The narrative in Washington is that the race to return to the moon is being lost. While China advances with a firm step to put two astronauts on the lunar surface before 2030, the NASA Artemis program hangs from a thread. That thread is called Starship, and less and less involved trust that it is ready to take Americans to the surface of the moon.
There is a plan B. A investigation The veteran space reporter Eric Berger reveals that NASA officials could have a plan B to comply with the White House slogan: return to the moon before China arrives for the first time.
Given the distrust of Elon Musk, who said publicly that the moon seemed like a distraction and that his priority was Mars, despite the multimillionaire NASA contract that finances the development of Starship HLS, the solution seems to be the ship of its great rival: Jeff Bezos.
All to a letter. To understand where this pressing American need to win the lunar race comes from, you have to go back in time. After the disaster of the Columbia space ferry in 2003, NASA focused on the Constellation program, which ended up deriving in the SLS rocket and the Orion spacecraft, whose development leads Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
In addition to huge cost overruns and delays, these two vehicles have ended up costing NASA the headaches of an inefficient architecture to return to the moon. The Artemis III mission, scheduled with optimism by 2027, plans to launch four astronauts in a SLS rocket, take them to the lunar orbit in the Orion ship and then, to two of them, to the lunar surface in a starship HLS of Spacex.
That NASA chose the Spacex Starship as the only option for Artemis III (and then Artemis IV) has ended up being its second big mistake. Even if it was the cheapest candidate and Spacex, he was already testing prototypes in flight, it is not the simplest ship to reach the moon: since he uses cryogenic fuel, which has to evaporate, he needs to refuel in orbit several times before embarking on his lunar trip.
The revenge of Jeff Bezos. Blue Origin, the Jeff Bezos aerospace company, denounced NASA at that time for having put all the eggs in the Starship basket. NASA also ended up hiring its Blue Moon ship, but for future Artemis V and VI missions.
Now, after years seeing how Musk dominated the sector, Bezos has the opportunity to take revenge. Blue Origin could advance Spacex With a simpler lunar architecture: a modified version of its Aunaging module Blue Moon Mark 1, originally designed for load flights. The company would be adapting it to carry crew, taking advantage of everything learned in the development of its next -generation manned ship, the Blue Mooon Mark 2.
It is 1969 again. The MK1 key is its simplicity: it would not require refueling in orbit, only send several MK1 to lower astronauts to the surface and then ascend again to meet with the Orion ship. It is an approach that, according to Blue Origin engineers, is feasible and could be executed before the decade ends. That is, before China reaches the moon.
What the United States wins. It is actually the United States that has put this idea of a lunar career against China in the collective imaginary. China has been playing long -term since it started throwing robots into the moon. But now that its date of sending astronauts is approaching, the US urgency is not accidental.
The White House She is obsessed with winning Chinato the point of having vetoed Chinese citizens even at meetings for NASA zoom. He has also advanced the Artemis II mission to show that he is still in the game. He is NASA’s acting administrator, Sean Duffy, close to the government, who promotes the narrative: “We are going to win the Chinese on the moon.”
At the same time, it’s not just a matter of pride. Settle permanently on the moon It is not just for glory, it is for the control of its resources. The first country to establish a functional base will have the pan by the handle. With Spacex Plan A accumulating doubts, Blue Origin’s proposal is presented as the alternative that NASA needs.
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