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An Astrobiology Spinoff?
An Astrobiology Spinoff?

Keith’s note: Although NASA did not sponsor research wherein tardigrade proteins were tested in human cells to see if they work and possibly influence human metabolism – someone did -and it worked. This emerged as the result of prior work into extremophiles. Tardigrades are a favorite extremeohpile amongst astrobiologists. They have even been studied on the International Space Station. Drug companies scour the world – sifting through soils, undersea creatures, and toxic waste dumps for interesting organisms that can provide new industrial processes or biomedical applications. One would hope that the people at NASA who do the whole Spinoffs thing every year would pay attention to things like this. Perhaps a little funding might be worth considering. NASA loves to talk about all the things ISS biomedical research can do for people back on Earth. Who knows maybe the notion of hibernating astronauts on long space missions could benefit. Last week NASA was crowing about the Biden Cancer Moonshot thing. Well, NASA Astrobiology research might also have similar spinoff benefits. But NASA won’t know unless it starts to poke around. Full release.

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  • NASA Watch
  • March 26, 2024
That Stealthy NASA Cancer Moonshot Event
That Stealthy NASA Cancer Moonshot Event

Keith’s Note: NASA is holding a Cancer Moonshot media thing at 9:30 am EDT on Thursday, 21 March at NASA Headquarters with the Secretary of HHS, the NASA Adminstrator, and some astronauts, to talk about NASA and the White House Cancer Moonshot effort. As a former NASA life scientist and space station payload guy this fascinates me. But I won’t bother to cover it. It is an onsite thing only and will not be broadcast on NASA TV – no mention of the event by NASA TV here or here or or on the SMD science calendar here. HHS has no mention here or here either. And there is zero mention at the Cancer Moonshot website itself. So, at most a handful of people will hear what is said and distilled summaries will appear on a few news websites – maybe. If this is such ‘a big f*#king deal’, as the President likes to say (it is a project for which the Bidens have a strong personal – family – interest), then you’d think that NASA and HHS – and OSTP – would say a teeny tiny bit more about it. Guess again.

If I went to this event I’d be asking these two questions (assuming that NASA PAO actually let me ask a question):

More below

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  • NASA Watch
  • March 19, 2024
Spaceship Endeavour Is In Orbit
Spaceship Endeavour Is In Orbit

Keith’s note: Crew 8 lifted off on time tonight and is now in orbit. They’ll be arriving at the International Space Station on Tuesday. I was on Bloomberg radio twice today and then on BBC World News TV [AUDIO] to provide some pre- and post-launch commentary. One thing that I noticed – and made mention of – are the names of the spacecraft involved. NASA TV’s hosts talked about the Crew Dragon “Endeavour” – which was named after Space Shuttle “Endeavour”. The Apollo 15 command module also named “Endeavour”. But NASA PAO seems to be uninterested in mentioning that these spaceships of exploration had a historic namesake i.e. Capt. James Cook’s H.M.S. Endeavour. Note that NASA kept the English spelling of Cook’s ship in all of the spacecraft named after it. Also, the Crew Dragon already in space and docked to ISS that will bring some of the current occupants home is named “Endurance” after Sir Ernest Shackleton’s famous antarctic exploration ship “Endurance” – which was recently re-discovered on the Antarctic seabed. NASA refers to these crew stays on ISS as “expeditions”. It would be nice if someone in NASA PAO synched up their commentary so as to remind the public about actual historic resonances with ships of exploration – especially as we prepare to return to the Moon – to explore. Just sayin’.

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  • NASA Watch
  • March 3, 2024
Becoming A Spacefaring Species
Becoming A Spacefaring Species

Keith’s note: We threw away Mir to make room for ISS since “there could be only one”. Just remember: once we splash ISS its capability – and decades of blood, sweat & tears – will become a coral reef. If we’re not creative enough to build permanent things in space then we will never truly become a spacefaring species. Just sayin’

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  • NASA Watch
  • February 14, 2024
B-52s Will Fly For A Century.  ISS – Not So Much
B-52s Will Fly For A Century. ISS – Not So Much

