FLASH
Shkruar nga Roberto Battiston
Who will control our satellite? The hidden challenge behind the Artemis II mission...
The launch of Artemis II on April 1, 2026, was a historic success. For the first time in more than half a century, an American human crew returned to the Moon. But it would be a mistake to dwell on the excitement: the real issue is not the launch itself. The point is that, even as it celebrated the achievement, NASA has already changed its plan.
For years, Artemis was portrayed as the successor to Apollo: a large government rocket, a capsule, a station in lunar orbit, landing and return. Today, that narrative is no longer enough. NASA has decided that Artemis III will be a test mission in Earth orbit in 2027, while the first human landing on the moon has been postponed to Artemis IV in 2028. And, above all, it has declared its intention to shelve the Gateway in its current form, shifting its focus to surface infrastructure capable of supporting a more sustained presence on the moon.
It's a change of philosophy even more than a change of schedule. The Moon is no longer thought of as a destination to be reached time and time again, but as an environment to be put into operation. It's no longer enough to arrive: you need power, payload, rovers, telecommunications, robotic maintenance, logistics, and redundancy. In other words, a single enterprise is not enough. You need a supply chain.
This is the real chess game for returning to the Moon. Not a romantic contest for the flag, but a contest for control of the future infrastructure of the Earth-Moon system. Whoever builds standards, industrial chains, transportation capacity and a permanent presence first will have not only prestige but also strategic power. This is also why Washington is accelerating, under pressure from a competition with China that has now become the permanent backdrop to the Artemis program.
There is another point that in Europe and in Italy cannot be ignored as a simple detail. The delay in the Gateway creates a significant industrial problem. ESA had entrusted Thales Alenia Space in Italy with the Lunar I-Hab module, one of the European pillars of the lunar station, and in Turin, Thales Alenia Space also built HALO, the first Gateway module. If the Gateway is frozen or profoundly redesigned, the issue is not only about American strategy: it is about contracts, supply chains, accumulated expertise and European industrial returns that are already in process.
For Italy, however, the issue is more complicated. Because, while part of the orbital architecture is weakening, a new challenge is opening up on the lunar surface. In 2025, ASI and Thales Alenia Space signed an agreement to develop the Multi-Purpose Habitation module, a human habitation point on the Moon. This means that the reduction of the Gateway could damage an already active supply chain, but it could also shift the industrial focus towards a new generation of modules and lunar infrastructure, in which Italy and Europe could still play a key role.
The point is that Artemis II, on the very day of its triumph, also demonstrated the limitations of the design that made it possible. SLS remains an incredible launch vehicle, but too expensive and too rare to support a true lunar economy on its own. That’s why NASA is increasingly looking toward commercial, reusable systems, and that’s why the program’s future will depend on the industrial maturity of players like SpaceX and Blue Origin. Artemis II was a brilliant launch; but the lunar century won’t be won with a brilliant launch alone.
The challenge, in fact, is not to get to the Moon. The challenge is to stay there. And staying there means having enough energy to survive the lunar night, enough logistics to operate sophisticated instruments, and enough political and industrial continuity to transform exploration into infrastructure. This is where the new hierarchy of space will be established. And in that game, every technical move, even the suspension of an orbital station - is already a geopolitical move./ Adapted from “Pamphlet” by “Corriere della Sera”
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