Chinese team flags life-threatening ‘glaring weakness’ in Nasa’s Artemis programme
Jun 13, 2026
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Chinese team flags life-threatening ‘glaring weakness’ in Nasa’s Artemis programme
Researchers say China’s lunar lander has three backup engines, unlike US design which relies on one main power source
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Stephen Chenin Beijing
In the 21st century race to the moon, there is a question that engineers must ask: what happens when the main engine fails?
China and the United States are answering this in contrasting ways. Their answers could reveal the value they place on human life.
From the Apollo Lunar Module in the 1960s to Nasa’s new Orion spacecraft for the Artemis programme, the American architecture relies on a single, powerful main engine to do the heavy lifting.
On the descent stage, one main engine controls the entire fall from lunar orbit to the surface. On the ascent stage, one main engine is the only ticket home.
If that one engine fails, there is no backup. This design, to quote a peer-reviewed paper published in the journal Chinese Space Science and Technology in March, “contains some glaring weaknesses”.
The Chinese lunar lander puts its faith not in one main engine, but in four.
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