NASA Accomplishments in 2024

Posted on by onespaceman2000

NASA has plenty of good news to share from 2024, as highlighted in its NASA: Best of 2024 video and accompanying press release.

Just a few of these accomplishments include:

  • In February, the first Moon landing through the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative brought NASA science to the lunar surface on Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander successfully capturing data that will help us better understand the Moon’s environment and improve landing precision and safety.
  • After launching into space in February, NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite mission is successfully transmitting first-of-their-kind measurements of ocean health, air quality, and the effects of a changing climate.
  • In June, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams safely arrived at the space station aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft following launch of their flight test. With Starliner’s arrival, it was the first time in station history three different spacecraft that carried crew to station were docked at the same time. Starliner returned uncrewed in September following a decision by NASA. Wilmore and Williams, now serving as part of the agency’s Crew-9 mission, will return to Earth in February 2025.
  • Deployed NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System in space, marking a successful test of its composite boom technology.
  • Awarded nearly $45 million to 21 higher-education institutions to help build capacity for research, and announced the recipients of grants that will support scientific and technical research projects for more than 20 universities and organizations across the United States.

The long list from which this was taken is impressive. However, we also need to note a few of the problems this year. This includes troubled commercial missions to the Moon, a Boeing crew stranded on the International Space Station after a problematic Starliner test, delays in the SpaceX Starship rocket tests, a cancelled Moon rover, budget cuts at NASA as well as layoffs at JPL, cost overruns on the Mars Sample Return mission, and a delay in the Artemis II and III launch dates.

This does not override the accomplishments, but it puts them into context at a time of changing administrations in Washington. This will come with hard questions about the viability of current missions as well as the cost of future missions.

I agree 2024 has plenty of proud moments. That said, 2025 will be a very challenging year for NASA. The agency will need solid answers to hard questions, cost effective options for struggling missions, and plenty of public support to weather calls for additional budget cuts.

I have confidence NASA will come out of this even stronger, even if it is a bit bruised in the process.

Pretty Confusing Security Issues with Musk

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Image by Tayeb MEZAHDIA from Pixabay

I am confused about the role of Mr. Musk at SpaceX.

The news is reporting that Mr. Musk may have trouble accessing some of the SpaceX facilities because he lacks a security clearance due to his questionable behavior with drugs and foreign officials. And yet the same reports note that his upcoming job with the Trump administration’s new Department of Government Efficiency may provide him with those security clearances anyway.

So we are to believe that Mr. Musk is a security risk in the private sector, but his quasi-governmental role will make all of those concerns moot? It sounds like you can buy yourself a security clearance in this country at the right price (in this case, by financing a presidential campaign), national security be damned.

And now we hear that he has been sending tweets supporting Nazi-adjacent parties in Germany. I don’t think this is the best way to gain or maintain a high level security clearance in any democratic nation.

I am hoping someone inside government follows up on these issues. The companies under his control remain deeply embedding in the U.S. Government in highly critical areas.

It does appear the various military branches have concerns about his behavior and have initiated investigations. However, none of this appears to be slowing down his movement into a government position. For all we know, while these reviews are underway Mr. Musk will be given access to even more secrets, including highly-classified military secrets, as part of his role to reduce the size of the government.

And if that is the case, who in the various government agencies will question him when he can recommend the elimination of the party making the complaint? As they say, the caller is in the house.

None of this sounds very good for the space industry or the Nation as a whole.

Starship: To Mars or in the Service of Mars

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The Roman god Mars. (worldhistory.org)

While Elon Musk has talked endlessly about going to Mars with his Starship, it seems the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) in the service of Mars, God of War, has other ideas for his rocket.

A recent Washington Post article, “Elon Musk’s Martian Dreams are a Boon to the U.S. military,” stated that DOD is looking to use the Starship for Earthbound battles, such as the quick deployment of soldiers and materiel into the Chinese theater. Sending rockets directly into the war zone with troops and supplies can turn a multi-week trip into a 90 minute trip. Another option is to keep key military supplies in Low-Earth Orbit so that they can be timely delivered when needed (in the way the DOD already pre-positions military equipment at sea and elsewhere).

The article states that the U.S. Air Force already has a five-year contract with SpaceX to make this rocket-based delivery possible. Space News reported on the $102 million contract award to SpaceX back in January 2022, which was to help “determine exactly what a rocket can achieve when used for cargo transport, what is the true capacity, speed, and cost of the integrated system.” A similar contract was awarded to Blue Origin in December 2021.

