Strategy to return to the moon and send a mission to mars. Its just over an hour. Bring thist, lets hearing to order if you dont mind. Thank you all for coming. Saturday will mark the 50th anniversary of the apollo 11 mission. The moon landing still unites americans like few events in our nations history. To believe a half century has passed since the United States won the space race. Although it is fitting to celebrate such past achievements, we are pleased that nasa administrator jim to discuss is here the future of American Space exploration. Of 2017, President Trump outlined a bold vision to reinvigorate space leadership. Space leadership calls for returning humans to the moon for the First Time Since 1972. This time it will be for long time exploration and use and will be followed by manned missions to mars. Nasa had planned to return to the moon by 2028, but in the speech to the National Space council in april, Vice President announced a dramatic acceleration of that time line. Under the program, the United States will land the first woman and the next man on the moon by 2024 and accomplish a sustained presence on the moon or in lunar orbit. I share the administrations sense of urgency. As i told the administrator, the United States has entered a new space race driven by the expansion of chinas space power ambitions and the explosive potential growth for space commerce. I support setting clear goals on ambitious time lines to achieve mission success. However, in order to reach these goals, nasa and its partners will have to accomplish a great deal of work in a short amount of time. The space launch system, s. L. S. Rocket and orion need to be tested as soon as possible. We need to build multi component Lunar Landing systems and gateway outpost that docks them. Needs to be assembled in space and i know as i continue to pursue these ambitious goal, nasa will maintain its safety. It should include the completion of a full green test and there is no better place than at the space center in mississippi. The cost is a challenge for nasa. In may, the administration submitted a Budget Amendment for 1. 6 billion in additional funding to the schedule, an amount that the administrator has called a downpayment. The administrator said it could 30 billion. Ion to that calls on the congress to billion. E 4 Congress Needs more details on the funding requirements so we can be good stewards. Repiratizeation needs to include early and detailed consultation with this committee and the congress to ensure critical programs are not undermined. I look forward to the administrator to shedding light on these needs and what is required to address different components, specifically the ateway osh builter in order to have the program. It remipeds of all of past progress. But constantly changing Mission Priorities and goals set far in the future have caused americas progress, congress will perform its oversight duties and we need to provide nasa with the clarity of purpose and funding it needs for success. I want you to succeed. Im excited about this. And i hope the hearing will provide necessary insight to ke good on the legacy of apollo. And i go to senator cantwell. Thanks for holding this important hearing about the plans to return astronauts to the surface of the moon. 50 years ago, and five days later on july 20, 1969, astronauts armstrong andal doctrine were the first people to work on the moon. They landed 10 more americans d i should say three lunar recovers. Just as importantly, the Apollo Program inspired engineers and scientists, some of them went on to space careers and many of them went on to other careers of high technology. These dreamers and thirst firmly accomplished the United States as a Global Leader in innovation and technology. The space race perpetrated a thriving commercial space industry and i am proud of those companies that reside in the state of washington and many washington scientists and engineers to help us. The benefits of Space Exploration. Nasa should continue to push the boundaries of space rnings exploration and technology and nasa has outlined a plan. I appreciate that nasa is looking at the partnerships that the commercial Space Community can give in that relationship and in Space Exploration. Today nasa has been developing the rocket and spacecraft need for deep Space Exploration for more than nine years and nasas n estimation that they wont fly until 2022. They have studied the hardware needed for Lunar Mission and these key pieces can fall together in the next five years. I know you made some changes at the organization the head of human exploration and with that and nasas retirement of the space shuttle, the question of where is the leadership within the organization can deliver on this goal will be some of the things i will drill down on the question and answer part of this hearing. Nasa has yet to deliver a congressional budget for the mission beyond 2020. It is difficult for us to approve the mission unless we know the actual cost. While we sell plate this accomplishment and the fact you are continuing to be pioneers in space we need to look at the next chapter of exploration. I appreciate the vision, but i look forward to hearing from you on just exactly how we are going to meet this challenge. Thank you for holding this hearing and i would like into aerospace ead of Advisory Board who has highlighted it. Thank you, senator cantwell. And you are recognized for an opening statement. In that era, it was not just about technological prowess. We were also proud of what nasa ourin those days when astronauts, buzz aldrin and neil armstrong, walked on the surface of the moon for the first time in human history, and here we years later still celebrating that monumental, absolutely stunning achievement, but as the Ranking Member identified, we did live Additional Missions after that. A total of 12 people