SpaceX Proposes 'Simplified' Artemis III Mission in Bid to Keep NASA Contract

Following NASA's recent opening of the Artemis III mission contract to other providers, SpaceX has rushed out a simplified mission plan in an effort to hold on to the deal. This comes just days after CEO Elon Musk heavily criticised NASA administrators, suggesting no other company but SpaceX could do the job. Clearly, SpaceX feels others might, as it's altering its plans accordingly.

In 2021, SpaceX won the contract to take astronauts to the lunar surface, beating off competition from the likes of Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and the Dynetics HLS lander . Part of this was the sheer grandiose spectacle of Starship : reusability, in-orbit refuelling, deep space compatibility, and more. It's complete overkill for a Moon lander and is far, far bigger and heavier than it needs to be. But it won the contract nonetheless, and development has continued since.

Except it's not going fast enough. Starship is barely on to its Block 3 design , let alone the Block 4 design it needs to lift enough fuel into orbit for refuelling. So NASA, growing frustrated with the delays, opened the contract to other designs and is i n talks with Blue Origin to modify its Mark 1 cargo lander as a potential alternative.

SpaceX sees itself as a keystone in developing a fully functioning lunar base.Credit: SpaceX

Now, SpaceX is capitulating and proposing a more streamlined version of its Artemis III mission plan.

"Since the contract was awarded, we have been consistently responsive to NASA as requirements for Artemis 3 have changed and have shared ideas on how to simplify the mission to align with national priorities," SpaceX posted to its blog , along with a breakdown of all the Artemis III milestones it has managed to hit so far. "In response to the latest calls, we've shared and are formally assessing a simplified mission architecture and concept of operations that we believe will result in a faster return to the moon while simultaneously improving crew safety."

Unfortunately, SpaceX doesn't detail what this simplified approach will be, but unless it's fundamentally different to the original proposed plan, it's hard to see how it has much merit. SpaceX has yet to even demonstrate Starship reaching orbit, and it will need to do so over and over again just to get the HLS ready for a lunar transit, let alone landing, re-ignition on the lunar surface, takeoff, and return to Earth orbit for an eventual landing.

In the meantime, the recent government shutdown may delay the launch of Artemis 2's lunar flyby mission , which is currently slated for between February and April 2026.