United States President-elect Joe Biden speaks to supporters at a community event at Sun City MacDonald Ranch in Henderson, Nevada. Image via Planetary Society / Gage Skidmore.
Shortly before 4 a.m. (12:00 UTC) last week (January 7, 2021), Congress confirmed Democrat Joe Biden as the winner of the United States presidential election. Vice President Mike Pence, who chaired the joint session, announced the count, 306-232. Whatever your political views, if you’re a space buff, you’ve been watching closely during Donald Trump’s administration, as it supported NASA’s long-term goal of sending astronauts to Mars. And you saw the course of our nation change during Trump’s tenure to a short-term goal of bringing the next man and first woman back to the moon by 2024, with the Artemis program. In general – under Donald Trump – America’s gaze shifted more towards human missions to the moon and to Mars. Will that focus continue under President Joe Biden? How can NASA expect to fare under Biden?
Here’s some context. In 2017, Trump appointed Jim Bridenstine, a Republican congressman from Oklahoma, to lead NASA. Congress – and the science and space communities – were taken by surprise because NASA is typically led by a scientist or a former astronaut or other apolitical space expert. Bridenstine was finally confirmed by the Senate in April 2018, more than seven months after his appointment. Despite his lack of space or scientific background, in two years as a NASA administrator, he seemed to gain the respect of many. However, immediately after Biden’s election, in early November 2020, Bridenstine announced that he would step down.
More context. The beautiful missions to our solar system that we hear so much about – the beloved Mars Fleet, New Horizons’ dramatic flight past Pluto, Cassini’s 13 years near Saturn and so on – are robotic missions. The workhorse missions to understand our own Earth and Sun are robotic missions. There has been a decades-long attempt to balance the smaller robotic missions like this one, which are bearing so much fruit, with the larger, flashy, more expensive ones that could bring humans to the solar system. The decision to launch a Cassini or a New Horizons must be made decades in advance; indeed, some of the most visible and moving robotic missions of this century to date were the life work of scientists that began in the last decades of the 20th century. Why can’t we have both types of missions? Why indeed? But it seems that – in terms of the space program since it began in the late 1950s – the focus has shifted between human missions and robotic missions. That’s just something to keep in mind.
How is the US space program changing under President Joe Biden? Biden is a well-known figure in many ways, having served for decades in the Senate and eight years as a vice president in the Obama administration. But his plans for NASA and the US space program are less clear.
The Biden campaign made little mention of his space priorities, aside from a few statements made during the launch of Crew Dragon Demo 2 on May 30, 2020, the first launch of NASA astronauts from US soil since 2011. More specifically, Biden wrote. his website:
As president, I look forward to leading a bold space program that will continue to direct astronaut heroes to push our exploration and scientific frontiers through investment in research and technology to help millions of people here on Earth.
The Democratic Party platform – a practical list of the Democratic Party’s goals for the next four years – was presented to the 2020 Platform Committee at its meeting on July 27, 2020. Although it thoroughly claims national health, economic growth and racial equality are high Among other things, the sole mention of the space program was summed up to a few lines. However brief, it was considered promising in the opinion of John Logsdon, founder of George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute. The Democratic platform not only endorsed NASA’s current plans, but also listed priorities ranging from scientific and technological development to continued exploitation of the International Space Station and exploration of human space:
Democrats continue to support NASA and are committed to exploring and discovering space. We believe in continuing the spirit of discovery that has animated NASA’s human space exploration, alongside the scientific and medical research, technological innovation and educational mission that allows us to better understand our own planet and place in the universe. We will strengthen support for the United States’ role in space through our continued presence on the International Space Station, working with the international community to continue scientific and medical innovation. We support NASA’s work to return Americans to the Moon and move on to Mars, and take the next step in exploring our solar system. Democrats additionally support the strengthening of NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Earth Observation Missions to better understand how climate change is affecting our home planet.
From what we can gather, there are two important ones in the pipeline changes are likely.
First, a Biden administration could strengthen NASA and NOAA’s Earth observation capabilities, with the aim of better understanding climate change. Lori Garver, NASA’s deputy administrator during the Obama administration, was a keynote speaker at the SpaceVision 2020 convention on November 7-8, 2020. She said:
Managing the Earth’s ability to sustain human life and biodiversity is, in my opinion, likely to dominate the civil space agenda for a Biden-Harris government.
Second, while it supports a human return to the moon, a Biden government has not named specific launch dates. Launching people to the moon in 2024 as part of the Artemis mission was the Trump administration’s timeline. It is speculated that the Biden government will at least slow down the Artemis program, potentially freeing money for earth sciences and other priorities elsewhere in the bureau. On December 20, 2020, the two houses of Congress of the United States reached agreement on NASA’s final budget for the 2021 fiscal year. In the report accompanying the bill, senators noted that the impending uncertainty “makes it difficult to assess future of accelerated lunar mission funding will have on NASA’s other major missions. Wendy Whitman Cobb, Associate Professor of Strategy and Security Studies, US Air Force School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, said
I don’t think Artemis will be canceled. I also don’t think it will get more money than what it is currently getting.
On Nov. 10, Biden’s administration announced the rosters of the agency’s review teams that will spread across the federal government to gather information and guide the planning of Biden’s administration. Garver, who led the transition from the Obama administration, noted:
The transition teams really come to see how things are going and make recommendations for the future.
NASA chief Jim Bridenstine spoke in December 2019, in front of the newly completed SLS core stage for the Artemis 1 mission. Days after Joe Biden’s election in November, Bridenstine announced his resignation on January 20, 2021. Who will replace him? Image via Wikimedia Commons.
A major priority of Biden’s space focus is his selection of a new NASA administrator. He has been quiet about his choice so far, but there is plenty of speculation about possible candidates. That list is dominated by women. Pam Melroy, a former NASA astronaut who has been on three shuttle missions, is a likely choice. Other opportunities include Wanda Austin, former president and chief executive of the Aerospace Corporation, and Gretchen McClain, a former NASA official who later worked in the industry and sits on the boards of several companies.
Past transitions suggest that a new administrator for NASA will not arrive until months after the January 20 inauguration. After inauguration in January 2009, President Obama did not appoint Charlie Bolden as Administrator (and Garver as Deputy Administrator) until May 2009; the Senate confirmed them in July. Bridenstine, despite standing up as a top candidate for NASA administrator days after Trump won the presidential election in November 2016, was not nominated until September 2017.
Artist’s concept of an astronaut on the moon, staring at Earth, via NASA’s Artemis program.
In short, Democrat Joe Biden will be the next US president. What are his plans for NASA and the US space program? We predict a focus on Earth observation, especially in the area of climate change. And we join many others who predict that the goal of launching the next man and first woman to the moon will be shifted in the Artemis program from 2024.
Read more from EarthSky: NASA announces 18 astronauts to its Artemis team
Via the platform of the democratic party