The Washington Post piece makes reference to a 2024 Army story, “Supporting Warfare in the Indo-Pacific Through Space-Based Sustainment,” which highlights these benefits:

The space domain remains completely underdeveloped regarding providing terrestrial materiel support and offers an ideal platform to sustain smaller units of action within the joint force, which would otherwise divert aircraft or naval vessels that could be used to support larger formations…Space-based logistics can facilitate the delivery of blood, weapons, 3D-printed parts, power, and food to the joint force and has the potential for delivery time to be measured in minutes, not hours or days. The impetus for this idea can be traced to the Cold War.

The Army story makes reference to a separate 2022 The Journal of the Joint Forces Staff College article, “The World in 90 Minutes or Less: Rocket Logistics and Future Military Operations,” that discusses the pros and cons of this rocket-based approach. The article also cites numerous companies in addition to SpaceX that should be considered for this new approach, including United Launch Alliance (ULA), Rocket Lab, Northrop Grumman, and Blue Origin.

In terms of advantages, the journal article notes:

The most significant difference between Rocket Logistics and conventional methods is the speed of delivery; rockets are expected to transport tons of material across the planet in under ninety minutes by using an orbital trajectory to reduce transit time. This presents a variety of logistical options to deliver valuable cargo within tactically relevant timelines, as opposed to hours or days (e.g. fourteen hours of flight time for a plane traveling from New York City to Nairobi, Kenya). The second advantage of Rocket Logistics is that movement above 100 kilometers in altitude is not governed by national airspace regulations. This means that the rocket would only need permission to access the nation’s airspace from which it departed and the nation in which it will land.

Of course, there are some limitations, including limited launch facilities, specific fuel needs, long turnaround time, and G-forces that may limit the types of cargo carried. For instance, the journal article notes:

While cargo aircraft are relatively sedentary in their acceleration profiles, a rocket can produce more G-forces than fighter aircraft. NASA and civilian space companies recognize this and limit flight parameters for the protection of cargo. Despite acceleration limitations, G-forces must be considered when planning the operational usage of rocket cargo.

There is a lot of money to be made in wars, and potentially more ongoing demand than a risky mission to Mars. Is this the future of SpaceX? Will it become further wrapped into the military-industrial complex (with its Starlink and other assets) at the expense of missions off planet?

The planned review of NASA and other federal agencies by the Trump administration may have an answer. But one thing you can be sure of, particularly with Musk in the middle of the review, is that SpaceX will be making plenty of money whether its goal is landing on the Red Planet or defeating Red China.

Space Quote: Questions about the Space Launch System

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): NASA’s Space Launch System on the tarmac. (NASA)

“To be clear, we are far from anything being settled, but based on what I’m hearing it seems at least 50-50 that Nasa’s Space Launch System rocket will be canceled.”

-Comment by US space journalist Eric Berger as quoted in an article from The Conversation titled “Trump May Cancel NASA’s Powerful SLS Moon Rocket—What That Would Mean for Elon Musk and the Future of Space Travel.” The bottom line in the story is that SpaceX is not ready to replace the main component of the Artemis program, meaning any attempt to scrap the rocket will most likely scrap U.S. attempts to get back to the Moon before the Chinese.

Sixth Test of the Starship and More

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The return of the Starship booster on November 19, 2024. It splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico. (SpaceX)

The sixth test of SpaceX’s Starship was a success this past Tuesday, even without the repeated stunt of a tower capturing the booster rocket. The launch from the Starbase pad in Brownsville, Texas allowed SpaceX to test additional features related to the rocket, including igniting one of its Raptor engines while in space. Overall, it was a quick turnaround from another successful test flight last month.

SpaceX also received additional good news this week when it learned that Colorado-based Lunar Outpost selected SpaceX’s Starship as the party to deliver its lunar rover to the Moon. Lunar Outpost is one of several companies working with NASA to ensure a rover is on the lunar surface as part of the Artemis mission. NASA has yet to select one or more companies to build and test the rovers on the Moon.

All of this is good news for SpaceX and NASA, assuming the Starship stays on schedule, NASA funding of Artemis continues, and a new administration in DC continues to support the Artemis approach.