NASA Has a New Administrator

Posted on by onespaceman2000

Earlier today, Jared Isaacman was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the new administrator of NASA. The final Senate vote was was 67-30, which is an encouraging sign showing that he is off to a good start. Anything bipartisan is unique in this environment.

Sean Duffy, the acting administrator, can now go back to the Department of Transportation. Fortunately, his effort to make NASA a sub-component of his department has failed.

The Planetary Society had a nice statement welcoming Mr. Jared to his new role and also emphasizing what needs to be done in partnership with the Congress:

The Planetary Society congratulates Jared Isaacman on becoming NASA’s 15th Administrator. After nearly a year of historic disruptions to the agency’s workforce, facilities, and budget, Mr. Isaacman has the opportunity to stabilize and reinvigorate the U.S. space program.

Congress is on a path to provide Mr. Isaacman with a restored budget that better funds national priorities: returning humans to the Moon, maintaining U.S. leadership in space science and exploration, and training the next generation of scientists and aerospace engineers. This is a remarkable statement of support for NASA’s mission, and Mr. Isaacman publicly committed to make full use of the funds that Congress provides.

The Planetary Society is ready to work with the new Administrator to advance our shared goals of maintaining NASA as the world leader in space science and exploration.

We should all wish Mr. Isaacman the best of luck in his new role. He will need all the support he can get to set the agency on a sustainable path.

The New Glenn Launch to Mars Scheduled for Tomorrow

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Artist’s rending of the two EscaPADE probems approaching Mars. (NASA)

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket is scheduled to be launched tomorrow afternoon with two Martian probes on board. A lot is riding on tomorrow’s launch. The mission is important for Blue Origin, as it tests its new rocket with its first real mission. It is also important to NASA, which is using the probes to better understand the Martian atmosphere.

Blue Origin’s reusable New Glenn rocket will put it in direct competition with SpaceX for future NASA missions. This redundancy is needed, particularly with SpaceX seeming to struggle with its projects related to the Atemis lunar mission.

The $100 million Martian mission, called Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE), involves a pair of identical spacecraft with a the goal of analyzing:

  1. how Mars’ magnetic field guides particle flows around the planet,
  2. how energy and momentum are transported from the solar wind through the magnetosphere, and
  3. what processes control the flow of energy and matter into and out of the Martian atmosphere.

The two probes will be launched towards Lagrange Point 2, where they will sit for more than a year before making an approach towards Mars. The probes are expected to go into orbit around Mars in September 2027.

Godspeed to Blue Origin and NASA.

Update: The launch has been delayed due to bad weather. The next attempt will be on November 12th.

This Should Not Be Necessary: The Acting NASA Administrator Responds

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Apollo 17 commander Eugene Cernan on the surface of the Moon. He was the last US astronaut to walk on the Moon. (NASA)

Acting NASA Administrator had to time time out of his day (or at least a staff member had to) to respond to a dumb comment by, let us say, a less-than-scientifically minded Kim Kardashian. She had earlier shared her doubts about whether the United States ever placed astronauts on the Moon. Of course, it is not an original sentiment, but it does gain traction in this social media age where dumb comments are golden.

Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy tweeted out:

Yes, @KimKardashian, we’ve been to the Moon before… 6 times!

And even better: @NASAArtemis is going back under the leadership of @POTUS.

We won the last space race and we will win this one too

I left out the little cartoons of a rocket and an American flag from the tweet, but you get the point.

We can all certainly agree with Mr. Duffy’s first point about the Moon landings, but the matter of the new space race is still up in the air. In that regard, he and NASA still have much more to do.

Maybe Ms. Kardashian can use her influence in a more helpful way by pushing for more NASA funding. If she really believes we missed the mark last time, maybe she can help ensure this new space race is a success. Hell, we can even put her name on the side of one of the rocket boosters.

Space Quote: SpaceX May Lose the Moon

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay.

“If SpaceX is behind, but Blue Origin can do it before them, good on Blue Origin…But … we’re not going to wait for one company. We’re going to push this forward and win the second space race against the Chinese.”

–Statement by acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy regarding ongoing delays with SpaceX’s Starship, which was given a $2.9 billion contract in 2021 for a lunar landing vehicle as part of Artemis III. As a result, NASA may reopen to lunar lander contract. Blue Origin is working on its own lunar lander called Blue Moon. As noted in yesterday’s post, Mr. Musk has been distracted this year, so it may make sense to have a solid back up.

Update: Mr. Musk was not pleased with the news. In reference to acting NASA Administrator Duffy, Mr. Musk commented, “The person responsible for America’s space program can’t have a 2 digit IQ.” The man certainly knows how to make friends.

NASA Moves Away from an ISS Cargo Contractor

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The Dream Chaser and Shooting Star Cargo Module. (Sierra Space)

Back in 2016 NASA was looking for more commercial cargo haulers for its International Space Station (ISS), and Sierra Space’s reusable Dream Chaser spaceplane was one of those options. NASA contracted for multiple resupply missions to the ISS. However, all of that is now over.

NASA has announced that the contract has been modified so that Sierra Space is only to provide a “free flight demonstration” in 2026. What that means is that NASA will give the company a chance to prove its technology, but it will stop financing these efforts. And NASA will not commit to any future resupply missions, but may choose to do so at a later point.

It sounds like quite a gut-punch to another commercial option for the ISS at the same time that Boeing’s Starliner is still limping along. That leaves SpaceX and Northrop Grumman as the only players on the field as the station heads towards it decommissioning in 2030.

Sierra Space can certainly pursue other commercial space opportunities, which is expected to include commercial space stations at some point in the future. Even so, it appears NASA has lost confidence in the company’s ability to deliver on earlier promises related to the ISS.

In a recent press release, the company has put the most positive spin it can on this new arrangement:

Sierra Space is prioritizing first-flight readiness with Dream Chaser, targeting a launch in late 2026 to align with expected launch vehicle availability. Sierra Space and NASA worked together to reach this mutually beneficial agreement that provides greater mission flexibility for Dream Chaser’s first flight. This flight aims to demonstrate critical capabilities for NASA’s ISS resupply and future Commercial LEO Destinations (CLD) missions and position Dream Chaser as a national asset available for future national security and defense demonstrations.

Sierra Space has many other ongoing projects under a variety of government and private sector contracts, including NASA. For instance, it signed a contract with NASA earlier this year to study the use of the company’s expandable space station technology on the Moon.

So the company will be staying busy even after this latest setback. That said, getting the Dream Chaser into orbit on schedule has to remain a key priority for a company that want’s to be a big player in the space race ahead.