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Personal Things On Board Odysseus – Resting On The Moon
Personal Things On Board Odysseus – Resting On The Moon

Keith’s note: A few weeks ago a robotic explorer named Odysseus completed a journey – one not unlike its mythological human namesake undertook – and struggled ashore at the south pole of the Moon. While injured and out of sorts for a while, Odysseus managed to accomplish much of what it had been tasked to do – starting with a precision landing in a place no human or droid has ever visited before. The way that Odysseus made it to the lunar surface involved some truly heroic thinking the mission control team – rather fitting for a space droid named after a hero.

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  • NASA Watch
  • March 11, 2024
The Dream Is Indeed Alive: Space Exploration For Everyone – Everywhere
The Dream Is Indeed Alive: Space Exploration For Everyone – Everywhere

Keith’s note: The popularity of space exploration – both real and imagined – is something that those of us in the developed and throughly wired developed world take for granted. What we often do not appreciate is how much of our content leaks out and finds its ways across the rest of the world. And in so doing how it can inspire millions of people – ones that we never stop to think about – to aspire to explore space. [much more below]

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  • NASA Watch
  • January 7, 2024
Post Flight Re-write?
Post Flight Re-write?

Keith’s note: In 2021 I posted a book review of “Not Necessarily Rocket Science – A Beginners Guide To Life In The Space Age” by Kellie Gerardi – who just became an actual astronaut. So …. I am wondering if she is going to put out a revised version – with her daughter Luna’s input, of course. 😉 Update: @kelliegerardi Bold of me to write a whole damn book before the biggest life dream came true Chagrin!

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  • NASA Watch
  • November 9, 2023
Interstellar +9
Interstellar +9

Keith’s note: Nine years ago – on 7 November 2014 – I had a chance to visit a large scale model of the “Ranger” Spacecraft used in the filming of “Interstellar” (my original 2014 posting “Visiting Interstellar’s Spacecraft” with lots of pictures). A large tent was erected in a parking lot at the Udvar Hazy Facility near Dulles, Airport in Virginia 11 miles from my house. So I visited it more than once. Often times I was the only person in the tent other the lone security guard. Then I went inside to view the film on a vast IMAX screen in original film projection format. I was spoiled. I really loved this film for the way if portrayed a personal approach to the exploration of the universe – the small aspects and the vast aspects. The twin Voyager spacecraft travel ~ 3.5 AUs (325.5 million miles) a year – so they’ve both traversed around 3 billion miles outward across interstellar space since the movie came out. Meanwhile back on Earth we are still tearing our planet’s life support system apart – indeed the fires and natural disasters depicted in the film ring far more true today than they did in 2014. And of course we are doing much the same thing to our society – thus adding to the impetus to move outward. Oh yes: they almost used the NASA worm logo in the movie – and almost spelled my last name right on the aft end of Ranger 😉 Some of my favorite lines (there are so many to chose from):

  • “We must reach far beyond our own lifespans. we must think not as individuals but as species. We must confront the reality of interstellar travel.”
  • “Mankind Was Born On Earth. It Was Never Meant To Die Here.”
  • “We Used To Look Up At The Sky And Wonder At Our Place In The Stars. Now, We Just Look Down And Worry About Our Place In The Dirt.”
  • “Do not go gentle into that good night; Old age should burn and rave at close of day. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” (Dylan Thomas)
  • ” We’ve always defined ourselves by the ability to overcome the impossible. And we count these moments. These moments when we dare to aim higher, to break barriers, to reach for the stars, to make the unknown known. We count these moments as our proudest achievements. But we lost all that. Or perhaps we’ve just forgotten that we are still pioneers. And we’ve barely begun. And that our greatest accomplishments cannot be behind us, that our destiny lies above us.”
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  • NASA Watch
  • November 9, 2023
Watching Mom Become An Astronaut
Watching Mom Become An Astronaut

Keith’s note: There is a whole generation alive today who have known no time when humans were not living full time in space. Now the Artemis Generation has members who can watch a parent become an astronaut between breakfast and lunch time. Ad Astra y’all.

