NASA’s plans. In 2017, President Trump restored the National Space Council, an
office that had not been used for years and entrusted it to Vice President Mike
Pence. It was tasked with managing US space policy and coordinating the activities
of public bodies and private companies to ensure that US dominates space.
The current American strategy therefore seems to be that “the US will lead the
return of human beings to the Moon for exploration and long-term use, followed
by human missions to Mars and other destinations”.
4
Trump obtained from
Congress a half-billion-dollar increase for NASA’s budget, which reached a record
of $20 billion. At the same time, however, the President announced his intention
to close in 2025 funding for the ISS, the most important and popular American
space exploration program currently in orbit.
NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said:
We have considered the ISS as our cornerstone to promote human exploration in space ever further away, with the aim of reaching Mars. All of this
includes learning human physiology on long flights and the inclusion of new
industrial partners who will use their capabilities to emerge as new leaders to
help us on this journey. Commercial programs for crew and cargo transportation continue to be supported within the ISS. In addition, the budget proposal
calls on NASA to accelerate efforts to transition to the commercial sector of
low-orbit activities, and to end federal government support for the ISS in
2025, starting to rely on business partners for our research activities and loworbit technology demonstrators”.
5
The strategy of Trump’s administration is not an impromptu stance, but a consequence of a long conversation among government circles about overhauling the
ISS. Two years before Trump’s election, NASA’s Associate Administrator for
Human Exploration and Operations William Gerstenmaier stated, “we are going
to get out of ISS as quickly as we can, but not aiming at a downsizing of human
spaceflight, but rather resuming the path of humanity to the Moon and beyond”.
6
So, while the horizon of the space station appears cloudy, the prospect of human
exploration of space seems less so. The public funds that today are used to keep
the ISS in orbit could be used for other initiatives, such as a landing on Mars.
Thus, the ISS’s possible abandonment would not necessarily mean the end of
human exploration of space, but on the contrary, it could confirm that this adventure is taking on new forms.
4
Presidential Memorandum on Reinvigorating America’s Human Space Exploration Program.
2017. White House.
5
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-acting-administrator-statement-on-fiscal-year2019-budget-proposal.
6
https://arstechnica.com/science/2015/12/nasa-official-warns-private-sector-were-moving-onfrom-low-Earth-orbit/.
122 Mars: Next Stop?
office that had not been used for years and entrusted it to Vice President Mike
Pence. It was tasked with managing US space policy and coordinating the activities
of public bodies and private companies to ensure that US dominates space.
The current American strategy therefore seems to be that “the US will lead the
return of human beings to the Moon for exploration and long-term use, followed
by human missions to Mars and other destinations”.
4
Trump obtained from
Congress a half-billion-dollar increase for NASA’s budget, which reached a record
of $20 billion. At the same time, however, the President announced his intention
to close in 2025 funding for the ISS, the most important and popular American
space exploration program currently in orbit.
NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said:
We have considered the ISS as our cornerstone to promote human exploration in space ever further away, with the aim of reaching Mars. All of this
includes learning human physiology on long flights and the inclusion of new
industrial partners who will use their capabilities to emerge as new leaders to
help us on this journey. Commercial programs for crew and cargo transportation continue to be supported within the ISS. In addition, the budget proposal
calls on NASA to accelerate efforts to transition to the commercial sector of
low-orbit activities, and to end federal government support for the ISS in
2025, starting to rely on business partners for our research activities and loworbit technology demonstrators”.
5
The strategy of Trump’s administration is not an impromptu stance, but a consequence of a long conversation among government circles about overhauling the
ISS. Two years before Trump’s election, NASA’s Associate Administrator for
Human Exploration and Operations William Gerstenmaier stated, “we are going
to get out of ISS as quickly as we can, but not aiming at a downsizing of human
spaceflight, but rather resuming the path of humanity to the Moon and beyond”.
6
So, while the horizon of the space station appears cloudy, the prospect of human
exploration of space seems less so. The public funds that today are used to keep
the ISS in orbit could be used for other initiatives, such as a landing on Mars.
Thus, the ISS’s possible abandonment would not necessarily mean the end of
human exploration of space, but on the contrary, it could confirm that this adventure is taking on new forms.
4
Presidential Memorandum on Reinvigorating America’s Human Space Exploration Program.
2017. White House.
5
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-acting-administrator-statement-on-fiscal-year2019-budget-proposal.
6
https://arstechnica.com/science/2015/12/nasa-official-warns-private-sector-were-moving-onfrom-low-Earth-orbit/.
122 Mars: Next Stop?