walked on the surface of the moon, and then the program ended, and i think that has kind of been a letdown for nasa over the last six years. We want to continue doing these stunning achievements and go further and explore more. That is what this new program is all about. We call it her to miss. With think about the history of the Apollo Program and what it meant to the United States of america. In greek mythology, apollo had a twin sister. Her name was artemis. She was the goddess of the moon. This time, under the Artemis Program, when we go forward to the moon sustainably, we go with a highly diverse highly qualified Astronaut Corps that includes women. From the Vice President that within five years, we will have the first man and first woman he said on the south pole of the moon. That is an important distinction as well. We believe the moon was bone dry up until twigget and 2009. There are hundreds of millions of water ice. Water ice represents air debris d hydrogen and oxygen when crafted in its components and put in liquid form it is the same rocket fuel and available in hundreds of millions of tons. When we go to the moon we are doing it differently. The direction is to go sustainbly and have access to the moon, but have access to the entirety of the moon so we dont miss water ice which we missed for almost 40 years. We want to go back to the moon sustainbly and have access to all parts of the moon any time we want and want this as the proving ground. This is the proving ground. It is how we learn to live and work using the resources of that world so we can take that technology and capability to mars. That is the longterm vision and we have a good start. As the chairman identified, we certainly have in the president s budget request, come out of the gate. As far as the trades we need to make to go to the moon sustainbly with an eye towards march s and do it in away that is commensurate with the budgets of the United States. Thank you for holding this hearing on the anniversary of apoll hoo and i look forward to answering any questions. I must have misspoken earlier when i said that this was the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. I was a freshman in college at the time and that could not possibly have been 50 years ago. M going to ask my staff to recalculate no one questioned you. [laughter] something thats going to be safe. Here is talk about not getting and get number for defense ondefense discretionary, getting to october 1 and move it to a c. R. , maybe a shortterm, twoweek c. R. , month long or maybe a year long. That would be counterproductive to get to where you need to go, is that correct, and how would it affect you . It would be devastating. What we lack right now is a lander, the United States of america has not had a moon lander since 1972, the last time we landed on the surface of the moon. Thats something we need to develop. Of course we have commercial partners and they have been investing their own money and we are thrilled by that. We have opportunities to achieve this goal because of the investments, some of them have already made and a number of them. We are talking about a number of private companies that have invested money. Its not cheap to build a lander and looking for support from nasa and we want to be that support. This is an important thing and in the end with the publicprivate partnership, they will have customers that are not nasa. We will have more access and grow the space economy. All of that being said, if we end up in a c. R. , that lander doesnt get developed. And we dont have money in the budget to develop a lander. It takes a good bit of time which is why we need to get started right away. If we are in a c. R. For a year or more, it would be devastating to achieve to land the next man and woman. A c. R. , continuing resolution sounds innocuous. Its way worse than that . It is. A lot of people associate and i can tell you, they associate a c. R. With keeping things steady. The reality is we then do not make investments we need to make but even worse, we continue to make investments that we dont need to make. It is a waste of money when we end up in a c. R. And that is one of my biggest concerns we will be spending money on things we dont need. You told the committee in martha nasa would examine all available options to ensure the first flight of the s. L. S. Now mis. D arte how confident are you that we can meet that deadline . I think 2020 one is definitely achievable for the arguments one lunch vehicle. As has already been identified but the Ranking Member, we have made some changes at the head of the Human Exploration Missions directory. Some of the key challenges we have had as an agencys cost and schedule, being realistic about cost and schedule, and meeting the cost and schedule milestones that we ourselves set. So in order to reset the cost and schedule of some of these programs, we have made changes at the top of the mission directory. We are moving rapidly to put the right folks in place, but i want them to be in place before we set out a new deadline for artemis one. I say that because we need by and from people who make the gency. Some of the challenges we have had in the past, nasa has not been good at setting realistic budgets and schedules and we need to get better at that. So before we announce a new date, i want to make sure we have new leadership in place. Quickly, with regard to green run, are you still determined to do it . Green run is absolutely in the baseline plan. Suarez the scope of the green run, i dont know what that will like. We will get a team in place to assess the situation and i would be more than happy to report. Some senator . Thank you, mr. Chairman. You mentioned the human space expiration administrators. Who will be making decisions on artemis . We want to make sure that we have new leadership in place before we make those