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  • NASA Watch
  • November 3, 2023
Intolerance And Bigotry Vs NASA’s Attempt At Space Leadership
Intolerance And Bigotry Vs NASA’s Attempt At Space Leadership

Keith’s note: How is NASA going to achieve all of its forward-leaning diversity goals if the states where the bulk of its activities are conducted (Florida, Texas, Alabama) – and where their work force lives – seem to go out of their way to thwart the intent of these efforts? Large numbers of space industry workers run the risk of not being welcome there as they pursue the dream of exploring space. I have no answers. But I am pointing this issue out whenever I see it. According to Anti-Trans Laws Force Engineer to Quit Job Helping NASA With Moon Missions published in Futurism, “As electrical engineer Robin Witt told The Stranger, Florida’s increasingly extreme anti-transgender laws left Witt, a transgender woman, no choice but to quit her job at a NASA-contracted engineering firm called ERC — a heartwrenching decision that, according to Witt, cost her a lifelong dream. … And though NASA might be putting diversity at the public center of its Artemis missions, it seems that the less-visible folks behind the Artemis rockets and other missions – one of whom, in this case, was forced to choose between their human rights and their dream role – are getting left behind.” More below

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  • NASA Watch
  • November 1, 2023
Career Pivot
Career Pivot

Keith’s note: I am making a totally unexpected – but still exciting – career pivot effective 30 October 2023. After more than 25 years today is my last day with SpaceRef – not by choice. So now I am technically unemployed or semi-retired. Either way I am now going to focus only on what interests me and nothing else. More to follow. Here’s a hint. True Star Trek fans should be able to piece this together from the pics above. If you comment – wrong answers only 😉 FYI: I have Dan Goldin, Gerry Soffen, Barry Blumberg, Jill Tarter – and so many others – and (of course) ALH84001 to thank for creating the field that I will be focusing the rest of my career on. NASAWatch.com will continue albeit in a much more focused form and Astrobiology.com will continue in a more expanded form while I re-engage (and finish) with my book on Astrobiology. There will probably be no TV things for me for a while as the news outlets are all covering pre-World War III preparations. Otherwise, I am just going to to look up – and beyond. Ad Astra y’all.

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  • NASA Watch
  • October 31, 2023
Dear NASA: Why Are We Going To Europa When Earth’s Oceans Are So Screwed up?
Dear NASA: Why Are We Going To Europa When Earth’s Oceans Are So Screwed up?

Keith’s note: Today’s “Obvious Question Begging An Answer Award” goes to Dennis Lees for his op ed Earth’s ocean is in crisis. Why spend $5 billion to study the one on Jupiter’s moon Europa? in the LA Times which asks “As a marine ecologist, I’ve studied marine sedimentary ecosystems since 1972. My studies show that our current knowledge of these ecosystems is quite poor. Therefore, in this age of existential threats to species habitability and survival on Earth, I have serious objections to spending $5 billion on a project to explore the sea on Europa, a moon of Jupiter, to see if it contains chemicals that might support life. What real good will that do us? Can you imagine how much good it would do to spend those funds here to learn how our own oceans function and how to deal with injuries we humans are causing? What are our funding priorities? What benefits will knowing the chemistry of Europa’s sea create for us here as our planet becomes less habitable?”. If NASA has not explained this mission adequately to the broader scientific community – especially one wherein oceanography is constantly evoked – then maybe NASA PAO (Marc Etkind et al) need to do some clean up. IMHO the first thing you’d want to see is a response to the LA Times from NASA JPL Center Director Laurie Leshin and/or NASA SMD AA Nicky Fox (and whomever does the semi-invisible chief scientist stuff at NASA HQ) – with a broadcast via NASA’s vast web and social media presence. NASA should take these rather simple and credible questions as a challenge to be more transparent to its “stakeholders”. NASA needs to not only speak in a rational way to the scientific community since their support is often needed to keep the NASA science gravy train running but also to the remaining 99.999999% of humanity in the real world who is faced with existential problems right now – and is being asked to pay for these missions.A good place to start would be with the “Artemis Generation” since they are the ones who are going go home with excited questions about space for their parents and the parents need to give quality answers that feed these dreams.. At least that is what happened to those of us who are the “Apollo Generation” and look what we did. Just sayin.

