The confirmation hearing for the next head of NASA took place yesterday, April 9, with Trump’s nominee, billionaire and private astronaut Jared Isaacman, answering questions from the senators in the committee. The general feeling post-hearing is that Isaacman has bold aspirations for the agency, although he was not willing to share details about plans and the involvement of his business partner Elon Musk.
A lot was discussed during the hearing, from scientific missions to human space exploration. Isaacman has showcased his personal interest in continuing and expanding NASA’s scientific mission. He has shown support for the revolutionary Chandra mission, which NASA decided to wind down in the last budget, and his goal is to keep Hubble going.
Hubble, which turns 35 this month, has not been serviced since 2009, so it is at risk of failure with no way to repair it. Isaacman had proposed a private mission to refurbish the veteran space telescope, but NASA turned it down. Without the Space Shuttle, the risks for both astronauts and the telescope were considered too great. He also talked about a successor for JWST with 100 times the resolution, and how NASA can be a force multiplier for science.
Senators and Isaacman alike skirt around the issue of diversity. Following Trump’s orders, NASA has removed references to women and minorities in the agencies as well as removing the promise that Artemis will bring the first woman and first person of color to the Moon. Senator Ted Cruz actually mentioned having the first woman on the Moon in his question about Isaacman’s commitment to human lunar exploration.
The return to the Moon was a crucial topic of discussion, and how it sits against a future human mission to Mars. Trump and Musk have pushed for a Mars-focused approach, something echoed by acting head of NASA, Janet Petro, recently. Congress has been on the Moon side of things, exemplified by Chairman Ted Cruz’s many comments about a new Moon race of the US versus China.
Isaacman has reassured Cruz that the Moon is first priority, continuing the Artemis program at least in the short term. He said he was committed to the Lunar Gateway, the space station NASA and international partners plan to build around the Moon. He’s less committed to Orion and NASA’s SLS, and said that NASA will look at other options for long-term lunar exploration.
Ted Cruz and his not-so-subtle poster about China getting to the Moon first.
Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
One possibility is Blue Origin’s New Glenn. The Jeff Bezos rocket got into orbit on its inaugural flight early this year. And there’s SpaceX’s Starship, which had multiple catastrophic explosions in its last few flight tests. Isaacman’s close ties with Musk were also the subject of discussion.
He avoided answering if Musk was in the room when he met with Trump late last year and stated that he would not let SpaceX and Elon Musk influence the agency, something asked by Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.).
“My meeting was with the President of the United States,” Isaacman said several times.
“I assume that you don’t want to answer the question directly because Elon Musk was in the room,” Markey stated in reply.
It seems that it’s on the Moon versus Mars strategy where the two billionaires do not see eye-to-eye. The fact is that there is a clear strategy for the human return to the Moon. There is no plan for a human mission to Mars.
The settlement of Mars or other worlds in general is an extremely complex topic that will need serious consideration. But there is no plan on how to get astronauts safely to and from Mars and how to keep them there safely. Before humans can become an interplanetary species, there’s a need for research on a large variety of topics. Trump and Musk have continuously attacked scientific and academic research over the last few months, attacks that have not spared NASA.
During the confirmation hearing, Isaacman said he’s apolitical and while not a scientist, he’s stressed the important role NASA has in studying the cosmos. “We will launch more telescopes, more probes, more rovers, and endeavor to better understand our planet and the universe beyond,” he said.
It is very much unclear where the money for everything Isaacman wants to achieve will come from. While Cruz seemed satisfied with the answers, other senators were less so. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the panel’s top Democrat, stated that she had unanswered questions about space centers, redundancies, contracts, and more. “He’s still being a little too vague about his view,” Cantwell said as reported by Politico. “Of the whole thing.”
Isaacman is almost certain to be confirmed since he has broad support from people within NASA and in the wider space industry.
Source Link: Billionaire Jared Isaacman Has Very Bold Aspirations As Next Head Of NASA
