Pence vows U.S. to go to moon, Mars
Council also discusses space’s ‘dark side’
WASHINGTON — Seated before the grounded space shuttle Discovery, a constellation of Trump administration officials used soaring rhetoric to vow to send Americans back to the moon and then on to Mars.
After voicing celestial aspirations, top officials moved to what National Intelligence Director Dan Coats called “a dark side” to space policy. Coats, Vice President Mike Pence, other top officials and outside space experts said the United States has to counter and perhaps match potential enemies’ ability to target U.S. satellites.
Pence, several cabinet secretaries and White House advisers gathered in the shadow of the shuttle at the Smithsonian Institution’s Steven F. Udvar-hazy Center to chart a new path in space — government, commercial and military — for the country. It was the first meeting of the National Space Council, revived after it was disbanded in 1993.
But details, such as how much the new ideas will cost, were scant, and outside experts said they’ve heard grandiose plans before only to see them fizzle instead of launch.
“We will return American astronauts to the moon, not only to leave behind footprints and flags, but to build the foundation we need to send Americans to Mars and beyond,” Pence said.
Space industry leaders say they and NASA are building the spaceships to get there. And they’re promising that in five years, astronauts could be working around the moon.
David Thompson, president of the space company Orbital ATK, said NASA’S Orion capsule and super-sized Space Launch System rocket should be ready in a couple years, so flying around the moon and even making a lunar orbiting outpost is within reach. But he said a lunar landing would take longer. Blue Origin rocket company CEO Bob Smith said his firm could have a lunar lander program ready within five years.
No humans have been on the moon since Apollo 17 in December 1972. Only 12 men have set foot on the moon. All have been Americans.
Past presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush proposed returns to the moon and then going on to Mars. Barack Obama rerouted the moon plan to an asteroid as a first stop, with Mars as the goal.
Roger Launius, a longtime space historian, said, “Is it going to happen? Who knows? I feel like I’ve been disappointed so many times I refuse to get excited.”
Pence several times bemoaned a U.S. space program that had fallen behind, asking space executives what they thought.
After talking about how “we will blaze new trails into that great frontier” Pence turned the discussion to the dangers of space and how much of the U.S. intelligence system and day-to-day life are dependent on commercial satellites operating safely. And he and others outlined threats to those satellites from potential enemies that could cripple American security and daily life.
Experts worried that satellites could be destroyed and debris in orbit could ruin others.
Pence asked if the U.S. should “weaponize” space.
“The choice whether or not to weaponize space is not one that we can make. We can only decide to match and raise our adversaries who are already weaponizing space,” former NASA chief Michael Griffin said. “That horse is already out of the barn.”
It’s the latest move by the Trump administration as it enacts its toughon-crime agenda and a cornerstone of Sessions’ promised crackdown on violence. Sessions told the nation’s federal prosecutors in a Thursday memo that they would be evaluated regularly based on their commitment to Project Safe Neighborhoods, which also emphasizes partnerships among local law enforcement and community groups.
“We cannot afford to be complacent in the face of violence that threatens too many of our communities,” Sessions wrote in the memo, lamenting recently released federal data showing violent crime rose in 2016 for the second straight year.
“We can never cede a single neighborhood, block or street corner to violent criminals.”
The Justice Department has asked Congress for $70 million for the effort, but officials say it could be implemented without the money. The initiative will give local law enforcement faster access to technology that helps solve shootings and more quickly trace guns used in crimes. It also calls for U.S. attorneys to come up with a comprehensive plan for combating violence in their districts that involves local police and prosecutors.