NASA
The biggest question about space policy under the Biden administration is whether the president will accept the Artemis Moon program, which was set in motion by the Trump White House. The plan called for humans to return to the moon and increase the lunar base time. Former Vice President Mike Pence set an aggressive timeline for the first lunar landing to be Moon 2024.
It has been clear for months that this timeline is unavailable, and the final nail in the coffin came in December, when Congress provided $ 850 million for the human lending system in the fiscal year 2021 budget. This is only a quarter of what NASA said it needs to have any hope of making a landing date of 2024.
Congress takes the step
Due to the level of funding this hurdle, it is not clear how much Congress was supportive of the Artemis plan. But on Wednesday, 11 Democratic senators sent a letter to the Biden administration requesting support for the Human Landing System program, which is the hardware needed for a human return to the moon.
The letter states that “the development of the next pay generation crewed lunar lander is a necessary step to return astronauts to the moon for the first time in half a century, including the historic first landing of the first woman to land on the moon.”
The letter appears to have been provoked by NASA’s decision to delay the down-selection of three teams currently working to develop lunar landers; One is led by Blue Origin, another by Dynetics and a third by SpaceX. The signatories to the letter include senators representing several states, including Blue Origin’s “national team”, Colorado and Washington. Not surprisingly, the letter emphasizes the job yielding of this program.
After a 10-month base period that began last year, during which each team refined the details of their proposals, NASA had to select two proposals this month to move forward in development. However, the agency said last week that it was delaying the decision by 60 days for an additional assessment. This is possible because NASA wanted to give the Biden administration more time to determine its path to Artemis.
The senators wrote that NASA should stick to its original timeline. “We urge you to go ahead with the planned selection and include all the necessary funds for your Fiscal Year 2022 budget request (Human Lending System),” the letter said.
It is strange that senators do not accept that it was Congress that failed to provide the full funding requested by the White House for lunar landers this year, not the other way around. But all of this, like a fairly strong statement of intent, seems to indicate that the Senate will continue to support the lender program.
At two, Biden?
The Biden administration has been in office fees for barely two weeks, and he has a lot on his plate. So perhaps it is not surprising that the name of the nominee for administrator has not yet been taken, or a detailed outline of a space policy has not been given. Such details usually do not come out as soon as possible in the new administration. The need to take a decision now (or punt) on lunar lenders gives us an early glimpse of the Biden administration’s intentions towards human spaceflight.
During a press briefing Wednesday at the White House, Fox News’ Christine Fisher asked about the space. (Fisher is credited with this subject; she is the daughter of two space shuttle astronauts). One of his questions asked Press Secretary Jane Pasaki about the Artemis program and where the Biden administration was on the subject.
“I have a personal interest in space,” Pasaki replied. “I think it’s an interesting area of study. But I haven’t talked to our team about this special program.” She promised to get more information and follow up with Fisher. As of Thursday morning, we have yet to see additional information.
There is a way forward for President Biden if he wants to find a bilateral place here. Although the letter comes from Democrats, there are many Republicans in Congress who support the Artemis plan outlined by the Trump administration. Everyone (including senators who did not mention the date of the landing in their letter) will agree that the 2026 or 2028 lunar landing is more realistic under the current budget, requiring only a modest increase.
“Proposing to increase NASA to include both new investments in Artemis and its science programs would be an easy political victory for the Biden administration if they were willing to take it.” Casey Dreyer of the Planetary Society told Arsen.
So what happens now? It is likely that the Biden administration will be pressured to speed up the timeline on space policy, while the new hire is being settled in just one slate – a working chief, the gorgeous red, whose name was finally named last week. Ultimately, the smart bet is that while the Artemis program can be modified to some extent, it can continue very well.