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  • NASA Watch
  • October 23, 2023
Talking About NASA Astronomy & Astrobiology On Arabic Language TV
Talking About NASA Astronomy & Astrobiology On Arabic Language TV

Keith’s note: I was just on Alaraby TV in Qatar talking about the recent discovery of methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of super-earth exoplanet K2-18b by the Webb Space Telescope and what this means in terms of Astrobiology and the search for life in the universe. It is fun to not have to talk to jaded American TV. Surprise: People outside of our Americo-centric news bubble are interested in things we don’t seem to care much about. Among many other international networks, I have been on Alaraby, Al Arabiya, Alhurra, and Al Jazeera. Also, since I am being translated into Arabic in real time, it is fun since I used to be a professional American Sign Language interpreter (often on TV) and the translators like that I am good at parsing technical things for translation at a pace that facilitates translation – in real time. Keith’s fun aside, I get the clear impression that NASA has little – if any – interest in making people available to this vast viewing audience. I have asked NASA PAO about this in the past but they always declined to answer. To be certain, the viewership of these Arabic language networks overlaps – but the core audience is somewhere between 200-300 million located in over 150 countries. NASA has an astonishing soft power and branding reach and it rarely takes full advantage of it. This is one example. Baffling. Anyway: here’s the [Audio]

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  • NASA Watch
  • October 1, 2023
Another NASA Exploration Report (Re)States The Obvious But Lacks True Exploratory Energy
Another NASA Exploration Report (Re)States The Obvious But Lacks True Exploratory Energy

Keith’s note: NASA has issued another report (“New NASA Report Looks at Societal Considerations for Artemis“). Titled Artemis, Ethics and Society: Synthesis from a Workshop the report “seeks to foster discussion about how the agency can make such dramatic progress in a way that takes ethical and societal considerations into account”. I have read through it and decided to make an annotation of the overall findings with my usual snark. This is a typical NASA report – one that spends a lot of time in less than normal stilted and cautionary English talking about the process of writing the report – and less time on providing useful information. It is mostly ‘OMG we’re actually going to do this whole Artemis Moon thing for real and we jumped into this without thinking things through ahead of time. Or maybe some other part of NASA has done this for other programs and lost that report or who cares this is different. But we need bullet charts and action items in boxes to show that we are serious’. To be fair some people involved actually rose to the occasion and said some smart things – but in many cases NASA punted because they were afraid to step outside of their sandbox or look out of their organizations’ stovepipe. In addition, NASA, as an agency is risk adverse in every imaginable way. And when to comes to public affairs, education, and public outreach or talking to real people on the street they are terrified of bad results. So they stay in their cubicles and have meetings about sentences and do not venture out beyond what the groupthink sees as safe. This whole Artemis thing is about going to live on the Moon long-term and then go to Mars. That is a bold undertaking – on steroids. NASA needs to stop finding excuses not to interact with the real world and new partners and instead “go boldly” into this endeavor. Back when the whole exploration re-visit/reboot happend post-Columbia, the Exploration AA Craig Steidle had a simple exploration logo with the latin phrase “audaces fortuna juvat” – “Fortune favors the bold”. I see nothing remotely “bold” in this report. Below is a stream of consciousness annotation of the four main observations starting on page iii:

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  • NASA Watch
  • September 21, 2023
Squandering NASA’s Immense Soft Power
Squandering NASA’s Immense Soft Power

Keith’s note: I just talked about the recent Webb telescope image of the Ring Nebula on Al Jazeera Arabic. Before we started, the interpreter and I had a discussion about this and how excited she was since her son “eats this space stuff up”. I was on Alhurra yesterday talking about Voyager 2. I do this a lot. They were just as interested. Unfortunately NASA pays little – if any – attention to large parts of the global audience that it could otherwise be reaching. NASA branding is ubiquitous globally – but you rarely see anyone from NASA taking the time to talk to the TV networks that these people watch. Is it NASA’s responsibility to inform people in other nations what they are doing? No, it is not. But does America obtain potent, exciting, transcendant knowledge that people around the world seek out? Yes. And when you raise this issue with NASA they ignore you or simply offer a blank stare. Yet they jump up and down for a day or so every time a new country signs the Artemis Accords – then that’s it for that country. And while NASA Space Apps has been wildly successful reaching 162 countries and territories last year, NASA PAO only issued one press release – no outreach to any of the countries involved. I guess the Artemis Generation is only for some of us – and only some of the time – and only if good PR can be made here in the U.S. NASA is squandering its potent soft power at a time when the world could certainly use something uplifting to look forward to.

