by The decision of the Trump administration of closing two offices at NASA risks “dramatically” to increase the costs of space research and give Elon Musk more influence on the agency, and the workers have warned.
The office for technology, politics and strategy of NASA and the office of chief scientist offer independent analyzes for important investments and strategies. Both are closed in the middle of widespread cuts at the agency.
The workers in the two offices told the Guardian that these cuts would raise the ongoing goals of mannered missions to the moon and Mars undergravations and questions on conflicts of interest for musk, the CEO of SpaceX, The Rocket and Satellite Rieste, while listening to the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” or Doge to shorten the Federal Government To reduce the federal government with Donald.
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The US President nominated the billionaire Jared Isaacman, a SpaceX investor and tight allies of Musk, to become the next NASA’s next administrator.
With a SpaceX Crew Dragon Craft, which arrived at the international space station early on Sunday because a few of us were on Tuesday for more than nine months, the cuts have fueled the fears that Musks is on the rise via NASA.
“Musk wants to go to Mars.” The most independent and impartial views are added by these offices, not from centers or directorates that do not take care of as long as money flows into. “
NASA announced last week that it had closed the two offices.
About 20 employees are affected by the cuts, the last day for April 10th is planned. As a rule, fired federal employees are announced for 60 days, but NASA says that this was reduced to 30 due to the “urgent need” to comply with an executive regulation signed by Trump.
The incumbent administrator of NASA, Janet Petro, was appointed by Trump in January. Shortly afterwards, Petro Michael Altenhofen, a long -time SpaceX employee, as a senior consultant, further mentioned the conflicts of interest between the agency and Musk, while SpaceX receives lucrative federal contracts.
When Petro ate dinner last year, she said that the encounter was “one of the most fascinating conversations of my whole life”.
According to the high -ranking official, the two closed offices are “extremely critical”, who remains anonymous for fear of retaliation. Officials who work for Trump and Musk “violate NASA in the long term,” they said. “We are all but [leaders in] The A suite. “
The civil servant added the “cruelty and pregnancy” of those who “only surprise” the cuts and claimed that dismissed employees were blocked from the consideration for the realignment to various agencies and associated awards and bonuses.
Another employed employee in the office for technology, politics and strategy of NASA argued that the closing of the offices was a short -sighted decision. “We miss the long -term vision for Moon to Mars Exploration by cutting off these offices and probably increasing the costs of these missions dramatically without this analysis and more strategic technical development,” they said.
According to the employee, the cuts announced last week surprised the agency ranking. “These offices brought a lot in terms of efficiency,” they said. They had very low overhead[s] Because they didn’t build anything. It was only the costs for a handful of employees who made the cost of the cost savings by thinking about how Tech investments can be rationalized and a strategic overall picture of what science should concentrate on. “
SpaceX is the largest private contractor in NASA. The agency has announced that SpaceX has spent more than 15 billion dollars for work over the years, and in February it comes: In February, NASA issued a contract of up to 300 million US dollars for its Pandora Mission Start and an order of $ 100 million for the start of its mission for the Mission Earth Earth Earth Objector Mission.
Critics have accused NASA of preferred treatment for Musk’s business empire. “The simultaneous allocation of its private companies with billions of dollars of federal contracts raises serious questions whether they and their agencies allow corrupt preference to benefit Mr. Musk,” wrote the US sensors Adam Schiff and Tammy Duckworth last month.
NASA has confirmed that an employee of the employee was embedded in the agency.
“In view of Dogee’s destructive power in the entire federal government and the unique conflicts of interest that Elon Musk has with NASA, Doges presence in the agency creates an unprecedented threat from NASA’s own house,” wrote three members of the congress to the agency in February.
One spokesman for NASA said: “To optimize our workforce, and NASA in accordance with a gathered approach to reducing the strength known as Rif, it begins on March 10.
NASA is working on a “broader restructuring plan”, the spokesman added to the federal government as part of Trump’s Blitz.
