Elon Musk Calls the Moon ‘Distraction’, Challenges NASA’s Atremis and Lunar Ambitions

Billionaire Elon Musk’s increased influence on the American space program could be rearing its head, as he has called for them to ditch the Artemis program. Elon Musk challenges NASA’s Artemis plan, calling the Moon mission a distraction and pushing for a focus on Mars. Can his influence reshape America’s space ambitions?

Artemis To Be Cancelled? Musks Says “We’re Going Straight to Mars”

In a recent tweet, he called the Moon a “distraction” and said “we’re going straight to Mars” as he seemed to contradict NASA ambitions to explore the Moon more via the Artemis program, officially formed by Donald Trump in 2017.

Musk has also called the space agency’s Moon program “extremely inefficient as it is a jobs-maximizing program, not a results-maximizing program.”

With his new influence over the government, his tweets and comments cannot be ignored. By explaining that the program is inefficient, he could be laying the groundwork for the “Department of Government Efficiency” to take action.

Musk’s Mars Push

The cynical view is that Elon Musk is trying to further his ambitions to develop a city on Mars, something he has promised numerous times and is actively working on with SpaceX. Musk’s key role in Trump’s election campaign and the role he played in changing a recent US Congress funding bill show that he now has a huge level of power.

With the Department of Government Efficiency, Musk has a method of targeting specific government spending, and the Artemis program appears to be a target for him.

There has also been speculation that Elon Musk would encourage NASA to ditch the expensive Space Launch System and instead use SpaceX’s own Starship, but whether this will happen or not may depend on Jared Isaacman, incoming administrator of NASA and a billionaire in his own right. He has expressed support for the Moon and Mars programs after his nomination:

“Americans will walk on the Moon and Mars and in doing so, we will make life better here on Earth.”

The Artemis program would not be easy to stop. A huge amount of time and resources has gone into it, as well as contracts with other organisations being issued. Stopping these as a knee-jerk reaction could be costly and wasteful.