Keith’s note: Update on the earlier post Going Out Of Business Sale For JPL Satellites: emails are circulating within JPL and NASA that mention a number of satellites that are listed as being targeted for shut down in the President’s FY 2026 budget request. NASA HQ is apparently not waiting for an actual budget. The list of satellites of the discount rack at NASA now includes OCO-2, OCO-3, SAGE III, CLARREO-Pathfinder, GLIMR, DSCOVR, CYGNSS, Terra, Aqua, Aura, and GeoCarb. Stay tuned for more bargains!

Keith’s note: Apparently Janet Petro did not ‘Embrace The Challenge’ hard enough when it came to getting people at NASA to quit – thus leading to her replacement – even thought the NASA website says she is still in charge. At least that is what senior NASA leadership tells me. Interim (i.e part time) NASA Administrator (and also Secretary of Transportation) Sean Duffy is a 100% Administration loyalist so he can be expected to carry out (or delegate) whatever actions the White House tells NASA to do – without question. Since Duffy already has a day job, this means that NASA Chief of Staff Brian Hughes is the de facto Administrator. As such NASA is a managerial subsidiary of DOT for the time being. There are plans for Secretary-Administrator Duffy and NASA Deputy Associate Administrator Casey Swails to make some sort of fireside chat video on Friday that will be available to all NASA employees. As such you can expect the budget cutting and personnel deletion to continue at Warp 9.

Keith’s note: according to sources at NASA JPL an effort is underway to get rid of their satellite inventory. JPL staff have been directed to start to prepare order and bidding forms for satellites so that they can be ready for sale to the highest bidder. In essence this is a ‘going out of business sale’ for JPL satellites that are supposed to be decommissioned. This sale includes including OCO-2, OCO-3, and payloads on the ISS. JPL is interested in government and private sector buyers. Update: But Wait: More Used Satellite Bargains At NASA

Keith’s note: I was just on Bloomberg TV/radio/Web. [audio] I was asked if there was an issue with New Interim NASA Administrator Sean Duffy having more than one job. I replied that this usually means that you delegate more to your staff. I noted that while Department of Transportation involves a lot of known, commonplace things but that NASA is really all about the whole rocket science thing and that Duffy will really need to lean heavily upon NASA staff. I also noted that the agency is still being run by NASA Chief of Staff Brian Hughes who is a former Trump campaign guy and a pal of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles – and that having a direct hotline into the White House when you need something is certainly not a bad thing to have. On the other hand Duffy is a staunch Trump loyalist so he’ll be implementing the Presidential Budget Request for NASA for FY 2026 including layoffs and cancellations as if it is a formal plan until directed otherwise by Congressional action on a budget that the President signs off on. Video below – my interview starts at 44:20

Keith’s note: NASA-related things from today’s Senate Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science subcommittee mark-up:

• Sen. Moran R-KS likes what has been done to NASA’s budget. “Allocation the committee was given shows real increase in spending power of 279M – an increase 0.37% above FY 2025 level. This bill is close to being a normal bill.”
• Sen. Moran R-KS – “Science funding makes minimal cut $60M to NSF 0.67% decrease. The NASA budget mark ($$ not mentioned) reflects an ambitious approach to space exploration and NASA’s flagship program Artemis – rejects premature cancellation of SLS and Orion before commercial replacements are available. Accelerates plans to place Americans on the Lunar surface before the Chinese and then sends astronauts to Mars. Supports Earth science and safeguard Earth from natural disasters.”
• Sen. Van Hollen D-MD said “for NASA we provided $24.9B slightly above FY 2025. CJS Bill will have NASA at $24.9B and that the agency should focus on solar system exploration, climate change, sustainable aeronautics, and rejected rejected cuts that would have cut 47% of the science budget and led to cancellation of 55 missions. Provides $7.3 billion to NASA Science.”
• Sen. Durbin D-IL – “Houston has a problem – A Space Shuttle has been exhibited at Smithsonian in Chantilly, VA for 12 years. It has had 25 million visitors. One of the states that lost the competition has a new idea: let’s do it over again and make sure Texas wins. They added $85 million to move the shuttle to Texas. That is not what is necessary or what it would cost. NASA and Smithsonian said the cost would be $305 million. Where will Houston get the money to house the shuttle – $178 million would have to be added onto the cost. This will be the first time in history of the Smithsonian that someone has forcibly taken possession of an exhibit. Let’s be honest about this – if you are going use reconciliation funds to move this – its a heist by Texas because they lost the competition 12 years go.”

