Congress members question whether SpaceX should conduct its own investigation, LA Times “The letter, dated Thursday, also cited SpaceX’s prior explosion in June 2015 while carrying cargo for NASA to the International Space Station. The Hawthorne space company led its own investigation for that launch failure. Under federal law, SpaceX is allowed to conduct its own investigation. SpaceX … and other companies lobbied successfully to extend the law last year. […]
Humans to Mars: a deeply disturbing idea, Linda Billings “I have deep moral qualms about this idea, as it appeals to a small fraction of humankind and proposes what would inevitably be an elitist enterprise. Would it be ethical to enable people with enough money to buy a ticket to leave our troubled Earth behind? Would it be ethical for government(s) to subsidize such an enterprise? In Musk’s disturbing “vision” […]
Follow-up Evaluation of NASA’s Implementation of Executive Order 13526, Classified National Security Information, NASA OIG “Although NASA has taken steps to implement our prior recommendations, we continued to identify inconsistencies in the Agency’s application of CNSI policies and procedures that led to improper marking of classified documents. This occurred because of insufficient identification and training of classifiers. Further, implementation of the Agency’s self-inspection program was not fully effective because NASA […]
The @SpaceX architecture described by @ElonMusk makes anything @NASA has contemplated thus far pale by comparison #ParadigmShift #IAC2016 pic.twitter.com/2JEIfGOCId — NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) September 27, 2016 Elon Musk’s presentation charts (pdf)
Elon Musk Outlines his Plan for Colonizing Mars and Why We Should Do It, SpaceRef [Includes the full video of Elon Musk’s talk and the presentation slides.] “In a presentation today at the 67th International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, Elon Musk outlined his ambitious plan to colonize Mars. His personal motivation is to make humanity a multi-planetary species. The reason is to avoid an extinct level event on Earth […]
Updated: Congress Hearing: Are We Losing the Space Race to China [Hearing video] Subcommittee Examines China’s Space Exploration Capabilities and Achievements, House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology Democrats “Now, almost 50 years since that historic event, some are asking if we are again in a space race, but this time with China. Two weeks ago, China successfully placed in orbit its Tiangong-2 experimental orbiting space lab. And that accomplishment […]
Thomas Zurbuchen Named Head of NASA Science Mission Directorate, NASA “NASA Administrator Charles Bolden has named Thomas Zurbuchen as the new associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, effective Monday, Oct. 3. Zurbuchen is a professor of space science and aerospace engineering at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He also is the university’s founding director of the Center for Entrepreneurship in the […]
Elon Musk has a lot to prove at today’s Mars colonization announcement, The Verge “This isn’t a phone, or a new app, or new headphones – it’s not a consumer product at all. Rockets are far too expensive; space colonies are more expensive still. If Musk doesn’t announce financial backing, it means the presentation is meant to convince someone – probably NASA – to fund him. But this is an […]
This is what #NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden really said moments ago at #IAC2016 pic.twitter.com/LUmrX0KbJ8 — NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) September 26, 2016
Evidence of Water Vapor Plumes on Europa, NASA “Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have imaged what may be water vapor plumes erupting off the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa. This finding bolsters other Hubble observations suggesting the icy moon erupts with high altitude water vapor plumes. The observation increases the possibility that missions to Europa may be able to sample Europa’s ocean without having to drill through miles of […]