Keith’s note: I just got a long update from Astrobiologist Dale Andersen at Lake Untersee, Antarctica about his ongoing Astrobiology field research. Someday soon we’ll get reports like this from the south pole of the Moon – and then Mars – and beyond: : “Keith, Sorry for the quiet—our days have been packed, and out here every usable hour feels borrowed. Since my last report the weather has changed its mind a few times. The snowstorm I mentioned in my last note covered the lake with a few inches of snow for about a week, with steady drifting around our camp. It slowed us down, but did not stop us and we still managed plenty of work in the margins between squalls. A few days have been outright gusty—50 mph or more—never ideal when you are trying to handle gear with cold hands, and definitely noisy when you are trying to sleep. The bright side is that we have not been hit by anything truly serious (100+ mph winds like we’ve experienced in previous seasons), so by Untersee standards we have been lucky. Most of the snow on the lake has now blown clear and we hare back to hard ice.” Full report with pictures and videos.

Keith’s note: It is certainly refreshing for the Administrator of NASA to take a personal, hands-on interest in clearly stating that transparency is a priority at NASA and responding to events in near-real time. But he has to do most of that by himself. His writing and speaking style are easy to detect: no stilted English, no odd capitalizations, no weird grammar, no jargon and little in the way of overly gratuitous rah rah. Instead it is mostly to-the-point substance. Unfortunately, NASA Public Affairs staff can’t or won’t engage in basic human language in a similar manner. Instead, they cut and paste pre-written talking points and political babble – or just ignore the chatter – and those who do the chattering – altogether. Most of Isaacman’s time on social media seems to be focused on the bloggers and influencers and random armchair rocketeer posters on social media (me included) – all of whom are snugly inside the space bubble – a pocket universe that is mostly invisible to the real world. Don’t get me wrong: It is good that Isaacman cares about the fans of space exploration and is willing to engage with them – and make a convert here and there. Alas, he parachuted in the middle of several decades of other people’s bad decisions and now everyone expects him to fix all of that by next week. It is unfortunate that he has to spend time on postings inside the space bubble – often about woulda-coulda/oughta minutiae – and not on NASA’s value to the remaining 99.99999% of America – and the world. So chill space fans. Ad Astra y’all. Several Isaacman posting examples below:

Keith’s note: On 11 February I posted a memo – verbatim – with only people’s names redacted – from the CFO at NASA HQ to the centers about some internal SMD/OMB efforts. I posted the text verbatim. I tweeted it too – verbatim – at 10:28 AM. I never mentioned or hinted at missions being cancelled. I just posted the memo. Several hours later Politico posted a piece that mentions some of the content of this memo – but not in the original context – and omits mention of the source or links to the actual thing on NASAWatch or on Twitter. Whatever. I am used to this by now. But this quickly got out of hand and NASA PAO dropped the ball. More below.

Keith’s 13 Feb note: I am posting some photos of the NASA Goddard library taken yesterday. The photos were NOT taken by library employees – but rather by others at GSFC. Word has it that trucks are arriving this weekend to begin removal of these boxes. Many GSFC employees are still concerned that the imminent removal and possible disposal of materials are in direct contradiction to the instructions in a Congressional Joint Exploratory Statement which directs NASA to preserve technical and scientific capabilities. Jared Isaacman has said that he has staff he’s assigned to monitor this process. Perhaps NASA GSFC or NASA HQ management could post an update as to where these boxed library materials are being sent. I’d ask NASA PAO – but they ignore me these days. Keith’s 14 Feb Update: according to a source at NASA GRC “We are currently renovating our library space and briefing center (Building 142) and we’ve been told recently that NASA GRC will be ‘The NASA Library’ for the Agency and that the GSFC library books are being relocated to GRC.‘. See: Recent NASA NASA GSFC Library postings [More photos below].

Keith’s note: On 11 February 2026 NOVA PBS Host / NewsHour reporter Miles O’Brien conducted a live broadcast from a ship in the southern ocean around Antarctica where Thwaites glacier aka the “Doomsday Glacier” is melting at an alarming rate. In this broadcast Miles spoke first with Peter Davis from the British Antarctic Survey and then with David Holland from New York University. At 23:55 in this video Miles asked Peter Davis an Astrobiology-related question regarding Europa, and Enceladus that I posed via the online chat. Full transcript

Keith’s note: the following memo “Guidance to Limit Commitments in Advance of SMD Apportionment” was sent out yesterday to NASA center CFOs. Full memo below.