Keith’s note: I will be on “CNN This Morning” at 6:35 am EDT on Thursday to talk about NASA layoffs and whether America is going to cede its space leadership to China. At 9:30 am EDT there will be a full Senate Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee Markup which has jurisdiction over NASA, NSF, NOAA, NIST, etc. . According to Politico Pro “when asked Wednesday if a scheduled Senate markup of the White House’s NASA bill would restore science spending, Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) replied, “The answer is yes.”

Keith’s note: Kudos to @exploreplanets – Planetary Society – on what they do WRT FY 2026 budget cuts. But they totally ignore how the rest of us in the space community are impacted – and how we’re responding. They made no mention of:

• NASA Is Rethinking Who Will Run JPL
• Today’s Budget Protest at NASA Headquarters
• Second Budget Cut Rally At NASA Glenn
• Congressional Event: A Science Fair of Canceled Grants
• NASA’s Impending Data Diaspora
• NASA Workforce Depletion Update
• Editorial: Taking Action Against Historical Censorship by USRA
• Space Biology Funding Call To Action
• And so on. United We Stand – Divided We Fall.

Keith’s note: according to a press release (more below): “Stand Up for Science, Cleveland Organizes Rally for NASA Glenn on Anniversary of Moon Landing”:

• Who: Stand Up for Science Cleveland
• What: Rally to Protest Budget Cuts at NASA Glenn
• Where: Willard Park in downtown Cleveland
• When: July 20, 2025, 2-4 PM

Keith’s note: the following letter was sent to congressional leaders and signed by every living former NASA Science Associate Administrator: “We are writing in opposition to the Administration’s FY 2026 NASA budget request, which proposes a 47% reduction to NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. We request that the Congress preserve U.S. leadership in space science by maintaining funding for the NASA Science Mission Directorate at the FY 2025 enacted level.” More below.

Media advisory: On Tuesday, July 8, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in the Rayburn House Office Building Foyer (Rayburn Foyer) the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology – Democrats will host an event titled, The Things We’ll Never Know: A Science Fair of Canceled Grants. Over twenty scientists from research institutions across the nation whose grants have been canceled by the Trump administration will be in attendance to present posters to share their story and discuss their now-canceled research grants. This event is open to the public and to the press. Please RSVP to attend (details below).

Keith’s note: According to White House looks to freeze more agency funds — and expand executive power in Politico: “OMB’s targets include NSF research and education programs that operate using funding leftover from 2024. Also on the list are … more than $100 million in science spending at NASA, which includes climate research.” Meanwhile, internal agency sources report that NASA is already implementing aspects of FY 2026 budget request – now – sometimes using FY 2025 dollars. And they are emboldened in so doing by various Executive Orders from the White House and loyalists on the 9th floor. NASA is acting as if FY 2026 request is the de facto operating plan going forth. Dozens of NASA mission teams are scrambling to complete shutdown plans to make it easier for NASA to start flipping the OFF switch on short notice. The plan is to implement all of the shutdowns etc. effective on 1 October 2025 i.e. as FY 2026 begins – regardless of what the actual status of a real FY 2026 Congressional budget is. By the time there’s a formal budget it will be too late to reverse most – if not all – of these layoffs, shutdowns, and cancellations. Of course, NASA also has RIF plans – but they use euphemisms to say that they don’t. Since not enough people are leaving, something has to give. And don’t count on Congress to come to the agency’s rescue. It’s going to be a long hot summer y’all, so Embrace THAT Challenge.

Keith’s note: according to GAO’s NASA: Assessments of Major Projects: “Most major NASA projects since GAO’s first assessment in 2009 have avoided significant cost overruns. GAO found that of the 53 major projects that have completed development or are currently in the final phase of development, 30 remained under the statutory threshold for reporting cost overruns. Specifically, these 30 project’s development costs did not exceed their baselined cost estimates by 15 percent or more. When a project’s overrun rises to this threshold, NASA is required to take certain steps. For example, it must notify congressional committees of the overrun and update the project’s cost or schedule plans. At the same time, Artemis and Artemis-related cost overruns are an increasing proportion of the portfolio’s overall overruns. Three Artemis projects account for nearly $7 billion of the total overruns—or almost half of the overruns collectively experienced by the 53 projects.”

