NASA kills the Lunar Gateway (lunar space station)

It's not like there hasn't been a lot of evidence that this was coming, but today NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and his colleagues shared a number of major announcements, including outlining a nuclear-powered mission to Mars that will release three helicopters there and major changes to commercial space stations (short video - < 1 minute). However, most significantly, Isaacman outlined a detailed plan to construct a substantial Moon base over the next decade. He also confirmed that NASA will no longer build the Lunar Gateway in orbit around the Moon, but would rather focus all of its energy and resources on the lunar surface.

Is this affordable? One of Isaacman’s fundamental beliefs is that NASA does not have a revenue problem. Rather, it has an expense problem.

“For too long we tried to satisfy every stakeholder, and the results of that are very well documented in Office of the Inspector General reports,” he said. “Billions of dollars wasted. Years lost. Hardware that never launched. Fewer flagship science missions. And fewer astronauts in space, which means fewer kids dressing up as astronauts for Halloween. I don’t like it. The president doesn’t like it. The American people have waited long enough.”

This meeting was at NASA Headquarters in Washington DC, and Isaacman was speaking to an audience of about 160 officials from industry, politicians, and leaders of foreign space agencies. The meetings will continue tomorrow, so it seems entirely possible there will be some news stories during the day. 

But publicly, Isaacman sought to be clear with NASA’s contractors. NASA, he said, needed to do better. And they needed to do better. The space agency is prepared to do everything it can to help its contractors succeed, from embedding subject matter experts to relaxing requirements. But the time for excuses is coming to an end, he said.

“We are not going to sit idly by while schedules slip or budgets are exceeded,” he said. “Expect uncomfortable action if that is what it takes. Because the public has invested $100 billion and has been very patient with America’s return to the Moon. Expectations are rightfully very high. Taxpayers and their representatives in Congress should demand accountability from every leader and every CEO if those expectations are not met.”

It's encouraging to see Administrator Isaacman speaking truthfully about how the agency is barely a shadow of that it used to be. I think it's not going to be accepted as well by major industry players as it is by those of us who think SLS is a hole that's sucked down billions of dollars more than originally bid. 

One of the highlights on Tuesday was an hour-long presentation by Carlos Garcia-Galan, who formerly was a deputy program manager for the Gateway but now has been installed as leader of the Moon Base initiative. Garcia-Galan, however, did not seem downcast by the end of the Gateway. Rather, he seemed fired up about building sprawling infrastructure on the Moon. (A 10 minute video of his presentation)

“The Gateway team, both NASA and industry and the international partners, were an awesome team,” he said in an interview afterward. “While I do believe an orbiting outpost has value in our overall exploration goals, this doesn’t mean that we can’t do it later. We need to be focused on the surface, and everyone wants to be on the surface. So I’m super excited, and I’m sure the rest of the Gateway team will be once they start to shift their focus.” 

NASA released this rendering of a Moon base that will be built over the next decade. Image Credit: NASA

The Moon base will be NASA’s main exploration focus going forward. Garcia-Galan said part of his job will be bringing together the various efforts at NASA previously focused on or near the Moon and make it clear to all that the work they’re doing must be bent toward supporting a Moon base.

This is why the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program will be scaled up, to accommodate the increased need for frequent access to the Moon with larger cargoes. It’s why Gateway had to go. It’s why NASA will develop not one, but two networks of communications satellites.