Latest news with #BethanyStevens
Gizmodo
08-05-2025
- Science
- Gizmodo
NASA May Accelerate Mars Mission Timeline Following Trump Budget Proposal
The agency's shift of focus could mean turning to SpaceX's Starship for a mission to Mars in 2026. NASA is considering launching missions to Mars as early as next year in an effort to expedite its plan to land astronauts on the Red Planet. The surprise shift of focus comes less than a week after the U.S. administration released its proposed budget for the agency, which emphasizes the national goal of landing a human on Mars. The space agency is exploring the possibility of launching multiple missions to Mars in the very near future to accelerate its timeline for a human mission, Politico reported. 'We are evaluating every opportunity, including launch windows in 2026 and 2028, to test technologies that will land humans on Mars,' NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens is quoted in Politico as saying. The exact details of these missions, such as the rocket and payloads involved, were not disclosed. Last Friday, President Donald Trump's administration released a proposed budget for NASA's fiscal year 2026, which highlighted the 'objectives of returning to the Moon before China and putting a man on Mars.' The proposed budget is a 24% cut from NASA's current $24.8 billion budget for the year 2025, and the majority of programs are facing budget cuts save for NASA's human space exploration budget, which received an additional $647 million compared to the 2025 budget. Trump's administration allocated an additional $1 billion in new investment for programs focused on Mars. The proposed budget would also axe NASA's Mars Sample Return mission, suggesting that the plan to return rocky samples from Mars by way of a fleet of robots can be carried out by a human mission instead. If NASA were to launch a mission to Mars by next year, SpaceX's megarocket Starship would be the most fit for the job. SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has a fixation on Mars, and he often rants about his plans to colonize the planet so that humans become a multi-planetary species. Musk recently stated that Starship is set to launch to Mars by the end of 2026, with human missions to the Red Planet taking place as early as 2029. Musk's obsession with Mars seems to have translated to a change of direction for NASA under Trump's administration, of which the rocket billionaire is a close ally. Starship has had a total of eight test flights so far, and it has made steady progress. This week, the Federal Aviation Administration granted SpaceX the license to launch as many as 25 times a year from Starbase, a significant jump from the previous limit of just five annual launches. This development will help move Starship along, although it's not clear whether it will be Mars-ready by next year. Launching a mission to Mars isn't something you can plan on a whim—there are lots of factors to consider, such as rocket readiness and orbital mechanics. Presumably, SpaceX's Starship rocket will be the launch vehicle of choice for these missions. In order to reach Mars, Starship needs to pull off a complex orbital refueling to help it reach beyond Earth's orbit. That's not a small thing, and SpaceX is still a long way from demonstrating that capability in space. Importantly, missions to Mars are often timed based on when Earth and the Red Planet are in close proximity, to reduce time and costs of missions to the Red Planet. As The Economist explained in a recent article: The only difficulty arises from the need to arrive at such a point at the same time as Mars itself does. Getting that right requires Earth to lag behind Mars by roughly 45 degrees at the time of launch, a state of affairs which comes around only every two-and-a-bit years—which is to say, only twice in any given four-year presidential term. If humans are to be launched to Mars before Mr Trump's constitutional time is up, they will have to leave Earth's orbit during the opportunity which opens at the end of 2028. So the mission isn't too risky, at least one uncrewed precursor landing would need to happen first—and that would have to launch during the window starting in late 2026, according to the Economist. It's an open question as to whether NASA and its partners can meet these challenges. Regardless, the race to Mars is heating up—realistic or not.
The Independent
07-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
NASA is prepping Mars missions for next year – a shift in priorities that will likely benefit Elon Musk
NASA is preparing to prioritize launching rockets to Mars in 2026 – a drastic change in priorities that happens to align with President Donald Trump's priorities, while also benefiting billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX. The unexpected change comes on the heels of the White House 2026 budget proposal, which includes increased funding for Mars -related projects by $1 billion and the promise to pay for the launches. 'We are evaluating every opportunity, including launch windows in 2026 and 2028, to test technologies that will land humans on Mars,' NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens told Politico. The White House hinted that Mars missions would be a priority of the Trump Administration last month after the president met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, indicating in a press release after the two met that the US and Italy would partner on a Mars mission as soon as next year. NASA employees who would typically be in the know about such plans, however, were left in the dark about a potential push to Mars, a senior official told Politico. Though there are other companies in the running to make rockets for such missions, Musk's SpaceX announced plans to land one of their rockets on the planet in 2026. NASA's shift in priorities may also help fulfill a goal Trump expressed during his inauguration speech to land the first astronaut on Mars. While NASA's new plan is in line with Trump and Musk's interests, it may face blowback from lawmakers who have legally required the space agency to maintain a long-term human presence on or near the moon. Last fall, Musk announced that his company's first mission to Mars would be in 2026, likely when the next Earth-Mars transfer window – meaning when the two planets are aligned in their orbits – opens in November 2026. The Tesla co-founder has long pushed an outlandish plan to establish a self-sustaining colony on the Red Planet in order to save humanity from extinction. He has previously predicted an uncrewed landing could happen as soon as 2026, with humans there before 2030. 'It's not about going to Mars to visit once, but it is to make life multi-planetary so that we can expand the scope and scale of consciousness to better understand the nature of the universe and to ensure the long-term survival of civilization in the hopefully unlikely event that something terrible happens to Earth that there is a continuance of consciousness on Mars,' Musk told Fox News host Jesse Watters earlier this week. He said going to Mars served as an insurance plan for humans, predicting that Earth would somehow be incinerated by the sun in 'hundreds of millions of years.' While the star may swallow the Earth it won't be for billions of years. Musk has long triumphed the idea of colonization of the Red Planet, and since 2000 has pushed for Mars missions while donning 'Occupy Mars' T-shirts. Scientists, however, have said Musk's Mars vacations will not happen any time soon due to the complicated design and mission for SpaceX's Starship rocket, among other concerns. Previous test flights have resulted in fiery explosions.
