Budget follies risk U.S. leadership of space exploration
Exploring space is one of the most profound human endeavors, valuable strategically and to the human spirit. And it is people who make missions happen, enabling U.S. leadership in deep space exploration that has been an inspiration to the world. But a congressional budget stalemate and recent job cuts in the U.S. space program have brought our nation to the verge of forfeiting that leadership.
Last week, more than 500 staffers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a pioneer in robotic space exploration, lost their jobs. As an undergraduate, I had a life-changing opportunity to work with some of those engineers, operating the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, and I am currently working with others while leading a NASA lunar mission. As those uniquely trained and creative JPL colleagues awaited layoffs with ops centers closed, the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers on the surface of Mars perhaps wondered why Earth didn’t phone in for new science observations that day.
Meanwhile, also last week, the Chinese space agency moved its Queqiao-2 relay satellite toward launch to support a first-for-humanity milestone — a sample return from the far side of the moon — as part of the Chinese campaign to build toward human exploration of the moon and Mars. The U.S. space program does not need to be in this situation. The JPL layoffs and this winter’s reassignments at other NASA centers and space industry partners across the nation arose from a complicated budget stalemate between the House and Senate over funding priorities. In response, NASA chose to scale back its expenditures in anticipation of losing funding. This move in turn blew a more than $500 million hole in the budget for solar system exploration with the fiscal year well underway. As the hole grew, rivalries broke out over the remaining funding. Such is not befitting of the U.S. space program, a jewel of our nation.
A disruption in U.S. deep space exploration does not make sense at a time when the field now offers more exciting opportunities than it has since the 1960s and the Apollo program, with more players around the world. Private space industry is booming in low Earth orbit. Multiple international programs have successful deep space missions: Japan, Korea, India, the United Arab Emirates, Europe and China. NASA in 2017 established the Artemis program to take humans to the moon and Mars, and it has endured through an administration change. The James Webb space telescope offers stunning data, and the astronomy community has recommended a new space telescope to find earthlike worlds around other stars.
Our pathways forward are crafted. In 2022, the National Academies completed a new Decadal Survey for planetary science and astrobiology, providing an ambitious, balanced and executable 10-year plan for completing missions to Europa, Titan, the moon and Venus, as well as new mission starts: Mars Sample Return, a Uranus orbiter and mission competitions for any solar system destination. I was privileged to serve with the 100-plus planetary scientists and engineers who took input from thousands of our colleagues to craft that 10-year plan for continued U.S. leadership in space science. But now I see that leadership at risk of faltering.
The nation needs our leaders to act with steadfast vision and maintain the willpower to execute on long-term plans, even if times are tough. My colleagues and I look to NASA to stand with science and with the mission recommendations of the National Academies. To maintain space leadership, we seek Congress to fund NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the planned fiscal year 2024 levels in the president’s budget, or at least at continuing fiscal year 2023 levels.
Space missions are modern-day cathedrals, generational endeavors. We show the world what American ingenuity can do and team with other nations in peaceful missions of exploration that bond our cultures. We also excite children about science, engineering, exploration and what can be accomplished by working together.
In 2024, our leaders need to unite, support our space workforce and show the willpower to move forward for America to continue leading the world in our exploration of the cosmos.
Bethany Ehlmann is a professor of planetary science and director of the Keck Institute for Space Studies at Caltech and president of the board of the Planetary Society. This commentary was written for The Washington Post.