Former President Trump's proposalGovernment Efficiency Committee establishedThe idea of investigating how every part of the federal government works is a great one, and having SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk head the committee is a no-brainer.
Such a committee would be the perfect vehicle for investigating NASA, a troubled and historic agency.
One of the major problems facing NASA is its difficulty in keeping projects on schedule and on budget. Examples from the past few decades include:International Space StationandJames Webb Space Telescope.
Some projects, e.g.Mars Sample ReturnandVIPER Lunar RoverIt has gone so far off track that it faces cancellation or at the very least a lengthy replanning process.Space Launch SystemThe discovery, which is key to Artemis' return to the moon, remains depressing.
NASA is not unique in its inability to complete projects on time and on budget: Numerous weapons systems funded by the Department of Defense have cost more and taken longer to develop than originally planned, but that was decades ago.The F-35 is one example..
Private infrastructure projects have not been immune to government waste, such as the $7.5 billion spent by the Biden administration.Just seven electric vehicle charging stations will be built.
Quartz articleCitationOxford Economic Policy Review Researchnoted that NASA projects suffered an average of 90 percent cost overruns. By comparison, projects undertaken by SpaceX had an average cost overrun of 1.1 percent.
One of the reasonsSpaceX's relative success is due to the fact that while NASA has focused on “one-off, 'breakthrough' focused projects like the Space Shuttle and Space Launch System,” Musk's company has “climbed the launch value chain, from the small Falcon 1 rocket to the expendable Falcon 9 to the reusable Falcon 9 to the Falcon Heavy.”
While NASA reinvents the wheel with each project, SpaceX evolves its hardware to make it better than the last. It also helps that SpaceX doesn't have the bureaucracy that NASA has and doesn't have direct orders from Congress.
Public policy experts have known for decades that something was wrong with NASA. The White House, dating back to the second Bush administration, responded by commercializing some of the space agency's functions.Commercial Rail Transit Systems (COTS), Commercial Crew, Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS),Manned Landing SystemandSeveral private space stationsPlans were made to replace the International Space Station.
Commercialization isProblems faced by the Boeing Starlinerhas been successful, suggesting that there are two solutions to the problem plaguing NASA.
One solution is to commercialize as many of NASA's capabilities as possible, including planetary and Earth sciences. In effect, the space agency does very little in-house, signing fixed-price contracts and controlling costs.
Another solution would be to find ways for NASA to borrow from the corporate culture of its commercial partners. The space agency would streamline its decision-making processes and collapse hierarchies of bureaucracy. The proposed commission's mandate for NASA would be to rethink how the space agency functions and develop a plan to do so.
Finally, Elon Musk's role on the Government Efficiency Commission raises questions.
On the one hand, the idea of appointing Musk seems like a great one. As the richest man on the planet, Musk has a track record of making the impossible possible, relatively cheaply, and making a ton of money doing it. If he could show the federal government, including NASA, how to do it, the US would benefit immensely.
Meanwhile, Musk's involvement with the committeeRaises conflict of interest issuesSpaceX in particular makes a lot of money from government contracts and its activities are heavily regulated by the government, so some may question how Musk and his company would benefit from the commission's proposal, even if it is found to be reasonable.
Federal reform, including at NASA, would be worth discussing: if Musk could save taxpayers trillions of dollars and perhaps eliminate the deficit and begin to reduce the national debt, his personal gain would be a small price to pay.
Mark R. Whittington:Why is it so hard to get back to the Moon?” “The Moon, Mars and Beyond“And more recently,”Why is America returning to the Moon?He runs a blogThe mean guy's corner.
