With a new Donald Trump administration will likely come some new approaches at NASA, and toward it's duties and it's staffing -- and that could mean more opportunities for Houston-area space contractors.
The changes will likely be coming soon, and with Elon Musk influencing policies the changes could be startling.
Eric Berger, Senior Space Editor at the Ars Technica website, says "One of the defining trends we saw in the first Trump administration was a push toward the commercialization of space. It was really just evolution from NASA building hardware to buying services.
"And that gave rise to things like programs for commercial space stations and private lunar landing missions, and I would expect that trend to accelerate in the second Trump administration."
Berger told Newsradio 740 KTRH that he's recently spoken to Republican policy officials who are working on setting up the agenda and "they tell me that trend is only going to continue if not accelerate."
But when it comes to trends for the future, Berger says he expects changes at NASA with the Trump trends that are becoming apparent, which some call "privatization of space travel."
"I think what you would expect to see is NASA program management becoming leaner and with fewer people providing oversight, lowering the agency's costs so it can actually spend more money buying commercial services, so if you're a company like Axiom Space in Houston that's building commercial space stations or space suits that's good for you because it means more resources which help you succeed.
"It's really too early to pick winners and losers in the Trump space program. I do expect significant changes for NASA and the way it does business, and those changes will become clear in the coming months.
"But I do know they're very focused on seeing some results from the space industry."