Keith’s note: NASA has asked companies to offer $1 billion ideas for how to dump the International Space Station into the Pacific. NASA seems to feel that it is not worth updating and they want to replace it with one or more commercial mini-space stations. But NASA may not have anywhere near the funds to do that for a while thus causing a gap in NASA’s human space flight access. Oh yes – and then there’s that Gateway mini-ISS that NASA wants to build out near the Moon for the constantly delayed and always over-budget Artemis Moon program. Congress is rather cool on dumping ISS – and much, much warmer on extending ISS. And if NASA gets cold feet on the future of humans in LEO – or the CLD money dries up – the various CLD commercial space station companies may have a hard time drumming up private sector funding – thus worsening the gap. We’ve already seen Northrop Grumman dropping their own independent CLD bid and merging with Voyager Space. But y’know: old things still work. And if you maintain them, they still will – and if you are smart, old things can get upgrades and keep working for less than replacing them. FWIW The USAF has flown B-52s since 1955. They still had 72 operational as of 2022. Upgrades were done in 2013-15. The last B-52s may well serve to 2050s i.e. 100 year old aircraft. Yet NASA struggles to extend the International Space Station to just one-third of that lifespan. Yes, this is an apples/oranges thing but we threw away Skylab – do you really want to splash the ISS NASA? Seriously.

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  • NASA Watch
  • November 27, 2023
SpaceRef on BBC World Service: ISS Astronauts And Bulldogs On Mars
SpaceRef on BBC World Service: ISS Astronauts And Bulldogs On Mars

Keith’s note: I was just on the BBC World Service talking about Frank Rubio’s new record on the ISS – and about the Moxie unit making oxygen on Mars. NASA’s press release about MOXIE
NASA says in its release that “MOXIE has generated a total of 122 grams of oxygen – about what a small dog breathes in 10 hours”. OK, so I am (was) an actual NASA space biologist once upon a time. As such I had a few opinions on this. Yes, I mentioned English bulldogs and suggested that they’d last a bit beyond 10 hours. I was on the BBC, so … [Audio]

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  • NASA Watch
  • September 12, 2023
Talking About UAE’s Sultan Alneyadi On Israeli TV
Talking About UAE’s Sultan Alneyadi On Israeli TV

Keith’s note: I was on I24 TV in Israel today talking about the return of UAE astronaut Sultan Alneyadi from the ISS. I also tried my usual trick of getting the TV network producer to offer some travel funds for me and the presenter to take a trip in to space. Again, No joy. But I tried. [Audio]

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  • NASA Watch
  • September 3, 2023
Space Stations And Fireflies
Space Stations And Fireflies


Keith’s note: I caught a space station flyover last night: “Time: Mon Jul 10 10:33 PM EDT , Visible: 7 min, Max Height: 82°, Appears: 10° above SW, Disappears: 10° above NE” I got a good 5 minutes of viewing – a perfect flyover – even with my hand over my bad eye (with cataracts). It is arguably the brightest thing in the night sky. And people live inside it. Here in Reston, Virginia – a “Tree City” we have lots of – trees. So usually I have to wait 1-2 minutes for the ISS to clear the trees. I usually catch it flickering behind a tree until it is higher up and in the clear. Enter the fireflies. They drove me nuts and faked me out several times. There is a piece of my mind in the ISS’ construction (it was my job at NASA at one time), there are things on board that I got named in honor of several NASA mentors, and then there is that little plastic nugget with 4 tiny Apollo 11 Moon rocks inside that Scott Parazynski and I schlepped all over Nepal (he took it up to the top of Everest) which is now inside the ISS observation cupola where everyone on board goes to look down at Earth. And all of that flew over MY HOUSE tonight. Too cool. Oh and it will happen again tonight. BTW That’s Jessica Watkins getting her daily dose of the #OverviewEffect

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  • NASA Watch
  • July 11, 2023
There Were Lot Of People In Space On Tuesday
There Were Lot Of People In Space On Tuesday

Keith’s note: On Tuesday I was on Bloomberg radio (audio) talking about China’s space program and global space efforts. With the arrival of Shenzhou-16 there are 6 people on Tiangong. Later in the day I was on CGTN (audio) talking about China’s ambitions including human missions to the Moon. With the AX-2 crew on ISS I counted 10 faces. Now they are headed back to Earth. So I guess that means we had 16 17 humans in orbit for a while today – and at time of this posting – they were in 3 different spacecraft. Its getting busy up there.

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  • NASA Watch
  • May 30, 2023
White House Policy Released: Maintaining U.S. Preeminence in Low Earth Orbit
White House Policy Released: Maintaining U.S. Preeminence in Low Earth Orbit

Keith’s note: According to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s new report on Low Earth Orbit research: “The United States holds the preeminent global position in space thanks to steadfast investments in space research and technology development, and strategic partnerships and collaborations. As we work to further explore the Moon and Mars, the use of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) grows, and the International Space Station begins its phased retirement, it is crucial that we maintain preeminence in space research. That’s why today the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy is releasing the Biden-Harris Administration’s vision for U.S. leadership in the future research and development (R&D) in LEO.” Summary and full report

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  • NASA Watch
  • March 31, 2023