Arguably, one of the most debated topics of Donald Trump’s presidency is his presence in and concerns with science. Many members of the STEM community were concerned when Trump was elected, in fear of their work being impacted. In particular, one industry has been impacted most: the space exploration industry.
Trump proposed a $19.5 billion budget for NASA for the 2018 year. This is more than $1 billion greater than years prior, and more than what NASA had expected. Many were surprised to see that President Trump was this generous with the NASA budget, but Trump has previously stated that he is a large proponent of space exploration.
However, what many did not realize is that Trump’s plans for NASA were to go to the moon — again.
Earth’s moon. (Image courtesy of GIPHY.com.)
Many are familiar with the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s, which allowed twelve NASA astronauts to walk on the surface of the moon, and even more to land in the moon’s orbit. The Apollo program experienced massive success in the Space Race of the 60s, and is one of the most famous space programs to date. After the Apollo program’s closure, the United States decided to focus its energy elsewhere in space.
This has given us countless projects like the Hubble Telescope, Voyager, and the Cassini mission to Saturn. We have been able to learn incredible things about the galaxy around us.
NASA has been working on a project to get humans on Mars since the beginning of the Obama administration. When it was announced that Trump’s main goal is to put people on the moon again, many were shocked.
The Opportunity rover on Mars. (Image courtesy of USA Today.)
The amount of work that has been put into this NASA project almost cannot be measured; countless amounts of creativity, science, and thought were put into a nearly decade-long project that had the utmost support of the Obama administration. In essence, the Trump administration’s new goal for NASA is invalidating the work that has been done over the past eight years.
The Trump administration has not only cut funding to the Mars project, but it has also cut funding to things such as climate research and Earth sciences. This could be incredibly detrimental to science as a whole, and could very well impact the entire world as climate change worsens. It is important to do research in all areas, and to not limit oneself to one specific topic. In his actions, President Trump is not considering that improvements need to be made in all fields of science.
A lot of people were quick to protest Trump’s decision to go back to the moon, but we must also consider the other side of the argument: why has President Trump decided to follow this course of action? Trump stated that going back to the moon would serve as a “stepping stone” to get to Mars. It seems as though Trump believes that NASA needs to perfect its exploration of the moon before moving on to larger things. What many people fail to realize is that the Apollo program was not complete in its success. The Apollo 1 mission was unsuccessful, and resulted in the deaths of three astronauts. Trump may be on to something in his consideration of achieving perfection; when sending people into space, there is no room for failure.
However, Trump is not also not considering the massive financial burden that undertaking this new moon project may have. Eight years of resources, money, and work have been put into the NASA Mars project. Cutting resources to this project could result in its inevitable collapse. Eventually, resources for the project will run out, and it could potentially become dormant completely. The past eight years of research and work would be put on hold and essentially scrapped. This could possibly result in the loss of some NASA jobs, which is the exact opposite of what Trump has promised the United States.
President Trump and the National Space Council. (Image courtesy of Getty Images.)
Another side of the argument poses the point that Trump could potentially be on to something with the creation of new jobs. Companies such as SpaceX, which are completely privatized, have risen in prominence in the science scene. Trump has promised to create more jobs for the American people, and privatizing space exploration could potentially result in this. This could spark an innovation and creativity in the American people, which could then result in more businesses and more jobs. The one question that remains, however, is whether or not space exploration is an industry that should be privatized.
Whichever way the situation goes, it is important that America is still focusing on space travel as an industry. It is unfortunate that the Trump administration has chosen to eliminate Mars exploration and climate/Earth science research. This is definitely of detriment to research. As for going to the moon…the world will have to wait and see what the next three years of the Trump administration bring.
jam7580 January 12, 2018
I definitely agree that space travel is important for our country. My concern, however, is more towards the Trump administrations negligence of the threat to national security posed by anthropogenic climate change. Part of the issue I think, is that there are attempts by the administration to create the illusion of debate as if the scientific community has not already come to a consensus on the reality of climate change. Beyond this is the refusal to recognize how many United States citizens have already been impacted or stand to be impacted. The most recent “bomb cyclone” had temperatures and snow totals of record proportions, claiming the lives of some. I really do hope that at the very least the trump administration will consider the threats posed to American lives from anthropogenic climate change. As for space exploration, I agree that to go to the moon again would be invalidating the work of the Obama administration, maybe that is the exact reason that Trump’s administration planned it.
nbd5120 January 12, 2018
It’s really frustrating to see what Trump has done with scientific related projects and information. I understand that politics and science will inevitably be intertwined because the government needs to decide which projects and research to fund. On the other hand, to deny irrefutable events such as climate change and to regress on scientific progress solely to advance one’s own agenda and to undermine an opponent’s is simply unacceptable.
Trump’s actions and motives can be very difficult to understand. I like how you interpret his reason for going back to the moon. This is a good way to show both sides of the argument. I can see how Trump wants to achieve perfection and ensure that our space exploration program will not fail in future endeavors, but time and money can’t be wasted on perfection. Chances need to be taken in order to explore and better understand space.
Towards the end you talk about how the past eight years of the Mars project could go to waste due to the depletion of resources if we go back to the moon. This is pretty frightening to me and I think you did a good job of expressing the gravity of this situation.
Finally, I thought it was interesting how you tied NASA and space exploration back into the economy. It makes this issue more pertinent to more people. Often times I don’t think of space exploration and the economy as connected.
I really enjoyed reading your blog and I will be waiting to see what Trump ends up doing with our space exploration program.
Aaron Glatter January 19, 2018
I used to never understand how the country could spend billions of dollars on space exploration while knowing that this money could directly benefit the lives of millions of people. While I still see the moral issue with that, I understand now the importance of learning more about space and what is “out there”. With that being said, though, if the US us going to spend all this money on space, I want it to be in the best, most efficient, and most necessary ways. To me, I don’t really understand why Trump, Obama, or any other president should have that much say in what NASA is doing. I understand that it is a federal organization, but the scientists in charge of it who are highly educated and experienced in the subject should know what is best, not the president. I definitely disagree with Trump’s decision to not prioritize climate research, however I do not think I am really qualified to say what NASA should or should not be doing in space.