NASA work on several programs pending responses to White House executive order

WASHINGTON — NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said he expects to provide details about several agency priorities, including lunar exploration and commercial space stations, in the coming weeks.

In a recent interview, Isaacman said announcements on how the agency plans to proceed with several key programs will follow NASA’s response to a White House executive order on space policy issued in December.

Among the directives in the order is a plan “for achieving the policy objectives in this order regarding leading the world in space exploration and expanding human reach and American presence in space,” as well as separate guidance for a “National Initiative for American Space Nuclear Power.” The policy also includes directives regarding procurement reviews and acquisition reform.

The order came as NASA was already working on new initiatives, such as the Fission Surface Power program to develop a nuclear reactor to support lunar operations, as well as proposed changes to the Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development, or CLD, program to support commercial space stations that would succeed the International Space Station. Those efforts also include the ongoing procurement of lunar rovers for future Artemis missions.

Many of those programs have been on hold in recent weeks as industry awaits new solicitations or contract awards, with little information from NASA.

“This notice is to advise you that NASA’s procurement activities remain ongoing as the agency works to align acquisition timelines with national space policy and broader operational objectives,” NASA stated in a Jan. 28 update on the CLD program. “You should anticipate that additional clarity regarding procurement milestones will be provided in the coming weeks.” NASA issued a similar notice the same day for the Fission Surface Power program.

Isaacman said the agency is currently focused on responding to the executive order. “Even though some of these programs may have been underway previously, we have a national space policy that is an executive order,” he said. “We have a timeline to communicate back, and that’s quickly approaching.”

For those interested in the affected programs, he said, “we will be communicating that shortly after submission of our response to the executive order.” He added in the Jan. 30 interview that it should be “approximately a month from now.”

Those topics, he said, remain priorities. “I do think America is going to get underway on nuclear power before the end of 2028, and we’ll share details on it soon.”

Industry officials have had mixed reactions to the pause in plans for programs such as commercial space stations and lunar nuclear reactors.

“I think this is a pretty substantial acquisition for him during the first few years of his tenure as administrator, and I think it’s warranted that he takes a pretty significant look at this,” Jonathan Cirtain, president and chief executive of Axiom Space, said of Isaacman and the CLD program during a Feb. 12 call with reporters about the company’s new funding round.

Others are less patient. “It’s been a case of hurry up and wait,” said one industry official, speaking on background about the Fission Surface Power program. The official said companies moved quickly to respond to NASA’s announcement last summer about the initiative, providing feedback on two draft solicitations while preparing for a final version, but have received little in the way of updates since December.

MSR uncertainty

There is less certainty about plans for Mars Sample Return, or MSR. Congress did not provide funding for MSR in its final spending bill for fiscal year 2026 but did allocate money for technologies that could be used for future Mars missions.

“With near clarity now on the human exploration focus on the moon, we can free up some of our resources to consider how we would go and retrieve the Mars samples,” Isaacman said. “Step one is closing out the old program.”

He said he would examine alternative proposals submitted to NASA in 2024 for MSR. At the end of the Biden administration, NASA said it would continue studying two approaches: one based on a concept by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and another using unspecified commercial landers.

“We’re going to have to take a look at it and see which of those, if any of them, are economical and can be achieved in a reasonable time period,” Isaacman said. “If not, we have to reformulate and think what is an alternative approach to it.”

He said he remains interested in returning the samples being cached by the Perseverance rover to Earth, some of which could contain evidence of past Martian life.

“Am I interested in getting those samples back? You bet,” he said when asked about the status of MSR during a Feb. 13 news conference after the Crew-12 launch. “This is an opportunity for what could be the most consequential discovery in human history.”