Image (Credit): Edwin Hubble at the Mount Wilson Observatory in California. (Edwin P. Hubble Papers, Huntington Library, San Marino, California)
On this day in 1889, Edwin Powell Hubble was born in Marshfield, Missouri. He would go on to become an important astronomer who found that the “nebulae” in his time were actually galaxies far beyond our Milky Way. He also determined that the galaxies were moving away from one another, indicating an expanding universe. Of course, name is probably most recognizable to the pubic today as it relates to the Hubble Space Telescope.
Edwin Hubble knew he was part of long list of astronomers seeking answers about our universe when he said:
From our home on the Earth, we look out into the distances and strive to imagine the sort of world into which we were born. Today, we have reached far into space. Our immediate neighborhood we know rather intimately. But with increasing distance our knowledge fades … The search will continue. The urge is older than history. It is not satisfied and will not be suppressed.
Will Elon Musk have the freedom to muck around at NASA and with space policy in general? It all depends whether VP-elect J.D. Vance is willing to step aside from what could be seen as a duplicative space policy role, as noted in The Conversation:
Vice-president-elect J.D. Vance will chair the National Space Council, which develops policy on civil, commercial, international and national security. Many of the first Trump administration’s space policy successes can be traced to the council. Given the influence Musk seems likely to have in the new administration, the National Space Council could be seen as duplicating or being in conflict with the objectives of SpaceX’s founder…So could the council become a casualty of these drives? If it survives, its future potential depends on who is named as the executive secretary, a position that has significant power.
The National Space Council, which is under the White House, has a web page stating that while the Council was established in 1989, it was dormant from 1993-2017. Hence, it was the last Trump administration that brought it back to life.
Is Trump willing to let it lay dormant again so that Mr. Musk can have even greater say in steering taxpayer funds into his pockets? We’ll see what happens, as Mr. Trump often quips.
Image (Credit): The crew of NASA’s upcoming Artemis II mission. (NASA)
With NASA now facing a new administration in Washington, it is worth looking at where the agency is at the moment and what may need some attention. The 2024 Report on NASA’s Top Management and Performance Challenges, released by the NASA Office of the Inspector General (OIG), is a good place to start.
Here are a few of the challenges facing NASA at the moment:
Improving the Management of Major Programs and Projects
Changing requirements, significant technical issues, increased costs, and schedule delays continue to impact the sustainability of major programs and projects.
Cost increases and schedule delays often create cascading effects across NASA’s portfolio of projects.
Without complete, credible, timely, and transparent cost and schedule commitments for the Agency’s major projects, it is difficult for NASA, Congress, and stakeholders to make informed decisions about the prioritization of efforts and the Agency’s long-term funding needs.
Partnering with Commercial Industry
The transition to commercial space systems will require significant long-term financial investments by NASA and private companies as well as growing demand for non-NASA customers to ensure long-term economic viability.
Commercial partners are competitors in an emerging industry, developing modern space transportation capabilities and associated operations that have never been available.
The challenge to commercial partnerships comes in balancing the speed of development, flexibility, and adherence to timelines against the safety and reliability of new technology.
Enabling Mission Critical Capabilities and Support Services
NASA faces challenges with its mission critical capabilities including attracting and retaining a highly skilled and diverse workforce and managing outdated infrastructure and facilities needed for science, aeronautics, and exploration missions.
NASA’s decentralized information technology management structure and lack of strategic leadership negatively affect the Agency’s ability to protect and fully utilize computer systems and data vital to its mission.
NASA’s contract management practices have consistently led to increased costs and overly generous award fees.
This is quite a list, and the report goes into great detail on all of them. Of course, this is not SSA or the IRS with a pretty standard day-to-day mission, and where future expectations of the agency are easily foreseeable. As the auditors note, NASA is dealing with high-risk, complex issues requiring highly skilled workers who have to maintain many current programs around the solar system while also assisting a newly emerging private space industry here in the United States (which is pinching its staff). Moreover, looking back at the beginning of the universe as well as searching for sources of life in the universe today are big missions. We are asking a lot of NASA. This is rocket science and much, much more.
In addition, since I expect Elon Musk will try to claim that he came up with these issues on his own, I thought it was worth highlighting this report now. NASA knows it has a lot to do and it is working to solve these matters each and every day.
One more reminder to tune into HBO’s Dune: Prophecytomorrow night, with the final trailer gives you one last look at what’s in store. I for one look forward to anything that can take me away from this planet for a little while.
You might also enjoy the ScreenRant interview with series executive producer Jordan Goldberg and Travis Fimmel. You may remember Fimmel from the History Channel’ Vikings as well as the short-live HBO series Raised by Wolves.
Our Awesome Universe 