Keith’s note: According to “According to “There’s a Bad Moon on the Rise: Why Congress and NASA Must Thwart China in the Space Race“: there is a hearing on 3 September at 10:00 10:30 am EDT that “is an important opportunity to chart a course that reinforces American leadership in space, strengthens NASA, fuels our growing commercial space sector, and protects our economic and national security interests in the final frontier.” OK fine. Let’s beat China in space. Why not. It should be simple: get your A-Team in place and give them the resources to compete. But wait: is gutting NASA’s scientific and engineering expertise, slashing its budgets, and continually chopping, delaying, and reconfiguring NASA’s Artemis progam the way to do this? No. Let’s see if Ted Cruz and his witnesses can find a solution. Or (more likely) watch them just point out the problems while skating around – and over – the essential and obvious things that need to be put in place. Live webcast: https://www.commerce.senate.gov/home

Keith’s note: How do these things make sense in the same universe? First the White House cuts NASA’s FY 2026 budget and guts Artemis – thus undermining NASA’s ability to compete with China. Meanwhile Congress also wants to beat China, increases NASA’s budget somewhat – but cuts critical things elsewhere. And now the White House wants to train vast numbers of Chinese students in American universities so as to better compete with us? Make up your mind folks. See “There’s a Bad Moon on the Rise: Why Congress and NASA Must Thwart China in the Space Race“ and Trump says the U.S. would accept 600,000 Chinese students, sparking uproar among some conservatives“

Keith’s note: As reported the other day NASA is pulling out of the ISSRDC conference. China is signing up customers for its space station which it is expanding. The new customers cut their teeth on the ISS. But wait: the Administration is all about beating China everywhere. So, instead of using ISSRDC to globally promote the value of an American-led space station so as to keep a U.S. lead intact someone at NASA got the bright idea to pull NASA out of the conference all together causing it to be cancelled. Full ISS National Laboratory/CASIS statement below:

Keith’s note: I appeared on CGTN tonight to talk about the launch of Shenzhou-19 and what the crews will be doing on China’s Tiangong space station. [Audio]

Keith’s note: It would seem that none of International Space Station Research & Development Conference (ISSRDC) will be webcast. No mention whatsoever is made on their website. No mention of any webcast is made at NASA.gov either. NASA recently issued a contract to destroy the International Space Station. Not even bothering to webcast this event – which supposedly exists to promote and explain all that the ISS has done – is too much for CASIS or NASA to bother setting up. No one at NASA seems to care since they all have Artemis Go Fever. As such, the 300+ million U.S. taxpayers who put billions into this amazing resource aren’t entitled to learn what NASA did with all their money or why ISS needs to be splashed. The scheduled death of the ISS is not even on the meeting’s agenda. And of course, as Artemis delays mount, NASA will come back for more money without ever truly explaining why they are throwing this astonishing resource away or why they need to build another space station out near the Moon to support missions are moving ever further into the future. And then NASA’s Administrator has the audacity to whine and complain that China may beat the U.S. back to the Moon. DUH, Bill. China has a plan and they stick to it. NASA does not. Update: CASIS sent me a note: “While we are not actively promoting the livestream component to the conference yet (similar to last year), it will be made open to the public during the event. We will promote the livestream component for those not able to physically attend in a media advisory prior to the conference. Additionally, there will be social pushes during the event driving the public to the livestream.”

Keith’s note: This evening I spoke with CGTN about the return of the Chang’e-6 lunar sample return mission; global interest in lunar exploration; and space exploration in general. [Audio] Video below:

Keith’s note: I did CNN this morning talking about the Boeing Starliner launch, SpaceX Starship, and China’s lunar exploration plans (and my reaction to how NASA Administrator Bill Nelson characterizes them). [Audio] I then did live launch coverage on Bloomberg Radio/Youtube, and then I did a quick interview with BBC World Service [Audio]. I also talked again to Deutsche Welle [Audio].

