NASA Departments Eliminated As President Trump Sets His Sights On Mars

On Monday, March 10 the US space agency’s acting administrator, Janet Petro, emailed employees to inform them the Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy would be closed along with the diversity, equity, and inclusion branch within the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity. The move, aimed at implementing President Trump’s executive order to reduce waste and roll back diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, will see 23 employees out of work at the organization.

The move leaves the space agency, which President Trump says will land humans on Mars, without a chief scientist, and no plans to refill the role held by Dr Katherine Calvin. The position has existed since the 1980s, though it was removed by President George W. Bush in 2005, and reinstated by President Barack Obama in 2011.

“The Chief Scientist serves as principal advisor to the NASA Administrator and other senior officials on agency science programs, strategic planning and the evaluation of related investments,” NASA explains of the role. “The Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) represents all of the scientific endeavors in the agency, ensuring they are aligned with and fulfill the administration’s science objectives.”

The Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy, now eliminated, was aimed at providing NASA leadership with “analytic, strategic, and decisional insights in the form of quick-turn analyses, memos, and reports,” as well as engaging with external research groups and funding external research opportunities. The elimination of DEI is no surprise, after the Trump administration targeted it, but could cause problems down the line. While a buzzword the administration takes issue with, DEI is really aimed at finding the best candidates, and this involves making sure you start with as wide of a talent pool as you can.

“While this will mean making difficult adjustments, we’re viewing this as an opportunity to reshape our workforce, ensuring we are doing what is statutorily required of us, while also providing American citizens with an efficient and effective agency,” Petro emailed employees on Monday, per NASA Watch.

“Our colleagues impacted by these changes have been valued members of our team. Their hard work has helped shape our successes in recent years, and we are deeply grateful for all they have contributed,” she added.

The future of NASA under the new administration remains pretty unclear. Rumors have been swirling of large budget cuts to science projects, concerning experts in the space industry.

“The Planetary Society is deeply alarmed by reports that the White House will propose a 50 percent cut to NASA’s science activities in the upcoming agency budget request. Such a substantial collapse of funding could functionally surrender American leadership in scientific space exploration. It could also shatter the nation’s science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) educational pipeline, and decimate the world’s most capable and accomplished scientific and engineering workforce,” the Planetary Society said last week.

“Should these cuts come to pass, the result would be nothing short of an extinction event for space science and exploration in the United States. We urge the White House to reconsider its approach to funding the world’s most capable exploration agency.”

The cuts to budget and jobs comes as Trump and SpaceX CEO/head of DOGE Elon Musk continue to push for humans to land on Mars.

“We are going to conquer the vast frontiers of science, and we are going to lead humanity into space and plant the American flag on the planet Mars and even far beyond,” Trump told Congress last week, though he reportedly later added it was not “number 1” on his hit list.

Now NASA may have to tackle this challenge, long planned-for, with a reduced budget and team.