Bethany Ehlmann Pens Washington Post Op-Ed on U.S. Space Leadership

Bethany Ehlmann. Credit: Caltech

by Andrew Moseman

Professor of Planetary Science Bethany Ehlmann is the principal investigator on Lunar Trailblazer, an upcoming NASA mission to map the Moon’s surface from orbit. The information this small satellite will provide after it launches later this year will ultimately help researchers understand the form, abundance, and distribution of water on the Moon, and set the stage for the next generation of lunar exploration. She is also co-investigator on three Mars missions.

Yet Ehlmann, who is also the Allen V. C. Davis and Lenabelle Davis Leadership Chair and director for Caltech’s Keck Institute for Space Studies, has concerns about continued U.S. support for its space science missions. In a recent opinion piece for the Washington Post, which reflects her own opinions rather than those of the Institute, she writes that American leadership in space exploration is at risk because of funding uncertainty in Washington, D.C.

[We] need our nation’s leaders to embrace both human exploration and robotic exploration and resist pitting them against each other, as in the current budget stalemate. Each benefits the other. The science accomplished by humans on the Moon and Mars will be extraordinary. Planning for sending humans to Mars will benefit critically from engineering flight performance data. The information supplied by Mars Sample Return’s first launch as its rocket ascends through the thin Martian atmosphere and takes samples of potentially hazardous Martian dust will allow us to understand how to protect astronauts from it.

Read the full Post editorial: It’s an Exciting Time in Space Exploration. But U.S. Leadership Is at Risk.