It's good to be NASA now, but is Trump's love reliable?

Still not convinced that President Trump loves NASA and space? Consider this.

The proposed budget for the 2020 financial year published by the White House on Monday brings to $ 21.019 billion at NASA, a reduction of $ 482 million or 2.2% from this year. Normally, a drop of nearly $ 500 million is an excellent financial cut, but it's not bad in Washington today.

Federal Departments of Agriculture, Education, Energy, Health and Social Services, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency will lose all 10% of their current funding, if not more, if the Trump budget is approved as is, according to an analysis by the Washington Post. This is unlikely to happen when Congress intervenes, but NASA clearly begins in front of many of its contemporaries.

Maybe that's why Jody Singer, director of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, said on Monday that Trump's support was "particularly important." "The administration is determined to see America return to the moon and travel to Mars," Singer told reporters during a review of the center's budget. Marshall is at the center of this project, given its role in the development of the Space Launch System (SLS).

But how strong is Trump's support and will it last, especially for SLS? Some social media discussions later on Monday suggested that the big rocket could be on borrowed time, and at least one science and technology website made the case print. "The new White House budget is synonymous with problems for NASA's SLS rocket," read the headline of an article published Monday on the ars technica website by journalist Eric Berger. "Two sources close to the thought of Vice President Mike Pence – who leads US space policy – are frustrated by the slow pace of the nation's efforts to send humans to the moon," Berger wrote. Berger writes that the administration is particularly frustrated by the delays that have affected SLS.

Another website, space.com, also indicated that NASA's current plan, in addition to the postponement of the newer and larger SLS versions, would transfer some future SLS payloads for the Lunar Gateway to commercial rockets.

The budget proposed by NASA for 2020 amounts to $ 21 billion and Marshall's share to about $ 2.6 billion. Singer said $ 1.6 billion would be spent on SLS preparation. "The center has a clear mission," said Singer, "and that's to follow up on the SLS."

The center also has a powerful fiscal ally in US Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala), who wields a lot of power in Washington as chair of the Senate Credits Committee. Shelby reportedly told Singer in Washington recently, "Jody, you keep doing what you do. We will continue to finance you. "

Singer said Monday that Marshall has rocket expertise "found nowhere in the world," and that the new budget is helping his team, with no reduction in staff. "I see our future very bright, very stable and a lot of work to continue, not only to keep our employees, but to attract future employees," Singer said.

Singer agreed that the 2020 budget does not fund later larger versions of SLS, but focuses on "the essential version of the rocket and setting an annual launch cadence". Marshall has already built equipment for the second and third flights, said Singer, and he plays a key role in developing the habitat of astronauts in the lunar gate.

The budget figures discussed on Monday were the first round of the budget game. Both Houses of Congress will take this information, organize hearings and adopt budgets that will be reconciled before being submitted to Trump for approval by the White House.