No One Gets Anything Done During A Shutdown
How the Partial Government Shutdown Is Hampering Climate Efforts, EE News via Scientific American
“The inevitable result [of a shutdown] is that everything costs more and you do less,” said Keith Cowing, editor of the space publication NASA Watch. Most of NASA’s workforce has been furloughed, with the exception of top officials and those who work on critical missions such as the continued operation of the International Space Station. That puts NASA’s climate scientists in a strange position, Cowing said. Their instruments and satellites still will collect data, but few if any researchers will be around to analyze the information. “What’s affecting them is affecting every mission at NASA,” he said. “There’s nobody there. The lights are not on.”
Trump threatens years-long shutdown for his wall as GOP support begins to fracture, Washington Post
“President Trump warned Friday that the partial government shutdown could go on for months or even years, delivering no real breakthrough with congressional leaders as his own administration scrambled to shore up support among Republicans for a gambit that has started to fracture.”
Houston, We Have a Problem — It’s Washington (Op-Ed), Paul Shearon, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers
“Houston, we have a problem.” Remember back when NASA missions, such as Apollo 13, were scrubbed due to mechanical issues? Today, NASA’s missions are being delayed and the space agency is being damaged for the long-term — not by equipment failure, but by the failure of our elected leaders to reach a budget agreement. On Dec. 22, 95 percent of NASA’s scientists, technical workers and other employees were furloughed — for the third time in the past year.”
Keith’s note: How will NASA be able to accomplish the tasks it has to accomplish if this shutdown continues long-term as the President is threatening to do?
No one did my work when I was on vacation. I wouldn’t expect anything more from NASA or the government in general.
Nor mine. 😉
The shutdown didn’t stop SpaceX from rolling out the crew dragon. I wouldn’t be surprised if they actually move faster with no one around.
Unfortunately, they are going to hit a wall fairly soon. During a shutdown, they can continue to spend their own money and their employees can prepare for launch. But they can’t do anything which requires support from NASA employees. I don’t know what that line is. They may or may not be able to do a static fire test. But I’m fairly sure someone from NASA is supposed to review the results of the test, or at least be given the results, before they can go much further. I’m almost certain can’t actually launch from LC 39A without support from NASA employees. Although, oddly, I’m less sure about the upcoming Falcon 9 launches out SLC 40 and Vandenberg. Those are Air Force facilities, and the Air Force isn’t shut down.
The Eastern Range clears launches at KSC and is not shut down. The ISS is obviously still supported, and any agency can designate certain workers as “essential”, so I am not sure what the constraints are, but if the shutdown continues we will soon know.
One problem will be the FAA not being able to issue launch licenses.
Interesting point. I poked around a little, and I think you are correct. There are a few press stories on the subject and it looks like FAA licensing in general is considered non-essential. I didn’t see anything about launch licensing in particular, but pilot licenses, aircraft certifications and similar things are not being issued.
Air traffic control is up and running normally. So far; apparently TSA employees (another group of aviation-related, essential employees) are calling in sick at an increasing rate. The longer this lasts, the more common I expect that to become. I guess you can call in sick with a cold and still spend the day driving for Uber to cover the bills.
But the issue of launch licenses versus air traffic control is an interesting one. I believe air traffic is considered essential because closing down airports would harm the economy. Since launch licenses seem to be non-essential, that means someone decided closing down the spaceports will not harm the economy.
Delaying the Dragon 2 is NASA’s problem. Delaying completion of the Iridium NEXT constellation will hurt an American company, and delaying PSN-6 doesn’t help our international competitiveness in the launch industry. At what point will keeping the spaceports open become “essential” to the national economy? I know it’s not now, and not for some time, but I think it will be at some point.
It didn’t stop the government from sending out 1099 tax statements either. 😉
Would have been funny if it had.
I think the question in Keith’s update, “How will NASA be able to accomplish the tasks it has to accomplish if this shutdown continues long-term as the President is threatening to do?” is the same as “How many paychecks can NASA employees (and contractors) afford to miss?”
I think everyone in the field likes the idea of being involved in the space-related work. Some are willing to work in that field for less than they could in other fields. But I think almost all of those people _really_ like to have a roof over their heads and to eat on a reasonably regular basis. As the paychecks stop coming and the bank accounts start draining, the talent available to NASA will start draining as well. And it won’t be easy to recover. I expect this to start at one month, and NASA may well be down to a few obsessive die hards after six months.
It is scary that Trump is trying to use the word strike instead of shutdown. I am starting to get a little leery that Trump and Mulvaney are going to try the Gingrich tactic of arguing that the “non-essential” employees aren’t needed and should be gotten rid of. There were reports that unpaid (or soon to be unpaid) ATC workers were getting aggravated. If they stage a slowdown or stoppage that may give them an excuse to move (PAATCO deja vu).
That appears to be at least one interpretation.
You’ll recall Sen. Hatch’s comment about social program funding in light of reduced gov income; Sen. McConnell made similar comments. Further, I am reminded that the longer range play among Republicans has always been to reduce the safety net, starting Gingrich et.al. in the 70’s (The Southern Strategy, in part).
The recent tax bill was simply another step in a very long range strategy implementation that has been fascinatingly effective.
Yes, likely the best and the brightest will move to the private space industry where they will have steady paychecks and less bureaucracy hindering their work.
Not necessarily the space industry. I’m sure many people in that position would prefer to keep doing space-related work. But most sorts of engineering are fairly portable and there are more jobs available in the aerospace industry (and elsewhere.) The real concern for me is that those jobs may pay more and may involve long-term contracts. I doubt the people affected will take temp jobs in the service industry, just to cover the bills for a month or two. That means, once they go, many won’t be coming back.
I’ve never found a way to make a new-hire productive until she’s been with me 6 months or so.
We have two upcoming Falcon Heavy launches in Q1…ArabSat and an Air Force ride share flight. We also have CCDev qualifiers for SpaceX and Boeing in there somewhere. Other flights are someone’s bread and butter, important for that reason…but the FH and CCDev flights are also industry advancements. Have the licenses for these already been issued by the FAA?
I remember the last long shutdown some IT people employed at Ames were interviewed by local TV stations saying they got offers from companies not involved with the government. They were younger with not significant savings so accepting those offers was becoming tempting. This shutdown may not stop ISS or SpaceX but many people knowledgable of many things will disappear.