House coverage within the subsequent administration
Each former President Trump and Vice President Harris have demonstrated their enthusiasm for house exploration and acumen for advancing house coverage when in positions of energy. Nevertheless, the house coverage of a future Harris or second Trump Administration will rely upon how house matches into their worldview. Primarily based on what’s been mentioned on the marketing campaign path up to now, we are able to glean the overall course of each candidates.
Drawing on her file as Vice President and Chair of the Nationwide House Council, Kamala Harris’s house coverage priorities in her administration would probably mix a continuation of current initiatives with a renewed concentrate on championing motion on local weather change and workforce improvement. NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, the place many of those wants exist at present, is ripe with alternatives for a Harris Administration to champion extra investments in and concentrate on house science.
Prominence of the U.S. house program can be a transparent driving motivator for the Vice President. In her acceptance speech on the Democratic Nationwide Conference in August, Vice President Harris said that she “will be sure that we lead the world into the longer term on house and synthetic intelligence. That America, not China, wins the competitors for the twenty first century and that we strengthen, not abdicate, our world management.” It will probably imply that applications that heart nationwide posture, specifically the Artemis program, will take pleasure in continued assist in a Harris Administration.
Wish to be taught extra concerning the potential house priorities of a Harris Administration? try this interview on Planetary Radio: House Coverage Version with Lori Garver, former NASA Deputy Administrator and Democratic house coverage professional.
For former President Trump, sustaining U.S. preeminence is a significant element of his marketing campaign rhetoric. To that finish, a second Trump Administration would probably view house as a key area for competitors with China, and would subsequently prioritize initiatives geared toward sustaining American dominance within the house area. This might embrace bolstering applications that speed up the event of economic house capabilities, like Artemis and the Business Lunar Payload Providers program. Mars Pattern Return is an instance of a program that gives a chance to leverage the burgeoning industrial house business to perform one thing that no different nation has: returning scientifically vital samples from one other planet.
“We are going to lead the world in house,” mentioned former President Trump at a latest marketing campaign cease in North Carolina. In touting his relationship with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who has endorsed the previous president in his private capability, Trump additionally expressed a necessity to extend the cadence of Starship launches “as a result of we wish to attain Mars earlier than the tip of my time period.” This means {that a} coverage of a second Trump Administration might be to expedite the event of NASA’s Moon-to-Mars plan to construct upon the Artemis program to ship astronauts to Mars.
Try the House Coverage Version interview with Dr. Greg Autry to be taught concerning the potential house coverage of a second Trump Administration. Dr. Autry served as a part of the NASA transition crew for the primary Trump Administration.
Second in command
Whereas the President units the tone and course, the Vice President, as Chair of the Nationwide House Council, performs a central position in implementing an administration’s house coverage priorities. Each Governor Tim Walz and Senator J.D. Vance have publicly expressed their assist for NASA and house exploration, however neither has the depth of house coverage expertise of the candidates on the high of their respective tickets.
Senator Vance, representing the house of Glenn Analysis Facility, joined a congressional letter with fellow Ohio Senator, Sherrod Brown, urging the Biden Administration to offer extra funding for the Glenn Analysis Heart and Neil Armstrong Check Facility within the FY 2024 funds request.
