[ExI] What happens to US space programs after November?

Giulio Prisco giulio at gmail.com
Sat Jun 13 06:57:47 UTC 2020


As I see things:

1. If Trump wins US astronauts will probably walk on the Moon before
the end of the decade. Not by 2024 (the last year of Trump's second
term), which doesn't seem feasible. But enough money will have been
spent on Artemis by the end of 2014 to make it impossible for the next
administration to cancel the program. So, humans on the Moon by the
end of the decade. But this would be yet another unsustainable stunt
without a clear follow-up strategy.

2. If Trump loses, good bye Artemis and the hope to return to the
Moon. The US space program will be limited to politically correct
Earth and climate science missions, with some token planetary and
space science missions.

3. There's no hope of real bipartisan support for ambitious space
programs. Not in these days of toxic political polarization between
two camps that hate each other and don't want to work together for the
common good.

4. China wins.

Did I miss something?


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