Many Departures at NASA, No Clear Path Forward

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay.

The problem with a poorly-planned downsizing of an organization is that you may lose too many people in key positions and the disarray demotivates those who remain. Hence, it should be no surprise that this is what we are seeing at NASA as well as other agencies.

NASA is now looking at losing about 20 percent of its workforce, or about 4,000 employees, who have been harassed and prodded towards the door. That represents the loss of an amazing amount of talent. Of course, the White House doesn’t seem to care given its proposed budget cutting NASA’s 2026 budget by about 24 percent.

It will not be long before we have a blame game about “Who lost the Moon?” once China surpasses us in the race to the Moon. We may even be asking “Who lost Mars” now that we have abandoned retrieving a Mars soil sample while China and Japan have plans to bring back Martian soil. All of this is foreseeable to the average person, but for some reason no light seems to penetrate the persistent fog in Washington, DC.

We already read stories about whether Boeing even knows how to build a new airplane, Will we soon have stories about that nation that once put men on the Moon but lost its way?

The United States was behind the Soviets in the space race when it found the will to dream big. I am seeing no signs of dreaming in this nightmarish dismantling of science in this country. We have to work hard to remain ahead of this latest space race, and should we stumble there are plenty of other countries waiting to fill the void.

We are making the same mistake that Russia did when it invaded Ukraine and put its space hopes on hold. The difference here is that we have trained the guns on our own space and science programs.

Musk: Let Them Eat Burgers

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The Telsa Diner in Hollywood, CA. (Tesla)

So, what is the next step for Elon Musk now that he decimated NASA and the federal government in general? A trip to the Moon? A trip to Mars?

No, his next goal is serving burgers and fries. That’s right, Mr. Musk is now proudly selling diner food at his Tesla Diner in Hollywood where you can charge your Tesla (if you have not given it away), talk with a robot (because employees are expensive), and get your food served to you by someone on roller skates (most likely these employees will also replaced with robots to eliminate any lawsuits).

For $13 you can get an All-beef Snap-o-Razzo hot dog and fries. None of that freeze-dried food they would be serving on a trip to Moon should that ever happen.

I just hope that Mr. Musk is still working on his space-related projects in addition to all of his other companies, his new political party, and now his restaurant chain. Otherwise one might start to think this guy is starting to loose his focus.

Now hand me one of those fried chicken and waffle thingies, please.

Image (Credit): Menu item from the Tesla Diner. (Tesla)

A Day in Astronomy: “The Eagle Has Landed”

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Astronaut Neil Armstrong’s boot print on the surface of the Moon. (US National Archives)

On this day in 1969, the statement “The Eagle has landed” changed the history of mankind as humans arrived on the surface of the Moon.

Spoken by Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong, the “Eagle” referred to the Lunar Module Eagle as it touched down on the Moon’s Sea of Tranquility. Four hours later, and almost 110 hours after being launched from Earth, Armstrong stepped onto the Moon, stating “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”

The crew on Apollo 11 consisted of Neil Armstrong (Commander), Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. (Lunar Module Pilot), and Michael Collins (Command Module Pilot).

You can watch a video of the Apollo 11 landing here and read about the mission itself here.

Credit: NASA

Space Quote: What’s the Strategy, NASA?

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Image by Petra from Pixabay.

“You’re losing the managerial and core technical expertise of the agency…What’s the strategy and what do we hope to achieve here?”

-Comment by Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at The Planetary Society, regarding recent news that 2,145 senior-ranking NASA employees will be departing NASA as part of the ongoing downsizing of the agency. It is not clear whether these cuts align with the White House’s earlier statements that it wanted to put humans on the Moon and Mars. The saying used to be measure twice, cut once. With this White House it is cut twice and toss out the measuring tape.

Space Stories: New Stars in the Heavens, Moon Budget Passes Senate, and Lunar Trailblazer Needs to Call Home

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The Stingray nebula (Hen-1357), the youngest known planetary nebula. (Matt Bobrowsky, Orbital Sciences Corporation and NASA)

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—Live Science: “2 ‘New Stars’ Have Exploded into the Night Sky in Recent Weeks — and Both are Visible to the Naked Eye“

A second “new star” has unexpectedly appeared in the night sky, less than two weeks after a near-identical point of light first burst into view without warning. The first nova, dubbed V462 Lupi, was initially spotted June 12 shining in the Lupus constellation, after its progenitor star suddenly became more than 3 million times brighter than normal. Then, on June 25, multiple astronomers detected another nova, dubbed V572 Velorum, within the Vela constellation, according to EarthSky.org. Astronomers normally expect to see a classical nova once a year at most, and more than one of these explosions shining simultaneously is almost unheard of.

—TechCrunch: “Congress Just Greenlit a NASA Moon Plan Opposed by Musk and Isaacman“

Legacy aerospace giants scored a win Tuesday when the U.S. Senate passed President Trump’s budget reconciliation bill that earmarks billions more for NASA’s flagship Artemis program. The $10 billion addition to the Artemis architecture, which includes funding for additional Space Launch System rockets and an orbiting station around the moon called Gateway, is a rebuke to critics who wished to see alternative technologies used instead. Among those critics are SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, who Musk proposed as the next NASA administrator.

—The Register: “NASA Gives Lunar Trailblazer a Few More Weeks to Pick Up the Phone“

NASA has extended recovery efforts for its stricken Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft to mid-July, but is warning that if the probe remains silent, the mission could end. Contact with the small satellite was lost the day after its launch on February 26. Controllers were initially able to receive engineering data from the vehicle, but the telemetry indicated power system issues, and the spacecraft eventually fell silent.