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posted by martyb on Saturday March 03 2018, @12:50AM   Printer-friendly
from the outsourcing dept.

In response to Trump budget, NASA ending separate technology plan

Even though Congress has yet to formally consider President Trump's new budget for NASA, the space agency is already moving swiftly to implement some of its core principles. Among those is a White House desire to end a separate program within the agency focused on the development of advanced new spaceflight technologies intended to keep NASA at the cutting edge.

With an annual budget that has varied between $500 million and $1 billion, the Space Technology Mission Directorate was created in 2010 to develop the kinds of technology NASA needed to explore deeper into space, such as advanced propulsion and power systems, in-space manufacturing, and new means of landing on far-off worlds. If humans really were to expand beyond low-Earth orbit, research and development of these new technologies was deemed critical.

[...] According to internal emails obtained by Ars, this [realignment towards the Space Launch System and Orion] is already happening. The emails characterize the change as a "restructuring" and assign NASA official James Reuter to serve as acting associate administrator for the space technology program. Prior to coming to NASA headquarters from Marshall Space Flight Center in 2015, Reuter played a management role overseeing development of the SLS rocket and Orion.

Some former space technology officials have begun sounding the alarm about these changes being made without oversight from Congress. "Disastrous news!" tweeted Mason Peck on Thursday morning. He served as the space agency's chief technologist earlier this decade. "NASA is already dismantling STMD even though the President's budget is only a month old. Don't give up. We need Space Technology if we want NASA to have a bold future. I hope Congress will reject this gutting of NASA's technology investments."

Directorate homepage.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 03 2018, @12:55AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 03 2018, @12:55AM (#646737)

    Coal fire propulsion is good enough for American spaceships!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 03 2018, @01:10AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 03 2018, @01:10AM (#646747)

      Dirty Coal or Clean Coal?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 03 2018, @01:12AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 03 2018, @01:12AM (#646750)

        Dirty coal sits in the back of the fuel tank.

      • (Score: 3, Funny) by bob_super on Saturday March 03 2018, @02:03AM

        by bob_super (1357) on Saturday March 03 2018, @02:03AM (#646767)

        > Dirty Coal or Clean Coal?

        Doesn't matter: in space, no one can hear you cough.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Saturday March 03 2018, @02:44AM (1 child)

    by aristarchus (2645) on Saturday March 03 2018, @02:44AM (#646783) Journal

    The obvious takyon is rebuttal khallow. End of the Socialist Science that was NASA?

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