Keith’s note: on 23 January 2026 the co-chairs of the Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG) sent this out to a wide distribution: Dear members of the OPAG community: “We are reaching out to you all in light of the announcement last week by NASA about AG funding and to offer reassurances about the future of the Outer Planets Assessment Group. OPAG is not disbanding.” (Full memo below)

Keith’s note: here is an excerpt on space from Trump Administration Science & Technology Highlights: Year One, Office of Science and Technology Policy, pages 49-55 – (excerpt below).

Keith’s note: these are the current NASA Planetary Science Analysis Groups listed by NASA – just in case that page goes away (it happens a lot at NASA these days). Full page below

• Extraterrestrial Materials Analysis Group (ExMAG)
• Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG)
• Mapping and Planetary Spatial Infrastructure Team (MAPSIT)
• Mars Exploration Analysis Group (MEPAG)
• Mercury Exploration Assessment Group (MExAG)
• Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG)
• Small Bodies Assessment Group (SBAG)
• Venus Exploration Analysis Group (VEXAG)

Keith’s note: NASA issued a release today about Habitable Worlds Observatory tech development contracts. Once again, I am baffled why news involving the search for habitable worlds – a core astrobiology thing – doesn’t use the word “astrobiology” in the release or web pages about Habitable Worlds Observatory listed in the release. So I added them to what I am posting. It is cool to get Jared Isaacman quoted – in his own words. The more engaged the Administrator is in these things the better he can support them – and explain them to Congress and the White House. Searching for life elsewhere in the universe is one of the most profound things NASA does – shoulder to shoulder with searching for the origin of the universe itself and making humans a space faring species. NASA needs to develop a better style guide and outreach plan (actually it has never had an outreach plan) so as to better explain this cross-disciplinary activities to the public as well as policy makers. If NASA wants to retain/expand its leadership in space it needs to start telling a more compelling, cohesive, and strategically-enabled story. And oh yes – a story that touches and involves everyone, everywhere. Just sayin’.

Keith’s note: The White House, Department of Energy, and OSTP just launched a big flashy national AI thing called “Genesis Mission”. The Executive Order says “This order launches the “Genesis Mission” as a dedicated, coordinated national effort to unleash a new age of AI‑accelerated innovation and discovery that can solve the most challenging problems of this century.” Alas, there is no mention of NASA in the Genesis fact sheet and the press release mentions NSF, NISH, and NIH – but not NASA. There is no mention either of NASA things like space, astronomy, or aviation. NASA is trying to understand the scope and origin of the universe, search for life on other worlds, and build spaceships unlike any ever built before – and it is employing advanced computing and AI in all of this. But NASA apparently does not pass muster when it comes to inclusion in the White House/OSTP Genesis Mission.

Keith’s note: lots of imaging and other observations of Comet 3I/ATLAS by various NASA spacecraft. Sorry, Avi Loeb: No aliens. 👽 More info here.

Keith’s note: A recent Politico article cited some internal ideas Jared Isaacman offered to Interim Administrator Sean Duffy. The article said “Isaacman’s manifesto would radically change NASA’s approach to science. He advocates buying science data from commercial companies instead of putting up its own satellites, referring to it a “science-as-a-service.” This article has morphed in various discussion to come out as characterizing Isaacman being anti-science at NASA. In his response summarizing his Project Athena document, Isaacman wrote: “Personally, I have publicly defended programs like the Chandra X-ray Observatory, offered to fund a Hubble reboost mission, and anything suggesting that I am anti-science or want to outsource that responsibility is simply untrue.” Below is the letter that Issacman wrote to former NASA Administrator Nelson in 2024 when news of defunding Chandra first broke. Just remember: Isaacman funded two crewed missions that he crammed full of science and in the process also raised a quarter of a billion dollars for research and support for St. Jude. More below.

