President Donald J. Trump issued the National Space Policy Wednesday. Through this policy, the president reaffirms his commitment to move space exploration goals beyond low-Earth orbit and return humans to the Moon for long-term exploration and utilization, followed by human missions to Mars and other destinations.
“The National Space Policy reflects bold leadership in this resurgent era of space exploration, as Americans once again step beyond Earth orbit, starting with the Moon, and continuing on to Mars and beyond,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “NASA will play a critical role via the Artemis program, in cooperation with private industry and international partners, in meeting the policy goals of establishing a permanent human presence on the Moon while enabling dynamic science and commercial opportunities, including space resource utilization.”
The policy also provides NASA-specific guidance concerning:
- Operation of the International Space Station, in cooperation with international partners, for scientific, technological, commercial, diplomatic, and educational purposes while developing separate commercial platforms
- Space exploration technology development efforts to increase capabilities for future human and robotic space exploration missions while decreasing mission costs
- Capabilities to detect, track, catalog, and characterize near-Earth objects to warn of any predicted Earth impact and to identify potentially resource-rich planetary objects
- A broad array of programs for space-based observation, research, and analysis of Earth’s surface, oceans, and atmosphere and their interactions to improve life on Earth
- Space science for observations, research, and analysis of the Sun, space weather, the solar system, and the universe to enhance knowledge of the cosmos, advance scientific understanding, understand the conditions that may support the development of life, and search for planetary bodies and Earth-like planets in orbit around other stars
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