Do We Need to Worry About Boeing as a Space Partner?

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): International partners empowering NASA’s mission on Mars. (US Embassy & Consulates in Italy)

While spreading out the manned missions to the International Space Station (ISS) among various private sector partners sounded like a great idea, it has proven less than perfect. First we had to worry about the emotional stability of SpaceX’s CEO, and now we need to worry about the financial viability of Boeing, the only other company on a path to bring astronauts to the ISS.

At least that is the argument of Sophia Pappalardo in a Reason magazine article titled “America’s Reliance on Boeing Is a National Security Liability.” She cites a Congressional Research Service report on Boeing that states that since 2018 the company has:

…faced challenges including labor actions, production delays, quality control problems, and financial losses on government contracts. Given Boeing’s importance to the defense industrial base, Congress may assess whether or not these developments have implications for U.S. national security…Some analysts have speculated that Boeing could declare bankruptcy or seek to sell elements of its space or defense business.

One of the author’s suggestions is for the US government to expand its contracting efforts with “trusted international companies.” While the article is focused on the defense realm, it sounds like a good idea for the space realm as well.

The major US space goals already include our trusted international partners, such as the ISS, Artemis and Mars programs, so none of this much of a stretch. Maybe it just needs to be more of the focus as the current US firms show their vulnerabilities when poorly managed. I would add to this list the need to offer greater support to other, newer US-based space companies to further diversity the workload.

This may not be a time to call for greater international coordination led by NASA when the agency is also showing its vulnerabilities when poorly managed, yet we need to plan for future days when the craziness dies down. In the meantime, as Europe prepares for NASA cuts to joint programs, we have a lot of convincing to do if we want a deeper international space industry.

A new administrator for NASA may help, as well as a Congress that does its job and protects the future of our space programs.

I don’t care if you call it “Make the Moon the Goal Again.” Just get started.

Space Stories: Gas Giant Exoplanet Found Orbiting Alpha Centauri A, New Jesuit Heads Vatican Observatory, and Crew-10 Mission Astronauts Return from ISS

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Alpha Centauri. (NASA)

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—Astronomy.com: “Webb Telescope Discovers Potential New World in Neighboring Star System“

A team of astronomers has found evidence of a candidate gas giant planet orbiting Alpha Centauri A, a Sun-like star in the closest stellar system to our own. Initial observations hinting at the planet’s existence were made in August 2024 using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The Alpha Centauri system is located just 4 light-years from Earth. The findings, detailed in two papers accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, could represent a major milestone. As Charles Beichman of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory noted in a JWST news release, “With this system being so close to us, any exoplanets found would offer our best opportunity to collect data on planetary systems other than our own.”

—News Nation: “Pope Leo Appoints New Head Astronomer to Run the Vatican Observatory“

Pope Leo XIV has appointed a new head astronomer to run the Vatican Observatory, one of the oldest scientific observatories in the world. Rev. Richard D’Souza, 47, will succeed Guy Consolmagno, an American physicist who was known as the “pope’s astronomer” for ten years. Both men are members of the Jesuit Order.

—ISS National Laboratory: “NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 Returns Safely After Completing Dozens of ISS National Lab-Sponsored Investigations“

After nearly six months onboard the International Space Station (ISS), the four astronauts of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission have safely returned to Earth. This weekend’s splashdown off the coast of California concludes a long-duration science expedition that supported dozens of investigations sponsored by the ISS National Laboratory. NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov played a vital role in advancing science in space, contributing to biomedical research, physical and materials sciences, technology demonstrations, and student-led experiments. Their work helped push the boundaries of discovery in low Earth orbit (LEO) The orbit around the Earth that extends up to an altitude of 2,000 km (1,200 miles) from Earth’s surface. The ISS’s orbit is in LEO, at an altitude of approximately 250 miles. to benefit life on Earth and support a sustainable and robust space economy.

Is Ukraine Suggesting an End to US-Russian Cooperation in Space?

