Nasa plan to ‘lasso’ asteroid the size of two buses and turn it into a ‘space station’ to orbit the moon, Daiy Mail “Nasa scientists are planning to capture a 500 ton asteroid, relocate it and turn it into a space station for astronauts on their way to Mars. The White House’s Office of Science and technology will consider the 1.6bn plan in the coming weeks as it prepares to […]

Editorial on NASA Planetary R&A Programs, Mark V. Sykes, Planetary Science Institute “At a minimum, this year’s decline needs to be reversed to ensure that selection rates are improved to stop the imminent loss of the younger generation of planetary scientists as well as many seasoned researchers. The cost is frankly small and demands high priority. Multi-year budget planning is essential. We also face significant negative consequences from the effective […]

Keith’s note: In October NASA SMD PAO was caught totally off guard when the New Horizons team announced that debris in the vicinity of Pluto might force them to “bail out” (their term) of the original encounter. I submitted the following questions to NASA SMD PAO on 16 October and was told that a reply was being prepared. It has been 2 1/2 months and I still haven’t heard anything […]

Implications of Ongoing Fiscal Cliff Negotiations for NASA “As you are all likely aware, the Administration and Congress are continuing to work to resolve a series of economic or fiscal events, collectively referred to as the “fiscal cliff,” that are scheduled to occur around the end of the year. One of the key issues involves potential across-the-board reductions in Federal spending– also known as “sequestration”– that were put in place […]

Keith’s note: Internal NASA memo: “Jesco passed away today at ~11am. He died at home. He had flu like symptoms for the last week. He is survived by his wife Ursula. This was unexpected and a shock to everyone. Ursula is still making plans and will likely want a simple remembrance. Sam will coordinate and we will keep you informed of plans. Jesco was a tremendous representative of NASA. Jesco […]

SpaceX’s Grasshopper Takes Giant Leap Towards Reusability with 40 Meter Flight (with two videos) “SpaceX’s Grasshopper took a 12-story leap towards full and rapid rocket reusability in a test flight conducted December 17, 2012 at SpaceX’s rocket development facility in McGregor, Texas. Grasshopper, SpaceX’s vertical takeoff and landing vehicle (VTVL), rose 131 feet (40 meters), hovered and landed safely on the pad using closed loop thrust vector and throttle control. […]

NASA Planetary Division Management Responds to Community Concerns, Planetary Exploration Newsletter “Contrary to statements being made by some individuals in the science community, the recent announcement of the Mars 2020 rover has nothing to do with the current R&A selection rates nor has it impacted the current or projected amounts to be spent in the R&A program. The Mars 2020 rover will be designed to “conduct mobile surface-based science at […]

NASA LaRC Internal Email: 2,498 laptops later: The Miracle Has Occurred “As you all know, today is the Agency deadline for all laptops to be fully encrypted. I am happy to report that as of 10:30 this morning Langley reached our goal by completing the DAR encryption of 2,498 government and ACES systems.” DAR Implementation Email from LaRC Center Director Lesa Roe, earlier post “The Administrator has told all of […]

NASA Chief Scientist Abdalati Returning to University of Colorado “Gale Allen, associate chief scientist for Life and Microgravity Sciences, will serve as acting NASA chief scientist until a successor is named. Allen joined the Office of the Chief Scientist in 2011 from the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) at Headquarters, where she was director of Strategic Integration and Management. Before joining ESMD, Allen was deputy for Bioastronautics in the Office […]

NASA Internal Memo: Breach of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) Update “NASA has reallocated resources and has been working overtime to achieve the goal of 100 percent laptop encryption as quickly as possible and has made tremendous progress. In the past few weeks, more than 11,000 laptops have been encrypted, and, as of December 17th, NASA had encrypted 32,500 laptops, or about 85 percent of the laptops requiring encryption.” Keith’s note: […]