House Report: Budget Issues at NASA

Posted on by onespaceman2000

A new released minority staff report from the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, titled MISSION ABORTED: How NASA Illegally Implemented the President’s Budget Request Without Congressional Approval, has a few issues with the budget process at NASA.

Here is the main point from the report’s executive summary:

In 2025, NASA implemented the President’s Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2026 instead of the laws duly enacted by Congress. NASA leaders denied this fact repeatedly during the summer and fall of 2025. But the evidence gathered by Committee Staff says otherwise. Without authorization or direction from Congress, and in violation of the basic separation-of-powers framework set forth by the Constitution, NASA put into effect an executive branch proposal as if it were the law of the land. The consequences of that decision – for the agency, its workforce, and American leadership in science and space – were adverse to the agency’s mission.

The 38-page report gives plenty of examples about the various missions delayed or thwarted by NASA management, such as the Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration project and the Advanced X-ray Imaging Satellite mission.

Last year was a pretty horrible year overall for government programs, but we can all be thankful that DOGE did not get too far past the destruction of the US Agency for International Development before it steered into the rocks and eventually sunk. Besides, Mr. Musk would not want to attack an agency that keeps him in business.

With Jared Isaacman as NASA’s administrator, and Congress basically ignoring White House cuts, the overall damage has been contained. With that said, the scars left on agency programs and personnel will be long-lasting.

Congress will need to remain vigilant and continue to investigate and highlight any budgetary abuses at NASA should they still occur, even if it is only the minority party paying attention at the moment (though that minority status seems likely to change with elections later this year).

We will see many more such reports in the years to come, but for too many it will be too little, too late.

Pic of the Week: 3D Map of the Universe

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The DESI map showing the position of galaxies and quasars. (NOIRLab)

This week’s image is from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), which had a 5-year goal to map millions of galaxies and quasars, and thereby create the largest high-resolution 3D map of the Universe ever made.The image above shows the results of this work (completed in less than 5 years) containing more than 47 million galaxies and quasars.

In explaining the DESI results, NOIRLab stated:

DESI has now measured cosmological data for six times as many galaxies and quasars as all previous measurements combined. The collaboration will immediately begin processing the completed dataset, with the first dark energy results from the full five-year survey expected in 2027. In the meantime, DESI collaborators continue to analyze the survey’s first three years of data, refining dark energy measurements and producing additional results on the structure and evolution of the Universe, with several papers planned later this year.

Stephanie Juneau, associate astronomer and National Science Foundation NOIRLab representative for DESI, noted:

Ultimately, we are doing this for all humanity, to better understand our Universe and its eventual fate. After finding hints that dark energy might deviate from a constant, potentially altering that fate, this moment feels like sitting on the edge of my seat as we analyze the new map to see whether those hints will be confirmed. I’m also very intrigued by the many other discoveries that await in this new dataset.”

Dune: Odd Advertising

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Rolex

I can understand that actors and actresses want to make some extra money on the side with advertising gigs, but sometimes the result is more comical than convincing.

For example, actress Zendaya is now featured in Rolex watch advertisements with images of her as Dune’s Chani. It even has the slogan “Reach for the crown.”

Anyone who understands the Dune books and movies would know that Chani is a Fremen who has no use for ostentatious wealth. The last thing a Fremen would seek is a heavy, ornamental watch in the desert. The only riches for the Fremen is water.

Maybe Rolex would find a better fit with Stellan John Skarsgård and his Dune character Baron Harkonnen (below) for those times the Baron not taking a bath. The Baron seems like a Rolex kind of guy.

Zendaya is just following others here. Dune’s Timothee Chalamet is part of advertising campaigns with Chanel and Lucid Motors. And let us not forget that Omega was the official watch for NASA (below).

I just recommend that the stars and their sponsors show some awareness in their ad work.

Image (Credit): Dune’s Baron Harkonnen. (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Credit: Omega

A Day in Astronomy: Apollo 13 Sets a Distance Record

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Apollo 13 mission patch. (NASA)

On this day in 1970, the Apollo capsule traveled to the farthest point from Earth of any Apollo mission. It was an unbroken record until last week, with the Artemis II mission exceeded this distance by 4,105 miles.

Of course, that was a great achievement in an otherwise troubled Apollo mission. The Apollo 13 crew, consisting of Commander James A. Lovell, Command Module Pilot John L. “Jack” Swigert and Lunar Module Pilot Fred W. Haise, would never make it to the surface of the Moon. That is a story worth reading (as well as a movie worth watching).

Space Quote: Key Senator Pushes Against White House NASA Cuts

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Image by Pabitra Kaity from Pixabay

“I’m going to try to lead the subcommittee and the whole committee to put us in a position where we are funding NASA, NOAA and our other agencies in a way that is pretty similar to what we did last year.”

–Statement last Sunday by Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS), who serves at the chair of the Senate Appropriations Commerce, Justice and Science subcommittee, which oversees NASA. The subcommittee successfully reversed most of the proposed White House cuts in the Fiscal Year 2026 NASA budget. The senator is a speaker at this week’s Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, CO.