly, the United States has a "space race" mentality, and setting 2027 as the time node for returning to the moon is eager for success. The White House is under constant pressure, and NASA will inevitably make mistakes in the process of advancing the "Artemis" manned moon landing program.
Exploring space requires an open, cooperative and pragmatic attitude. Blind competition and eagerness for success will only bind ourselves.
Commentator | Wei Dongxu
Edited by
Sign and review| yang Qiong
Producer | Liu Yiyao