There is a liftoff. The newly formed Texas Space Commission comes after Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and House Speaker Dade Phelan recently appointed the agency's first nine crew members, or board of directors. It's working smoothly.
State officials say the committee, made up of some of the brightest aerospace minds on the planet, will help Texas scientists and companies make significant advances in space research, exploration and commercial travel. I'm looking forward to it. The Governor's ambitions extend to colonizing Mars.
A Texas flag flying on the Red Planet? That's the dream. But the agency will be ineffective unless it consistently avoids the political conflicts that plague national politics and avoids potential conflicts of interest.
The 2023 Legislature created the commission and its sister agency, the Texas Aerospace Research and Space Economy Consortium, to support and promote the state's established aerospace research and industry ecosystem.
It also set aside $350 million in funding for the commission, of which $200 million will be used to build a Texas A&M University-led research facility on vacant land adjacent to NASA's Johnson Space Center. . The consortium's nine-member executive committee, also recently appointed, will advise the commission on how to allocate the remaining $150 million in grants.
In addition to Johnson Space Center, Texas is home to divisions of giant companies such as SpaceX, Boeing Co., and Lockheed Martin, as well as the manufacturing and research operations of thousands of smaller aerospace companies. . The state is poised to capture a large portion of the global space industry, expected to be worth $1 trillion by 2040, according to think tank Texas 2036.
The committee's panel includes communications expert Gwen Griffin; Kathy Lueders, her Starbase general manager at SpaceX; John Shannon, vice president of Space Exploration Systems at Boeing. Sarah Dagby, co-founder of Venus Aerospace. Kirk Shireman, Vice President of Lunar Exploration Campaigns at Lockheed Martin. Evan Loomis, co-founder of futuristic home builder ICON. Heather Wilson, president of the University of Texas at El Paso; Nancy Curry Gregg, Director, Texas A&M Space Institute; Brad Morrison, founder of Atlantis Industries.
Both the committee and the consortium have high goals. But like any politically appointed body, it can be vulnerable to political games of favoritism and dealmaking that taint the process. I am pleased to see that House Bill 3447, a bill authored by State Rep. Greg Bonnen, R-Friendswood, includes a conflict of interest provision. The law requires, in part, that directors who have a professional or financial interest in the entity seeking the grant must voluntarily resign.
Commissions and consortia should also issue regular reports to provide the necessary transparency to their activities. Both organizations will belong to the governor's office. The commission will employ 10 people, according to legislative documents.
“Texas will be the launch pad for Mars,” Abbott declared at the announcement ceremony. We can dare to dream.
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