As the US federal government\u2019s shutdown drags on, NASA staffers are raising concerns over a dozen buildings on its Goddard Space Flight Center\u2019s (GSFC) main campus in Maryland being emptied without notice.<\/p>\n
The campus serves as the headquarters for some extremely important missions, including NASA\u2019s Hubble and James Webb space telescopes. <\/p>\n
Highly specialized equipment is at risk of being thrown away like trash, according to internal communications reviewed by CNN<\/a>. For instance, a building housing Goddard\u2019s ElectroMagnetic Anechoic Chamber (GEMAC), an extremely important piece of equipment for testing spacecraft antennas, is being shuttered.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like taking a Maserati to the junkyard to get crushed because your driver\u2019s license expired,\u201d a source told CNN. \u201cThe GEMAC is fully operational and could go on for many more years to support in-house, out of house, and the industry (like it has for several decades).\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMany NASA scientists are concerned they could permanently lose access to equipment and facilities they need to conduct planned NASA missions, throwing future space science research into peril,\u201d international space science advocacy group Advancing Earth and Space Science wrote in a draft letter to legislators<\/a>.<\/p>\n The closures could impact the launch of the JWST\u2019s successor, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope<\/a>, as well as its Dragonfly program<\/a>, which is hoping to send a large helicopter to Saturn\u2019s largest moon \u2014 concerns that a NASA spokesperson has since denied.<\/p>\n A NASA spokesperson told the broadcaster that the closures are all part of an existing \u201cstrategic consolidation\u201d plan that shouldn\u2019t impact existing projects. <\/p>\n Yet roughly 100 laboratories across 13 buildings of the campus\u2019s more than 30 structures are being closed. Many of the affected buildings weren\u2019t meant to be shut down until the early 2030s.<\/p>\n Despite the agency\u2019s reassurances, it\u2019s nonetheless concerning that the Trump administration is quietly dismantling the GSFC\u2019s campus during an ongoing shutdown, yet another sign that the space agency is being taken apart piece by piece, even as large swathes of the government remain unfunded.<\/p>\n Morale has taken a huge hit<\/a> as the agency continues to be put under immense pressure, with staffers worrying that Trump may make good on his threat<\/a> of not paying them back for unpaid labor during the shutdown.<\/p>\n \u201cGetting rid of Goddard removes the entire nation\u2019s capability to build, develop and analyze data from space science satellites,\u201d a Goddard engineer told CNN.<\/p>\n \u201cIt feels like an existential crisis; Goddard will either no longer exist at all or no longer exist the way it should,\u201d the employee added.<\/p>\n Others say the rapid downscaling is not even saving the agency any money.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t understand why our management would want to internally sabotage our capabilities,\u201d a source told the broadcaster. \u201cThey haven\u2019t communicated any rationale other than they\u2019re trying to save money, but the things they\u2019re doing don\u2019t actually seem to save money.\u201d<\/p>\n NASA\u2019s fate remains in the balance. Experts have long warned that the White House\u2019s 2026 budget proposal for the agency could deal it a devastating blow<\/a>, slashing its science funding by more than half. Goddard\u2019s science staff could be reduced by 42 percent, the American Astronomical Society warned in June<\/a>.<\/p>\n