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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is terminating $420 million in contracts, the space agency says are “misaligned” with its new core priorities.
What is being cut is not clear, but recent moves by NASA might serve as an indication.
For example, its chief scientist, who had been set to lead the International Panel on Climate Change’s third working group, was fired. Plus, the agency cut off international climate science support. NASA also removed the “first woman, person of color” language from its Artemis mission websites. Other agencies have reported that reviews of awarded grants were also vetted using a list of keywords, according to a Science report. Climate change and diversity were priorities of the Biden administration and former Administrator Bill Nelson.
The Department of Government Efficiency said that the cuts included $45 million – $15 million per contract – to three separate consultants for “Change Management Support Services.” That’s a sum just under the $50.3 million launch of the agency’s Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer mission, which launched in December 2021.
“NASA is committed to optimizing its workforce and resources in alignment with the Department of Government Efficiency’s initiatives. As part of this effort, NASA has identified and phased out $420 million in contracts that were determined to be redundant or misaligned with our core mission priorities,” Press Secretary Bethany Stevens said in a statement provided to The Independent.
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“This streamlining effort ensures that taxpayer dollars are directed toward the highest-impact projects while maintaining NASA’s essential functions at the highest level of execution,” she said. “In total, we are aiming for these measures to result in considerably more savings for the American people, reinforcing our commitment to efficiency, innovation, and continued leadership in space exploration.”
It also remains unclear how NASA has decided that contracts were misaligned.
A recent report from Space News noted that NASA had awarded $15 million each to consulting firms to provide support services for agency leadership last year before issuing “termination for convenience” notices to the companies in March. None of them had been funded for work under those agreements, the outlet said.
A DOGE website that is updated twice a week lists its “savings,” including millions in NASA contract terminations.
The agency is notably being pushed to focus on Mars: a priority of commercial partner SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who oversees DOGE and serves as an advisor to President Donald Trump. On Sunday, The New York Times reported that Musk is positioned to profit from billions in new government contracts. A request for comment from SpaceX was not immediately returned.
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The terminations come after layoffs hit NASA earlier this month, and amid fears of more.
Scientists lamented the move on social media.
“NASA started terminating grants :(,” wrote Johns Hopkins University associate professor of planetary science Sarah Hörst.
“I’ve now heard from a colleague that one of their awarded NASA grants was terminated,” wrote Johns Hopkins University assistant professor Meredith MacGregor. “These grants have previously undergone peer review and work has already begun, canceling them is completely unwarranted!”
“We were just about to get a thing going with the new space engineering major at Texas A&M, I was gonna have minions to do my bidding, all up in smoke,” said Clark Newman, principal engineer for NASA Gateway Mission Design.
Casey Dreier, the Planetary Society’s Chief of Space Policy, said he had used public data to find dozens of contracts impacting climate science, DEI initiatives, education, and administration activities.