—- Keith’s note: I have annotated Jared Isaacman’s new directive “Workforce Directive: Restoring NASA’s Core Competencies“ with some of my thoughts. This directive does bear a certain similarity to a posting “Recognize, Reward, Inspire” that he made on 16 January 2026 – and the earlier Project Athena document he produced in 2025 before becoming administrator and benefited from some sanity checks during his first month on the job and his road trip to all the NASA centers. This is a somewhat stream of consciousness ramble on my part (as is usually the case on NASAWatch – and I may fiddle with it). Before I start, there are some prevailing, over-arching, and hard-to-avoid factors: (more below)

Keith’s note: On Friday NASA distributed memo to the entire workforce titled “Workforce Directive: Restoring NASA’s Core Competencies“ accompanied with a video that was posted on social media. (full text below)

Keith’s note: A final rule by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) titled “Improving Performance, Accountability and Responsiveness in the Civil Service” (preview text) has dropped and will appear in the Federal Register tomorrow. Update: 91 FR 5580 – Improving Performance, Accountability and Responsiveness in the Civil Service is now formally posted in the Federal Register As implemented, it will lead to tens of thousands of nonpartisan career civil servants being moved to Schedule Policy/Career (Schedule P/C, a revived Schedule F) and being stripped of their civil service protections. The rule says that the President can fire anyone in the new Schedule P/C who disagrees with whatever the Administration says or does. Protect Democracy filed a suit a year ago and will be filing an amended complaint soon. [Earlier NASAWatch posts] Here’s the summary of what this all means according to OPM:

• “The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing a rule to increase career employee accountability. Agency supervisors report great difficulty removing employees for poor performance or misconduct. The final rule authorizes agencies to move policy-influencing positions into Schedule Policy/Career. These positions will remain career jobs filled on a nonpartisan basis. Yet they will be at-will positions excepted from adverse action procedures or appeals. This will allow agencies to quickly remove employees from critical positions who engage in misconduct, perform poorly, or obstruct the democratic process by intentionally subverting Presidential directives. The rule requires agencies to establish internal policies protecting employees from prohibited personnel practices.”

Keith’s note: According to a press release: “Today, the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee passed H.R. 7273, the NASA Reauthorization Act of 2026, during a full committee markup. This important legislation, led by Chairman Brian Babin and Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren, strengthens America’s leadership in space by providing clear direction for NASA and supporting critical programs and initiatives that will keep our nation at the forefront of exploration and discovery well into the future.” More below

Keith’s note: With regard to the IAF Global Space Conference on Climate Change (GLOC 2026) in Kigali, Rwanda – don’t expect any NASA attendance.

1. “The U.S. Department of State has assessed Kigali (Rwanda) as being a HIGH-threat location for crime directed at or affecting official U.S. government interests.” — source
2. “The USGCRP met its statutory requirements by presenting its reports to Congress. NASA has no legal obligations to host http://globalchange.gov‘s data,” NASA Press Secretary Bethany Stevens said in an email. That means no data from the assessment or the government science office that coordinated the work will be on NASA, she said”. — source
3. The U.S. Government has formally isolated itself from international Climate Change efforts — Source

Keith’s note: Jared Isaacman @NASAAdmin Tweeted this summary of yesterday’s SLS Wet Dress test. “With the conclusion of the wet dress rehearsal today, we are moving off the February launch window and targeting March for the earliest possible launch of Artemis II. With more than three years between SLS launches, we fully anticipated encountering challenges. That is precisely why we conduct a wet dress rehearsal. These tests are designed to surface issues before flight and set up launch day with the highest probability of success.” Full text below.

“We’ve had a productive few days since I last checked in. Yesterday and today we worked on the eastern slopes adjacent to the Anuchin Glacier. We drilled a couple of holes in the lake – one to start a dive hole, the other to deploy a dissolved oxygen sensor that will track changes during freeze-up beneath the ice. But today marks another shift in the weather pattern.” More: Dale Andersen’s Astrobiology Antarctic Status Report: 1 February 2026: Drilling Diving Holes

Keith’s note (from 2003): “We were here to erect a memorial to Columbia astronaut Michael Anderson. These memorials take the form of an inukshuk, a stone sculpture in rough human form used by the Inuit to mark territory and as reference points for those who traverse this desolate place. As we establish these memorial inukshuks, we do so for the very same reason the Inuit do: to aid in future exploration – in this case, of Devon Island. Given the sheer mass of the structure, and the slow manner with which things change here, this inukshuk may well be standing 500 years from now. That should be long enough. Maybe someone serving on a starship will think to visit it.” Ad Astra More

Keith’s note: The following was sent out today by the chairs of NASA’s NASA Planetary Science Analysis/Assessment Groups: “The recent decision by NASA’s Planetary Science Division to cease financial support for planetary science Analysis/Assessment Groups (AGs), effective the end of April 2026, is deeply disappointing. That support enabled, among other things, day-to-day leadership of the AGs, in-person meetings of the science community (including NASA officials), and websites for the dissemination of information and reports to the science community and the public.” (more below)

