December 5, 2024
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Trump’s NASA pick is a climate mystery
President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for NASA administrator, Jared Isaacman, is a supporter of human space exploration, but his views on the agency’s climate science are unclear.
NASA does crucial climate science, such as tracking the Earth’s temperature rise.
NASA Earth Observatory video by Lauren Dauphin using GEOS data from NASA GSFC’s Global Modeling and Assimilation Office
KLIMAWIRE | President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for NASA administrator is an experienced commercial astronaut who strongly supports greater investment in human space exploration.
But Jared Isaacman’s views on climate change—NASA’s top research priority—are unclear.
The The millionaire has described himself “A moderate who occasionally weighs in on various issues” and who is “firmly anchored in the middle”. Some of his posts on social media platform X suggest he may be a supporter of climate action. He has also occasionally responded to other posts criticizing commercial space travel for environmental reasons, suggesting that humans may prioritize space exploration and threats to humans on Earth.
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“(We) can try to unravel the mysteries of the universe and improve the climate at home,” he said. Message of August 30 Xn. “Those who see this as a binary choice, where resources must be allocated one way or the other, are terribly short-sighted.”
But Isaacman has not publicly commented on his views on climate change in interviews, POLITICO’s E&E News has learned. That leaves some researchers uncertain about the future of NASA’s broader Earth science functions, given Trump’s denial of climate change and conservative plans to dismantle climate research initiatives at federal agencies.
“He’s obviously a big fan of human spaceflight and would go every day if he could. He understands science because he incorporated as much science as he could into his missions,” said former NASA employee Keith Cowing, who runs the watchdog site NASAWatch.com. “But when it comes to other things like climate, I don’t know what his position is.”
Isaacman did not respond to a direct message asking X to clarify his views on global warming, and the Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment.
Isaacman’s stance on climate change is also unlikely to be “the final arbiter of what NASA does,” Cowing said. “It’s going to come from the bigger picture that the Trump administration is going to give, and you know they’ve expressed doubts about making climate change a priority.”
Trump has repeatedly questioned the science of man-made climate change, vowed to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement for a second time and doubled down on his commitment to expand fossil fuel development. Climate scientists are also concerned that Trump may turn to Project 2025, a 900-page conservative policy plan led by the Heritage Foundation, as a roadmap for federal research priorities.
Project 2025 calls for major overhauls of several federal science agencies, particularly those focused on climate change. The plan suggests Trump should disband NOAA and calls on his administration to “reshape” the US Global Change Research Program, which coordinates federal research on climate and the environment.
The plan does not outline a specific plan for NASA’s Earth science capabilities. But he asserts that “the Administration’s climate fanaticism will require the release of the entire government.”
While Trump distanced himself from Project 2025 during his campaign, he recently adopted some of the plan’s architects and backers into his new administration. The announcements have raised concerns among climate scientists that the blueprint for Project 2025 will greatly shape the incoming administration’s strategies.
Trump’s announcement of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which is tasked with shrinking the federal government and cutting costs, has also raised concerns about whether federal climate science initiatives could find themselves on the chopping block.
Prioritizing NASA’s Earth science capabilities would be a major blow to climate researchers around the world. NASA’s satellite missions collect crucial data on many environmental variables, including global temperature, declining sea ice, melting glaciers, and global sea level rise. NASA datasets are used in research by researchers around the world.
Climate scientists expressed the same concerns about the future of NASA’s Earth science initiatives during Trump’s first term. Trump’s first NASA boss was Jim Bridenstine, a former U.S. representative from Oklahoma who had previously questioned the science of human-caused global warming. The first Trump administration called for drastic cuts to NASA’s climate programs in its budget.
However, Congress rejected these proposed cuts, keeping much of the funding for these programs in its annual appropriations, allowing most of NASA’s Earth science functions to continue unimpeded. And in 2018, Bridenstine confirmed his views on climate change evolved.
This means that it is possible that NASA’s climate science program will survive even a second Trump administration.
Still, Isaacman’s focus on space exploration and his close ties to SpaceX founder Elon Musk raise additional questions about NASA’s future priorities, and whether its Earth science missions can find themselves up against new competition for attention and funding.
Isaacman founded the payment processing company Shift4 Payments and the aerospace and defense company Draken International. It made its first attempt at space travel in 2021, when the world’s first civilian astronaut crew to orbit space was funded and entered. The mission, known as Inspiration4, launched in September 2021 on a fully operated flight by SpaceX and orbited for three days before returning to Earth.
Isaacman made his second trip to space earlier this year on the Polaris Dawn mission, another SpaceX partnership.
NASA’s current strategy prioritizes sending humans to the moon within the next few years as part of its Artemis program. But sending a manned mission to Mars has long been a priority for Musk, a dream Trump has also embraced. Isaacman has previously expressed support for sending humans to both the moon and Mars in the future.
Isaacman’s vision for the Artemis program and his views on future Mars missions are likely to be among the top questions raised in Senate confirmation hearings, along with his ties to SpaceX, NASA’s main contractor.
“Americans will walk on the moon and on Mars, and in doing so, we will improve life here on Earth,” Isaacman said in an article published by X on Wednesday. “It is the honor of a lifetime to serve in this role and to work alongside NASA’s extraordinary team to realize our shared dreams of exploration and discovery.”
Reporter Mark Matthews contributed.
Reprinted E&E News Courtesy of POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2024. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environmental professionals.
