Trump Government Open to Privatizing the International Space Station

According to a recent report from The Washington Post, the Trump assistants plans to plough the International Space Station (ISS) into a privately endemic and operated venture. The report cites a NASA document which details the government's plans for the ISS which include turning "the International Space Station into a kind of orbiting real estate venture run non by the authorities, simply by private manufacture."

The U.s.a. government plans to halt funding for the ISS after 2024, but doesn't intend to abandon the station altogether. Instead, the government is allegedly working on a fashion to smoothly transition the ISS from federal funding to the private sector. The document states:

"The determination to end directly federal support for the ISS in 2025 does not imply that the platform itself will be deorbited at that time- it is possible that industry could continue to operate sure elements or capabilities of the ISS every bit office of a future commercial platform….NASA will expand international and commercial partnerships over the next 7 years in order to ensure connected man access to and presence in depression World orbit."

The document farther reveals that in its upcoming upkeep request NASA would request $150 million for the financial yr 2019, with more than funding required for additional years "to enable the evolution and maturation of commercial entities and capabilities which will ensure that commercial successors to the ISS- potentially including elements of the ISS- are operational when they are needed."

The Post also notes that the plan to privatize the ISS might face up opposition every bit the United states of america has spent close to $100 billion to build and operate the station. Recently, Senator Ted Cruz commented on NASA's decision to end funding for the station and said that he hoped the reports "prove every bit unfounded every bit Bigfoot."

International Space Station

NASA is reportedly studying to ascertain whether the life of the ISS can be extended to 2028 or across, and Cruz pointed out that whatever conclusion regarding privatization should have into business relationship NASA'due south written report regarding the thing. Others accept also expressed their concern and questioned the decision to privatize the ISS. Andrew Rush, the CEO of Made In Space, was quoted saying, "The ISS is built for science and human exploration, it's not built for profit seeking".

As The Verge points out, the idea of privatizing the ISS was commencement brought up as an option at the House Subcommittee on Space hearing last year, where advocates of the move suggested that transition to private entities would permit continued operations of the ISS. Manufacture officials claim that it would be better if the funding was connected till 2028, claiming that even though individual companies such as Orbital ATK and SpaceX regularly undertake resupply missions to the ISS, the commercial spaceflight industry wasn't ready to take consummate control of the station.