Keith’s note: NASA posted this interesting news on Friday: “Perseverance Rover Completes First AI-Planned Drive on Mars“. This is a standard press release thing without much thought as to how it could be enhanced and re-purposed synergistically. Don’t mention the astrobiology or astrogeology science either. Just write it and push it out – on a Friday afternoon. In fact it could be used to leverage things NASA wants to be known for outside of the JPL robotics bubble. Done properly, White House OSTP; the tech, science, and commerce sectors; and other trending initiatives could be leveraged so as to boost visibility of NASA’s participation. But NASA is still kinda shy about all of that self promotion. NASA could do a vastly better job promoting all of its cool tech. Indeed, as budgets shrink NASA needs to do a much better job explaining itself. The Moon mission glow will (sadly) fade all too soon. (More below)

Keith’s note: Like everyone else I am acutely aware of the arrest of two journalists – independent journalists – by the Department of Justice today. Details are still lacking. But the White House is applauding it. NASA Public Affairs leadership – all of whom are loyal political appointees – have already essentially blacklisted me. That used to be just an annoyance – one I am used to after 30 years. Well, not any more. So what can I (and others covering NASA) expect from the political appointees at PAO if I post something they do not like? What about people who provide me with information? I do not have an answer. I am not easily spooked. But my bullshit meter is now permanently redlined – and my inclination to set foot on any NASA facility or attend any NASA-sponsored event is now in question.

Keith’s note: the following was issued by Terik Daily, chair of the SBAG (Small Bodies Assessment Group): “Dear Colleagues, The draft findings from this month’s 34th Meeting of the Small Bodies Assessment Group are now available for community comment: Community feedback on the draft findings will be taken until Sunday, February 8. After that date, the findings will be finalized. Please send feedback on the draft findings to the SBAG Chair at terik.daly -at – jhuapl.edu.” (Full document below.)

Keith’s 29 Jan note: Time magazine revealed its cover dedicated to the Artemis II mission Thursday morning via a press release and tweeted it out at 8:03 am EST. That tweet has gotten over 1 million impressions. Lots of people noticed and retweeted it. But no mention has been made at @NASA. OSTP retweeted it at noon. No mention by OSTP director @mkratsios47 or @NASAAdmin or @NASAArtemis. But PAO staffers Bethany Stevens and George Alderman noticed and retweeted it – so it is not as if NASA PAO was unaware of this. And OSTP tweeted it as well and got ~2,000 impressions (i.e. no one pays much attention to OSTP). But why not use @NASA and its 88.5 million followers? Given that the President really really likes the whole idea of being on the cover of Time magazine, you’d think that this would be a big deal. NASA Is certainly not shy about pumping out its own pre-game PR for the mission. So why ignore this one – especially since it gives free ‘earned visibility’? Those of us old enough to remember Apollo 8 in 1968 will recall the impact it had on the world – the first trip to the Moon. Now we are going back over half a century – the first human Moon mission for 70% of humanity – and an echo of that history has been made. But NASA choses to ignore it. Yet another example of NASA’s baffling way of not making the most of its global branding reach. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

• Friday 30 Jan Update: at 7:28 am EST this morning Jared Isaacman tweeted about this historic resonance. “58 years after Apollo 8’s historic trip around the Moon, NASA is heading back. This time, our crew is going farther into space than any human in history. Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen will embark on a ten-day mission around the Moon, marking America’s grand return to the lunar environment. Artemis II marks the beginning of the boldest series of missions the world has ever seen. Through the Artemis campaign, we will maintain American superiority in space, land American astronauts on the Moon, and establish a lunar base all before the end of 2028. Godspeed Artemis II 🇺🇸”
• And so has ESA Director general Josef Aschbacher : “Artemis is not the story of one nation alone – Europe plays a central and indispensable role. This is the story of a shared vision and a shared commitment. The European Service Module, developed by @ESA and built by European industry with contributions from 10 ESA Member States, is the powerhouse of NASA’s Orion spacecraft. It provides propulsion, electrical power, water, oxygen, thermal control and the capability to manoeuvre through space – including the critical burns needed to set the astronauts on their journey to the Moon. Quite simply, Orion could not fly without Europe. Europe is proud to stand shoulder to shoulder – and on the shoulders of giants – with its international partners, led by the United States🇺🇸. Together, we are extending humankind’s presence beyond Earth and demonstrating that cooperation remains our most powerful engine for the future.”
• And ESA too: “We’re proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with our international partners in Artemis. Our European Service Module is at the heart of NASA’s Orion spacecraft. Together, we’re extending humankind’s presence in space and demonstrating that multilateral and inclusive cooperation is vital for our future.”

Keith’s note: according to an obituary: “Debra (Debbie) had an illustrious career with NASA in Washington, DC. She started there in 1972 in the secretarial pool but quickly advanced due to her hard work and dedication. She received numerous recognitions and awards throughout her 34 years at NASA in International Affairs retiring in 2006. She had quite the career with trips all over the world, touring with astronauts and meeting heads of state, even royalty in several countries.” Ad Astra Debbie.