A 3D Billboard Displaying NASA’s History

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): NASA’s 3D billboard display by Blunt Action at Kennedy Space Center. (NASA)

If you want to see something that is both fun and educational, check out the 30-foot 3D billboard display outside the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Merritt Island, Florida.

Created by Blunt Action, the billboard plays out the history of NASA’s space program from its origins with the Mercury missions all the way to the Artemis missions.

You can go to an article by Designboom to watch the space story play out, though I expect it is better in person.

However you decide to watch it, it is worth viewing.

Audit Results: More Concern About NASA’s Space Launch System

Posted on by onespaceman2000

First, the US Government Accountability Office reported that NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) is unaffordable, and now NASA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) doubles down on that earlier finding, reporting that the SLS, a key component of the Artemis program, has costs that are spinning out of control.

In its report, NASA’s Transition of the Space Launch System to a Commercial Services Contract, NASA OIG concludes:

Our analysis shows a single SLS Block 1B will cost at least $2.5 billion to produce—not including Systems Engineering and Integration costs—and NASA’s aspirational goal to achieve a cost savings of 50 percent is highly unrealistic. Specifically, our review determined that cost saving initiatives in several SLS production contracts such as reducing workforce within Boeing’s Stages contract and gaining manufacturing efficiencies with Aerojet Rocketdyne’s RS-25 Restart and Production Contract were not significant and, as a result, a single SLS will cost more than $2 billion through the first 10 SLS rockets produced under [the Exploration Production and Operations Contract].

NASA OIG concludes that maybe other contractors needs to be considered, stating:

Although Congress directed NASA in 2010 to build a heavy-lift rocket and crew capsule using existing contracts from the canceled Constellation effort to meet its space exploration goals, the Agency may soon have more affordable commercial options to carry humans to the Moon and beyond. In our judgment, the Agency should continue to monitor the commercial development of heavy-lift space flight systems and begin discussions of whether it makes financial and strategic sense to consider these options as part of the Agency’s longer-term plans to support its ambitious space exploration goals.

Where are these “more affordable commercial options”? Could it be SpaceX? Blue Origin? If so, let’s start the transition ASAP so that the Moon and Mars remain a realistic goal in the near future. We have plenty of talent in this country and a race to the top is what we need, not a space agency stuck with an Edsel rocket system.

Space Stories: Fancy Space Suits, Giant Blinding Satellites, and More Russian Space Station Leaks

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Dezeen

Here are some recent stories of interest.

—Dezeen: “Prada Designing Lunar Spacesuits for NASA Moon Mission“

Fashion house Prada has teamed up with commercial space company Axiom Space to create lunar spacesuits for NASA’s Artemis III mission, which will be the first crewed moon landing since 1972. Called Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU), the suits will be designed to give astronauts “advanced capabilities for space exploration,” Prada said. They are an evolution of NASA’s Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) spacesuit design and will use “innovative technologies and design” to be more flexible and provide more protection against the harsh lunar environment, according to the brand.

—Scientific American: “Giant Satellite Outshines Most Stars in the Sky“

On some nights, one of the brightest objects in the sky is neither a planet nor a star. It is a telecommunications satellite called BlueWalker 3, and at times it outshines 99% of the stars visible from a dark location on Earth, according to observations reported today in Nature. BlueWalker 3 is the most brilliant recent addition to a sky that is already swarming with satellites. The spaceflight company SpaceX alone has launched more than 5,000 satellites into orbit, and companies around the globe have collectively proposed launching more than half a million satellites in the coming years — a scenario that astronomers fear could hamper scientific observations of the Universe.

—The Guardian: “Third Space Station Leak in a Year Prompts Doubts About Russia’s Programme“

The Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS) has sprung its third coolant leak in under a year, raising new questions about the reliability of the country’s space programme even as officials said crew members were not in danger. Flakes of frozen coolant spraying into space were seen in an official live feed of the orbital lab provided by Nasa on Monday, and confirmed in radio chatter between US mission control and astronauts. “The Nauka module of the Russian segment of the ISS has suffered a coolant leak from the external (backup) radiator circuit, which was delivered to the station in 2012,” Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Telegram, adding temperatures remained normal in the affected unit.

Audit Results: SLS Program is Unaffordable

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Artist’s rendering of the SLS. (NASA)

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently completed a review of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), which is the cornerstone of the Artemis program. GAO assessed the extent to which (1) NASA has established plans to measure the SLS program costs post-Artemis I, and (2) the program has made progress with its plans to reduce projected SLS costs.

The GAO report, Space Launch System: Cost Transparency Needed to Monitor Program Affordability, highlights a number of continuing issues related to project costs and budgeting.

So what is the bottom line? This quote is most concerning: “Senior NASA officials told GAO that at current cost levels, the SLS program is unaffordable.”

The SLS is the vehicle that is supposed to demonstrate our ability to return to the Moon as well as our readiness for a Mars mission. But all of this is contingent on continued funding from Congress, and the congressional auditors have raised a red flag.

I expect you could find similar audit issues with the earlier Apollo missions as well as other space missions, yet NASA does not need to give Congress a reason to put money elsewhere. Let’s hope NASA’s leaders take the audit seriously and show some progress to keep all of the parties happy and the funding alive.

Space Quote: If You Build It…Don’t Forget to Maintain It

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (NASA/Kim Shiflett)

“On average we have a $250 to $260 million dollar annual maintenance gap…Unplanned failures can have mission impacts, and the last thing we want to do is affect Artemis or some other significant mission.”

-Statement by NASA Facilities and Real Estate Division Director Eric Weiser regarding the maintenance of NASA’s infrastructure, as reported in The Register. He went on to say, “What that means is, on average, we’re renewing our infrastructure around every 200 years… A better number would be 60 to 80 years, and to do that we simply need more funding.” I know maintenance expenditures are boring, but this is no different than defense or highways. You get what you pay for, and also what you maintain.