Chris Carberry - CEO of @exploremars , Joe Cassady - Exec. Director of Space for @aerojet_rocketdyne , Ellen Stofan - Former Chief Scientist @nasa & current Co-Chair of Council on Future of Space Technologies at @worldeconomicforum , Janet Ivey of @janetsplanetofficial , and Jeff Bingham - Senior Advisor to U.S. Senate (Retired) deliver a briefing to U.S. legislative staffers entitled ‘Mandate for Mars’ on December 7, 2017 in the Rayburn @houseofrepresentatives Office Building in Washington, D.C. Looking on in the foreground and front row are Vera Mulyani - @marscitydesign , and @drbuzzaldrin of @sharespaceorg and former NASA #astronaut revered for his moonwalking legacy of the @apolloprogram 🏛🚀💫 #space #spacepolicy #policy #politics #mars #humanspaceflight #exploration #solarsystem (at Rayburn House Office Building)

Beyond Artemis II: NASA’s vision shifts from flags-and-footprints to a sustainable human presence on the Moon. This short read outlines the infrastructure, partnerships, and scientific priorities that will turn lunar outposts into long-term bases. Read the article:

We didn’t come home with definitive solutions. But we came home curious—and less certain in productive ways. And sometimes, that’s exactly what you want after a week of bold visions and new ideas.

Don't let them kill the future. REBLOG THIS. Call Congress. Make noise. The universe is waiting, and we're about to hang up the phone. 🚀💔

Closing out our attention to the interview between Lee Billings of @scientific_american and U.S. Executive Secretary Scott Pace, #spacepolicy advisor to @whitehouse , Pace was asked what he hoped his tenure as executive secretary would accomplish through the National Space Council. "I hope that the habit of thinking about #space as a vital aspect of national power and of national interest becomes more routine across all sectors of #policymaking. This requires getting people out of their “swim lanes,” so they can think about space in a more integrative way as opposed to strictly seeing it as a national security issue or as a #science issue. In terms of more tangible outcomes, I’d like to see a stronger and more vibrant commercial space community that has been able to take advantage of regulatory reform and relief. I’d like to see the U.S. capitalizing on a lot of those newly opened opportunities and leading the world in commercial space industry growth. And on #exploration and science, I’d like to make sure the U.S. is still a global leader in science exploration, and that our #astronauts are operating beyond low Earth orbit for the first time since 1972—but that we’re doing it with a bigger community of commercial and international partners. If we can get past policymaking divisions, if we can get smarter with regulation on our industries and make our going out into deep space more of a team effort, then I think it will be time well spent." Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/q-a-plotting-u-s-space-policy-with-white-house-adviser-scott-pace/ Photo Credit: David Paul Morris Photography

@scientific_american asks Scott Pace (advisor on #spacepolicy to @whitehouse ) how The Trump Administration and National Space Council, respectively, shall approach the balance of #aerospace hardware (#rockets, #spacecraft) for @nasa #astronauts, and preserving budgetary balance for the agency's diverse #science missions. Scott Pace: "Well, let’s also mention that imbalances can occur within NASA’s science community. You can see situations where one particular sector—whether it be Earth science or Planetary Science, depending on the year you’re looking at—started doing more at the expense of others, like #heliophysics or #aeronautics. And particular projects like NASA's #JWST have had a big impact on the #astrophysics budget line. And so what we consider first of all is, are we following the scientific #priorities laid out [by each sector]? Now we’re obviously never able to do all those priorities—there’s never enough money to do everything—but first of all, are you looking at those and trying to comply with them? Then the second thing you look for in balancing among the different sectors is the health of the underlying community. That is, it’s not just a matter of how much money you’re spending, but also whether new researchers are able to come in and get funding to make important contributions.” Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/q-a-plotting-u-s-space-policy-with-white-house-adviser-scott-pace/

With the public announcement from @vp during the first meeting of the National Space Council that the U.S. would be returning humans to the surface of the moon and away from the former Asteroid Redirect Mission, naturally one would ask, what brought on this decision, and what should we expect to develop from here? We continue following the recent interview between @scientific_american and #spacepolicy advisor to the @whitehouse , Scott Pace with his response: "This is an update to the existing national space policy directive issued by Barack Obama in 2010. And as such [sending humans to] #Mars is still there—that is still the horizon goal, and hasn’t been eliminated. The reason we chose a return to the moon is because this reflects the president’s and vice president’s sense of what’s in the national interest. I became very much a critic of the Mars and asteroid–oriented policy, but not because I think Mars and asteroids aren’t great missions—they are. They are inspiring, and they offer some great #science. But they were so ambitious that they really didn’t provide opportunities for international or commercial partnerships, and therefore I would argue they were actually contrary to U.S. national interests. And the reason we do space is not simply to do it, but to advance U.S. national interests. This reflects where the space community has been going and has wanted to go for some time. There are lots of countries that haven’t been to the moon. We haven’t been to the [surface of the] moon since the last Apollo mission in 1972. And we’re already seeing private sector proposals for doing things there. @nasa has to be rethinking things—and they have been—but now they’re cleared to do that in a more concrete manner. The vice president wants #NASA to come back with specific plans. These ideas have been bubbling around for quite some time, and now they’re coming out more clearly in the open. We’re hopefully going to see them become more concrete in the year ahead as people take stock of this change in direction." Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/q-a-plotting-u-s-space-policy-with-white-house-adviser-scott-pace/ Photo Credit: NASA / Aubrey Gemi