Starship is the lander for Artemis. Something doesn't add up.

[ColinRyan]

I've been following the various manned space programs worldwide for decades, and there is something so glaringly obvious that I simply do not understand it.

Starship is the chosen lander for the Artemis program. But Starship is designed to reach the Moon and Mars from LEO. So why is NASA even bothering with Orion, Capstone and Gateway? SpaceX is even planning to send a Starship on a tourist jaunt around the Moon. It doesn't take a genius to work out that the whole thing could be done with Starships, and probably much cheaper.

If there are any articles about this, I'd appreciate someone pointing them out to me.

 

[LKK]

If starship is as advertised your arguements are good ones, and have been made often. Of course starship is as of now unproven. That Musk is huge on big promises is obvious,things are confused because He does bring some of it to life, It will be very exciting if Starship lives up to the hype.

 

[ColinRyan]

Of course starship is as of now unproven. ... It will be very exciting if Starship lives up to the hype.

Yeah, good point, but NASA seems convinced, and it's pretty hard to convince NASA, or any space agency for that matter.

 

[Cisventure Astronot]

I don't think Gateway is made obsolete by Starship, although it should be redesigned from the ground up to use Starships capacity, and Orion is important because Starship likely isn't going to get human-rated any time soon.

But you're right. It's weird that NASA requires Starship for Artemis, yet doesn't take full advantage of it.

 

[Hardcrunchyscience]

I've been following the various manned space programs worldwide for decades, and there is something so glaringly obvious that I simply do not understand it.

Starship is the chosen lander for the Artemis program. But Starship is designed to reach the Moon and Mars from LEO. So why is NASA even bothering with Orion, Capstone and Gateway? SpaceX is even planning to send a Starship on a tourist jaunt around the Moon. It doesn't take a genius to work out that the whole thing could be done with Starships, and probably much cheaper.

If there are any articles about this, I'd appreciate someone pointing them out to me.

If you are looking for logical thinking, planning and operations, manned spaceflight of modern day nasa is NOT the place to look. Don't look under that rock!!

 

[Atlan0001]

I've been following the various manned space programs worldwide for decades, and there is something so glaringly obvious that I simply do not understand it.

Starship is the chosen lander for the Artemis program. But Starship is designed to reach the Moon and Mars from LEO. So why is NASA even bothering with Orion, Capstone and Gateway? SpaceX is even planning to send a Starship on a tourist jaunt around the Moon. It doesn't take a genius to work out that the whole thing could be done with Starships, and probably much cheaper.

If there are any articles about this, I'd appreciate someone pointing them out to me.

You want to produce a dead end cul-de-sac? Try any vehicle or company or state without widening, deepening, competition. Thus in fact, revolutionary and evolutionary variation potential.

 

[Eyern1969]

In the ongoing discussion about NASA's Artemis program and the potential role of SpaceX's Starship, a key point of debate revolves around the use of a multi-element approach versus relying solely on Starship for lunar exploration.

Proponents of the multi-element approach argue that it provides redundancy and risk mitigation, enhances mission safety, and allows for diverse capabilities. NASA's Artemis program incorporates spacecraft like Orion for crew transportation and re-entry, Gateway for lunar orbit research and staging, and Capstone for technology demonstrations. This approach leverages international collaboration, accommodates varying mission objectives, and considers development timelines and progress.

While Starship offers the potential for cost-effective and efficient lunar transportation, integrating it into existing mission architectures requires careful consideration of factors like safety, reliability, and cost-effectiveness. Additionally, Starship's development status and ongoing testing suggest that a phased approach, integrating Starship with other spacecraft gradually, may be more feasible.

Overall, the discussion highlights the complex considerations involved in planning lunar exploration missions, balancing the capabilities of emerging technologies like Starship with the established infrastructure and objectives of ongoing programs like Artemis.

 

[ColinRyan]

In the ongoing discussion about NASA's Artemis program and the potential role of SpaceX's Starship, a key point of debate revolves around the use of a multi-element approach versus relying solely on Starship for lunar exploration.

[snipped]

Aside: I'm pretty sure this was written by ChatGPT or similar.

Anyway, TL;DR: The Artemis program seeks to diversify platforms and suppliers.

It's a fair point, I suppose, but honestly, it seems like an extremely expensive way of going about it. All for the sake of diversity? I don't buy that, sorry. Not at this price.

 

[Eyern1969]

Aside: I'm pretty sure this was written by ChatGPT or similar.

Anyway, TL;DR: The Artemis program seeks to diversify platforms and suppliers.

It's a fair point, I suppose, but honestly, it seems like an extremely expensive way of going about it. All for the sake of diversity? I don't buy that, sorry. Not at this price.

Yes, you're right but I found this helpful so I just shared.