Trump's new promising space plan will not work without cutting pork

Two weeks ago, the Trump administration released a detailed description of its plan to bring American astronauts to the moon by 2024. The program, now christened Artemis, incorporates the first two launches already funded the Space Launch System rocket (SLS) and the Orion capsule. , currently planned for 2020 and 2022 respectively.

The Trump Plan, however, does a lot more, including a strategic redesign of the proposed program proposed by NASA since 2017. This plan included the construction of a space station on the moon, dubbed Lunar Gateway. Almost all subsequent SLS missions in the 2030s were to focus on its construction and subsequent periodic occupancy.

Many voiced their opposition to the Gateway project. It was a useless and uninteresting mess designed to finance NASA's large space contractors (Boeing and Lockheed Martin) while putting in far too much time to accomplish far too little. Worse, as it was conceived, it would have frozen the United States in lunar orbit by watching other countries land on the surface and build their bases on the best lunar real estate identified by our own lunar probes.

Trump's plan to return to the moon is a big improvement

However, as unveiled at the May 22 National Space Council meeting, Trump's lunar proposal marks a major rejection of NASA's boondoggle.

First and foremost, the Trump administration has made Gateway the main focus of our lunar ambitions, limiting it to its "absolutely minimal configuration" during the first half of the program. Even though it will still have a habitable module, it will no longer be necessary for astronauts to live there for a long time. Instead, it will serve as a rendezvous outpost where missions to the moon can meet and meet.

The Trump administration has also moved the Artemis center from a project entirely built by NASA, with minimal help from private companies, to a project that includes a large element of privately constructed rockets and spacecraft. Rather than relying almost entirely on SLS, the Trump administration will use both and Private rockets – nicknamed by NASA "commercial launch vehicles" or CLV.

The administration has made it clear that if SLS could not meet the planned launch dates, it would consider switching entirely to private companies. Competition is embedded in the basic structure of the program.

America can not afford to be left behind

If the United States wishes to maintain its position as the world's first superpower, it is essential that we participate in future efforts to explore and colonize the solar system. The Chinese, Russians, Indians and Europeans all have programs to land and establish inhabited bases on the moon. These and other countries are also preparing to set up unmanned planetary programs to explore Mars and other bodies in the solar system.

I like to call this international effort the new colonial movement, comparable to the "rush to Africa" ​​of the Europeans in the 1800s, but without any local population to conquer. There is a political vacuum in space and all the countries of the world want to fill it. The United States must rise to this challenge and do the same. As John F. Kennedy said: "We are going in space because all that humanity must undertake, free men must fully share."

Unfortunately, the recent history of NASA is not extraordinary

So, how do we do it? Is Trump's proposal the right approach? Funding is a major problem. Although Congress provided funding for the first two Artemis launches in 2020 and 2022, no funds were provided for other flights. In recent House hearings on the project, Democrats have expressed significant skepticism. Some expressed categorical opposition.

Although it is possible that this opposition comes from the same democratic reflex resistance to each Trump proposal, I think it goes further. In the last 30 years, NASA's record on major projects has been terrible. Few were completed on time and on time. As reported in a Government Accountability Office report released last week, this record has only worsened in recent years.

In fact, just look at SLS / Orion to see that. The concept was proposed by George W. Bush in 2004, with the goal of reaching the Moon by 2015. Instead, NASA will not have its first SLS / Orion inhabited launch until 2022, for total cost over $ 43 billion.

I repeat: it took NASA 18 years and $ 43 billion to launch a single manned mission. We fought and won both world wars in less time. It is therefore not surprising that some members of Congress are skeptical about Trump Moon's proposal. The antecedents of NASA certainly do not inspire confidence.

The plans are still too vague and indefinite

The NASA proposal has other worrying aspects. To meet Trump's deadline of 2024, NASA reduced its program to a single preliminary test flight. No one is currently scheduled for his non-built lunar lander.

Such a plan would have been unacceptable to NASA engineers and management in the 1960s. In the Apollo Years, NASA had required a series of at least four preliminary missions leading to any lunar landing. , as well as the Apollo capsule and the lunar lander in Earth orbit and lunar. Only then would they consider sending men to the surface of the moon.

The addition concern is related to the fact that the Artemis has not yet been built after the planned landing of 2024. On the NASA Artemis web page, the description of the objectives and plans for each launch The SLS after 2024 is disturbing: "NASA's space launching system will send Orion and its crew into lunar orbit, where astronauts will conduct expeditions aboard the Gateway and Lunar. area."

In other words, neither NASA nor the Trump administration have any idea what they are going to do on the Moon beyond this landing of 2024. Unfortunately, this guy imprecision is the hallmark of all presidential space proposals of the last fifty years. Since Kennedy's speech in 1961 committing us to a lunar landing before 1970, almost all presidents wanted their own "Kennedy moment" – a space project fervently declaring that we intended to go "somewhere" in the space before a certain deadline.

In any case, these presidential statements failed. Instead, they all turned out to be costly boondos. They have been very successful in channeling pork to congressional districts and offering politicians who support them pleasant photo opportunities, while leaving us nowhere in space.

This is probably the worst aspect of the president's speech. His pork addiction (SLS / Orion) and his political expediency (a lunar landing before the end of Trump's second term) mean he will almost certainly not take us to the moon or Mars, despite NASA's claims. Like all of NASA's previous projects since Apollo, it will only be spending a lot of money.

Private companies should play a central role

Part of Trump's proposal, however, is very commendable: the administration's decision to increase private sector participation in Artemis. If it becomes the centerpiece of the program, the hiring of private companies to accomplish a large part of the tasks to be accomplished would achieve all the goals that this country requires in space more quickly and cheaply than the NASA.

For example, last week, NASA announced that it would purchase three privately built unmanned lunar satellites to carry its scientific loads to the moon. The total estimated cost for the three missions – $ 253.5 million – is far less than NASA expected to spend for its own resource lender (now canceled) Resource Prospector. In addition, these new contracts will place the landing gear on three lunar sites, not one.

More importantly, by ensuring that NASA acts as a customer rather than a builder, the Trump administration has helped revive a whole new industry of private companies building planetary probes. The use of private rockets rather than the government-owned SLS stimulates the industry of private rockets and promotes competition, innovation and efficiency. Just as the competition promoted by SpaceX has significantly reduced start-up costs, this program should allow taxpayers to save a lot of money.

If President Trump wants our country to be a dominant player in the future exploration of the solar system, it should begin by emptying Government Pork (SLS). Secondly, as many US citizens and private companies as possible should be encouraged to contribute to space exploration. Rather than make his effort a government "program" run and designed by government bureaucrats, Trump must promote a creative, dynamic, space-based industry. one that is competitive, innovative and private. If he can do that, the stars will be ours.