A former Nasa administrator has warned that America’s plan to return astronauts to the moon is technically unworkable, urging a much simpler approach – similar to China’s – as the only realistic way to stay ahead.
Mike Griffin, a 76-year-old aerospace engineer who led Nasa during the George W. Bush administration, told Congress that the Artemis programme “cannot work” because it relies on an overly complex design and many unproven technologies.

美国前NASA局长警告称，美国让宇航员重返月球的计划在技术上不可行，并敦促采取更简单的方法，类似于中国的方法，作为保持领先地位的唯一现实途径。76岁的航空航天工程师迈克·格里芬曾在乔治·W·布什政府时期领导美国NASA，他告诉国会，阿尔忒弥斯计划“行不通”，因为它依赖于过于复杂的设计和许多未经证实的技术。

Under the current plan, the Artemis III mission must refuel its gigantic lunar lander in orbit at least a dozen times and store super-cold propellants for long periods – among other technologies never demonstrated in space – in order to land two Americans on the moon in 2027.

根据现行计划，阿尔忒弥斯三号任务必须在轨道上为其巨大的月球着陆器至少补充燃料十几次，并长时间储存超低温推进剂，以及其他从未在太空中演示过的技术，以便在2027年将两名美国人送上月球。

“The Artemis III mission and those beyond should be cancelled and we should start over,” Griffin said at a House hearing last Thursday.
He urged lawmakers to switch to a more streamlined, mature dual-launch architecture that closely resembles the strategy China has embraced for its own moon landing.

格里芬上周四在众议院听证会上表示：“阿尔忒弥斯三号任务及后续任务应该取消，我们应该重新开始。”他敦促立法者转向更精简、成熟的双发射架构，这种架构与中国采用的登月策略非常相似。

That architecture – which Griffin began advocating in 2010 after Nasa cancelled Constellation, an earlier attempt to return humans to the moon – uses two heavy-lift rockets to send the crew vehicle and lander separately into lunar orbit.

这种架构，在NASA取消早期重返月球的星座计划后，格里芬于2010年开始倡导，使用两枚重型运载火箭分别将载人飞船和着陆器送入月球轨道。

Griffin, who has long warned of China’s rise in space, argued at the time that overly elaborate mission designs would slow down the US and allow China to steadily advance and eventually overtake it on the lunar frontier.
“We have lost a lot of time, and we may not be able to return to the moon before the Chinese execute their own first landing,” Griffin said on Thursday.

格里芬长期以来一直警告中国在太空崛起，他当时指出，过于复杂的任务设计将拖慢美国的步伐，让中国稳步前进并最终在月球领域超越美国。格里芬周四表示：“我们已经浪费了很多时间，可能无法在中国执行首次登月之前重返月球。”

China has reaffirmed its goal of sending astronauts to the lunar surface before 2030.
“To go to the moon is a very hard thing,” he said. “From all indications, China is doing the right things and doing them right.”

中国重申了在2030年前将宇航员送上月球表面的目标。“登月是非常困难的事情，”他说，“从所有迹象来看，中国正在做正确的事情，并且做得很好。”

Asked whether Nasa is on track to meet its current schedule, Griffin replied there was “no possible way” a crewed landing could happen in 2027 under the existing design.
His pessimism was shared by other witnesses, including Dean Cheng of the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, who said: “I am very pessimistic about our ability … so, no.”

当被问及NASA是否按计划完成当前进度时，格里芬回答说，按照现有设计，2027年不可能实现载人登月。其他证人也持同样悲观态度，包括波托马克政策研究所的Dean Cheng，他说：“我对我们的能力非常悲观……所以，不可能。”

In recent months, US lawmakers have been increasingly told that without major changes, China will probably put astronauts on the moon before Nasa can do so under Artemis.
The hearing, titled “Strategic Trajectories: Assessing China’s Space Rise and the Risks to US Leadership”, focused on how the agency could protect its leadership in space and whether Artemis could be improved and accelerated.

近几个月来，美国立法者越来越多地被告知，如果不进行重大改变，中国很可能在NASA通过阿尔忒弥斯计划实现登月之前将宇航员送上月球。这次名为“战略轨迹：评估中国太空崛起及对美国领导地位的风险”的听证会，重点讨论了NASA如何保护其在太空的领导地位，以及阿尔忒弥斯计划能否改进和加速。

Griffin argued that the programme had become too complex to succeed. He said the mission architecture stacked too many critical steps into a single landing attempt, creating a level of fragility that was unacceptable in human spaceflight.

格里芬认为，该计划变得过于复杂，难以成功。他说，任务架构将太多关键步骤堆叠在一次着陆尝试中，造成了载人航天飞行中不可接受的脆弱性。

For instance, SpaceX’s lunar lander requires 10 to 20 flights to refill its tanks in orbit, a sequence Griffin warned would drive down reliability with every added step. He said hundreds of tonnes of propellant – which must be kept near minus 170 degrees Celsius (minus 274 degrees Fahrenheit) to remain liquid – could quickly boil off in the sunlight of outer space.

例如，SpaceX的月球着陆器需要10到20次飞行才能在轨道上补充燃料，格里芬警告说，每增加一个步骤都会降低可靠性。他说，数百吨推进剂——必须保持在接近零下170摄氏度（零下274华氏度）才能保持液态——在外太空的阳光下可能迅速蒸发。

He also criticised Nasa’s decision to stage Artemis missions in a special lunar orbit known as the Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit. Griffin said that orbit lined up with the lunar surface only every 6½ days, so astronauts could face long delays before a safe return path opened.

他还批评了NASA决定在名为近直线晕轨道（NRHO）的特殊月球轨道上执行阿尔忒弥斯任务。格里芬说，该轨道每6.5天才与月球表面对齐一次，因此宇航员在安全返回路径开启前可能面临长时间延误。

In his testimony, Griffin described China’s mission plan as “relatively uncomplicated” and closely aligned with the Apollo playbook.
China’s dual-launch approach places the lander Lanyue and crew vehicle Mengzhou directly into lunar orbit, using straightforward manoeuvres and well-understood technologies.

格里芬在证词中将中国的任务计划描述为“相对简单”，并与阿波罗计划手册高度一致。中国的双发射方法使用直接操作和成熟技术，将着陆器“揽月”和载人飞船“梦舟”直接送入月球轨道。

“[China’s] progress on the required system elements has been timely, impressive and widely reported,” he said. “Sticking to a plan is important when the plan makes sense. China is sticking to a plan that makes sense … We have stuck to a plan that does not make sense.”

他说：“中国在所需系统要素方面的进展及时、令人印象深刻，并被广泛报道。当计划合理时，坚持计划很重要。中国坚持了一个合理的计划……我们却坚持了一个不合理的计划。”
---------------------