Charles Miller, a member of the Trump administration’s NASA transition team, has said the White House is set to clear a set of memos that would set up three task forces that aim to examine various issues related to space commercialization, Space News reported Friday.Miller wrote in a Jan. 23 email that one task force would study the feasibility of a return mission to the moon and would direct NASA to conduct an “internal competition between Old Space and New Space†in an effort to bring astronauts to the lunar orbit by 2020, Jeff Foust wrote.
“We have to be seen giving ‘Old Space’ a fair and balanced shot at proving they are better and cheaper than commercial,†Miller wrote in the email addressed to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Rep. Robert Walker.
“If this initiative can be approved quickly by the White House, and appropriately funded, we will see private American astronauts, on private space ships, circling the moon by 2020.â€
Robert Lightfoot, acting NASA administrator, said in a Feb. 3 memo that no new guidance has been released with regard to the agency’s current work, the report noted.
