Despite the ongoing pandemic, there are many things to get excited about in space this year. From NASA Rover of perseverance it is less than a month from landing on Mars; the James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled to launch on Halloween; and the Space launch system“NASA’s most powerful.” coet mai–could see its inaugural release later this year. And of course there is Artemis program, which is supposed to deliver a woman and a man to the lunar surface in just three years.
We will learn a lot in the coming weeks and months about President Biden’s NASA policy and what his administration believes is the best path to the American space program. Meanwhile, wI got to space experts, asking a very simple question: what should be NASA’s priorities for Biden?
John Mogsdon, a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University’s Institute for Space Policy, said: “I think it is important for President Biden and his administration to indicate from the outset a commitment to maintaining an effort to explore human space, with the return to the Moon as the first goal. The details of Artemis’ current plan are likely to change, but it’s been a while since the United States sent humans back to distant destinations.
In fact, NASA is moving forward the next Artemis missions. The space agency originally planned a lunar landing in 2028, but the Trump administration surpassed it by 2024. It is suspected that Biden will return NASA to its original timeline, but we can only speculate at this time.
Howard McCurdy, a professor of public affairs in the Department of Administration and Public Policy at the American University of Washington, DC, hopes Biden will keep an eye on this award and other awards to come. “Its main space priority should be the establishment of a lunar / Mars exploration plan that will last more than five years, also determining the future of the Boeing Starliner, launching the [James] The Webb space telescope and consolidating the destiny of the International Space Station, ”he said McCurdy. “It will have many scientific priorities, but NASA is not close to the top of the list. “
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Without a doubt, the whole Boeing Starliner issue is worth thinking about, as this project …a spacecraft to deliver astronauts to the ISS—has been besieged for problems and delays. The first equipped test of this system still seems to be ready.
At the same time, SpaceX has delivered in shape the CrewDragon spacecraft, which has successfully achieved transported NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley at the ISS last year. McCurdy also presents a good point about Mars, as does Artemis Moon program is a jumping stone for the first human trip to the red planet, which could happen in the 2030s.
Jessica West, Project Plowshares program manager and managing editor of its space security index, said this:The future of the Artemis program is crucial. NASA’s international partners will want assurances and clarity about the scope of the U.S. commitment and timeline. Cooperation is key, both for success in space exploration and ensure that our planet and humanity share in the benefits. This starts with diplomacy. NASA has drafted the Artemis Agreements as a tool for developing standards for space exploration. But it is not clear how or if it will work with the international community at large to make it a more inclusive process, at a time when other states also have lunar ambitions. “
“The Biden Administration should also be sensitive to the effects of the Space Force – and rhetorical emphasis on the fight against war and domination – on NASA and global perceptions of its lunar ambitions, “West added.
West raises a very good point about Artemis Acropes. The circles of humanity in space they are becoming longer and more numerous every year that passes, making things more complicated from a geopolitical perspective. It would be nice to get the international community buying for these issues, which it can be prove difficult with countries like Russia and China.
Peter Singer, New America strategist and author of Ghost fleet i Burn a, also spoke on the Space Force, the youngest branch of the United States Armed Forces. “Trump created Space Command, mostly because he saw it as a line of applause at his rallies,“He said. “So how do NASA and this new long-term military organization coexist? They will have to work together when it makes sense, but also to make sure that we do not risk the real appearance or simply the appearance of the militarization of space in our civil activities ”.
Oh yes, the continuing threat that we could militarize space. This is complicated, especially because the United States is trying to keep pace with its aggressive opponents and while the Space Force works to achieve “space power“In this future domination of war.
Moriba Jah, an aerospace engineer at the University of Texas, recommended the following: “The National Space Council, an organization that focuses and reports on various national space activities, should be allowed, both in the government, as in academia and industry. continue under Biden. NASA has a footprint on the National Space Council, and that should be allowed to continue. “
Jah added:Special emphasis should be placed on space security and sustainability, even with regard to space traffic management. In 2018, Trump signed the Space Policy-3 Directive [which focused on space traffic management]. The former administration asked the Space Commerce Office to take on the lead role, and I’m fine with that. As for the role of NASA, it should provide input and oversight to the government on the scientific and technological needs of space traffic management. “
Undoubtedly, space traffic management will be a problem to move forward. As it stands, the rules surrounding what goes into space and how much of it, are quite solt. How to January 20th, Tea SpaceX more than 1,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, with plans to add thousands more. That the satellites can crash into each other, creating large, dangerous debris clouds, is a possibility that increases with each successive satellite that is added to low Earth orbit. We need someone to play traffic police up there, as well as someone a take out the trash.
Dante Lauretta, principal investigator of the OSIRIS-REx mission and professor at the University of Arizona, expect the The Biden administration will do just that keep or increase financing for the NASA Scientific Mission Directorate. “This direction conducts essential research to monitor and predict the effects of climate change, explore the solar system and examine the universe, ”he said.. “The budgets for the last four years have been favorable, and this is one of the areas of the US federal government where scientific activities remain healthy. The amazing achievements of NASA’s science programs serve as shining examples of what we can do as a nation when we unite and focus on a common vision. ”
Well said. It would be sad to waste all the good things NASA has right now, including satellites to help us predict bad space time i time on Earth, surveys a monitor glacier melting, and spacecraft aimed at the Ground i interstellar space. I, according to Lauretta’s interests surface samples of a nearby asteroid.
Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, received a lot of sensible advice for President Biden: “NASA is the only part of the U.S. government that isn’t burning right now, so don’t stick with success (mostly). What the human spaceflight program needs most is that political leaders not throw 180 more, so continue Artemis despite its flaws, but eliminate the unrealistic 2024 deadline and appoint leaders who are not afraid to hold Boeing accountable. “
McDowell also recommended consolidating a plan for the end of the International Space Station, which has now been in orbit for more than 22 years and is showing his age. “Follow ISS for a few more years to reap the investment made in CrewDragon and Starliner, but decide on the closure plan.”
“As for science and robotics, fund it completely, supporting the climate science satellites and the educational work that the previous Administration tried to cut, to make the Webb telescope work in space. and for the scientific community to choose the priorities of the future, ”said McDowell. . “Above all, do not misuse the science program as a justification for the things of human space, for example, by forcing the emphasis on therelated science to provide a false justification to Artemis, which is the kind of thing that had been done in the past ”.
We also listened to Avi Loeb, a professor of astronomy at Harvard University, whose recommendations were both philosophical and practical. “Given the great interest in space exploration by the public, the scientific community and the commercial sector, it is essential to establish a new one, a bold vision that will maintain the leadership of the United States in space, ”said Loeb. “This goes far beyond national security interests and relates to JFK’s vision of 1962, the year I was born. The public is looking forward to inspiring initiatives, and the space offers an ideal backdrop for an exciting view that would advance our ntechnological superiority of the action. The importance of this vision is also based on the immediate need to add satellites that allow better control of our effect on the climate and improve Internet connectivity around the world. “
Here, here. Space investment it is often considered superfluous or indulgent, especially since we have no problems on the surface. Biden’s challenge will be to achieve a precise balance, which meets our needs here on Earth, while continuing to meetThe legacy and potential of the American space program.
Good luck, Joe.