Mint
25-04-2025
- Business
- Mint
NASA ends lease for NYC Climate Center as part of Donald Trump administration Federal property review
NASA is ending its lease for the New York City-based climate science center that has operated out of a Columbia University-owned building since the 1960s. A NASA spokesperson confirmed via email that the decision is part of President Donald Trump's broader review of federal property leases. The facility, known as the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, is a key player in global climate research and manages one of the world's five major independent temperature datasets. The institute is required to vacate the premises by May 31, Bloomberg reported. 'NASA leadership told GISS staff that it will conduct its work virtually. Over the next several months, employees will be placed on temporary remote work agreements while NASA considers new spaces,' Bethany Stevens, an agency spokesperson, told Bloomberg. Several NASA officials visited New York on Thursday morning and met with about 100 staff members to discuss the move and address concerns that the change might have larger implications for the institute's work, according to Gavin Schmidt, director of GISS. Makenzie Lystrup, the center director for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, promised the GISS mission would continue in an email sent to employees seen by Bloomberg. 'The work of the GISS team is considered critical for the Earth Science Division, particularly as the Division looks to the future of its modeling work and capabilities,' Lystrup wrote. The Goddard Institute for Space Studies, established in 1961, is located in Armstrong Hall—a building also known for housing Tom's Restaurant, famously featured in the 1990s sitcom Seinfeld. The work of the GISS team is considered critical for the Earth Science Division. According to Schmidt, the lease is managed by the General Services Administration and costs around $3 million annually. (With inputs from Bloomberg) Key Takeaways The end of the lease may impact ongoing climate research efforts. NASA plans to transition to virtual work while seeking new spaces. The Goddard Institute has been pivotal in climate data management since 1961.
Yahoo
08-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
My family is moving to Spain for a year. We are keeping our house and insurance in the US, but our kids will go to a school in Madrid.
Bethany Stevens will be moving to Spain with her husband and two kids. They've been planning the family "gap year" for five years. Preparations include taking care of their pets, getting medications, and seeking professional advice. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Bethany Stevens. It has been edited for length and clarity. On July 3rd, my family will leave our home in upstate New York and fly to Madrid, where we'll live for a year. We've been dreaming about taking a family gap year or sabbatical to Europe for a long time, so we're planning up front to get the most out of the experience. Here's how we're making it work. My kids are now 8 and 10, but we went on a trip to Disney as a family when they were much younger. I was entirely unimpressed and thought, "This can't be it" for family travel. Shortly after, we took the kids to Paris. It was a total disaster in every sense of the word — no one was sleeping, our stroller was too big for Parisian streets — but I loved it. My husband and I knew that's the type of travel we wanted to do as a family. We started traveling more internationally, and five years ago, we set a goal of spending a year in Europe. We chose Madrid for its culture and location. We had actually never visited before we picked the city, but we loved it during a December scouting trip. My husband is the CEO of an investment advisory firm, and he told his coworkers his plan to take a year off. They've known it's coming, which has made it easier for the company to plan for. We've had time to save for the trip, and our family and kids have had plenty of time to get used to the idea. Right now, we only plan to be abroad for a year. Because of that, we're keeping as much as possible normal at home. We're not selling belongings. A family member is going to move into our home for a year. We'll continue to pay the mortgage, but they'll pay for utilities and other costs, like having the grass cut. One of the biggest challenges is our pets. We have three dogs, a cat, a few reptiles and guinea pigs, and a flock of chickens. Family and friends are helping us by volunteering to watch them for the year. We may bring our smallest dog. The kids would like to have that piece of home, but I'm not sure the logistical challenges will be worth it. To me, there's a difference between living somewhere and visiting. My husband and I are still talking about how we'll balance those while we're abroad. We want to see more of Europe, but also really feel we're living in our Madrid neighborhood. Because of that, we've enrolled the kids in school. It's a British school teaching English, but about 70% of the students are Spanish. We're already working with a language tutor in Madrid, and learning the language will be a major focus for us while we're in Spain. We're not taking much with us on the move. I'm very excited to move toward a more minimalist lifestyle. As a mom, I want fewer things to manage so I have more time for myself. The kids will each have a backpack they can fill with toys and other items they want to bring. They're used to traveling this way on vacations, making them a lot more intentional about using their toys. This is the experience of a lifetime for our family, and we've been planning for it for a long time. Because of that, we're not focused on minimizing costs. We want to have the best experience possible and know that will mean more costs than a typical year. We're budgeting about $3,000 to $5,000 for an apartment each month. We'll pay about $2,600 for health insurance and are keeping our US plan, so there are no gaps in coverage. We're also paying for private school tuition. In addition, we've spent money on consulting with professionals. I paid about $1,000 to an immigration consultant who helped handle the filing and translation of our paperwork. We've also talked with US and Spanish tax professionals to understand the tax implications of our move. While I've been planning for a long time, there are many things I can't do until closer to our departure. Most apartments, for example, are only listed a month or so before they're free. That's tough on my type-A personality, so I'm keeping a checklist and doing what I can, like booking doctor and vet appointments right before our departure. Beyond that, I'm looking forward to the day we actually land in Madrid. Read the original article on Business Insider
