There has been much speculation in the tech media over the current government shakeup. Some of it is the sound of alarm bells. At Futurism, science writer Victor Tangermann reports that almost 18,000 workers are being “culled”:

Things were already looking pretty grim at NASA following a chaotic few weeks of Trump’s attacks against “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” initiatives, with the agency even ordering staffers to remove all symbols of LGBTQI pride from their physical and digital workspaces.

One NASA source told Berger earlier this month that morale at the agency was “absurdly low.”

Now that Trump and Musk are employing what appears to be a corporate merger approach to indiscriminately slash budgets and workforces, the agency could soon look dramatically different. 

“Trump Enacts Brutal Cuts at NASA. This is only the beginning,” February 18, 2024

In a longer piece at City Journal, James B. Meigs, a former editor of Popular Mechanics, offers a thoughtful assessment of the changes, noting,

In 2017, when President Trump took office the first time, U.S. space policy was adrift. Major projects had run wildly over budget and the goals of the country’s manned space program were fuzzy. No U.S. astronaut had been beyond low Earth orbit since the final Apollo mission in 1972. The first Trump administration made major policy changes. It pushed Congress and NASA to unite behind a plan, dubbed Artemis, that aims to return astronauts to the Moon — and eventually send them on to Mars. Trump reorganized orbital military operations under the U.S. Space Force, freeing NASA to focus strictly on civilian missions. And Trump’s appointees helped strengthen NASA’s commercial space program which allows the agency to hire private companies, notably SpaceX, to launch NASA astronauts and cargo at lower costs.

As Trump returns to the White House, however, most of those accomplishments are at risk. The budget overruns that hobble NASA’s ambitions have only gotten worse. The promised Artemis Moon landing keeps getting delayed. And, while NASA’s commercial contracts with SpaceX have saved taxpayers tens of billions, the agency’s effort to help Boeing develop its own commercial vehicle has been an embarrassing flop. The International Space Station — our country’s only human outpost in space — is aging and slated for retirement in five years. Meanwhile, China is expanding its own modular space station and aims to land Chinese taikonauts on the Moon by 2030. In short, America’s manned space program is stumbling, while our key global competitor races ahead. 

“How Trump Can Save NASA,” February 28, 2025

Coming to terms with all that is bound to involve some tough decisions and some wrong calls. But Meigs, at least, remains optimistic: “America’s boldest days in space are still ahead. The Trump administration’s challenge will be to fix NASA’s glaring problems without carelessly driving away the agency’s supporters or creating further delays in its missions. With disciplined leadership, and a willingness to break with the past, NASA can still pioneer the coming revolution in space.”

There’s a lot out there for everyone who wants to explore to find a niche. See also, David Klinghoffer, “Hey DOGE, Take a Look at NASA.”

Cross-posted at Mind Matters News.