by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently boasted that he would land five unmanned Starship rockets on the surface of Mars in 2026. If all of these landing attempts are successful, he intends to conduct the first manned expedition to Mars by 2028.
Former President Donald Trump endorsed the plan and called on Musk to put humans on Mars by the end of his expected second term. And why not? The sight of humans setting foot on the Red Planet would be the culmination of one of the most unusual and controversial political careers in history.
Before SpaceX lands anything on Mars, two problems must be solved: one technical and one bureaucratic.
The spacecraft must demonstrate several capabilities before Musk sends it to Mars. It has to take off, get into orbit and then land softly on Earth. It also needs to be refueled in low Earth orbit before being sent into space. And the rocket ship can only demonstrate these capabilities through repeated test flights.
By the way, SpaceX is contractually obliged to provide a lunar landing version of Starship. NASA’s plans for the Artemis III mission call for astronauts to transfer from the Orion spacecraft to the Starship Human Landing System in lunar orbit and travel to and from the lunar surface. SpaceX is planning an uncrewed version of a spaceship trip to the moon before attempting to send humans there.
NASA would like to see the Artemis III mission in 2026; In the same year, Musk plans to send a fleet of spaceships to Mars.
For any space mission involving spacecraft, whether to the Moon or Mars, several spaceships must be filled with fuel tanks before they can proceed. SpaceX would need to launch and land a lot of spacecraft in 2026 if it wants to fulfill both Musk and Trump’s Mars ambitions and NASA’s mission for the moon.
The idea that SpaceX could develop Starship into an operational vehicle by 2026 seems ambitious. However, all other things being equal, the company should be able to achieve this performance over a longer period of time.
However, not all things are equal when it comes to Starship development. SpaceX has encountered a government bureaucratic problem that has severely slowed the development of its super rocket.
The Federal Aviation Administration, the main government agency regulating space launches like the Starship test flights, has drawn Musk’s ire. In addition to issuing fines for alleged violations during two test flights in 2023, the government agency also postponed the fifth flight of SpaceX’s super rocket until November at the earliest. Musk claims the spacecraft has been ready for launch since August. The FAA claims the delay was for “safety reasons.”
Musk is having none of it. He has sent a letter to Congress disputing the fines and claiming they are frivolous. He has announced his intention to sue the FAA for what he calls “regulatory overreach.” SpaceX’s CEO has called on FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker to resign.
Obviously something is wrong. Has the FAA suffered a sudden case of sclerosis when it comes to overseeing SpaceX’s Starship test program? Or is something darker afoot?
Last year, Liz Peek noted that the Biden administration had declared all-out war on Musk and bristled at his turning X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, into a free speech zone. With this in mind, the idea that the White House has been slow to advance Starship development is not beyond the bounds of credibility.
If Biden targets Musk, he is pursuing his vendetta at the risk of America’s national security. Every moment that the next American moon landing is delayed makes more likely the nightmarish possibility that China, which is planning its own moonwalks by 2030, will beat America back to the moon. The irresponsibility is breathtaking.
Congress should certainly intervene. But Greg Autry, author of “Red Moon Rising,” and Brett Mecum also have a simple solution: Vote Trump for a second term so that Musk has an ally and not an enemy in the White House.
Will a second Trump presidency result in the US landing on both the lunar and Martian surfaces by the end of his term? Perhaps. Maybe not. But the return of the author of the Artemis program to power makes that prospect far more likely.
Mark R. Whittington is the author of “Why is it so hard to return to the moon?” as well as “The Moon, Mars and Beyond“ and lastly “Why is America returning to the moon?” He blogs at Curmudgeon’s Corner.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Find the latest news, weather, sports and streaming videos on The Hill.
