On March 30, NASA announced the establishment of a Moon to Mars program office within the Research Systems Development Office. The office will focus on the integration of various programs undertaken as part of Artemis’ lunar exploration campaign, from Orion and the Space Launch System to the Gateway, lunar landers and spacesuits.

Congress instructed NASA to set up the office in a NASA authorization passed last year as part of the CHIPS and Science Act. This was due to concerns among Congress and NASA advisers that there was no single person overseeing all the programs that made up Artemis.

The office is chaired by Amit Kshatriya, who previously served as Assistant Director of Joint Intelligence Systems Development. “It’s important to know what it is and it’s important to know what it isn’t,” he said of the new position in an interview at the Johnson Space Center following the Artemis 2 crew announcement on April 3.

He explained that different program managers are still doing the same job. “This is primarily a redistribution of roles and responsibilities at the center,” he said. This work was already in progress prior to authorization to ensure “seamless integration” between programs. “What we hope to achieve is to slightly speed up the restructuring of the headquarters and eliminate repetitive efforts in certain areas.”

“I think that really allows us to have a single point of coordination that deals with our near-term missions,” said Jim Free, NASA’s deputy director of research systems development, about the office in an interview. “I really tried to focus on this office to say that your job is to work on it. [Артемідою] from 2 to 5″.

He stated that this role was his responsibility prior to the creation of the office. “I think that gives us a spot where anyone can go,” he said. “She can monitor and worry about these tasks on a daily basis.”

Kshatriya said he’s focusing “above all” on Artemis 2. “There are lessons we’ve learned from Artemis 1 that we need to make sure we take into account,” he said, in addition to completing the SLS and Orion vehicles and working on the necessary work. ground systems. for the task. “The next task is my 100% priority to make sure none of these changes we’re making affect this.”

However, part of the office’s job is to look to the future. “One of the things we commissioned the Moon to Mars office was to make sure the technological advances and mission modes we chose were appropriate for potential future activity on Mars,” he said. This ranges from testing closed life support systems to Gateway development.

“We’ve done that in all the investments we’ve made,” he said, “but I think it’s still ahead of us to bring them together and put them at the forefront of the research agenda in terms of message and philosophy.” “I think it’s going to be very good the way we do what Congress wants us to do,” Free said.