A Very Mixed Week in Space

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): One of the last images of the eighth Starship flight on Thursday right before the rocket exploded. (SpaceX)

Let’s start with the good news. This past week two U.S. commercial space companies put landers on the Moon. Both Firefly’s Blue Ghost and Intuitive Machines’ Athena are now residents of the Moon. This is a terrific accomplishment for these relatively new players.

Now the bad news. Athena landed incorrectly and cannot carry out its mission. In fact, it died after only one day on the lunar surface. In addition, the Lunar Trailblazer that accompanied Athena on this mission with plans to orbit and map the Moon also appears to be a lost cause. And finally, SpaceX’s eighth test of its Starship ended with a fiery explosion over the Caribbean, much like its seventh test.

Add to this the potential dismantling of NASA should rumors of a 50 percent cut be true, and you have a very mixed week with too little good news (much like the stock market).

One common element in at least two of the stories – Starship explosion and NASA cuts – relates to Mr. Musk. One wonders whether more attention to SpaceX and less time ransacking the federal government might have led to better outcomes this week. I’m not a rocket scientist, but that seems to make some sense to me.

Space Stories: Distant Metalic Mining, Mapping Water on the Moon, and Lunar Cell Phone Service

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Artist’s rendering of the Odin spacecraft approaching an asteroid. (Astroforge)

Here are some recent stories of interest related to the upcoming Intuitive Machines’ launch to the Moon.

—CNN: “A Tiny Spacecraft is Poised to Launch on an Unprecedented Deep-space Mission. The CEO Behind it is ‘Terrified’“

His venture may seem far out, but asteroid mining CEO Matt Gialich has no illusions. The engineer cofounded the bold California startup AstroForge in 2022 with the aim of hunting for precious metals in space, and he is all too aware that success is not guaranteed…The probe is set to lift off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on February 26. AstroForge’s spacecraft will ride alongside Athena, a lunar lander developed by the startup Intuitive Machines, until it breaks off on its own.

—Caltech: “NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer is Launching to the Moon’“

NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer mission is led by Caltech’s Bethany Ehlmann, professor of planetary science and the Allen V. C. Davis and Lenabelle Davis Leadership Chair and director of the Keck Institute for Space Studies, and the mission is operated by IPAC at Caltech. The Lunar Trailblazer small satellite, or smallsat, will orbit the Moon to understand the nature of water on the Moon’s surface, providing maps to guide future robotic and human explorers. Prior missions have seen hints of ice and other forms of water that could be used in a variety of ways, from purifying it for human use, to processing it for fuel and breathable oxygen for future human Moon landings.

—Fox News: “NASA Will Test Cell Phone Service on the Moon in Latest Mission’“

NASA and Intuitive Machines are gearing up for a Wednesday evening liftoff, and one of the payloads will test a moon-based cell network. Researchers with Nokia Bell Labs Solutions Research developed the network and say it’s the same tool that we use here on Earth when we pick up our phones and make a call. But they had to make a cell tower much smaller so it could fit in a rocket and land on the moon.

Space Quote: More on the ISS “Stranded” Story

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen (Twitter/X)

“You know as well as I do, that Butch and Suni are returning with Crew-9, as has been the plan since last September. Even now, you are not sending up a rescue ship to bring them home. They are returning on the Dragon capsule that has been on ISS since last September.”

–Comments by Andreas Mogensen, a Danish astronaut who commanded the ISS between September 2023 to early 2024, in response to Elon Musk’s constant tweets about his efforts to “rescue” the two Starliner astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS). NASA already resolved the issue, yet Mr. Musk seems to need the attention given that otherwise the media keeps ignoring his actions (such as harassing federal employees, including those at NASA).

NASA Staff Flee and DOGE Starts its Audit – What Could Go Wrong?

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Image by succo from Pixabay

The Associated Press reports that “hundreds” of NASA employees have decided to leave the agency. This follows layoffs last year at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as well as recently announced layoffs at Boeing associated with the Space Launch System. This does not instill confidence in NASA’s ability to meet its upcoming mission goals.

The same report notes that NASA will now be undergoing an review by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which recently decided to dump all foreign assistance based on false stories and an incomplete understanding of the role of foreign aid in our foreign policy. What is the chance that Musk, who will be involved in the DOGE review no matter what the White House states, will find merit in contracts to SpaceX while questioning other contracts?

If this was Russia, we would roll our eyes at such sham reviews. Why are we accepting it here? Is there any interest in good science, or is NASA like the oil industry in Russia – something useful to line the pockets of the connected?

Maybe its time to leave the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) to one side and start asking whether intelligent life is something quickly disappearing here on Earth. Though it may be worth noting that even SETI funding was cut by the Republican Congress years ago.

The USAID OIG Review of Starlink

Posted on by onespaceman2000

While Elon Musk has done everything he can to make the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) disappear based upon fabricated tales, he has yet to eliminate USAID’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG). In fact, it is the OIG that may be real threat to Mr. Musk given that it initiated a review of Space’s Starlink program in Ukraine.

Back on May 14, 2024, the USAID OIG announced the following review – Inspection of USAID’s Oversight of Starlink Terminals Provided to the Government of Ukraine. The review is to determine how (1) the Government of Ukraine used the USAID-provided Starlink terminals, and (2) USAID monitored the Government of Ukraine’s use of USAID-provided Starlink terminals.

OIG’s perform a variety of reviews over high profile programs to ensure they are working as required. In this case, USAID and Starlink worked together to provide about 5,000 Starlink terminal to Ukraine during its war with Russia. A review does not mean there are problems with a program. Instead, it is simply a review to ensure all is well.

So far, while USAID has disappeared from the Internet, the USAID OIG site is still operating just fine. It should be noted that the IG at USAID has also avoided being unjustly fired by President Trump, something his peers in other agencies cannot say. So maybe things will work out.

Maybe, but when you have outlandish elimination of federal agencies based on fabricated stories, as well as the illegal firing of IGs across the government for no stated reason, I would not want to be the auditors on this team.

If this administration had any interest in improving the federal government, it would have seen the OIGs as an ally to identify fraud, waste, and abuse. That is why the OIGs were created back in the 1970s after the abuses of the Nixon Administration.

What we are seeing now is a whole different game that appears to have nothing to do with improving government. One can only wonder what fraud, waste, and abuse will occur under this administration now that the auditors have been eliminated or scared away.

Update: Well, that did not take long. On February 11, President Trump fired Paul Martin, the IG at USAID, after his office issued an audit critical of recent cuts at the agency. The audit report, Oversight of USAID-Funded Humanitarian Assistance Programming Impacted by Staffing Reductions and Pause on Foreign Assistance, concluded:

USAID OIG’s independent oversight of USAID’s humanitarian assistance programs over the years has identified significant challenges and offered recommendations to improve Agency programming to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse. Our longstanding concerns about existing USAID oversight mechanisms persist. However, recent widespread staffing reductions across the Agency, particularly within BHA, coupled with uncertainty about the scope of foreign assistance waivers and permissible communications with implementers, has degraded USAID’s ability to distribute and safeguard taxpayer-funded humanitarian assistance.

In other words, while Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) did not really detect any fraud, waste, or abuse in USAID’s programs, USAID is now exposed to an increased risk of rampant fraud, waste, and abuse because DOGE illegally shuttered the agency. Are U.S. taxpayers paying attention?

Note: I saved the report below just in case it disappears in the same way all of USAID has disappeared from the Internet.

USAID OIG – Oversight of USAID-Funded Humanitarian Assistance Programming 021025Download