No One on Jeopardy! Knew About NASA’s New Moon Missions

An excellent-discouraging second occurred final week on Jeopardy!, when not one of the present’s three contestants may reply a really primary query about NASA’s multi-billion greenback Moon program.

The query, as requested by Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings on the May 4 broadcast, fell into the “Keepin’ Up With NASA” class, and it learn as follows: “The NASA program named for this sister of Apollo looks to land a woman (& a man) on the Moon by 2024.” The query was of obvious issue, as the reply carried the utmost $1,000 worth for the class.

And certainly, it turned out to be a triple stumper, as not one of the three contestants have been in a position to invoke the right response: “What is Artemis?” Not even Mattea Roach, a Toronto-based tutor who got here into the match having gained 21 consecutive video games and amassing a complete of $506,585 in winnings, was in a position to summon the reply. So “Artemis,” as a program, undertaking, model, or nevertheless one needs to consult with it, doesn’t appear to be resonating with the bigger public. Or not less than, that’s how I’m studying this regrettable Jeopardy! second.

This needed to be disheartening for NASA, in addition to an indication that it’s not doing sufficient to advertise the Artemis program. But there are different components to think about. Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence introduced Artemis in 2017, and although it was within the works earlier than that administration, the affiliation might have tainted this system in some Americans’ minds. Ongoing crises just like the pandemic, the invasion of Ukraine, inflation, and the not-so-peaceful transition of energy in January 2021 might also have made it laborious for Artemis to seize the general public’s creativeness the way in which that Apollo did.

“I grew up in the 1960s during the Apollo era… but, given the constant reminders I got in school and in the news about going to the Moon, I knew exactly what the brother of Artemis was up to,” Keith Cowing, a former NASA worker and editor of the location NASA Watch, advised me in an electronic mail. “So did everyone else.”

No doubt, Artemis can’t presumably compete with the Apollo program when it comes to novelty, pleasure, and historic significance. NASA can be having to justify these upcoming missions to an more and more cynical public, who can justifiably query the necessity to return to the Moon or ask how they themselves may profit from the multi-billion-dollar program. NASA is looking for to make the mission extra relatable by having a girl and an individual of colour participate in Artemis 3, the primary lunar touchdown since 1975, nevertheless it’s not clear if the message is getting via or the diploma to which this issues to individuals.

That the Jeopardy! contestants couldn’t title Artemis can be problematic as a result of sum of money that’s concerned. According to a recent Inspector General audit, a complete of $40 billion has already been spent on the Artemis program, with one other $93 billion projected from now via to 2025. Alarmingly, NASA Inspector General Paul Martin estimates that every launch of NASA’s upcoming Space Launch System rocket will price $4.1 billion, a value he described as “unsustainable” during a March assembly of the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics.

Ongoing delays are one other downside, and one other potential motive why the general public stays distanced from this system. Artemis has acquired a sure, “I’ll believe it when I see it” high quality—a completely comprehensible perspective, provided that SLS has but to launch and that current checks of the 322-foot-tall (98-meter) rocket have not gone easily. NASA’s present plan is to launch the rocket for the inaugural Artemis 1 mission in August, however additional delays wouldn’t be stunning.

And that’s simply the rocket. While the Orion crew capsule is prepared for launch, different key components have but to be developed, resembling the 2 requested lunar landers (each being developed privately) and the xEMU Moon go well with. The present plan is to launch Artemis 3 in 2025 (Jeopardy! bought it mistaken, as 2024 is not a goal), however 2026 might be extra probably.

I think that Artemis, as a reputation and a mission idea, will ultimately enter into the frequent vernacular as soon as this system hits some really spectacular milestones—and I’m not speaking concerning the first launch of SLS. It’ll be Artemis 2, when a crewed Orion capsule will journey to the Moon and again with out touchdown, that will seize large public consideration (this mission gained’t launch till 2024 on the earliest). Until then, Artemis will proceed to appear within the distant future, and nothing to get too enthusiastic about.