donald trump didn<u+2019>t win the election because of his space policy. few voters probably realized that he has one. but if the trump administration implements the candidate<u+2019>s platform, nasa could undergo the kind of transformation not witnessed in a generation. although major questions remain unanswered, mr. trump has an ambitious plan for the u.s. to push into the final frontier. here<u+2019>s what trump advisers robert walker and peter navarro suggested last month in space news magazine: <u+201c>human exploration of our entire solar system by the end of this century should be nasa<u+2019>s focus and goal.<u+201d> that implies mr. trump wants astronaut boots on the ground of the moons of jupiter and saturn<u+2014>and even pluto<u+2014>during his grandchildren<u+2019>s lifetimes. current policy calls for a trip to mars, but mr. trump seeks to go a couple billion miles deeper into space. the foundation of mr. trump<u+2019>s efforts, his advisers explained, will be public-private partnerships. for instance, he will try to transform the international space station into a <u+201c>quasi-public facility supported by international contributions and resupplied utilizing commercially available services.<u+201d> leveraging the private economy<u+2019>s expertise and flexibility would accomplish much that nasa cannot do on its own. a trump administration will establish a national space-policy council, led by vice president mike pence, to coordinate nasa, military and commercial activities. however, messrs. walker and navarro left out important details. will nasa proceed with the planned journey to mars by the 2030s? or will the space agency return to the moon first? to what extent will commercial efforts be integrated into nasa<u+2019>s missions of exploration? they did not mention other future initiatives: the orion deep-space vehicle, the heavy-lift space launch system and the asteroid redirect mission. will president trump cancel one or more of these and pursue commercial alternatives? how much will he increase nasa<u+2019>s budget, if at all? what about international partnerships to exercise soft power and share the burden of space exploration? mr. trump should meet with space experts in congress to discuss these issues. one of president obama<u+2019>s greatest mistakes was to ignore pleas from lawmakers and abruptly cancel president bush<u+2019>s constellation program, which would have put astronauts back on the moon by 2020 and on mars at an undetermined date. the president-elect isn<u+2019>t a policy wonk, but no one doubts his ambition or love for epic projects. mr. trump could make the american space program into an engine of renewal that could last for decades. maybe a donald iv can build the trump tower mars. mr. whittington is a writer in houston.
make the solar system great again - wsj
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