Experts tell House panel Artemis needs simpler lander, reusable lift and faster decisions to meet goals

The House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology’s Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee held a hearing on the Artemis program’s path to human exploration, where witnesses urged a simpler, more sustainable campaign architecture and faster decision‑making to meet ambitious lunar and Mars goals.

The subcommittee’s witnesses — Dr. Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, and Dr. Daniel Dunbacher, adjunct professor at Purdue University and former CEO of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics — told members that the program’s immediate tasks (Artemis 2 and Artemis 3) should proceed but that long‑term sustainability requires changes in launch and lander approaches.

“We need a more sustainable and credible approach to maintain the confidence of the White House, Congress, industry, and our international partners,” Dr. Scott Pace said, urging alternatives to the current Space Launch System (SLS) model and greater use of reusable heavy‑lift services where feasible. Pace told the committee the SLS is “expensive and not reusable” and noted it has had only one flight and trouble meeting congressional…