HOUSTON — Two former government officials offered conflicting advice to a House committee on how to change NASA’s Artemis lunar exploration campaign, but agreed that a return to the moon was a prerequisite for human missions to Mars.
At a Feb. 26 hearing of the House Science Committee’s space subcommittee, Scott Pace, former executive secretary of the National Space Council, called for an early “off-ramp” from reliance on the Space Launch System while Dan Dumbacher, a former deputy associate administrator for exploration at NASA, said it was doubtful SpaceX’s Starship could land humans on the moon by the end of the decade.
“For U.S. leadership to be effective, human space exploration missions cannot be ‘one and done’ but must be repeatable and sustainable, with continuous presence as the norm,” Pace said in his opening statement, emphasizing the need for reusable elements and use of in-space resources.
He called the SLS a “primary concern” for NASA’s current Artemis architecture because of its expense and lack of reusability. “It’s time to consider alternatives for going from the Earth to the moon and back,” such as buying heavy-lift launches as a service.
In his prepared testimony he stated, “We need an off-ramp for reliance on the SLS.”
“A revised Artemis campaign plan should be a high priority for the new administrator,” he said at the hearing. “There may be some painful adjustments with industry and our international partners, but it’s better to do so now than to continue on an unsustainable and unaffordable path.”
Dumbacher, by contrast, criticized the reliance on Starship for landing humans on the moon for the first Artemis missions. “NASA’s current plan to return people to the moon requires approximately 35 to 40 Starship launches to first demonstrate the capability on an uncrewed mission and then execute the first human mission, planned for Artemis 3,” he said. That is a reference to the numerous Starship tanker launches needed to transfer propellant to the Starship lander while in low Earth orbit, although the exact number of tanker launches needed for each lander mission is a topic of debate.
“I ask this: can 40 launches, development and demonstration of the undeveloped and undemonstrated on-orbit rocket fuel station, and integration of a complex operational scenario across multiple systems all successfully occur by 2030?” he asked. “The probability of success for this plan is remote at best.”
He cited 2030 because that is the notional schedule for China’s plans to land its astronauts on the moon. “China has declared that they will land humans on the moon before 2030. Of note, China has met every space milestone they have proposed plus or minus a year.”
He suggested later in the hearing that NASA embark on rapid development of a “small, new lander” that could be ready before 2030. “I get myself a simplified lander that I can get to the moon that does not require multiple launches,” he said, but didn’t elaborate on its design or cost.
Pace did not call for an immediate end for SLS. “The Artemis 2 and 3 cores are already under construction, being built. I wouldn’t propose really changing that,” he said. “I think trying to change that and do something else would produce more delays and push us past 2030.” By Artemis 4, though, he said alternatives could enable a more “sustainable presence” on the moon.
Both Dumbacher and Pace argued that returning humans to the moon was a necessary step towards later missions to Mars, notable given a stated desire by SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk, a close adviser to President Trump, to accelerate plans for crewed Mars missions.
“While people can have their personal interest in how to go about space exploration, I think the national interest is one which really enhances the position of the United States, and the sequential steps that the Congress has laid out are, in fact, in the national interest,” he said.
“We need to take the right thing at the right time: moon first, then Mars,” Dumbacher said.
Key members of the committee also endorsed going back to the moon, often citing geopolitical competition with China. “We are in a race to the moon, and America must win that race,” said Rep. Mike Haridopolos (R-Fla.), chairman of the space subcommittee.
Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-N.C.), ranking member of the subcommittee, also mentioned a race with China in her remarks, but also warned about disruptions caused by the actions of the new Trump administration.
“I cannot pretend today that the chaos, confusion and cruelty levied on our federal government workforce by the Trump administration and its destructive executive actions, including the threat of mass firings, will not negatively impact the United States and our standing around the world, or its efforts to return our astronauts, American astronauts, to the surface of the moon, and to do so before China,” she said.
Dumbacher and Pace were the only witnesses at the hearing. Foushee noted in her opening statement that NASA was invited to participate but declined. “Full transparency with Congress and the American public on an effort as important as Artemis is of the upmost importance,” she said.