Keith’s note: There’s a big space space science thing on Capitol Hill today. No media were allowed – at least not until I got a message rather late last night saying that there was going to be an impromptu media event. But I did not get this update from the Planetary Society – since they simply refuse to put me on any mailing list – or contact me. Whatever. I am just a little fish. Rather, I got the media note from a sponsoring organization who told me that they had just gotten it from Planetary Society. So much for making sure that this whole save space science thing gets maximal media exposure. And if Planetary Society does not like you – oh well. Planetary Society does cool stuff but their leadership often behaves like a bunch of snowflakes and they ignore anything wherein they are not the biggest pony in the parade. Many of the participating organizations did little – if anything – to promote this event. BUT – to all of you who showed up: massive congratulations are in order. Each one of you represented thousands of others who could not participate. Alas, one-off events with no follow-up evaporate very fast – especially with fast news cycles and vastly more important societal and political issues bombarding us. FWIW I just tweeted this. Did I forget anything?

• The space science crowd does not talk about human spaceflight – droids are better
• The human spaceflight crowd simply says they “do some science” after they land – and photo ops
• Commercial space companies think they can do everything NASA does – better
• Science & human space flight folks are wary of commercial space – since everything is “payload”
• Outside the space bubble no one seems to care – since they have growing rent and food concerns
• True explorers sit back and watch in frustration.

Keith’s note: While current NASA space science is fighting for its existence, some people are not deterred and dream big. Have a look at: “Seeking The Worlds Of Avatar: Prospects for Detecting Moons Orbiting a Giant Planet in Alpha Centauri A’s Habitable Zone“ (I modified the title): “We focus our simulations on α Centauri A, orbited by a hypothetical giant planet consistent with candidate detections in Very Large Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope observations. We find that such a facility would be capable of detecting ∼Earth-mass moons in a five year campaign, assuming a Saturn-mass planet. More generally, we simulate expected detection limits for a variety of levels of astrometric precision.” According to the official “Avatar” series website: In orbit around α Centauri A is “Pandora one of fourteen moons that orbit the gas giant Polyphemus.” We’ll all be going back to Pandora in December in “Avatar: Fire and Ash” (trailer). While Space Science may be suffering – we can never allow the b*stards to take our dreams away.

Keith’s note: NASA’s budget is going to be slashed one way or another. Despite all the talk about making NASA more focused – or efficient – or “greater”, NASA science will suffer. Scores of missions will either be canceled, shutdown, or put on indefinite pause. Meanwhile Europe and our officially designated foe China surge ahead to fill gaps that we have created. NASA has yet to find the secret sauce wherein they can walk and chew gum at the same time. i.e. do astonishing things that no one has done before while conveying the scientific value of these accomplishments to decision makers and simultaneously, the practical, everyday utility to people and families as they try and make it through their daily lives. For what it is worth, as I have noted before: NASA has led space science and “Made America Great In Space” for more than half a century. Let’s not let that science leadership fade. Let’s expand it further. This won’t happen on its own. NASA must get its act together, find its mojo again, and put forth the multiple reasons why we should use and explore space – tailored to the various audiences who need – and deserve – to be informed. One size does not fit all. While NASA needs to learn how to explain itself to citizens and policymakers, how it explains its accomplishments on the global stage should be simple. Very simple – since NASA has led the way by:

• touching the sun
• visiting every planet in our solar system
• discovering over 6,000 planets orbiting other stars
• launched the first weather and Earth resource satellites
• sending humans to walk on another world
• doing the first offworld search for life
• moving an asteroid
• finding water on the Moon and Mars
• discovering oceans inside icy moons
• sailing across interstellar space
• peering back to the dawn of the universe
• developing a global brand that all nations aspire to

Keith’s note: According to this press release from Spain: Spain is willing to offer up to €400 million to attract the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) to the Canary Islands island of La Palma. — Uh oh. If you are in a ‘Make America Great in Space Again’ mood then this a huge loss for American scientific prestige – an international astronomy instrument leaving the U.S. But wait: according to Science magazine “China is quietly preparing to build a gigantic telescope“.

Keith’s note: this web reel was just posted by CNN from the end of my interview this morning. OK, I have just about run out of ways / platforms to wave my arms and talk about what NASA needs in order to explore the universe. Your turn. “NASA needs a permanent administrator who understands rocket science and knows how all this stuff works and is committed to lead the agency through these troubles to, you know, better times. That isn’t happening. And it’s very frustrating to the 17-18,000 civil servants and several hundred thousand contractors and the people of America. Please Mr. President send us a real NASA Administrator so we can get on with the whole explore the universe thing.”

