Space Team Biden Issues A Report Card at T+100
Biden-Harris Administration Shows Strong Support for NASA in First 100 Days, NASA
“In the first 100 days of the Biden-Harris Administration, NASA has taken bold steps to expand America’s exploration and scientific frontiers, advancing the nation’s commitment to build back better through innovation, combat climate change, re-establish America’s standing abroad, and inspire the next generation.”
Keith’s note: Lots of stuff is mentioned in this self-issued report card. Apparently Space Team Biden gives itself an ‘A’ grade on everything. But some caveats need to be brought up to adjust the rosy glow. For starters, the Mars Perseverance/Ingenuity mission left Earth for Mars before the election or the Inauguration. The SLS stuff was more or less a done deal as well. So … the new Biden folks mostly kept the lights on and did not break anything. As for the attention paid to NASA by the Biden Administration, there has been quite a lot – right from the onset. Not the rah rah type of semi-campaign rally stuff that the Trump folks seemed to revel in. Rather, the Biden folks have been placing NASA in a larger context of what the nation aspires to be – and do – as we emerge from the economic downturn and the pandemic.
Those big ticket items aside, there are some other accomplishments noted in this update that require a little more transparency – and some actual information – from Space Team Biden. Of course, the logical place to look would be NASA’s website which, as I have noted previously, is broken, stale, confusing, and totally inadequate for the tasks it should be accomplishing. Some examples:
“Appointed a diversity and inclusion advisor to advance the administration’s commitment to advance racial equity. The advisor will work with NASA leadership to further advance diversity and inclusion in the strategic decision-making of the agency to enhance organizational effectiveness, help achieve mission goals, and meet future challenges.”
Who is this person? What is their background? What are their responsibilities? Is this a civil service hiring or a political appointee? The NASA ODEO (Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity) website makes no mention of this person or their responsibilities.
“Established an internal working group on orbital debris to improve the safety and sustainability of the orbital environment, which is a critical component of the space-based activities that our modern society depends on.”
Who is on this working group? What is their charter and when will they issue a report? If you use the NASA.gov website to search for this effort all you get are old results. If you go to the Orbital Debris Program Office page there is no mention made of this activity,
“Initiated an internal review of the Artemis program to evaluate the current program budget and timeline, and develop high level plans that include content, schedule, and budgets for the program.”
When will this review be made public? Who is on the review team? Is it already complete given that the HLS contract was awarded? There is no mention made on the NASA Artemis or NASA HEOMD websites.
“Established a new position of senior climate advisor to provide NASA leadership critical insights and recommendations for the agency’s full spectrum of science, technology, and infrastructure programs related to climate.”
When is this person (Gavin Schmidt) going to tell us what he is doing? There is nothing on the GISS or SMD Earth Science pages that mentions what he will be doing. His Twitter account (is this personal or official?) does not seem to mention anything about the job either.
Hopefully NASA PAO and OCOMMS will fix this dilapidated web presence once and for all so that everyone can find out what the agency is actually doing. Right now the NASA website presence is often more of hindrance than an asset.
Schedule aside, has there been any talk of post 2024 (or whenever) Moon landing plans? So far all I hear is focusing on the landing and the crew makeup. It concerns me that there is no talk of how, specifically, the exploration program will continue after this. Yes, I hear vague talk of Moon orbiting stations or bases on the Moon itself, but I don’t see any action towards any of those goals in a specific manner.
Please, let the 2024 landing not be another “Yay us!” moment, followed by “Welp, been there, done that, so we can shut NASA’s budget down” moment and forget about human space exploration for the next 50 years. .
It seems to me we are rapidly approaching the point where we have to decide and say *specifically* what the next steps will be, yet, I have heard nothing.
>what the next steps will be, yet, I have heard nothing.
Probably depends on what SpaceX has planned. They’ve been selected for HLS though NASA plans can change as very depended on what elected officials declare. SpaceX has their plans but we really don’t know what they are except for what Musk says and what we see being tested.
Yep, Musk and the other corporate types undoubtedly have their own plans. And that is great, I am fully behind private space exploration initiatives.
I was referring to US government plans for human activities in space, AFAIK, the only official approach is Artemis, again which is great and all. It will be terrific to have humans on the Moon again. However, once that goal is reached what is next? Is it flags and footprints all over again, or has there been an actual decision on how to continue from there?:
So far, all I have heard is “We could do this or we could do that, or we could do this other thing”. At some point a decision has to be made specifically what the mission is. I was just wondering if we were near that decision or not.
NASA and others are spending money on lunar missions beyond the Artemis III landing. The Gateway station (whatever we may think of its technical merits) is funded and the first two modules are under development. Since it will not be used for Artemis III, that sounds like a someone’s serious about Artemis IV and later missions. Japan is developing a large, pressurized rover for those later missions, nominally capable of 14-day traverses. The HLS contract SpaceX was awarded called for a two person lander by 2024 and plans for an enhanced, four person lander for later missions. So, while they may not have a detailed blueprint for a lunar base, they are working on the pieces for a larger lunar presence than an Apollo-style flags and footprints mission.
I think we have a very specific plan from Space X. The Starship, Super Heavy, and orbital refueling will allow us to go anywhere in the solar system. They are being built in quantity at Boca Chica.
They are building the outer shells of cool-looking flying silos, giving an appearance that’s likely deceiving.
so much remains to be developed, not the least of which would be life support and recycling tech (about which NASA knows a thing or two). Add avionics, too. Critical-path tech is mostly on the drawing boards, or in early testing, ASAIK, including how to store hydrogen in space, and how to actually do on-orbit fuel transfers. The cadence and critical timing of proposed launches, too, remain huge hurdles.
It’s possible that this arm-chair space observer is under-informed. Certainly it’s happened before. But SX, while almost managing to launch the tin cans – a disparaging term, to be sure, coming from this SX fan boy – SX has hurdles that remain.
I take some encouragement from NASA’s vote of confidence that SX is working these issues. Even so, integration, too, will be a huge time sucker.
I have faith but some actual insight would be helpful.
Mainly we are all thankful Biden turned out to be different from Obama; that Biden did not cancel the current program in favor of something he knew would be better and different, and leave thousands of people out of work with no meaningful plan for 8 years. If you do not know what youre doing sometimes it’s better to do nothing at all.
Artemis is currently, using Orion, and the Gateway and the presumed lander, a flags and footprints mission. Aside from the Japanese rover, the system could carry only a couple people for a few days; little capability beyond what Apollo accomplished in 1971-72. Space X Star Ship is a much larger system, for many more people, sizeable cargo, and longer stay times. Space X also has experience with AI, automation and human operated spacecraft with life support systems. So on the whole with Space X the US is way ahead.