Everything about the way Jim Bridenstine has come to be the new NASA administrator is unusual. From the way that Bridenstine, a climate-change sceptical, non-scientist, Republican politician from Oklahoma, campaigned for the job, to the drawn-out, controversy-laden seven months it took to get him confirmed in the role by the US Congress, to the sheer amount of attention the proceedings garnered.
But as the world is adjusting to the discomfort of the forceful paradigm changes that have come with the Trump administration, we may have been naive to imagine that NASA might have come out unscathed.
The role of administrator is usually filled by an ex-astronaut or other space professional. Although it is fair to say that Bridenstine鈥檚 atypical elevation is worth every bit of hand-wringing and scrutiny he has endured, don鈥檛 tune out now. What happens next will be worth watching.
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NASA has long been torn between two competing philosophies. The first sees space exploration as a scientific endeavour 鈥� an incremental, research-driven set of steps that bring discoveries along the way to more generalised technological advancement goals. The second is commercial-friendly and goal-driven, sometimes symbolic rather than motivated by science, and heavily favouring achievement of benchmarks to move forward.
Converging lines
The selection of Bridenstine signals a mix of these two philosophies and has a shot at combining them.
He is the author of the , which is an effort to provide a road map for the future of aerospace development including military space, commercial space and NASA.
He also recently posted a blog titled , which argues that the US should return to the moon as soon as possible, not just for scientific exploration and technological advancement, but for practical, economic reasons.
Bridenstine says that water ice on the moon could be used to make fuel to replenish satellites in orbit or to perform in-orbit maintenance. That would neatly fit into the need for a new generation of satellites that would, he envisions, lead to cheaper, better versions of the likes of GPS positioning, internet, military reconnaissance, and yes, even weather pattern data, which is used to assess changes in the climate.
The opportunity to revolutionise satellite operations will put stars in the eyes of commercialisation fans. To get there, Bridenstine proposes using NASA spacecraft 鈥� the Orion crew spacecraft capsule and the heavy-lift Space Launch System 鈥� rather than private sector rivals. That will suit space traditionalists. How perfect.
Tinted reality
But can a politician with a lengthy history of a heavily partisan-tinted reality really be expected, under this administration in particular, to suddenly bring people and ideas together towards a non-partisan goal?
In his speech yesterday as he was sworn in, Bridenstine did his best to eschew his partisan reputation and do exactly that. He struck a surgically inclusive tone as he spoke to NASA staff for the first time, choosing words like 鈥渉umankind鈥� over 鈥渕ankind鈥� and conspicuously excluding any sort of reference to making something 鈥済reat again鈥� despite cues from US vice president Mike Pence to do so.
Instead, he thanked Pence and the president, for 鈥渨hat you are doing to ensure that the United States of America remains the preeminent space-bearing nation in the world鈥�, communicating clearly to NASA that it has never stopped being great and that he would not be open to politicising the agency. It was a good move, and it was well-received and, I suppose it was nice to get a glimpse of what felt like a glimmer of hope in an otherwise gloomy horizon.
But that鈥檚 just day one. Don鈥檛 look away.
