US President Joe Biden addresses supporters at a community event at Sun City MacDonald Ranch in Henderson, Nevada. Image through Planetary Society / Gage Skidmore.
Shortly before 4 am (12:00 PM 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 presided over the joint session, announced the full bill, 306-232. Whatever your political affiliation, if you are a space fan, you watched closely during the Donald Trump administration because it supported NASA ‘s long – term goal of sending astronauts to Mars. And you saw the course of our country change during Trump’s tenure to a short-term goal of returning the next and first woman to the moon by 2024, with the Artemis program. All in all – under Donald Trump – America’s stronger sentiment shifted to human missions to the moon and to Mars. Will that focus continue under President Joe Biden? How can NASA expect a fare under Biden?
Here is some context. In 2017, Trump hired Jim Bridenstine, a Republican convener from Oklahoma, to run NASA. Congress – and the science and space communities – have been kept under guard because NASA is usually run by a scientist or a former astronaut or other apolitical space expert. Bridenstine was finally ratified by the Senate in April 2018, more than seven months after his inauguration. Despite his lack of space or scientific background, in two years as a NASA astronaut he seemed to have gained a lot of respect. Immediately after Biden’s election, however, in early November 2020, Bridenstine announced his retirement.
More context. The amazing missions out to our solar system that we hear so much about – the much-loved Mars fleet, the impressive New Horizons sweep past Pluto, 13 years at Cassini at Saturn and so on . robotic missions. The workhorse missions to understand our own Earth and sun are like robotic missions. There has been an effort for decades to balance the smallest fruit-bearing robotic missions like these with the larger, faster and more expensive missions that humans could carry. into the solar system. The Cassini or New Horizons decision must be launched decades in advance; indeed, some of the most visible and intriguing robotic missions of this century to date have been 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 really? But it seems – in terms of the space program since its inception in the late 1950s – the focus is on shifting between human and robotic missions. That’s just something to remember.
How will the U.S. space program change under President Joe Biden? Biden is known for his size in many ways, having served for decades in the Senate and eight years as vice president in the Obama administration. But his plans for NASA and America’s space program are less clear.
The Biden mission did not mention much about its space priorities, other than a few statements made during the launch of Crew Dragon Demo 2 on May 30, 2020, the first release of NASA astronauts from American soil since 2011. In particular , Biden wrote on his website:
As president, I look forward to leading an adventurous space program that will continue to deploy astronaut heroes to expand our research and scientific frontiers through investments in research and technology to help millions of people here on Earth.
The Democratic Party’s platform – a practical list of the Democratic Party’s goals for the next four years – was recommended to the 2020 Platform Committee at their meeting on 27 July 2020. Although the bids were complete for the maintenance of national health, economic growth, and racial equality, among other things, the same reference to the space program was drawn to a few lines. But so short, it was considered promising in the opinion of John Logsdon, founder of the George Washington University Space Policy Institute. The Democratic platform not only supported NASA’s current plans, but outlined its priorities from the development of science and technology to the ongoing operation of the International Space Station and the study of human space:
Democrats continue to support NASA and are committed to exploring and finding space. We believe in following the spirit of discovery that has enlivened NASA’s human space exploration, as well as the scientific and medical research, technological innovation, and educational mission that allows us to better understand on the planet and our own place in the universe. We will strengthen support for the United States’ place in space through our continued presence on the International Space Station, working in partnership with the international community to continue scientific and medical innovation. We support NASA ‘s work to return Americans to the moon and further to Mars, taking the next step in studying our solar system. Democrats also support the strengthening of NASA and the Earth and Atmospheric Administration’s Earth observation missions to better understand how climate change is affecting our home planet.
From what we can gather, two main tasks to come changes likely.
First, the Biden administration could strengthen NASA and NOAA ‘s Earth observation capabilities, with the aim of gaining a better understanding of climate change. Lori Garver, NASA’s deputy administrator at the time of the Obama administration, was the keynote speaker at the SpaceVision 2020 conference on November 7 and 8, 2020. She said:
Controlling the Earth’s ability to sustain human life and biodiversity is likely, in my view, on the civic space agenda for the Biden-Harris administration.
Second, while it supports human return to the moon, Biden’s administration has not specifically mentioned launch dates. The Trump administration’s timeline was to launch people to the moon in 2024 as part of Artemis ’mission. There are speculations that the Biden administration will, at the very least, slow down the Artemis program, possibly freeing up money for Earth science and other priorities elsewhere in the organization. On December 20, 2020, the two U.S. Congress houses agreed on NASA’s final budget for fiscal year 2021. In the accompanying report, Senate advocates noted that the uncertainty that is “going to make it difficult to study the future impacts of funding whether there will be an accelerated lunar mission on NASA’s other important missions. “Wendy Whitman Cobb, associate professor of Security Strategy and Studies, U.S. Air Force School of Aeronautics and Space Studies, said
I don’t think Artemis will be fired. I also do not think that he will make more money than he is currently receiving.
On Nov. 10, Biden’s administration announced the group’s review team rosters that will go out across the federal government to gather information and guide Biden’s administrative planning. Garver, who oversaw the Obama administration’s transition, said:
The transition teams really come in to see how things are doing and make recommendations going forward.
NASA CEO Jim Bridenstine speaks in December 2019, ahead of the recently completed SLS baseline for the Artemis 1 mission. Days after Joe Biden ‘s election in November, Bridenstine announced that on January 20, 2021, retiring. Who will replace him? Image via Wikimedia Commons.
The main focus of Biden’s location is his selection of NASA’s new administrator. He has so far been quiet about his choice, but there has been ample profitability in terms of potential candidates. Women are in control of that list. For example, Pam Melroy, a former NASA astronaut flying over three shuttle missions, seems to be an option. Other options include Wanda Austin, vice president and chief executive officer of Aerospace Corporation, and Gretchen McClain, a former NASA officer who has worked in industry and served on the boards of several companies.
Past transitions suggest that a new controller for NASA may not arrive until months after the January 20 inauguration. Following his inauguration in January 2009, President Obama did not nominate Charlie Bolden as administrator (and Garver as deputy administrator) until May 2009; they were ratified by the Senate in July. Bridenstine, despite appearing as a top candidate for NASA administrator days after Trump won the presidential election in November 2016, was not named just in September 2017.
An artist’s concept of an astronaut on the moon, looking back at Earth, through NASA’s Artemis program.
Bottom line: Democrat Joe Biden is the next U.S. President. What are his plans for NASA and the American space program? We predict a focus on Earth observation, particularly related to climate change. And we will join many others in predicting that the goal of launching the next and first lady to the moon in the Artemis program will be pushed back from 2024.
Read more from EarthSky: NASA names 18 astronauts on their Artemis Team
Through the Democratic Party Platform
