Space Stories: Kuiper Launch, NASA Workforce Cuts, and Prepping for Moon Landing

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): ULA launches the Kuiper 1 mission from Cape Canaveral on April 28, 2025. (ULA)

Here are some recent stories of interest.

—ABC News: “Amazon Launches First Kuiper Internet Satellites, Taking on Starlink“

The first 27 satellites for Amazon’s Kuiper broadband internet constellation were launched into space from Florida on Monday, kicking off the long-delayed deployment of an internet-from-space network that will rival SpaceX’s Starlink. The satellites are the first of 3,236 that Amazon plans to send into low-Earth orbit for Project Kuiper, a $10 billion effort unveiled in 2019 to beam broadband internet globally for consumers, businesses and governments – customers that SpaceX has courted for years with its powerful Starlink business.

—Government Executive: “NASA preparing for steep workforce cuts but hopeful it can avoid more layoffs“

As NASA ramps up plans to return to the moon and, eventually, Mars, it is moving forward with plans to shrink its workforce by incentivizing employees to leave government...NASA officials have told employees they may receive a second “deferred resignation” offer to allow staff to take paid leave until they exit government by Sept. 30, as well as early retirement and buyouts, to incentivize departures from the agency. These options were submitted as part of NASA’s reduction-in-force and reorganization plan, employees who attended the meetings in which the plans were shared said, which all agencies had to turn over to the Office of Personnel Management and the White House in recent weeks.

—NASA: “NASA Marshall Fires Up Hybrid Rocket Motor to Prep for Moon Landings“

To better understand the physics behind the interaction of exhaust from the commercial human landing systems and the Moon’s surface, engineers and scientists at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, recently test-fired a 14-inch hybrid rocket motor more than 30 times. The 3D-printed hybrid rocket motor, developed at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, ignites both solid fuel and a stream of gaseous oxygen to create a powerful stream of rocket exhaust.

Podcast: The Planetary Society’s 45th Anniversary

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Actor Robert Picardo at the Planetary Society’s 45th anniversary event. (The Planetary Society)

if you missed the April 5th event celebrating the Planetary Society’s 45th anniversary, you can still tap into it via the Planetary Radio podcast.

Here is a little more on the event and related discussion:

Join us aboard the historic RMS Queen Mary for a celebration of The Planetary Society’s 45th anniversary. In this special episode of Planetary Radio, we bring you highlights from our Cosmic Shores Gala, where members, scientists, space advocates, and special guests came together to honor the past and look boldly to the future.

You’ll hear from CEO Bill Nye, Board President Bethany Ehlmann, Executive Director Jennifer Vaughn, founding Executive Director Lou Friedman, and Congresswoman Judy Chu, with actor and Planetary Society board member Robert Picardo as our master of ceremonies.

And of course, we close with Chief Scientist Bruce Betts in this week’s What’sUp.

Space Quote: Gambling with the NASA Administrator Nominee

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

“In my early 20s, I was fortunate to experience business success at a young age, and I spent time in casinos as an immature hobby…The legal matters referenced were, in fact, forms of negotiation and were all resolved promptly. The incident at the border, following my return from the Olympics, stemmed from a payment issue that had already been resolved, which is why I was detained for only a few hours.”

-Statement by NASA Administrator nominee Jared Isaacman in a Reuters news article discussing his past arrest on fraud charges as well as lawsuits in two states for writing $2 million in bad checks to casinos. One of the casinos cited in the article is Donald Trump’s Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, now out of business. The early ties to Trump are interesting, particularly given Mr. Trump’s problem with his finances as well. So this is what we have coming into NASA – a man who likes to gamble large amounts and not pay his bills. Now he wants to gamble with the taxpayers’ money. This is not an auspicious start.

Tatooine-like Exoplanet Spotted by Astronomers

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): A binary sunset on Tatooine. (Disney/Lucasfilm)

With the Star Wars series Andor back for a second season, it is only appropriate that astronomers believe they found a Tatooine-like exoplanet. You may remember Tatooine as the planet where Luke Skywalker spent his youth.

The exoplanet is located about 120 light-years away and orbits two brown dwarfs (also called failed stars because they failed to ignite like a regular star and therefore have low luminosity). As noted below, binary star exoplanets have been found in the past, so this is not unprecedented.

Here is the abstract from the study, Evidence for a Polar Circumbinary Exoplanet Orbiting a Pair of Eclipsing Brown Dwarfs, if you want to read more:

One notable example of exoplanet diversity is the population of circumbinary planets, which orbit around both stars of a binary star system. There are, so far, only 16 known circumbinary exoplanets, all of which lie in the same orbital plane as the host binary. Suggestions indicate that circumbinary planets could also exist on orbits highly inclined to the binary, close to 90°, polar orbits. No such planets have been found yet, but polar circumbinary gas and debris discs have been observed, and if these were to form planets, then those would be left on a polar orbit. We report strong evidence for a polar circumbinary exoplanet, which orbits a close pair of brown dwarfs that are on an eccentric orbit. We use radial velocities to measure a retrograde apsidal precession for the binary and show that this can only be attributed to the presence of a polar planet.

Of course, the Tatooine in Star Wars was in a galaxy far, far away. Hence, this are not the exoplanet you are looking for.