Keith’s note: According to NASA “The next meeting of the National Space Council (NSpC) Users’ Advisory Group (UAG) is scheduled for December 1, 2023, 11:00am – 2:00pm EST. This meeting will be virtual-only, via dial-in and WebEx. Access information links for both virtual video and audio lines will be posted in advance on this website.“ This meeting was supposed to happen on 4 August 2023 but they rescheduled it – no reason given. It then took them 4 months to figure out what they wanted to do and reschedule it. It sure doesn’t sound like there is a lot of priority attached to this meeting in the NSpC or the Vice President’s office. As we all know by now all of the topics that are discussed by the UAG have already been decided – in advance – by the NSpC staff. The same thing happened in the previous Administration so at least they are being consistent. All the UAG does in these meetings is a short photo op (in this case a screen grab opportunity) and have the members say words prepared by their staff about the things that have already been decided/enacted. This gives the impression that experts deliberated about whatever their words say they did. And then someone checks a box because they did another one of those FACA advisory meeting things we do here in Washington. Here is the agenda. Will they talk about SLS delays/overruns or Mars Sample Return woes? There does not seem to be room in a 3 hour telecon with a jammed agenda like this. Meanwhile if you want to actually ask the NSpC what all this is about they still do not have any way to contact actual NSpC staff on their official website which is 3 paragraphs on a generic White House webpage. If you have nothing better to do then here are prior rants posts about the whole NSpC/UAG space advisory rabbit hole to look at.

Keith’s note: Looks like there was a high level meeting last week of the NASA Deputy Administrator, State Department, National Space Council Executive Director – and the Mongolian Prime Minister. But no one seems to care except Pam Melroy. The only place any of this is mentioned is on @Astro_Pam – an account with only 13,000 followers. @NASA has 75 million followers – but makes no mention. But PAO AA Marc Etkind and his crack social media squad could not be bothered with using that account to spread this international news INTERNATIONALLY or use NASA.gov to tell the folks here in the U.S. Of course, NASA OIIR never updates anything online. And forget about National Space Council – they do not even have telephone/email contacts on their useless home page. And the Mongolian Embassy Twitter mentions everything that their Prime minister did in Washington, DC last week – except the NASA thing. And don’t even bother with the search engines on NASA’s old or new (beta) websites. All they have to say about Mongolia has to do with forest fires 10 years ago. Meanwhile the Mongolian Prime minister was at the White house signing a “Strategic Third Neighbor Partnership”. The joint statement says “The United States and Mongolia also discussed ways to increase U.S.- Mongolia space and technology cooperation, including through the development of a bilateral space dialogue. Both countries are working towards advancing space situational awareness cooperation and ensuring a peaceful, safe, secure, and sustainable space environment.” But other than Pam Melroy no one at NASA seems to care. Yet another example of Squandering NASA’s Immense Soft Power. Just sayin’

Keith’s note: A week ago the National Space Council User’s Advisory Group held a meeting. They said that they’d get everything online. It has been a week. All that is online is the agenda. It as a link for the presentations. If you go there you will not see any presentations. There is a link for “National Space Council Users’ Advisory Group: Findings and Recommendations” but it points to a page last updated on 30 July 2020. All that was posted is a video by Buzz Aldrin and a raw video of the meeting at the original livestream link. NASA.gov makes no mention of this anywhere. NASA OIIR which oversees all of this inter- and intra-governmental advisory stuff is clueless as well. There is no mention of this or any other meeting. Nor is there any way to contact an identifiable human (like Chirag Parikh) at the official National Space Council webpage. There is a White House link to a short summary of the photo op all of the UAG members met VP Harris – lots of flowery blather but no substance. Oddly I had a link to Thomas Zurbuchen’s presentation – the one that NASA’s crack AV squad screwed up) which was online moments after the meeting ended – last week. You can catch my UAG coverage on Twitter here. It took the Biden Administration and NASA 2 years to actually assemble this UAG panel for a meeting. It is doubtful that they will accomplish anything more than the Trump Administration’s UAG did – other than dog and pony shows with expensive backdrops. I have seen innumerable pointless advisory panels in my 37 years inside of – and watching – NASA. This UAG is probably the most pointless of them all. If the Administration and NASA do not take the whole “user” aspect of space seriously then why should anyone else? Another 4 years wasted. Just saying.

Keith’s note: The National Space Council (NSpC) Users’ Advisory Group (UAG) Is meeting on Thursday 23 February from 9:00 am – 1:15 pm EST at the JW Marriott Hotel in Washington, DC. You can watch it live here. If you look at the Agenda you will see that it is filled with UAG members, space insiders, and NASA staff briefing one another in true echo chamber style. There is no scheduled outside input from the real world. There is a mention on the agenda that you can “submit a question, comment, or idea to the UAG, please use the following e-mail: [email protected]“. Just know that any questions you submit will be filtered and screened by lots of government people – so nothing provocative is likely to be asked at the meeting. And any answers you get back after the meeting will be bland and lacking in terms of having any worthwhile content. The UAG could have had real value. Instead it is mostly a pointless dog and pony show. More below.

Keith’s note: The following was just sent by NASA HQ to “National Space Council (NSpC) Users’ Advisory Group (UAG) members (2020-2022)”

Keith’s note: It is June July August 2022. The last time the National Space Council poked its head out through the curtains was December 2021. Six Seven Eight months. Does anyone know what they are doing? If you go to the official National Space Council Users’ Advisory Group (NSpC UAG) page at NASA you are greeted with banner image of the Trump Administration’s UAG. If you go to the membership […]

Keith’s note: It is June July 2022. The last time the National Space Council poked its head out through the curtains was December 2021. Six months. Does anyone know what they are doing? If you go to the official National Space Council Users’ Advisory Group (NSpC UAG) page at NASA you are greeted with banner image of the Trump Administration’s UAG. If you go to the membership roster page it […]

Vice President Highlights STEM in First National Space Council Meeting, NASA “Vice President Kamala Harris chaired the first National Space Council meeting of the Biden-Harris Administration Wednesday, Dec. 1 at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington. Prior to the meeting, President Biden expanded the number of participants of the council by executive order, reflecting the Biden-Harris administration’s broad priorities and creating the largest, most diverse space council in the […]

Original Document (PDF) Space activities are essential to our way of life. They advance our understanding of the Earth, the universe, and humanity; enable U.S. national security; create good jobs and economic opportunity; enhance our health and well-being; and inspire us to pursue our dreams. Space capabilities provide critical data, products, and services that drive innovation in the United States and around the world. Access to and use of space […]

Keith’s 30 November update: I will have an update for everyone at 11:00 am ET Wednesday morning. Keith’s 30 November update: I just got an email invitation to a post-National Space Council reception by the usual big aerospace suspects. “Following the National Space Council meeting on December 1, AIA, AIAA, CDSE, and CSF will be hosting a reception at the Willard Continental Hotel. Proof of vaccination will be required. This […]