U.S. space science in flux: Grant rules, rockets, and reorganization

**Sarah Al-Ahmed** (0:03)
Big decisions could be reshaping science funding in the United States. This week on Planetary Radio.
I'm Sarah Al-Ahmed of the Planetary Society, with more of the human adventure across our solar system and beyond.
Space policy is moving fast, and the choices that are being made right now could reshape the future of US science and exploration for generations to come. This week, I sit down with Jack Corelli, our Director of Government Relations, for an update on everything that's shaking up NASA right now. And in What's Up with our Chief Scientist Bruce Betts, we'll be revealing the long-awaited names of the Artemis III astronauts. If you love Planetary Radio and want to stay informed with the latest space discoveries, make sure you hit that subscribe button on your favorite podcasting platform. By subscribing, you'll never miss an episode filled with new and awe-inspiring ways to know the cosmos and our place within it.
This week, we're covering a lot of ground. Jack Corelli, our Director of Government Relations, joins me to walk through some of the biggest developments in US space policy right now. We will be talking about the ongoing fight for NASA's science budget, but there's an even more pressing matter right now. A proposed rule change at the Office of Management and Budget that would hand control of federal research grant decisions to political appointees. This is a proposal that would bypass the peer review process that's underpinned US science for decades. We're also going to be discussing a proposed major reorganization at NASA and a new competition for the management of the Jet Propulsion Lab. We're going to go out with a bang, discussing the fallout from the rapid unscheduled disassembly, less technically described as a giant explosion of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket on May 28th and what that means for the future of Artemis. Before we get into this grab bag of topics, I want to say something. The things we're going to be discussing today might feel really heavy, and for good reason. There's a lot at stake right now for space science and exploration and science in general in the United States. But I also want you to know that across the Planetary Society and organizations throughout the science community, there are people working every single day to support space science. We're trying to protect the missions that we've built and stand up for the people that make it all possible. So while this episode might feel like a lot, know that you're not alone in caring about this, and that really matters. When enough of us come together to work for the betterment of humanity, we always have a chance of making a brighter future, especially in space exploration. Here's my conversation with Jack Corelli.
Hey, Jack.

**Jack Kiraly** (2:43)
Hey, Sarah. How's it going?

**Sarah Al-Ahmed** (2:45)
I mean, there's so much going on in space policy right now that I feel like, I know it's hard to take it all in right now, and I bet that means that your life in DC right now is even more hectic than all of us that are just trying to learn and deal with these things as they come, right?

**Jack Kiraly** (3:02)
I guess when it rains, it pours, because you're right. And it feels like it's something new every day. And some stuff out of our control, pads exploding, rockets not rocketing.
But then some of it is massive reorganizations of NASA and policy updates going crazy over here. So yeah, it's been nonstop few weeks for us.

**Sarah Al-Ahmed** (3:26)
Right. I mean, honestly, a nonstop two years for us, right? I mean, all of this is kind of in the context of what's been going on with our Save NASA Science campaign and for people who have been following along with the adventure, there was a situation last year where the Office of Management and Budget proposed this almost 50% cut to NASA science funding. And we rallied together and we won and then they came back again this year with another proposal to cut NASA science by 46%.
So before we get into anything else, I think we should take a little time to give an update on where we're at with the progress for the Save NASA Science campaign.

**Jack Kiraly** (4:00)
Yeah. So I will say the state of the campaign is good. We are continuing to flood Capitol Hill with messages on a near daily basis. We've had a number of events, including our big day of action in April. I know many of folks are familiar with this flagship event, but it's been a very exciting few weeks.
So since Administrator Isaacman testified to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, and I think that was maybe a few shows ago, though both feels like yesterday and much longer ago.