Text written in Basque and translated automatically by Elia without any subsequent editing. SEE ORIGINAL

Ready to go to the moon?

The Artemis II mission has been a success. However, there has been a step forward in this desire to return to the Moon. It was important for NASA that this manned mission went well, and yet the question has remained in the air. Even if everything goes well, does this success guarantee that they will be able to go to the moon in the coming years? There are still serious doubts.

A program like Artemis is full of tests. They do tests, a lot of calculations. And so it must be, because the engineering to be carried out is very complex: many things must be made to work simultaneously, in a coordinated and synchronized way. And that's not easy. They test and try to redirect the mission when everything is ready. But then there are also mistakes and new mistakes stop the program to start again.

Now, the Artemis II mission has been in the media. They're all good words. No wonder they did a great job. They put a lot of money into the project, it was inevitable. In the Apollo program they came to the Moon precisely because they put a lot of money into it. But the very inclusion of a lot of money does not guarantee that the subsequent missions will go well. They think they want to go to the moon in 2028, but will they be able to do it? It's not clear.

The first mission of the Artemis program was launched in November 2022. He was unmanned. Now they have completed the second, with many problems along the way. It is striking what NASA leader Jaret Isakman said: “These missions should not be treated as works of art.” I mean, we can't make everything perfect, and just launch a mission every three years. Instead, the goal should be to create frequently; to space useful missions. Focus more missions and in a much more normal way, even if there are small errors. This is how you will gain experience by learning from mistakes along the way.

There have also been errors in this Artemis II mission. Perhaps the most well-known has had something to do with the bathroom. It didn't work well. Indeed, one of the main objectives of the mission has been to study and refine the interaction between people and machines. There have been no major security flaws, but there have been. The launch of the mission was delayed a lot due to errors and they have lost a lot of time and money along the way. They learned a lot along the way.

“We will see if this philosophy of each mission being a work of art is fruitful.”

A BBC headline said “Is it great science or just hope created by NASA?” There are many activities and processes on Earth that cannot be simulated and tested. For example, this question of entering the earth is one of them, of crossing the atmosphere inwards. There is no simulator in a realistic way. It must be tested in the mission itself. In the end, going to the moon is not easy, but returning can be even more difficult.

NASA has done a lot of work, as well as a lot of marketing. We will see if this philosophy of each mission being a work of art is fruitful and if they are able to complete a lunar mission within two, three or four years.