Elon Musk holds a special title as the CEO of SpaceX, the driving force behind launching a huge Starship megarocket system that could ignite the next era of space exploration and the return of humans to the moon. The Starship launch this April is a crucial tes— and a vital part of NASA’s Artemis moon mission.
The NASA Artemis mission offers a new way of reaching the moon, by sending Orion spacecraft to the lunar orbit using the Space Launch System. From there, another rocket, Starship, will be used to land and bring the crew back to Earth for the first time since the Apollo missions in 1972.
SpaceX won a staggering $2.9 billion award from NASA in 2021 to build Starship and design the lunar lander for the Artemis IV mission. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson likely has his eyes on the upcoming Starship test launches to see if SpaceX can deliver on the license.
NASAs investment and the inclusion of commercial factors into the Artemis mission is a testament to the substantially lower cost and higher efficiency of privatized ventures, which has recently allowed a number of companies, including SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Relativity Space, to thrive in the space industry.
It would be more cost effective for NASA to use Starship rather than its own massive Space Launch System, which has been estimated to cost around $50 billion in development and $4 billion per launch. While SLS is compatible with the Orion spacecraft, SpaceX’s megarocket could potentially launch multiple times a year.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is no stranger to ambitious projects and stands as one of the most important individuals in the space industry today. His technological accomplishments are renowned and have been proven successful with multiple successful launches and orbital flights of his rockets. SpaceX’s success is also proof of the potential of commercial actors in the heart of a mission’s development.
However, there are still obstacles to overcome before Starship can launch into orbit. SpaceX must also mitigate against dust before landing on the moon, perfect life-support hardware, and work out feasible refueling options.
It will be essential for NASA to have more than one way of reaching and landing on the lunar surface, to guarantee their investment and to provide mission assurance, system redundancy, and eventually to ensure economic competition.
Ultimately, the successful launch of Starship this April will be a key test to determine the progress of the Artemis mission and the future of space exploration. By proving the success of SpaceX and the value of commercial actors such as Musk, the moon landing could become a much more regular occurrence.
