Upcoming Space Policy Conflicts?

Posted on by onespaceman2000

Will Elon Musk have the freedom to muck around at NASA and with space policy in general? It all depends whether VP-elect J.D. Vance is willing to step aside from what could be seen as a duplicative space policy role, as noted in The Conversation:

Vice-president-elect J.D. Vance will chair the National Space Council, which develops policy on civil, commercial, international and national security. Many of the first Trump administration’s space policy successes can be traced to the council. Given the influence Musk seems likely to have in the new administration, the National Space Council could be seen as duplicating or being in conflict with the objectives of SpaceX’s founder…So could the council become a casualty of these drives? If it survives, its future potential depends on who is named as the executive secretary, a position that has significant power.

The National Space Council, which is under the White House, has a web page stating that while the Council was established in 1989, it was dormant from 1993-2017. Hence, it was the last Trump administration that brought it back to life.

Is Trump willing to let it lay dormant again so that Mr. Musk can have even greater say in steering taxpayer funds into his pockets? We’ll see what happens, as Mr. Trump often quips.

NASA’s Management Challenges

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The crew of NASA’s upcoming Artemis II mission. (NASA)

With NASA now facing a new administration in Washington, it is worth looking at where the agency is at the moment and what may need some attention. The 2024 Report on NASA’s Top Management and Performance Challenges, released by the NASA Office of the Inspector General (OIG), is a good place to start.

Here are a few of the challenges facing NASA at the moment:

  • Improving the Management of Major Programs and Projects
    • Changing requirements, significant technical issues, increased costs, and schedule delays continue to impact the sustainability of major programs and projects.
    • Cost increases and schedule delays often create cascading effects across NASA’s portfolio of projects.
    • Without complete, credible, timely, and transparent cost and schedule commitments for the Agency’s major projects, it is difficult for NASA, Congress, and stakeholders to make informed decisions about the prioritization of efforts and the Agency’s long-term funding needs.

  • Partnering with Commercial Industry
    • The transition to commercial space systems will require significant long-term financial investments by NASA and private companies as well as growing demand for non-NASA customers to ensure long-term economic viability.
    • Commercial partners are competitors in an emerging industry, developing modern space transportation capabilities and associated operations that have never been available.
    • The challenge to commercial partnerships comes in balancing the speed of development, flexibility, and adherence to timelines against the safety and reliability of new technology.

  • Enabling Mission Critical Capabilities and Support Services
    • NASA faces challenges with its mission critical capabilities including attracting and retaining a highly skilled and diverse workforce and managing outdated infrastructure and facilities needed for science, aeronautics, and exploration missions.
    • NASA’s decentralized information technology management structure and lack of strategic leadership negatively affect the Agency’s ability to protect and fully utilize computer systems and data vital to its mission.
    • NASA’s contract management practices have consistently led to increased costs and overly generous award fees.

This is quite a list, and the report goes into great detail on all of them. Of course, this is not SSA or the IRS with a pretty standard day-to-day mission, and where future expectations of the agency are easily foreseeable. As the auditors note, NASA is dealing with high-risk, complex issues requiring highly skilled workers who have to maintain many current programs around the solar system while also assisting a newly emerging private space industry here in the United States (which is pinching its staff). Moreover, looking back at the beginning of the universe as well as searching for sources of life in the universe today are big missions. We are asking a lot of NASA. This is rocket science and much, much more.

Kudos to NASA for what it has done over the years while maintaining a highly-motivated workforce.

In addition, since I expect Elon Musk will try to claim that he came up with these issues on his own, I thought it was worth highlighting this report now. NASA knows it has a lot to do and it is working to solve these matters each and every day.

Another Employee Cut at JPL

Posted on by onespaceman2000

Earlier today, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) announced additional employee cuts:

While we have taken various measures to meet our current FY’25 budget allocation, we have reached the difficult decision to reduce the JPL workforce through layoffs. This reduction affects approximately 325 of our colleagues, an impact of about 5% of our workforce. The impacts are occurring across technical, business, and support areas of the Laboratory. These are painful but necessary adjustments that will enable us to adhere to our budget while continuing our important work for NASA and our nation.

You may recall that JPL laid off about 8 percent of its staff back in February due to budget issues associated with the Mars Sample Return, so this is the second hit this year.

Addressing these earlier cuts, Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA) stated his concerns:

I worry that, when we make certain decisions, that we’re cutting to the bone and, in this case, potentially amputating JPL.

It appears the bone cutting continues, though JPL management stated, “…we will be well positioned for the work ahead.”

Let’s hope so.

Space Stories: Potential Life on Uranus, a Sick ISS Astronaut, and a Feasting Black Hole

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Uranus captured the James Webb Telescope’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). This Webb image also shows 9 of the planet’s 27 moons. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI)

—BBC: “New Study on Moons of Uranus Raises Chance of Life“

The Voyager 2 observations had suggested that its two largest moons — Titania and Oberon — often orbit outside the magnetosphere. However, the new study indicates they tend to stay inside the protective bubble, making it easier for scientists to magnetically detect potential subsurface oceans. “Both are thought to be prime candidates for hosting liquid water oceans in the Uranian system due to their large size relative to the other major moons,” Jet Propulsion Laboratory planetary scientist and study co-author Corey Cochrane said.

—Scotsman: “Nasa Astronauts Tight-lipped on Who was Ill After Long Space Station Mission“

Three Nasa astronauts whose prolonged space station mission ended with a trip to hospital last month have declined to say which one of them was sick. Astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps publicly discussed their spaceflight for the first time since returning from the International Space Station on October 25.

—NOIRLab: “NSF NOIRLab Astronomers Discover the Fastest-Feeding Black Hole in the Early Universe“

Supermassive black holes exist at the center of most galaxies, and modern telescopes continue to observe them at surprisingly early times in the Universe’s evolution. It’s difficult to understand how these black holes were able to grow so big so rapidly. But with the discovery of a low-mass supermassive black hole feasting on material at an extreme rate, seen just 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang, astronomers now have valuable new insights into the mechanisms of rapidly growing black holes in the early Universe.

Pic of the Week: CRS-31 Capsule Approaches the ISS

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Image (Credit): The Dragon capsule approaching the ISS earlier this week with Argentina in the background. (NASA)

This week’s image from NASA shows the uncrewed Dragon capsule approaching the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday, November 5th. Once connected with the station, the crew removed the cargo that included new scientific gear. You can read more about the ongoing operations on the ISS here.