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  • NASA Watch
  • August 6, 2023
New Survey: Americans Support Space A Lot. Artemis: Not So Much
New Survey: Americans Support Space A Lot. Artemis: Not So Much

Keith’s note: According to a Pew Research Report released on Thursday, while Americans broadly support space – with some obvious enthusiasm – they are not all that sold on NASA’s Artemis Program to send humans back to the Moon – or on to Mars. According to the survey: “About seven-in-ten Americans say it is essential that the U.S. continue to be a world leader in space, while 30% say this is not an essential role for the country. Support for a U.S. leadership role in space is widely held across groups, including by majorities of Republicans and Democrats alike” and that “47% of Americans say they’ve done at least one of four space-related activities in the last year, including 26% who say they’ve looked at an image from a space telescope, such as the James Webb Space Telescope.” However “Just 12% of Americans say sending human astronauts to explore the moon should be a top priority for NASA, and only 11% say this about sending human astronauts to explore Mars. Larger shares think both of these things are not too important for NASA or that they should not be done (41% and 43%, respectively).” More at “Americans’ Views of Space: U.S. Role, NASA Priorities and Impact of Private Companies

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  • NASA Watch
  • July 21, 2023
Another Potent Branding Opportunity That NASA PAO Will Ignore
Another Potent Branding Opportunity That NASA PAO Will Ignore

Keith’s note: According to a tweet by NASA SMD Nicky Fox the other day Fun Friday night build – some tense moments when I managed to dislodge a critical piece in the sample arm gears but all good eventually! @LEGO_Group @NASAJPL @NASAPersevere and #Ingenuity in the house! @LaurieofMars you may be disappointed by the underside 😉🙃”. Too bad cool STEM education things like this conducted by two of the top female scientists running NASA – JPL Director Laurie Leshin and SMD AA Nicky Fox – go totally unnoticed by NASA Public Affairs, PAO AA Marc Etkind and Education AA Mike Kincaid. Don’t you have a Space Act Agreement LEGO? You used to have one. There is a NASA JPL Mars rover logo on the box that Nicky is holding. Gee, how did that get there? No mention of this outreach opportunity has been made by @NASA (74.9 million followers) or @NASAJPL (3.8 million followers). According to Local Community Engagement at LEGO “Our local community engagement program currently operates in 31 countries, and we are working hard to expand it even further.” Amazon is filled with NASA-themed LEGO products. More than 220 million LEGO sets are sold globally each year. You would think that someone in a position to make creative and strategic decisions would have a way to coordinate nascent outreach opportunities like this. NASA has one of the largest, most ubiquitous branding visibilities on Earth – and it is 100% positive, exiting, proactive, diverse – and hopeful. As such one would think that working with another equally visible entity (LEGO) would only result in a synergistic visibility for the common values shared by both. NASA can certainly get far greater reach than this. But the people responsible for doing so must have to want to see this happen. Oh yes another female leader at NASA Technology, Policy and Strategy AA Bhavya Lal is totally into LEGO as well. If NASA leadership is into the same thing as hundreds of million of people around the world isn’t this something to utilize as an outreach tool? Missed opportunities. Just sayin’.