Keith’s note: according to NASA: “On July 1, the NASA-funded ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) survey telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile, first reported observations of a comet that originated from interstellar space. Arriving from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, the interstellar comet has been officially named 3I/ATLAS. It is currently located about 420 million miles (670 million kilometers) away.” More – plus video

Keith’s note: Those of you in the space community know that NASA Science is facing an immense budget cut. Dozens of missions have been cancelled and many missions that are still returning valuable data are being shut off – in many cases to save a few million dollars – a tiny fraction of what it took to mount the missions in the first place. This data will be lost. In the case of New Horizons which is currently traversing the outer solar system, NASA is going to knowingly forfeit a third interstellar mission (after the twin Voyagers). This latest interstellar mission would be done with a healthy spacecraft outfitted with 21st century instrumentation. The Voyagers are minimally functional and will soon fade all together. We could continue to expand America’s pre-eminent exploration of interstellar space until the middle of this century. And that lead will last unchallenged for a generation or more to come. As I noted last month “This is not the way for America to lead the way out into the cosmos. Hopefully Congress will wake up and notice. Let’s ‘Keep America Great In Space’ — not abandon our lead.” More: Stellar Cartography: A Demonstration Of Interstellar Navigation Using New Horizons.

Keith’s note: NASA has a Planetary Defense Program. They want to find asteroids that might pose a risk before they pose a threat. The other day the Vera Rubin Observatory released imagery of a variety of objects including 2,104 previously unknown asteroids discovered in just a few hours by this new instrument. NASA has ignored the Rubin observatory’s debut altogether while the rest of the world stopped to pay attention. This new NASA OIG report NASA’s Implementation and Management of Its Planetary Defense Strategy mentions Rubin as an option but does not ding the Planetary Defense Program for ignoring Rubin. Why is that? More below.

Keith’s note: I was just on Deutsche Welle TV talking about the new imagery from Vera Rubin Observatory [Audio]. Video below.

Keith’s note: according to this NSF press release “From distant stars and galaxies to asteroids whizzing through the solar system, this next-generation facility unveils its first imagery and brings the night sky to life like never before.” This amazing instrument will be used by NASA astronomers as well as people around the world. Yet another example of American leadership in space science and technology. But does NASA.gov mention it? No. @NASA? No. OSTP director Kratsios was at the event today and made comments about the importance of science and technology while OSTP simultaneously endorses cuts across the Federal government. He also referred to this as an “all of government” instrument. Yet NASA seems to be ignoring it. WTF NASA OCOMM?

Keith’s note: Last night NASA SMD AA Nicky Fox was presented with the Collier Award for NASA’s Parker Solar Probe – an astonishing mission that has literally touched the sun. NASA Comptroller nominee Greg Autry congratulated her with a tweet adding “Go NASA Science”. This morning the @NASASpaceSci Twitter account announced that it was being shut down and swallowed into a larger effort somewhere at NASA. Yet another example of how the NASA FY 2026 budget and other Administration Executive Orders and memos have moved to gut NASA’s science budget, cancel missions, eliminate external research grants, stiff other space agencies with international agreements, and cut personnel. Weirdly, (soon to be) Administration personnel like Autry try to laud NASA science. Some political staff at NASA even try to take credit for missions started and launched by other presidents. Alas, Autry will preside over the cancellation of all these science activities and he’ll write glowing tweets about what he cut. It’s now all Flags and Footprints. Science is a buzz word used as hashtag windowdressing in social media. If Greg Autry wants to cheer on Science at NASA then he’ll need to support it too after he arrives.

Keith’s note: Thomas Zurbuchen was the longest serving Associate Administrator of the NASA Space Science Directorate. In this interview with Kristin Fisher, Zurbuchen warns that the proposed budget would send parts of NASA’s science portfolio “out of business,” undermine American leadership in space science, and risk a mass exodus of talent from NASA’s ranks. Link. Video below.