The US House of Representatives' Committee on Science, Space, and Technology's Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee held a hearing on January 17 titled Returning to the Moon: Keeping Artemis on Track.

A play on that title, former NASA Administrator and former Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, Michael Griffin, stated in his oral testimony, "We should restart [Artemis], not keep it on track."

Is he right? Not if we want to create a sustainable human lunar exploration program with astronauts setting foot on the Moon before 2030. In much the same previous NASA human spaceflight restarts have set NASA’s goals back years at a time, so would a reset this far into the Artemis program.

Gateway is not crucial for international cooperation in the Artemis program. If Gateway did not exist, such efforts would be put towards gaining partners and contributors for Artemis Base Camp. NASA and Congress have entirely ignored Artemis Base Camp as a “later” issue, having little funding or incentive to focus on it.

The year of the commercial Moon landers has been a long time coming. First, a bit of history to better understand why this moment is important, regardless of mission success.

We at Astralytical are not usually in the business of fortune telling, that is, forecasts and projections. However, once per year, it is fun to bet on what the new year may bring. Here’s what we might expect from 2024.

Echoing the past space age, a new global competition has emerged between two global powers seeking to conduct activities on and around the Moon. But instead of the US versus the Soviet Union, China has emerged as the major competitor to the US in space.

China is attracting international partners in its effort to establish a lunar base. How does China’s international collaboration compare to the international collaboration the US is leading?

The Artemis Accords and the Moon Agreement are seen as a contradiction in the area of space resources. The Moon Treaty will continue to lose its relevance. The Artemis Accords will continue to gain momentum.

A new US Government Accountability Office (GAO) report was published November 30. The GAO concluded that the Artemis III mission would likely occur in early 2027. Arguably, taking the average is very optimistic.

GPS is indispensable in the US and in many places around the world. Modern society relies on position, navigation, and timing (PNT) satellites.

What about the Moon?

With increased activity in cislunar space and on the lunar surface, governments and companies are developing PNT concepts for further exploration outside of Earth’s orbit.

SpaceX is under a lot of pressure to succeed with Starship orbital test flight ASAP. If SpaceX can prove itself with NASA Artemis, private lunar landing missions are very likely (maybe post 2035).

The next SpaceX Starship orbital test flight could be as soon as mid November, possibly November 13. Is the future of Starship in low-Earth orbit (LEO)?

Turning rocket stages into space stations in LEO is not a new idea. It predates SpaceX by decades. But with Starship being its own transportation off-Earth, and with it’s massive size and capacity, can we expect Starship to push commercial LEO destinations (CLDs) out of existence?

Non-rocket launch concepts are not new. They’ve been around for decades. In the case of a space “elevator” tower, the concept is over a century old. Will contemporary efforts succeed?