UAH space symposium
Panel moderator Dale Thomas, left, Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, and Ann Zulkosky, director of NASA programs for Lockheed Martin, at the 9th Von Braun Space Symposium in Huntsville, Ala., on Oct. 26, 2016. (Lee Roop/lroop@al.com)
NASA may be Washington's most popular "brand," but its future success won't flow from popularity, but from its service to America's international and domestic needs, a space symposium heard in Huntsville Wednesday.
"Space policy derives from national security, foreign policy, economic and other political issues," said Scott Pace, a former government official and current director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University. "We are the nation's humble servant, supposed to serve those interests."
Pace told an audience at the 9th Wernher von Braun Space Symposium that America is living in "incredibly ... increasingly dangerous times," an allusion in part to recent cyber conflict with Russia.
"It demands partnerships with friends and allies, and we want to give them a stake in what we do," Pace said. "That means finding projects we can do together so they will support us (on other issues)."
Pace spoke at a session titled "After the Election - What's Next for Space?" His recommendation was "look at the priorities of the president" and ask "what can space bring to the table."
Pace and fellow panelist Ann Zulkosky, director of NASA programs for Lockheed Martin, agreed that space enjoys wide bipartisan support on Capitol Hill. It's "a relief from arguing over everything else," said Zulkosky, who was a staff member for a decade of the committee that drafted NASA's budget authorizations.
Those authorizations passed the U.S. Senate with "unanimous consent" in 2005, 2008 and 2010," Zulkosky noted.
The next administration "would be wise to leverage" NASA's popularity, she said, ticking off the accomplishments the next president will celebrate, including launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, launch of another Mars rover, and the first launch of the Space Launch System to deep space.
"For better or worse," she said, success "comes down to the next administration has to work with Congress." Congress raised its involvement in NASA after the White House canceled the Constellation program in 2009, she said, and it won't drop back to a lower profile.
Asked the impact on NASA's long-term goals of a Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton administration, Pace said Clinton "is correct in saying Mars as a horizon goal, because that is where a lot of the international space community is."
"Congress has spoken in repeated legislation with regard to the goal of Mars," Zulkosky said, "but the steps to get there allow for some differences depending on your priorities."
The space program is losing a unique champion when U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland) retires this year, she said. But others will rise to support the agency, she predicted, and she mentioned U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Tuscaloosa) as one senator willing to work across party lines for the space program.
The space conference continues Thursday at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.