Space Stories: Monks and Space, the Largest Structure in the Universe, and a Large Cache of Exocomets

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Image by Paul Henri Degrande from Pixabay.

Here are some recent stories of interest..

—Vatican News: “Vatican Astronomer Releases ‘A Jesuit’s Guide to the Stars’“

Br Guy Consolmagno, the director of the Vatican Observatory, has published a new book entitled A Jesuit’s Guide to the Stars. Published on the 4th February, the book charts the long history of Jesuit engagement with astronomy. As Consolmagno notes in the book’s introduction, this is a story which has its origin in the very earliest days of the Society of Jesus. The founder of the Jesuit order, St Ignatius of Loyola, says in his autobiography (which, somewhat confusingly, is written in the third person) that “the greatest consolation that he received . . . was from gazing at the sky and stars, and this he did often, and for quite a long time.”

—LiveScience: “Astronomers Discover ‘Quipu’, the Single Largest Structure in the Known Universe“

Astronomers have discovered what may be the largest-scale structure in the known universe — a group of galaxy clusters and clusters of galaxy clusters that spans roughly 1.3 billion light-years across and contains a mind-boggling 200 quadrillion solar masses. The newfound structure is dubbed Quipu after an Incan system of counting and storing numbers using knots on cords.

—Astrobiology: “A Large Number Of Exocomets Have Been Discovered“

CfA astronomers and its Submillimeter Array were critical for identifying a cache of belts where comets may reside outside our Solar System. For the first time, astronomers have imaged dozens of belts around nearby stars where comets and tiny pebbles within them are orbiting. This result reveals regions around 74 stars spanning a wide range of ages – from those recently formed to others billions of years old – showing how comets play a role in the formation of stars and planetary systems.

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

Moonshot: Russia and the Costs of Failure?

Posted on by onespaceman2000

Yuri Borisov, who has red Roscosmos since July 2022, was dismissed from his position last Thursday. It was called a normal rotation. However, you may recall the failed Russian attempt to put its Luna-25 lander on the Moon in August 2023, which happened during Mr. Borisov’s tenure.

His replacement is Dmitry Bakanov, who served as a deputy transport minister. Mr. Bakanov also ran the Gonets Satellite System company before joining the government. Gonets is more-or-less the Russian version of SpaceX’s Starlink.

Roscosmos has been struggling the last few years with troubled missions, including a leaking in one of its International Space Station (ISS) modules and cancelled partnerships with other nations due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That said, its Soyuz rockets and spacecraft continue to be major components supporting the ISS.

Boeing Layoffs are Bad News for NASA’s Artemis Program

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

As if things could not get worse over at NASA, it now has to contend with Boeing’s financial problems. Boeing is considering laying off about 400 employees working on the Space Launch System (SLS), or about one third of the employees working on the system. The SLS is the backbone of the Artemis program returning the U.S. to the Moon and eventually Mars.

This follows problems last year with Boeing’s Starliner mission to the International Space Station. The two astronauts on the first manned Starliner mission are still on the station due to safety concerns about their return to Earth on the same spacecraft that brought them to the station.

None of this portends well for Boeing, NASA, or the space industry in general. This may simply throw more work towards SpaceX, making NASA more reliant on a company whose head seems more interesting in tearing down the U.S. government than focusing on the U.S. space mission. Besides, after the loss of the latest Starship, SpaceX is not in any position to replace what would be lost with the SLS. The end of the SLS may simply mean the end of any chance for the U.S. to beat China to the Moon.

This may serve the interests of Elon Musk, who always preferred going Mars, but given the lack of preparation for such a mission beyond a rocket (including lessons learned from the Artemis program), it seems even the Mars mission may be drifting into the sunset.

We need a strong NASA and clear mission priorities that are achievable in the short term. With a billionaire tourist taking over as NASA’s new leader, we need to be very careful NASA does not simply become another Dancing with the Stars for C-list celebrity wannabes.