Tag: Space Policy
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House Panel Advances NASA Authorization Bill Backing Moon-to-Mars Program
The House Science, Space, and Technology Committee unanimously approved a new NASA authorization bill on Thursday, reaffirming congressional backing for U.S. leadership in space and the agency’s Moon-to-Mars exploration program. The legislation, introduced as H.R. 7273, emphasizes continued investment in human exploration, science, aeronautics and technology while endorsing an expanded role for commercial partnerships. Authorization…
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UK Space Agency Chief Paul Bate to Step Down at End of March
UK Space Agency chief executive Paul Bate will step down from his role at the end of March, ending a four-and-a-half-year tenure during which the agency secured record funding commitments and expanded its astronaut and science programmes. The agency said in a post on LinkedIn that under Bate’s leadership it had “secured record investment at…
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China Space Contractor Targets Space Tourism Within Five Years, State Media Say
China’s main space contractor has pledged to develop space tourism within the next five years, state media reported on Thursday, underscoring Beijing’s efforts to accelerate commercial spaceflight and deepen its technological competition with the United States. State-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) said it aims to “achieve the flight operation of suborbital space…
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China Unveils Action Plan to Boost Commercial Space Firms and Overseas Expansion
China’s space agency has released a two-year action plan aimed at accelerating the growth of its commercial space sector and encouraging private companies to expand overseas and participate in international cooperation, according to a policy document issued this week. The plan, released by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) on Tuesday, calls on Chinese commercial…
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5 things in Trump’s budget that won’t make NASA great again
If signed into law as written, the White House’s proposal to slash nearly 25 percent from NASA’s budget would have some dire consequences. It would cut the agency’s budget from $24.8 billion to $18.8 billion. Adjusted for inflation, this would be the smallest NASA budget since 1961, when the first American launched into space. The proposed funding plan…
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Trump executive order calls for a next-generation missile defense shield
One of the new Trump administration’s first national security directives aims to defend against missile and drone attacks targeting the United States, and several elements of the plan require an expansion of the US military’s presence in space, the White House announced Monday. For more than 60 years, the military has launched reconnaissance, communications, and…
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Elon Musk: “We’re going straight to Mars. The Moon is a distraction.”
Although SpaceX founder Elon Musk is known for outspokenness and controversial comments on his social media site X, he has been relatively restrained when it comes to US space policy in recent years. For example, he has rarely criticized NASA or its overall goal to return humans to the Moon through the Artemis Program. Rather,…
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How might NASA change under Trump? Here’s what is being discussed
Although the details remain in flux, the transition team reviewing NASA and its activities has begun to draft potential executive orders for changes to space policy under the Trump Administration. Sources familiar with the five people on the team, who have spent the last six weeks assessing the space agency and its exploration plans, were…
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Trump nominates Jared Isaacman to become the next NASA administrator
President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday he has selected Jared Isaacman, a billionaire businessman and space enthusiast who twice flew to orbit with SpaceX, to become the next NASA administrator. “I am delighted to nominate Jared Isaacman, an accomplished business leader, philanthropist, pilot, and astronaut, as Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA),” Trump…
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Varda looks to Australia after delays in obtaining US reentry approval
Varda Space Industries says it has reached an agreement with a private range operator in Australia for spacecraft landings as early as next year after the US government declined to grant approval for the reentry of Varda’s first experimental mission carrying pharmaceuticals manufactured in orbit. After years of applications, reviews, and discussion, the Federal Aviation…