WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, today praised the congressional passage of the NASA Authorization Act of 2022 that was included in the CHIPS Act of 2022. The legislation provides the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) the clear direction needed to advance our nation’s space initiatives and investments and assert American global leadership in the final frontier.

“Congress just took a significant step to bolster our national security by passing the CHIPS Act of 2022,” Wicker said. “The NASA provisions in this legislation will propel America into deeper exploration of space and ensure a strong competition against China on the final frontier.”

Among other provisions, the NASA Authorization Act of 2022 will:

1. Establish the Moon to Mars Program to achieve the goal of human exploration of Mars and the implementation of the Artemis Missions to the Moon.
2. Extend International Space Station (ISS) operations through 2030.
3. Require NASA to continue its multidisciplinary science and technology development program to search for life beyond Earth.
4. Require NASA to implement a near-Earth object survey to detect, track, catalogue, and characterize near-Earth objects and that NASA should develop and launch a space-based infrared telescope to detect potentially hazardous near-Earth objects.
5. Require NASA to establish a research and development initiative on reducing greenhouse gas and noise emissions from aircraft.
6. Require NASA to continue to conduct research and testing to support the safe integration of unmanned aircraft systems (“UAS”) into the national airspace system. 
7. Require NASA to continue the development of nuclear propulsion technology, including related research and development, testing, and demonstration, to enable its use for human and robotic missions to Mars in the 2030s.
8. Direct NASA to conduct and submit a study to Congress on the workforce and industrial base for civil space, including supply chains, critical skills, infrastructure, and modeling and test capabilities.  

To see the full text of the bill, click here.