Senate Committee Hearing Discusses the Race to the Moon

Posted on by onespaceman2000

If you heard about this week’s hearing by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, one memorable bit was the title of the hearing – There’s a Bad Moon on the Rise: Why Congress and NASA Must Thwart China in the Space Race. The play on Creedence Clearwater Revival’s song was clever, but the topic of the hearing was anything but fun.

Here are a few sentences from Chairman Cruz’s opening statement:

This is a pivotal moment for our nation’s space programs. America must maintain leadership in low Earth orbit, while also embarking on a new era of exploration with Artemis. Make no mistake: we are in a new space race with China, and if we fail, there will be a bad Moon on the rise.

China has made no secret of its goals. It is investing heavily in its space capabilities, maintaining a permanent presence in low Earth orbit with its Tiangong station, and working to plant its flag on the Moon by 2030.

The stakes could not be higher. Space is no longer reserved for peaceful exploration. It is a strategic frontier with direct consequences for national security, economic growth, and technological leadership. If our adversaries achieve dominant space capabilities, it will pose a profound risk to America. This is not just about exploration. The choices we make now will determine whether the United States leads in space or cedes it to an authoritarian regime.

That is why continuity in NASA’s programs is not simply good practice — it is a matter of national security. Any drastic changes in NASA’s architecture at this stage threaten U.S. leadership in space. Delays or disruptions only serve our competitors’ interests.

And this is part of the opening statement by Ranking Member Cantwell:

…I am concerned about the current plan and what we are doing to make sure that we continue to push forward. I would love to see the continued focus on dual landers, given how important they are going to be for the future. It’s not just one time. It’s many times. This is an operation where we’re going to continue to return and be an operational system. So I want to make sure that we have the best. I want to make sure that NASA has backup plans that takes advantage and ensures that the already delayed mission does not slip any further.

I don’t know that it takes a genius to figure out that while China may be projecting 2030, or some time period, there’s nothing to say that they won’t go sooner. There are people we talked to in trying to brief the press about this today, who are betting that they are going to go sooner and that they are going to beat us. So we don’t need another Sputnik moment. It’s already happened. The only thing we have to do is make sure we in Congress get the budget right and support the Artemis mission. I appreciate everything the Chair has done in putting money towards the Artemis mission, and I appreciate everything that we are doing collectively to assure that the administration spins it.

But I also want to point out that, as Lieutenant General Shaw also says, this whole cislunar communication architecture — that is the space between the Earth and the Moon — that is what China would love to do, go dominate the communication system between the [Earth] and the moon. That’s what they’re already working on. We can’t allow that to happen. We need to continue to move forward quickly, fastly, with these investments, because our national security and defense depends on it.

It appears we finally have some bipartisan consensus on the importance of NASA. If only the Congress had some type of legitimate power to pass budgets and keep the funding on track. Wouldn’t that be nice at a time when the White House is finding cute tricks to rescind congressional priorities?

The statements of worry continued with the testimony of the four witnesses (you can watch their presentation and read their prepared statements here):

  • Mr. Allen Cutler, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration
  • Mr. Michael Gold, President of Civil and International Space for Redwire
  • The Honorable Jim Bridenstine, Managing Partner of the Artemis Group and Former Administrator for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
  • Lieutenant General John Shaw, Former Deputy Commander of the U.S. Space Command

Note: I am surprised the Ranking Member used the word “fastly” in her opening statement. It is not a real word. Is she trying to compete with the strange jargon coming out of the White House?

Pew Study Reports on NASA’s Support Among the Public

Posted on by onespaceman2000

A recent Pew Research Center report titled Republicans’ Views of Justice Department, FBI Rebound as Democrats’ Views Shift More Negative found that NASA was among the fourth most favorably viewed federal agency from among 16 agencies. Not surprisingly, the IRS placed last. However, it was joined at the bottom by ICE and the Department of Justice.

As shown in the graphic above, 64 percent of the American interviewed had a positive view of NASA, 15 percent did not, and 20 percent were not sure about what they thought about NASA. In another graphic, we learn that the 64 percent figure comes from 61 percent of Republicans and 71 percent of Democrats.

This comes at a time of planned deep cuts at the space agency. So what troubles the Republicans most about NASA?