Keith’s note: I was just on Deutsche Welle talking about the return flight of China’s Chang’e-6 sample return mission. [Audio] I am booked to appear on CNN tomorrow (Wed) morning to talk about Boeing’s Starliner CFT-1 mission, China’s Chang’e-6, and SpaceX’s fourth flight of StarShip. And then I will be on a bit later on Bloomberg to do live launch coverage. Lots of spacey news items this week.

Keith’s note: I just did Deutsche Welle twice – first at 12:00 pm EDT via a 45 minute chat with Deutsche Welle and David Ariosto (@davidariosto) – SpaceWatch Daily podcast and co-author of the book “Open Space”. [Video]. I then did another DW interview at 2:00 pm EDT on the Chang’e-6 lunar landing [Audio] [Video]

Keith’s note: In case you missed the tweets from almost every single American embassy and the U.S. State Department – it is #SpaceDiplomacyWeek. I was on CGTN this evening – trying to be diplomatic – talking about the return of the Shenzhou 17 crew, China’s Tiangong space station and the International Space Station, what happens when astronauts return from a long space mission, and future human missions to the Moon. [Audio]

Keith’s note: Japan successfully landed its SLIM spacecraft on the Moon this morning. However there seems to be a problem with its solar panels which are not charging its batteries. This may have to do with the panels’ orientation to the sun after landing. Unless that can be rectified the spacecraft can only operate for a matter of hours before its batteries are drained. SLIM did deploy its two small rovers and efforts are being made to see if any data has been collected. One of the rovers has responded. I was on CGTN a few minutes ago to talk about SLIM as well as the end of Astrobotic’s Peregrine mission to the Moon which returned to Earth the other day after a propulsion system failure prevented a lunar landing. I was also asked about former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin’s slam against NASA’s Artemis program. [audio]

Keith’s note: On Wednesday evening I appeared on CGTN to talk about the launch of a cargo spacecraft to China’s Tiangong and the future of the Chinese space station program [audio]. A few minutes later I appeared on the Scripps TV network and all of its affiliates talking about Astrobotic’s peregrine and sending humans back to the Moon. [audio].

Keith’s note: According to this little gem that was tossed online after hours on a Friday “NASA Adjusts Agreements to Benefit Commercial Station Development“ “We continue to see an immense amount of dedication from our partners,” said Angela Hart, manager of Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.“The agency is committed to continuing to work with industry with the goal having one or more stations in orbit to ensure competition, lower costs, and meet the demand of NASA and other customers.” Uh huh. Since when has NASA lowered the cost – of anything? This whole ISS vs Gateway/Artemis vs Orbital Reef vs Starlab vs Axiom vs Russia vs China vs Congress with regard to space stations is all going to result in an inelastic collision – soon. To some extent this announcement is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. The money is simply not there for everything, competing priorities are inherently non-synergistic, and in place of a coherent, national strategy – one that takes these things into account in a realistic way – we have a short-term, seat of the pants, ad hoc, fake it until you make it, free for all. Something has got to give since neither the money or a clear policy path are on the horizon. And the warning signs – if they are even apparent – will be ignored until it is too late. And expecting the National Space Council to do anything substantive is simply naive in the extreme. Oh then there’s the whole 2024 election thing and the fact that NASA has no idea when the moon walking resumes and … Just sayin’

Keith’s note: I just did an interview on CGTN and was talking about the year ahead in space – space stations, Moon, Mars – and cooperation in the exploration of space. I mentioned the fact that I was watching a space station EVA clip on social media the other day and was initially confused as to what part of the ISS the astronauts were on – and then I realized it was China’s space Station. How cool – I was confused because there are TWO modern space stations in operation. More please. We then discussed the fact that more than half of humanity has never seen humans walking on another world – live – and for them this will be doing the same thing again for the first time – with more people experiencing this for the first time than watched all of the Apollo landings. I also mentioned the fact that U.S. researchers can now submit proposals to study China’s lunar samples. I then noted that one way great nations can cooperate in space is in great endeavors like space exploration – perhaps the greatest endeavor of them all. [Audio]

