Trump's NASA nominee Jared Isaacman says Elon Musk's SpaceX will be involved in Mars plans

Jared Isaacman, newly named by Donald Trump to run NASA, has pushed a plan to send an uncrewed mission to Mars as early as next year. He pointed to SpaceX as one company able to handle that job, according to a 62‑page document.

The plan, called Project Athena, was drafted earlier this year when Jared was first being evaluated for the NASA role. It lays out how SpaceX and other private companies could be used to carry out key missions that align with Trump’s goals.

The document mentions Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, Axiom Space, and others as partners that could support different programs. It also outlines how the agency could shift away from its current setup and rely more on commercial systems.

Trump announced Jared’s nomination this week, ending a messy search for a NASA chief. Jared has strong ties to the commercial space industry, and he has flown on private missions financed with his own money.

That relationship with SpaceX was questioned during a Senate confirmation hearing in April. Elon Musk founded SpaceX with the long-term goal of building a settlement on Mars, and the company is developing the Starship launch system to execute that mission.

Jared outlines commercial partners for new Mars program

NASA, the White House, and representatives for Jared did not respond to comment requests.

On November 4, Jared confirmed online that the draft plan was real, but said, “it was always intended to be a living document refined through data gathering post-confirmation.” The plan gives a view of how he intends to run NASA as it tries to return humans to the moon before China.

One section, titled Vendor Focus Areas, lists the roles different aerospace companies could play.

Next to SpaceX, the document proposes a “Mars Discovery Base contract”, tied to a new Mars effort called Project Olympus, which would test landing and base‑building methods for future human missions.

The plan also mentions putting NASA’s Orion crew capsule on Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket. It suggests moving away from the current moon mission architecture built around Boeing’s Space Launch System and Lockheed Martin’s Orion spacecraft.

Instead, it proposes a shift to smaller and cheaper commercial launch systems. The ideas mirror Trump’s earlier budget requests, which aimed to shrink NASA’s structure and push more responsibilities onto private companies.

Human spaceflight is listed as the top priority. Congress has resisted these proposals by approving more funding than the administration requested, creating tension between agency plans and lawmakers.

Jared plans nuclear propulsion and restructuring of NASA centers

Project Athena calls for redirecting NASA resources toward nuclear electric propulsion, with the goal of flying nuclear‑powered spacecraft within a few years.

The document says this technology could also support defense systems linked to Trump’s Golden Dome and other Department of Defense programs.

The plan describes changes at NASA facilities, including expanding commercial access to launch sites and building nuclear launch support structures at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

It also proposes cutting, merging, or restructuring parts of the Goddard Space Flight Center, and shifting some scientific programs at Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia to private contractors or academics.

Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, which tests rocket engines, could move under state-level management to reach financial stability, though the plan does not explain how this transition would work.

Other proposals include renegotiating fixed-price contracts, reviewing NASA’s ten highest‑cost programs, and speeding up launch timelines for science missions “to the earliest that physics would support.”

Reporting on parts of the document first appeared on Ars Technica and Politico.

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