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  • NASA Watch
  • July 9, 2023
Work-Life Balance Starts With Proper Deadlines And Exemplary Agencies
Work-Life Balance Starts With Proper Deadlines And Exemplary Agencies

“Synopsis: Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs can only be implemented successfully if proper work-life balance is possible in Heliophysics (and in STEM field in general). One of the core issues stems from the culture of “work-above-life” associated with mission concepts, development, and implementation but also the expectations that seem to originate from numerous announcements from NASA (and other agencies). The benefits of work-life balance are well documented; however, the entire system surrounding research in Heliophysics hinders or discourages proper work-life balance. For example, there does not seem to be attention paid by NASA Headquarters (HQ) on the timing of their announcements regarding how it will be perceived by researchers, and how the timing may promote a culture where work trumps personal life. The same is true for remarks by NASA HQ program officers during panels or informal discussions, where seemingly innocuous comments may give a perception that work is expected after “normal” work hours. In addition, we are calling for work-life balance plans and implementation to be one of the criteria used for down-selection and confirmation of missions (Key Decision Points: KDP-B, KDP-C).” Full paper by authors from NASA, JHUAPL, HSCfA, SwRI et al. [White paper submitted to the Decadal Survey for Solar and Space Physics (Heliophysics) 2024-2033; 6 pages]

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  • NASA Watch
  • June 12, 2023
Doing The Post-UAP Media Thing
Doing The Post-UAP Media Thing

Keith’s note: Last night I was on BBC 5 Live talking about the NASA UAP meeting (audio). This evening I was on Al Jazeera Arabic talking about the meeting and what it did – and did not say – about life in the universe, whether we have been visited, and why people are so interested in this topic. I also used my little green alien 👽 as a prop which was in keeping with the graphics on their intro piece. (audio)

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  • NASA Watch
  • June 1, 2023
OIG: NASA Has Made Little Progress To Increase Its Workforce Diversity
OIG: NASA Has Made Little Progress To Increase Its Workforce Diversity

Keith’s note: small wonder that NASA fails so miserably in reaching vast portions of America when it still can’t change its own internal culture. Latest OIG report: “Despite support from Agency leaders and multiple initiatives to increase diversity, we found NASA has made little progress in increasing the representation of women and minorities in its civilian workforce or leadership ranks. Specifically, over the past decade NASA’s overall workforce demographics have stayed roughly the same, with small increases (1 or 2 percent) for some groups. Demographics have not varied significantly over the same time period at individual NASA Centers, with only two Centers increasing African American representation and other Centers making small gains in Hispanic, Asian American, and women’s representation. We also found NASA has made few gains in the percentages of women and racial and ethnic minorities in its senior levels (General Schedule 14 and 15 positions and Senior Executive Service) over the decade. At the same time, the proportion of veterans NASA hires has declined over the past 10 years, most significantly from 28 percent in 2015 to 13 percent in 2021. NASA’s lack of progress towards increasing diversity in its workforce is due to the Agency’s siloed approach to advancing DEIA. Specifically, ODEO and OCHCO have focused their efforts on meeting federal workforce reporting requirements while also working to integrate DEIA concepts into Agency culture. Moreover, NASA did not hold its leaders fully accountable for advancing DEIA efforts in their annual performance appraisals until 2021. In addition, the Agency has experienced gaps in professional development and training opportunities including programs designed to prepare employees for senior roles.” (Full report) — Update: I just deleted two bigoted anti-diversity comments. From now on you are instantly banned if you try this. I expected better from readers than this.

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  • NASA Watch
  • April 20, 2023
Raising The Artemis Generation In Florida
Raising The Artemis Generation In Florida

Keith’s note: A school principal was fired and/or forced to quit in Florida after a lesson involved Michaelangelo’s nude statue of David. Apparently Florida is going to make all the nude images in history illegal to use in schools. FYI this image was sent to Interstellar space – FROM FLORIDA – TWICE. OMG what will those aliens think? This NASA.gov page points to an image of the plaque on the pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft. It is also here, and here and a million other places. So Florida’s eventual website censors (you know that is coming following book banning) are going to be busy. NASA Administrator and former D-FL Senator Bill Nelson is a “Florida Man”. I am wondering why he has been so silent about this situation back home. If NASA truly supports the best possible dedication of resources toward the education of the “Artemis Generation” – and wants to have a safe work and living environment for all NASA and contractor employees and their families in Florida (and Texas, Alabama etc.) then you’d think that Bill Nelson would say something. But he and Pam are in Australia and his Education Office is clueless. Just sayin’.

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  • NASA Watch
  • March 26, 2023