Keith’s note: This was released the other day. Looks like the gutting of NASA’s budget has impacts far beyond the U.S. Indeed, such a statement by another space agency about internal NASA issues is rather unprecedented. “ ESA Director General reaction to a reduced budget proposal for NASA“

“On 2 May 2025, the White House Office of Management and Budget released a ‘skinny’ version of the President’s Budget Request (PBR) for fiscal year 2026. The more detailed version of the request is expected to be released in late May-early June. The Budget Request release marks the beginning of the appropriation process in US Congress culminating in the President’s signature of the budget bill passed by the House and the Senate – thus it should be kept in mind that this is still very much a work in progress.

Keith’s note: I really had fun today on i24 TV in Israel (again) today talking about the ESA proposal for a time zone on the Moon with Ellie Hochenberg. Audio. Video Link below

The James Webb Space Telescope Has Left Earth “The James Webb Space Telescope is safely in space, powered on and communicating with ground controllers. Webb continues in coast phase, and is now oriented correctly with respect to the Sun. At approximately 30 minutes after launch, Webb’s solar array began to open up. It is now fully deployed and we have confirmed that the spacecraft is power positive.” James Webb Space […]

ESA scales down science mission operations amid pandemic, ESA “In response to the escalating coronavirus pandemic, ESA has decided to further reduce on-site personnel at its mission control centre in Darmstadt, Germany. The new adjustments require temporarily stopping instrument operation and data gathering on four Solar System science missions, which are part of the wider fleet of 21 spacecraft currently flown by the Agency from the European Space Operations Centre […]

ESA Mission Control Adjusts To Coronavirus Conditions, ESA “Responsible for spacecraft orbiting Earth, the Sun and exploring the Solar System, teams at ESA’s ESOC mission control deal with in-flight challenges every day, from faulty hardware, problematic software and hazardous space debris to computer viruses that could affect ground stations. So how do they keep missions flying when a viral pandemic puts the people of the Agency at risk?” Keith’s note: […]

Schiaparelli Impact Site on Mars Viewed From Orbit “This Oct. 25, 2016, image shows the area where the European Space Agency’s Schiaparelli test lander reached the surface of Mars, with magnified insets of three sites where components of the spacecraft hit the ground. It is the first view of the site from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter taken after the Oct. 19, […]

Schiaparelli Crash Site Located From Orbit “NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has identified new markings on the surface of the Red Planet that are believed to be related to ESA’s ExoMars Schiaparelli entry, descent and landing technology demonstrator module. Estimates are that Schiaparelli dropped from a height of between 2 and 4 kilometres, therefore impacting at a considerable speed, greater than 300 km/h. The relatively large size of the feature would […]

NASA moves to rejoin sped-up gravitational wave mission, Science “This week, at the 11th LISA symposium in Zürich, Switzerland, a NASA official said he was ready to rejoin the LISA mission, which the agency left in 2011. Meanwhile, ESA says it is trying to move the launch of the mission up several years from 2034. “This is a very important meeting,” says David Shoemaker, a gravitational wave physicist at the […]

Human flights to Mars still at least 15 years off: ESA head, Reuters “Dreaming of a trip to Mars? You’ll have to wait at least 15 years for the technology to be developed, the head of the European Space Agency (ESA) said, putting doubt on claims that the journey could happen sooner. “If there was enough money then we could possibly do it earlier but there is not as much […]

NASA Administrator Bolden Addresses ESA Council “The third phase is becoming “Earth Independent” by building upon what we are learning on the Space Station and what we will learn in the “Proving Ground” of the lunar vicinity to enable human missions to Mars. It is with this plan in mind that I’m here today to encourage you to continue your support for human exploration, starting with an ESA Council decision […]