decisions. Ertainly, we have experienced, qualified folks in acting positions. Amely, human extortion and Operations Command the associate administrator command the Development Division with an human expiration. We have acting folks who have been at the agency long time. In fact, they are just getting the positions. Want to find the absolute best talent and move quickly. That does not affect your decisionmaking . Within the next six weeks, it will not heard not. But before we make commitments on the scope or timelines, i want to make sur you think that was something that was missing before . I think we have a long not achievinga of cost and schedule, and in many cases, that leads to lack of confidence from folks here on the city. The 2021 Budget Development is underway right now. She was working within the administration. Within that budget, you will see the out your funding for the we are working to get an accurate budget for 2021 and in that budget, youll see accurate funding for the Artemis Program through 2024. You think we will see an accurate extrapolation and make a guesstimate . No, i think you will see the dollars we are looking at spending for the years 2022, 2023, 20 24, in order to achieve that milestone. We will have a number is what you are saying . Yes, maam. That will be soon . It will be in the regular 2021 budget process, so february 2020. Thank you. Definitely thank you for artemis. I hope than in this next mission we can use whatever tools we have to call on americas. Rightest engineers as we look at video of the last launch, we can see one thing is missing. We dont see a lot of women in those control rooms. We dont see a lot of women in those pages, but i appreciate the fact you are trying to uphold an image, so i hope well do some serious work will you will use that as a tool. There are not a lot of tools where where calling on women to help with such a national mission. On theng we can do here committee because we are not going to build the launch system for you, but we can make sure we get this weather situation correct. One of the things when the chairman was here, he said there was absolutely no legitimacy to the issues raised by nasa. Could i just get your comments on that so we can keep making progress in solving this issue and how important accurate weather forecasting information is not just for you but for the traveling public . Yes, maam. When we think about the 24 gigahertz part of the ,lectromagnetic spectrum depending on the decibel level, it will definitely bleed over to the 23. 6 gigahertz part of the spectrum. Re that when ithei bleeds over some of the sensors , in space that are looking at the earth to characterize water vapor and energy of that water vapor, some of that data could be interfered with, corrupted. I will tell you, i just want to be really clear, this was a study done by depending on that level, we could lose up to 70 of that data. And if that were to happen, it would affect our ability to predict whether, without question. I do think there could be an elegant solution. I do think that there could be an elegant solution. And this is outside my area. To do thisasas job but i do think there is an elegant solution where the decibel level could be modified to the point where we could get all of the weather data we need and still be able to operate for 5g. It might require additional cell towers. But there are other people that should be considering that. I will tell you there is a risk here. Thank you, chairman. Although it is not your thing, it is a vitally important it is vitally important. It is. Have you had a conversation about this issue . I have not. Nasa did the study formula four noah for noah. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have mr. Scott. Thank you for being here. Last night, i have the opportunity to walk down the mall and see thousands of people from around the globe that are around the mall to watch the incredible projection of the saturn rocket on the washington monument. And it was a time to see families together. Some were having picnics or telescopes out on the mall. They had cameras and tshirts emblazoned with the nasa logo in celebration of a historic accomplishment 50 years ago. It made me incredibly proud of this country and i hope that we can find more moments like that to celebrate. Not just in this, but in sony achievements this country has accomplished. In times of Great Division and political strife, things like this can bring the country together. And he saw it last night on the mall, i think i even taxes do a picture of it. Thank you for doing that. It was a great picture. When you look back to the opportunities we have in space, just around the hearing room, my guess is that a significant majority of people were not here years ago when the United States embarked on this incredible effort. So our generation, mars could mean an incredible amount of new opportunity and hope for our country. What are two or three things this congress ought to be looking at that will ensure we are successful in prioritizing that we get back to the moon and mars. What are things we ought to be indful of . What we have to think about, as a nation, that is what nasa does for the country. It provides vision. I love these hawked about the turmoil our country was in at the time. Vietnam was raging, we had protests in the streets, we have civil rights abuses and protests. The country was torn apart, and yet there was this moment in time where all of the country, in bipartisan fashion, the entire world watched. In fact seen or heard by tens of millions of people behind the iron curtain in russia and cuba at a time when relationships ere as bad as they have ever been. So i think what we needed to be focused on as a country is here we are 50 years later when we think about apollo and the popularity of apollo when we lost three brave astronauts, there