Keith’s 18 Nov note: Here we go again. This just appeared online at NASA. “NASA Scientists Confirm Water Vapor on Europa“. Look how the article opens: “Forty years ago, a Voyager spacecraft snapped the first closeup images of Europa, one of Jupiter’s 79 moons. These revealed brownish cracks slicing the moon’s icy surface, which give Europa the look of a veiny eyeball. Missions to the outer solar system in the […]
NASA OIG: NASA’s Management of Crew Transportation to the International Space Station, NASA OIG “… the CCP’s flight assumptions were flawed because they failed to take into consideration a normal flight cadence and the five Soyuz seats NASA planned to purchase from Boeing. … “NASA’s crew access analysis also did not include the five Soyuz seats the Agency was planning to purchase from Boeing for flights in 2017 through 2019. […]
Keith’s note: Mike Gold from Maxar has been tapped be become a special advisory to NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. Gold will be providing advice to Bridenstine on a range of topics with a special focus on expanding commercialization in low Earth orbit, cis-lunar space and beyond. In addition of working for Maxar he also served on the NASA Adviosry Council and was the energetic chair of the NAC Regulatory and […]
Keith’s note: @VP Pence retweeted this tweet and it has gone viral. Oops. Yesterday's speech by @VP Pence was delayed while @JimBridenstine taught Pence how to fly the new Millennium Falcon simulator at @NASAAmes #StarWars pic.twitter.com/u3fQ8eIb8S — NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) November 15, 2019
Remarks by Vice President Pence to NASA’s Ames Research Center Employees and Guests “And unlike in years past, under this President’s leadership, I’m proud to report we not only have the will, we not only have the support of the American people, we not only have the greatest innovators and inventors, but we also have the budgets to match. We’re going to give NASA the resources they need to accomplish […]
NASA OIG: NASA’s Management of Crew Transportation to the International Space Station “Boeing and SpaceX each face significant safety and technical challenges with parachutes, propulsion, and launch abort systems that need to be resolved prior to receiving NASA authorization to transport crew to the ISS. The complexity of these issues has already caused at least a 2-year delay in both contractors’ development, testing, and qualification schedules and may further delay […]
Keith’s 13 Nov note: Last month the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) tweeted about their mailing list telling people to join. I tried to join only to find out that I was already a member. This list doesn’t seem to mail anything. I just stumbled across this Astrobiology event which is happening tomorrow at Ames: “Celebrating the NAI at 20“. I never got an email about this. Indeed I am rather […]
Quick math. Assume $100 million for a @SpaceX Falcon Heavy. The $34 billion cost thus far of developing @NASA_SLS (which has not even flown) could have bought 340 Falcon Heavy rockets. The final $50 billion cost of SLS could have bought 500 of them. Just sayin' https://t.co/LlYVnzL7rh — NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) November 13, 2019
Keeping Our Sights on Mars Part 2: Structuring a Moon-Mars Program for Success Rep. Johnson “Proponents of the Administration’s crash program may argue that such a deadline will instill a sense of urgency and motivation into our space program. However, an arbitrary deadline that is uninformed by technical and programmatic realities, that is unaccompanied by a credible plan, and that fails to identify the needed resources is one that sets […]
NASA OIG: 2019 Report on NASA’s Top Management and Performance Challenges Excerpts “Achieving the ambitious goals of landing humans on the Moon by 2024 and Mars in the 2030s will require strong, consistent, and sustained leadership by the President, Congress, and NASA. For its part, NASA must determine the long-term costs, set realistic schedules, define system requirements and mission planning, form or firm up international partnerships, and leverage commercial space […]
