The prolonged shutdown of the US government caused a major crisis at NASA. Goddard Space Flight Center staff, which is a key scientific center, evacuated from more than a dozen buildings. Such actions pose a direct threat to the future of American space science.
This campus is the brainchild of legendary missions, where they work with the Hubble and James Webb telescopes. Unique equipment is now under threat, such as the Goddard ElectroMagnetic Anechoic Chamber (GEMAC), required for testing spacecraft antennas. The international scientific community warns, that the loss of access to these laboratories could undermine the preparation of future missions. The launch of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and the Dragonfly mission to explore Saturn's moon Titan were called into question. Although the representative of NASA assures,
what is meant by planned "consolidation", employees report closing close
100 laboratories in 13 buildings - many of which were supposed to work until the 2030s. in addition, it became known about the proposed budget for 2026 year, which involves cutting NASA's science funding by more than half.
Against the background of these events, the leading Democrat of the Committee on Science of the House of Representatives addressed
demanding that NASA immediately cease efforts to close and relocate the buildings, laboratories, facilities and technical capabilities, and also to stop the movement, disposal, decommissioning or repurposing any specialized equipment or hardware, associated with missions at the Goddard Space Flight Center, arguing that, that such actions jeopardize the center's ability to support the agency's missions.
Ms. Lofgren noted in her letter, that during the briefing 4 November with its staff, NASA officials said, that these works are part of a 20-year master plan for Goddard
to 2037 year, which provides for the reduction of the total area of the center by 25%. However, the politician rejects the explanation, that the abrupt and chaotic uprooting of workers and millions of dollars worth of equipment without a designated destination or technical justification is reasonably considered appropriate
to any existing "plan". So the democrat reported, which will request that the NASA Office of the Inspector General investigate the consolidation efforts at Goddard to determine whether these actions are consistent with agency policy and all applicable laws and regulations, and whether they are consistent with the Master Plan for Goddard, and whether Goddard's ability to perform his scientific and technical duties is impaired".
Source: https://spacenews.com