Posted on by onespaceman2000

In a recent Washington Post editorial titled “How to Shut Down Putin’s War Machine,” Andriy Yermak, who is the head of the presidential office of Ukraine, states that Roscosmos should not be considered as a “neutral civilian institution.” He notes that the space agency helps to guide Russian missile strikes, so it is just another part of the military-industrial complex.

Mr. Yermak goes on to state that Roscosmos “…must be sanctioned in full and banned from cooperating with Western scientific and academic institutions.”

So how would this apply to the International Space Station (ISS), which is clearly a scientific endeavor?

Russia has already threatened to leave the ISS many times, so its departure is something that has been contemplated by the US and Russia. But here we are talking about about pushing them off the station. Will they take their components and head home? Is a partial station solely dependent on the whims of Elon Musk better than a fully-functional station with the Russians?

Of course, a hot war with Russia is something else. Recent threats by both Russia and the US regarding nuclear weapons has not been helpful, but little has really changed on the ground since the initial Russian invasion (much to President Putin’s chagrin).

It is not only Ukraine questioning the Russian presence on the station. Retired NASA astronaut Terry Virts, who served as a commander on the ISS, recently said this to Radio Free Europe:

Cooperating with the Russians on the ISS is like going on an Antarctic expedition with Nazis in 1943…It’s just morally reprehensible.

So far both nations have decided that the current arrangement is working, but that may not last forever if the current spat between the former Russian president and the current American president continue. That would be unfortunate with Russia’s program limping along and the US space program looking at drastic cuts.

The last thing we need is an empty space station orbiting the Earth as a memorial to our foolishness here on the ground.

Business as Usual: Launch of a New Crew to the ISS

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center earlier today sending the latest ISS crew into orbit. (NASA)

After a one day delay due to rain, a new crew is heading to the International Space Station (ISS). Earlier today, three astronauts and one cosmonaut departed from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew members are NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov.

Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy issued a strange message about “bold leadership,” then praising the launch as though this was something new. He went on to link it to future Moon and Mars missions. I think he is a little too eager to be relevant here.

The bottom line is that this is a typical mission for NASA, showing that the agency can still get a rocket off the ground even as its employees are jumping out of windows (okay, walking out of doors). The Moon and Mars will need to wait for another day (and a new NASA administrator).

The new crew will rendezvous with the ISS early Saturday morning.

Space Stories: 25 Years of Humans on the ISS, Life in Outer Space, and Astronomical Interference

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins space-walking outside the International Space Station (ISS) on December 24, 2013. (NASA)

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—NASA: “Celebrating 25 Years of Continuous Human Presence Aboard the International Space Station “

NASA and its partners have supported humans continuously living and working in space since November 2000. A truly global endeavor, the International Space Station has been visited by more than 280 people from 23 countries and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft. The unique microgravity laboratory has hosted more than 4,000 experiments from more than 5,000 researchers in more than 110 countries. The space station also is facilitating the growth of a commercial market in low Earth orbit for research, technology development, and crew and cargo transportation.

—Max Planck Institute: “The Evolution of Life May Have Its Origins in Outer Space“

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a team of astronomers led by Abubakar Fadul from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) has discovered complex organic molecules – including the first tentative detection of ethylene glycol and glycolonitrile – in the protoplanetary disc of the outbursting protostar V883 Orionis. These compounds are considered precursors to the building blocks of life. Comparing different cosmic environments reveals that the abundance and complexity of such molecules increase from star-forming regions to fully evolved planetary systems. This suggests that the seeds of life are assembled in space and widespread.

—Curtin University: “Interference to Astronomy the Unintended Consequence of Faster Internet“

Curtin University researchers have undertaken the world’s biggest survey of low frequency satellite radio emissions, finding Starlink satellites are significantly interfering with radio astronomy observations, potentially impacting discovery and research. Unintended signals from satellites – leaked from onboard electronics – can drown out the faint radio waves astronomers use to study the universe.