Daniel Ackerman

1 week ago | marketplace.org | Daniel Ackerman

American astronauts on Mars — making that happen is a priority for Jared Isaacman, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead NASA, according to his recent Senate testimony. That’s in addition to NASA’s current Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the moon. Critics, including Isaacman himself, have complained about the price tag of Artemis — around $100 billion has been spent so far. But Congress continues to support — and fund — the lunar return mission.

2 weeks ago | fdd.org | Daniel Ackerman |Jiwon Ma

The aviation industry in the United States encompasses a vast network of nearly 20,000 airports and almost 7,000 aircraft. Ensuring flight safety by protecting this critical subsector from cyberattacks is vital to safeguarding the nation’s economic vitality and national security. The aviation subsector is a complex ecosystem comprising not only airlines and their aircraft but also airport operating authorities and the air traffic control system.

2 weeks ago | marketplace.org | Daniel Ackerman

Tariffs aren’t the only thing restricting global free trade right now: The Democratic Republic of the Congo, which mines a whole lot of cobalt, has banned the export of that metal since February, to push prices up. The country is now considering extending that ban. Countries restricting mineral sales to influence prices on the global market has become something of a trend. And it’s going to affect the U.S. economy big time, since we don’t produce much in the way of critical minerals on our own.

2 weeks ago | fdd.org | Daniel Ackerman |Ryan Brobst |Bradley Bowman

Contents China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea are sprinting to strengthen their military capabilities and are increasingly working together to threaten the United States and its interests.

3 weeks ago | marketplace.org | Daniel Ackerman

We’ve talked about tariffs plenty in the context of manufacturing and consumer goods — the stuff people buy. But what about that much larger chunk of the economy: services? Growth in the service sector declined in March, compared to the month before, according to a report out Thursday from the Institute for Supply Management. The report showed the slowest growth for services since last June. That’s in part because business leaders were concerned about — yes — tariffs. Let’s start with tech.