No doubt the past 15 month have been rather feverish for NASA staffers . Priorities have shift , budget have been turn off , andprojects have been kill off . Then there ’s the fact that it operated without a permanent leader for more than a year – Trump ’s campaigner , who hasno background in scienceand adodgy record book on climate alteration , was only substantiate last month . Yet through this , the agency has remained directly - faced and squiffy - lipped .
In an audience withThe Guardian , one former NASA employee spread up about what living is really like inside the authority . Laura Tenenbaum spend 10 years at NASA shape as a science communicator before handing in her resignation and provide the line of work last October .
“ NASA ’s mouth point is that it ’s business as usual , but that ’s not true , ” she explained .
In particular , she highlighted the de - emphasis on clime scientific discipline communication , which has been " minimize " since Trump consider office because stave are scared the White House will cut funding for climate change research .
" There is a fear and anxiety there and the outcome has been chaos , ” she add together .
An authority voice has reply by saying the number of web log posts diverge month - to - calendar month look on " personnel availability and other factors let in missionary work activeness " but Tenenbaum state the new organisation began enforcing a stringent review process on every single web log or societal medium post she published or so a month after the inauguration .
This meant that several planned blog posts – including an interview with Gavin Schmidt , Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York – were either delayed or pluck alone . All because career staffers expressed concern these article could be controversial and provoke a negative reaction from the White House .
“ I was secern verbally by media relations it was because with Trump as chair , climate change is now a sensitive subject , ” said Tenenbaum .
“ There was confusion about what to do now we have a Chief Executive who does n’t believe in climate alteration . Everyone was scramble . It was chaos . ”
These opinion appear to be backed by another staff member , who told The Guardian , “ Some people are worried , some are noncompliant and some put their nose to [ the ] grindstone and get on with it . ”
[ H / T : The Guardian ]