President Donald Trump’s proposed budget for 2019 includes a focus on returning humans to the moon and that project will include a lead role for NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.
The plan is to replace the International Space Station, which orbits Earth, with the Deep Space Gateway orbiting the moon. It’ll be used as a launching pad for trips to Mars.
To make that idea work, researchers at the Glenn Research Center will develop the propulsion systems that will go on the gateway and be used in those missions.
Glenn Center Director Janet Kavandi said that role has helped make its proposed budget the largest NASA Glenn has seen in seven years.
“The first piece of the platform that will be around the moon is that piece that Glenn will develop and lead," said Kavandi.
The plan is to have permanent infrastructure in place around the moon by 2030.
The research at Glenn will go on whether or not the president’s move toward the moon survives budget negotiations.
Its proposed budget for 2019 is $712 million, up from $650 million in 2017.