Rep. John Culberson and NASA’s Thomas Zurbuchen at STA Luncheon, June 2018

On June 8, 2018, Rep. John Culberson and NASA’s Thomas Zurbuchen spoke at a Space Transportation Association (STA) luncheon.  Culberson chairs the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, which funds NASA.  Zurbuchen is NASA’s Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate.

Culberson spoke about his passion — finding life elsewhere in the universe and sending a probe to an exoplanet where life might exist.  In that context, he talked about the two missions to Jupiter’s moon Europa that he has enacted into law that NASA must execute in the 2020s, the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), and other aspects of his 51-year plan for NASA.  Zurbuchen spoke about the recently released findings from the Mars Curiosity rover that found organic molecules in ancient Martian rocks and seasonable variations in methane concentrations in the atmosphere.  He also discussed NASA’s plans for lunar lander and rovers.

SpacePolicyOnline.com summarized the discussion on June 10, 2018.