According to Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy, one of the problems at NASA is the climate science focus. Mr. Duffy recently stated:

All the climate science and all of the other priorities that the last administration had at NASA we’re going to move aside, and all of the science that we do is going to be directed towards exploration, which is the mission of NASA.

Is that consistent with what the public says it wants in terms of priorities? Not at all. In fact, the public has the opposite view according to another Pew Research Center report from 2023, Americans’ Views of Space: U.S. Role, NASA Priorities and Impact of Private Companies, where monitoring the Earth’s climate was a much higher priority to Americans than sending astronauts to the Moon or Mars (see graphic below).

So the current White House is cutting a favored program and shifting the remaining resources in a direction that is inconsistent with the pubic’s stated preferences. This does not sound like a winning strategy for the White House or, more importantly, the American public paying the bills.

The Few, The Proud, The Moon Watchers

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Artemis II mission crew patch. (NASA)

NASA is looking for volunteers to assist next year’s Artemis II mission, which is expected to take place in April 2026. The volunteers will help track of the Artemis II Orion crewed spacecraft as it travels around the Moon.

The volunteers will monitor Orion’s signal using their respective ground antennas to help track and measure changes in the radio waves transmitted by the spacecraft. Volunteers similarly assisted with uncrewed Orion tracking during Artemis I.

This is a unique opportunity for international space agencies, academic institutions, commercial companies, nonprofit entities, and even private citizens to be part of the Artemis II mission.

Give it some thought and, if you are interested, read through NASA’s Artemis II Orion One-Way Doppler Measurements Tracking solicitation. You have until October 27th to apply.

Note: Below is a list of the 18 volunteers that assisted with the Artemis I mission:

Government Space Agencies

  • Canadian Space Agency, Canada
  • Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), France
  • German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt), Germany
  • Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), Republic of Korea
  • National Space Centre, Elfordstown Earthstation, Ireland

Commercial Companies

  • Clearbox Systems Pty Ltd., Australia
  • Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd., United Kingdom
  • Intuitive Machines, USA
  • Kongsberg Satellite Services (U.S. office), USA
  • Leaf Space LLC, USA
  • Swedish Space Corporation (U.S. office), USA
  • Telespazio, Italy
  • Vambrace Inc., USA
  • Viasat, USA

Non-profit

  • CAMRAS, Netherlands

Academic Institutions

  • Space Systems Design Laboratory, Georgia Tech Research Institute, USA

Private Citizens

  • Scott Chapman, USA
  • Scott Tilley, Canada

Pic of the Week: “Blood Moon Rising Behind the City Skyscrapers”

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Shortlisted image “Blood Moon Rising Behind the City Skyscrapers.” (Tianyao Yang)

ZWO’s annual Astronomy Photographer of the Year Contest recently highlighted its 2025 shortlisted images, such as the image above from photographer Tianyao Yang titled “Blood Moon Rising Behind the City Skyscrapers.”

Here is the photographer’s description of the photo:

This photograph captures a red Full Moon rising beside Shanghai’s tallest skyscrapers in Lujiazui. Taken from a distance of 26.5 km (16.5 miles) from the skyscrapers in a single exposure, this image’s alignment took five years of planning. The Full Moon appears perfectly positioned next to the illuminated skyline, creating a striking contrast. 

Check out many other images at the contest site. The winning images will be announced at a ceremony on September 11, 2025.

Starship: The 10th Try Was a Success

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Artist’s rendering of a Starship human lander to the Moon’s surface. (SpaceX)

On Tuesday, Starlink finally launched its 10th test flight after a rough patch of three bad launches. Regarding this tenth test, SpaceX stated:

Every major objective was met, providing critical data to inform designs of the next generation Starship and Super Heavy.

Everything from the booster splash landing in the Gulf of Mexico shortly after ascending from Starbase, Texas, to the rocket itself splash landing in the Indian Ocean was a positive sign that things are back on track for the company and its rocket.

Now maybe talk can begin again about NASA’s Artemis program and the role of the Starship to bring humans back to the Moon. It is not clear how many tests will be required before the rocket is ready, but the Artemis program is already suffering from delays.

Hopefully, this successful test is a sign that things are getting back on track.