Black Card
After spending $107 billion on Moon plans since 2004, NASA's new strategy for actually landing is ___________.
Cards Against Artemis™
Dossier 03 of 10Ambitious
Artemis IV & V: The Landing (Probably).
The first crewed Moon landing since 1972. Currently scheduled for 2028. Previous Moon landing schedules: 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027. Pattern recognition is left as an exercise for the reader.
§ 1 — Lunar Surface Operations (Pending)
The Moon Landing. For Real This Time. They Pinky-Promised.
Artemis IV is now the first planned crewed Moon landing since Apollo 17 in 1972. It's targeted for 2028. NASA selected both SpaceX and Blue Origin in 2023, presumably so that if one is running late there's a backup plan.
In the same press conference where NASA announced Artemis III wouldn't land, they also announced the cancellation of the SLS Block 1B upgrade and Mobile Launcher 2 — which was 98% paid for. They paid for 98% of a thing they will never use. This is the space equivalent of buying a boat.
Future Artemis missions will use commercially-sourced upper stages and transition to fully commercial launch vehicles. The goal is Moon landings every 6 months. The current cadence is one launch every 3 years.
The SLS Math
The SLS costs $4.1 billion per launch. A Falcon Heavy costs approximately $150 million. NASA could launch 27 Falcon Heavys for the price of one SLS. But SLS has government jobs attached to it, which is a different kind of rocket fuel.
§ Play a Card
Your Turn.
Tap a white card to fill the blank. Click a filled blank to clear it.
↑ Tap a white card to play it
White Card
Played
“Announcing it loudly and hoping momentum takes over.”
Cards Against Artemis™
White Card
Played
“A vibes-based approach at this point.”
Cards Against Artemis™
White Card
Played
“Waiting until China announces a date and then announcing an earlier date.”
Cards Against Artemis™