Keith’s note: I was on CGTN tonight talking about China’s space activities. [Audio] The discussion touched on newly-announced collaboration between China and Egypt. I mentioned that NASA recently announced that U.S. researchers are now free to submit requests for samples from China’s Chang’e 5 lunar sample return mission. Apparently I broke a little news tonight according to CGTN. NASA’s 29 November 2023 email to researchers announcing this opportunity is below:

• According to the Daily Mail ‘The China-U.S. relationship has never been smooth sailing and always faces problems of one kind or another,’ Xi said through a translator as he met Biden. ‘Yet it has kept moving forward amidst twists and turns. For China and the United States, turning their back on each other is not an option. It is unrealistic for one side to remodel the other, and conflict and confrontation has terrible consequences for both sides. Planet Earth is big enough for the two countries to succeed.’ Biden said “We have to ensure that competition does not veer into conflict and we have to manage responsibly that competition,’ Biden told his counterpart. ‘That’s what the United States wants and what we intend to do. I believe that’s also what the world wants from both of us. ‘We have a responsibility to our people and the world to work together when we see it in our interests to do so. The critical global changes we face from climate change, narcotics to artificial intelligence demand us to work together.”

• Meanwhile NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has been quoted in Politico as saying “It is a fact: we’re in a space race,” the former Florida senator and astronaut said in an interview. “And it is true that we better watch out that they don’t get to a place on the moon under the guise of scientific research. And it is not beyond the realm of possibility that they say, ‘Keep out, we’re here, this is our territory.’” He pointed out that Russian cosmonauts operate the International Space Station side by side with NASA astronauts, and that they frequently trust each other with their lives. And on CTV Nelson said “We built the International Space Station with the Russians. What a contrast, with the Chinese government,” Nelson said. “They are secretive, they are non-transparent. They will not share when Earth is threatened by one of their tumbling rockets coming back in, they will not share their trajectories, so it’s a huge difference in the way we approach our civilian space program with the Russians visa vie the Chinese.”

• It would seem like Bill Nelson has been off on his own hawkish path with regard to China while being extra tender with regard to Russia (with whom we are fighting a proxy war) while the White House (and seemingly Beijing) are moving in the opposite direction than Nelson’s Cold War-ish rhetoric. Is Nelson out of touch – or is this a ‘good cop/bad cop’ game that the Administration is using Nelson for?

Shri Vinay Kwatra, India’s Foreign Secretary: “With regard to the BRICS space consortium, second question, also cooperation in space. Look, there is already a BRICS Remote Sensing Satellite Constellation which was established by BRICS during India’s chairmanship. Space is a domain in which we have been very forward leaning in offering our capacities in a cooperative framework with other countries. So, for example, India has SAARC satellite which we built essentially for the South Asian Association of Regional Countries. BRICS, as I said, BRICS Remote Sensing Satellite Constellation and the Space Exploration Consortium that we have proposed will essentially take that as a base layer and build on it. Now, obviously, for any such concept to be successful, it has to address the priorities which each of the BRICS countries would have. So, the relevant working groups of the BRICS which would deal with this would look into this aspect, identify its elements and the space of cooperation in space, in the field of space or space in the field of space is actually so extensive. It’s so, I would say, productive in terms of how we integrate the capacities in the space with our own economic endeavors. This can be a very, very promising area of cooperation and something in which, as I said, India has always been forward leaning in terms of offering its capacities.” — Transcript of Special Briefing by Foreign Secretary on Prime Minister’s visit to South Africa and Greece (August 24, 2023) — More news below.

Keith’s note: I did an interview with Deutsche Welle about Chandrayaan-3. They aired an intro piece before me where they talked with a family in India and their children’s reactions to the landing and I almost had tears in my eyes since, as I said in my interview that was me as a little boy. [DW Audio]. I also did an interview with CGTN talking about how the Moon is a place that everyone can and should visit. [CGTN Audio]

Keith’s note: I spoke with CGTN tonight about the launch of LandSpace’s ZQ 2 / Rosefinch 2 – the first rocket to put a payload into space using Methane/Oxygen engines and the various missions heading to the south pole of the Moon. [Audio]