Another Proposal: Moving NASA’s HQ

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Image by Vincent Groeneveld from Pixabay

This is not the same as invading Greenland or renaming the Gulf of Mexico, but one more Republican proposal is on the table. This one, from Florida’s Governor DeSantis, calls for NASA to move its headquarters from Washington, DC to Florida’s Kennedy Space Center.

Florida Today quotes the Governor stating,

They have this massive building in Washington, D.C., and like nobody goes to it. So why not just shutter it and move everybody down here? I think they’re planning on spending like a half a billion to build a new building up in D.C. that no one will ever go to, either.

Maybe the governor does not understand that NASA has a lot of work to do in the nation’s capital, such as keeping 535 members of Congress happy with the program. In addition, NASA is already spread out across the country, which was by design to keep many politicians happy over the years. For example, the NASA facility in Houston, TX was a political move to keep the chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee happy. Governor DeSantis does not have the clout of a House chairman, whatever else he may believe about himself.

Besides, Florida already has quite a few of NASA’s assets. NASA knows it needs to spread the wealth.

By the way, we may need to keep some assets in reserve should we require a new NASA facility in Greenland.

New Glenn Rocket Launch Planned for January 10

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The New Glenn rocket on the launch pad at Launch Complex 36 in Cape Canaveral. (Blue Origin)

It appears the New Glenn rocket test will take place this Friday, January 10. Blue Origin is using the language “no earlier than,” but this is the best estimate at the moment.

Here is the language from the company’s press release:

New Glenn’s inaugural mission (NG-1) is targeting no earlier than Friday, January 10, from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The three-hour launch window opens at 1 a.m. EST (0600 UTC). NG-1 is our first National Security Space Launch certification flight.

The payload is our Blue Ring Pathfinder. It will test Blue Ring’s core flight, ground systems, and operational capabilities as part of the Defense Innovation Unit’s (DIU) Orbital Logistics prototype effort.

Our key objective is to reach orbit safely. We know landing the booster on our first try offshore in the Atlantic is ambitious—but we’re going for it.

“This is our first flight and we’ve prepared rigorously for it,” said Jarrett Jones, SVP, New Glenn. “But no amount of ground testing or mission simulations are a replacement for flying this rocket. It’s time to fly. No matter what happens, we’ll learn, refine, and apply that knowledge to our next launch.”

Fingers crossed.

Update: The launch has been moved to Sunday, January 12.

Second Update: The launch has been moved to Monday, January 13.

Podcast: The Future of NASA and the Space Industry

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Planetary Radio

For a good summary of the current situation at NASA and the potential potholes ahead, I recommend you listen into The Planetary Society’s Planetary Radio podcast titled “Space Policy Edition: The Challenges of Change at NASA.”

You can hear host Casey Dreier, who is Chief of Space Policy for The Planetary Society, talk with Marcia Smith, the Founder and Editor for Space Policy Online. It is a candid conversation that spares no punches at NASA management for its secrecy related to delays with the Artemis program.

A few issues that stayed with me include:

  • Why all the criticism of the Space Launch System (SLS), as well as the accolades for the still unproven Starship, when the Starship was barely an idea at the time the SLS was being designed and built?
  • Elon Musk represents a “single point of failure” in the US space program.
  • The incentives of the space billionaires, which is generally curiosity and self-aggrandizing similar to climbing Mount Everest, cannot replace the dedication to national (and even international, in the case of Artemis) interests represented by the US astronauts.

I am sure you will have your own takeaways. It is a good way to spend an hour of your time.

Space Quote: Message in a Bottle to the Universe

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Golden Record placed on Voyager I and II. (NASA)

“This Voyager spacecraft was constructed by the United States of America. We are a community of 240 million human beings among the more than 4 billion who inhabit the planet Earth. We human beings are still divided into nation states, but these states are rapidly becoming a single global civilization.

We cast this message into the cosmos. It is likely to survive a billion years into our future, when our civilization is profoundly altered and the surface of the Earth may be vastly changed. Of the 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, some–perhaps many–may have inhabited planets and spacefaring civilizations. If one such civilization intercepts Voyager and can understand these recorded contents, here is our message:

This is a present from a small distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts, and our feelings. We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours. We hope someday, having solved the problems we face, to join a community of galactic civilizations. This record represents our hope and our determination, and our good will in a vast and awesome universe.”

–Statement by then President Jimmy Carter in July 29, 1977 that was placed in both Voyager I and II, both of which are now barreling beyond our solar system. Voyager II was launched on August 20, 1977 followed by Voyager I on September 5, 1977.

Is Blue Origin Ready to Challenge SpaceX?

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket. (Blue Origin)

Sometime next week, Blue Origin is expected to launch its New Glenn rocket, which could put it back in the running as a true challenger to SpaceX for space launches. I know, we already heard this story about Boeing’s Starliner challenging Space’s Dragon capsule, but this may be different.

Per the last posting on Blue Origin’s website on December 27, the rocket is ready to go:

New Glenn successfully completed an integrated launch vehicle hotfire test today, the final major milestone on our road to first flight. NG-1 will carry a Blue Ring Pathfinder as its first manifested payload and will launch from Launch Complex 36 in Cape Canaveral, FL.

The boosters on the 30-story New Glenn rocket are designed to land safely after the launch for future use. Sound familiar? In face, Blue Origin was the first company to successfully test a reusable rocket, so this is nothing new. The New Glenn also has a greater capacity than SpaceX’s Falcon 9.

Blue Origin has high hopes for it new rocket, including military satellite contracts, a new space station (Orbital Reef), and the launch of Amazon’s broadband satellite system (Project Kuiper).

NASA and the US space industry also have high hopes that the Blue Origin can increase the competition for launches and add some redundancy (you know, in case Mr. Musk really goes off the rails).

If commercial space is the future, then we need more capable players to keep it alive and vibrant. With that in mind, we can only hope for a very successful launch and increased competition down the road.