NASA Has a New Chief. Right here’s What He May Do in His First 20 Days

Jared Isaacman—a pilot, two-time business astronaut, and billionaire tech entrepreneur—is officially the top of NASA. He’s taking cost of an company that’s reeling from a yr of unprecedented uncertainty, and as he makes an attempt to proper the ship, he hopes to introduce some sweeping adjustments as effectively.

In November, a 62-page manifesto outlining Isaacman’s plans for NASA was leaked to the press. Isaacman fielded many difficult questions concerning the doc, titled “Undertaking Athena,” throughout his second affirmation listening to earlier this month. He mentioned he stood by the whole lot in it however emphasised that its directives are topic to alter. A digital copy is now circulating on-line, and it clearly lays out Isaacman’s nascent objectives for his first 20 days in workplace.

Gizmodo has not independently verified the copy, however Keith Cowing—a former NASA worker, company insider, and editor of NASA Watch—vouched for its authenticity.

A lot has occurred since Isaacman first drafted Undertaking Athena following his preliminary nomination in January, and a few of the motion gadgets he included are topic to alter. What’s extra, something on Isaacman’s wishlist would require Congressional approval. Accordingly, the purported plan is extra an inventory of Isaacman’s aspirations than a concrete roadmap.

With that mentioned, it’s unlikely that Isaacman will coloration far outdoors of the strains that Undertaking Athena attracts for his administration. The doc due to this fact provides some perception into what he hopes to perform at NASA, and it seems that he’s going to hit the bottom operating.

Day 3: Reevaluating NASA’s workforce and workflow

It’s no secret that NASA faces some main effectivity challenges. House exploration is difficult and costly, so it’s not altogether shocking that a number of key missions are years not on time and manner over funds. With the strain to beat China again to the Moon and to Mars mounting, Isaacman plans to deal with these points head-on.

In response to Undertaking Athena, he’ll take a superb, onerous have a look at the company’s workforce and workflow round day 3 of his administration. Isaacman goals to “[identify] those who must be acknowledged and those who want enchancment or probably separation from the company.”

Earlier than anybody panics—that doesn’t essentially imply there will likely be one other spherical of job cuts at NASA. The company’s workforce is already down about 20% on account of layoffs and mass buyouts earlier this yr. But when Isaacman sticks to this plan, it does sound like there will likely be some restructuring as he works towards the business-like effectivity he’s striving for.

Undertaking Athena supplies a high-level overview of what this course of would possibly appear like, beginning with requests for “consolidation proposals” from NASA’s govt management. It additionally describes flattening the organizational construction, eliminating deputy and assistant roles, ending “giant recurring conferences and different productiveness drags,” and suspending boards and committees that delay decision-making.

Day 9: Setting course towards Mars

As soon as NASA is presumably operating like a well-oiled machine, Isaacman hopes to get Undertaking Olympus off the bottom. The Athena doc describes this as a “devoted program, working alongside business and worldwide companions, to launch an uncrewed mission to Mars in the course of the 2026 launch window.”

The target of Undertaking Olympus is to land the primary infrastructure on Mars, laying the technological groundwork for future crewed missions. Throughout his second affirmation listening to, Isaacman acknowledged that returning American astronauts to the Moon is extra pressing than launching a Mars mission however remained robust in his conviction that NASA can work towards each concurrently.

To assist NASA attain the Pink Planet, Isaacman plans to broaden the company’s nuclear electrical propulsion program. The sort of propulsion attracts vitality from atomic fission reactions as an alternative of conventional combustion reactions, basically producing limitless vitality to energy deep-space flights.

Day 21: Consolidating aeronautics

With NASA’s spaceflight program absorbing many of the consideration, many are fast to neglect what the primary “A” within the company’s title stands for: Aeronautics. This arm of NASA conducts analysis and growth for brand spanking new aviation applied sciences throughout a number of totally different services, together with Ames, Armstrong, Glenn, and Langley.

Underneath Isaacman’s management, that might change, in accordance with Undertaking Athena. The doc features a directive to consolidate aeronautics-related actions below a single mission directorate at a main working facility on day 21 of his administration. It goes on to state that aviation property will likely be based at Armstrong Flight Analysis Middle.

There might also be some fat-trimming, because the doc states that Isaacman will “overview all applications for relevancy and focus sources on cutting-edge expertise.”

Once more, it stays to be seen whether or not Isaacman will really accomplish all of this throughout the first 20 days, or in any respect, however it’s clear he’s not going to take a business-as-usual strategy. At a time when the U.S. has by no means had larger expectations for NASA, he’ll definitely face monumental strain to get the company again on observe—and quick.