Keith’s note: Those of you in the space community know that NASA Science is facing an immense budget cut. Dozens of missions have been cancelled and many missions that are still returning valuable data are being shut off – in many cases to save a few million dollars – a tiny fraction of what it took to mount the missions in the first place. This data will be lost. In the case of New Horizons which is currently traversing the outer solar system, NASA is going to knowingly forfeit a third interstellar mission (after the twin Voyagers). This latest interstellar mission would be done with a healthy spacecraft outfitted with 21st century instrumentation. The Voyagers are minimally functional and will soon fade all together. We could continue to expand America’s pre-eminent exploration of interstellar space until the middle of this century. And that lead will last unchallenged for a generation or more to come. As I noted last month “This is not the way for America to lead the way out into the cosmos. Hopefully Congress will wake up and notice. Let’s ‘Keep America Great In Space’ — not abandon our lead.” More: Stellar Cartography: A Demonstration Of Interstellar Navigation Using New Horizons.

Keith’s note: I spent several hours at NASA HQ this morning at the protest event. By the time left around 10:00 am there were around 100 people there. Lots of cars honking, cheering, and loads of hand made signs that mostly focused on cuts being made to NASA’s budget – specifically to NASA’s Science activities. The crowd was friendly, courteous, with no trouble makers and minimal evidence of any security. While these events are often limited in their reach anyone inside of NASA HQ or arriving at work saw clear evidence that there are people from GSFC and HQ that are willing to take a public – and loud – stance on this issue. The one Trump sign quickly disappeared with a overall mostly non-partisan focus on cuts to NASA and how Congress might fix that. Kudos to these folks.

Keith’s note: With regard today’s protest event at NASA Headquarters, I simply do not understand why the Planetary Society (and all those other advocacy and industry groups) totally avoided even a mere mention of this event. You would think that some sort of tip of the hat toward active citizen involvement would be worthy of mention. A few weeks ago Planetary Society had a petition that got “20,787 signatures from around the world” and delivered them to some office in Congress. That’s nice – but it is a little weird that they are mounting an effort with non-US signatories when the folks on Capitol Hill only deal with their actual American constituents’ interests. Also, you’d think that the whole notion of a “rising tide lift all boats” or “united we stand, divided we fall” might occur to the Planetary Society folks. Instead they try and paint themselves an anointed savior and then only when it comes to a part of NASA’s budget – not all of it. This budget cut is an issue that affects all corners of the space sector in America – and the impact that this has on all Americans – not just a portion thereof.

Keith’s note: NASA Associate Administrators & Center Directors are told by the Acting Administrator to get more people to quit. Non-compliance by CDs/AAs will lead to their firing. And yes, there will be RIFs. Monday’s protest is a start. So, take Janet Petro’s advice: Embrace The Challenge – show them you won’t take this sitting down. Be safe.

Keith’s note: As noted last week there will be a protest outside of NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC from 7:00-11:00 am EDT on Monday, 30 June 2025. Information about the event can be found here. This event has obtained a formal permit from Metro DC Police. The event is endorsed by the Goddard Engineers, Scientists, and Technicians Association (GESTA). But NASA HQ management is not happy about this. This event is not endorsed by and does not represent the views of NASA or any employer doing business with NASA. But you would be wise to be aware of your surroundings and who may be watching you. The employee union is spreading in accurate information by mentioning the word “strike” – which this is not – and no one has ever said it was. Here is what the organizers, NASA employees union, NASA management, and the NASA HQ union says: (More below)

Keith’s note: HQ-NASA-INC sent this out at 3:04 PM edt today about the demonstration at NASA HQ On monday: “NASA Headquarters Team, A demonstration is scheduled to take place outside NASA Headquarters from 7 to 11 a.m. EDT on Monday, June 30. The demonstration is permitted by the Metro DC Police.

Keith’s note: Last week there was a NASA budget cut protest rally at NASA Glenn in Cleveland. (News story). Now there will be a NASA budget protest event at NASA HQ in Washington, DC next Monday from 7-11 am. (this graphic is their official poster). This event has a formal permit with Metro DC Police. Organizers will not prevent or dissuade anyone from entering HQ but will raise awareness about NASA budget cuts. More information here: https://sites.google.com/view/nasa-needs-help. Embrace The Challenge. More below: