Jubilant return of Artemis II shadowed by ‘extinction-level’ cuts to Nasa: ‘It’s discordant’
www.theguardian.com
Even as a triumphant moon flyby primes agency for a 2028 landing, Trump’s proposed budget cuts cast pall on US space program

Even as a triumphant moon flyby primes agency for a 2028 landing, Trump’s proposed budget cuts cast pall on US space program

Even as Integrity, the mission moniker for the Orion capsule of Artemis II, ascended into the heavens days ago, Donald Trump was announcing his intention to slash NASA’s budget by 23%, including a 46% cut for space science initiatives.

And the Artemis program that has run years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget offers no guarantees that the next, far harder stages will run as smoothly.

  • WesternInfidels@feddit.onlineEnglish
    122·
    4 days ago

    One of the criticisms of the Artemis program is that NASA’s SLS rocket is Titantically, catastrophically expensive compared to SpaceX rockets. Or compared to the Saturn IV rocket. Compared to just about everything.

    Artemis III is supposed to involve a commercially-made moon lander, probably from SpaceX. Artemis IV is supposed to build a space station in lunar orbit, on the back of about a zillion SpaceX rocket launches.

    I don’t know everything, but I don’t think NASA’s in any position to tell Elon Musk off.

    Grain of salt: Most of what I think I know about Artemis is from a very long, very detailed, very critical and persuasive blog post by someone who isn’t even an engineer as far as I know.