One month after the official inauguration of Donald Trump As President of the United States, the future of the iconic Artemis space program, which would allow Americans to return to the Moon, remains unclear.
Although the Artemis program was launched during Trump's first term, it could be canceled or scaled back to redirect efforts toward another goal: reaching Mars, an ambitious project shared by Trump and his ally Elon Musk.
In his inaugural address in January, Trump announced, without explicitly mentioning a return to the moon: "We will continue to reach for the stars, sending American astronauts to plant the Star-Spangled Banner on Mars."
Mars is a priority for Elon Musk, who has great influence among Republicans and advocates for shelving lunar projects.
Recent resignations and rumors of layoffs have raised questions about a reorientation of NASA's flagship program, which aims to establish a permanent presence on the moon before launching missions to Mars.
On Wednesday, NASA officially announced the departure of Jim Free, a senior agency official and staunch advocate for the Artemis program.
An inevitable change
Space industry expert Laura Forczyk told AFP: "Whether Free resigned voluntarily or was pressured to do so, his departure clearly shows that the leadership of NASA is changing."
The Boeing Company, which is responsible for building the powerful SLS launch vehicle for the program, said this month it could lay off about 400 workers by April because of changes to the Artemis program and budget adjustments.
According to Laura Forczyk, an atmosphere of confusion and mistrust currently prevails, but recent announcements suggest that change is on the horizon, with substantial modifications expected to the program, rather than a complete cancellation.
Possible adjustments include abandoning the costly SLS rocket, which is behind schedule, in favor of private companies like SpaceX or canceling some of the program's long-distance missions.
If the program were to be canceled, it could have negative consequences for the Mars goal as well as the geopolitical ambitions of the United States.
Abandonment of the “SLS” rocket?
The shift to Mars could provide an advantage to China, which plans to send humans to the moon by 2030.
The Artemis 3 mission, which aims to return astronauts to the moon for the first time since the last Apollo mission in 1972, is currently scheduled for 2027.
If the SLS rocket were to be abandoned in favor of Starship, currently being developed by SpaceX, this would limit the room for maneuver in the event of difficulties and could lead to legal and political problems.
It would also raise questions about conflicts of interest, given that Musk holds a close advisory role to the president and some Republicans in the Senate could oppose the move.
Such a change could also affect many jobs in conservative states like Texas, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida.
However, as Forczyk points out, anything is possible: "The decisions of the Trump administration are unpredictable, and we don't know what's going through the minds of the president or Musk."
