How Elon Musk can use Twitter to raise awareness of Artemis

Elon Musk with rocket

Gizmodo recently reported on an incident during an episode of Jeopardy. Tucked into the category “Keeping Up With NASA” was the statement “The NASA program named for this sister of Apollo looks to land a woman (& a man) on the Moon by 2024.” Not one of the contestants, who seemed ignorant of both the current space program and ancient Greek mythology, got the response, “What is Artemis?” correctly.

Keith Cowing, the purveyor of the website NASA Watch and mentioned in the piece, was likely not the only person of a certain age to ruminate that the first time we went to the moon during the Apollo program, it dominated the news. The excuse that Artemis is being drowned out by the Ukraine War, high inflation, supply chain issues, and the crime epidemic seems to be insufficient. Apollo took place against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, race riots, campus unrest, and political mendacity. Yet the effort to beat the Soviets to the moon still dominated the headlines.

The reason for the disconnect between most of the public and the greatest space exploration adventure in decades will, no doubt, be argued about. And no doubt that, sooner or later, it will correct itself as actual missions start lifting off to the moon. But what to do in the meantime?

As it turns out, Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla and soon to be CEO of Twitter (provided that the deal goes through), is in a unique position to do something about Artemis not being on the radar of most Americans. When that first woman and next man land on the lunar surface, for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972, they will have done so in a SpaceX Human Landing System. Therefore, Musk has an interest in publicizing Artemis in a positive way.

When Musk announced that he was taking Twitter over, he noted that his main reason was to restore free speech to a social media platform that all too often has discriminated against conservatives. The permanent ban of former President Donald Trump, which Musk has pledged to reverse, is a case in point.

Musk is also planning to expand Twitter’s reach and to make the platform profitable. A true capitalist, he wants to do well by doing good.

Elon Musk is also a frequent user of Twitter. His tweets, frivolous or important, are widely seen and commented on, both on Twitter and in the regular media. When Musk tweets, all the world listens. One reason is that journalists go to Twitter to pick up content. The future CEO of the platform is happy to oblige.

Musk can do himself, his bottom line, NASA, and his adopted country a favor by occasionally mentioning Artemis, why it’s important, and how the return to the moon can affect the future in a positive way. He could retweet articles that mention the Artemis program.

A number of things will happen if Musk undertakes a private Twitter public relations campaign in support of Artemis. His over 92 million (and growing) followers will pick up on the messages, many of whom will retweet them. The message that NASA has a return to the moon program, that it is called Artemis, and that it is a good thing would spread faster than any meme.

No doubt, Musk will get some arguments from other Twitter users, such as Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, a frequent critic of commercial space. But, as anyone who frequents social media knows, there is nothing like a good Twitter brawl to generate a lot of heat and perhaps some light.

The purveyors of cable news will be drawn to these discussions and will report on them. More people will become aware of Artemis, its goals, and the arguments in favor of it. Then, people will not be very surprised when, a few years from now. Artemis II will take astronauts around the moon, to be followed by Artemis III, which will land astronauts on the moon.

Apollo took place in an era of three major news networks and a few newspapers and magazines. Artemis will be the first social media space program. Given the right messaging, the next moon landing will benefit as a result.

Mark Whittington, who writes frequently about space and politics, has published a political study of space exploration entitled Why is It So Hard to Go Back to the Moon? as well as The Moon, Mars and Beyond, and, most recently, Why is America Going Back to the Moon? He blogs at Curmudgeons Corner. He is published in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Hill, USA Today, the LA Times, and the Washington Post, among other venues.