Keith’s note: Since there will be no budget emerging from Congress on 30 September, on 1 October the President’s Budget Request for FY 2026 will reign – unfettered. Add in some recision for good measure. The people of NASA will want to know what is going on – from NASA – not NASAWatch. Alas, NASA OCOMM/PAO will have ~60 FTEs laid off i.e. fewer people to explain increasingly more inexplicable things. “Beginning in FY 2026, the Office of Communications will restructure the organization to an Agency or centralized structure vs Center-specific to eliminate functions not statutorily mandated, except functions the Agency deems necessary, consolidate management layers and duplicative functions, and evaluate/implement technological solutions that automate routine tasks.” Source: PBR SD-21

Janet Petro memo: I’m pleased to share that Will Boyington (@Will_Bo) has been selected as associate administrator for NASA’s Office of Communications. In this role, he will direct the agency’s internal and external communications and serve as a senior advisor to me and other executive leaders. He will guide how we communicate across NASA’s mission areas – from aeronautics and science to technology and human spaceflight – with a special focus on enhancing how we tell the story of our Moon to Mars exploration efforts.

Keith’s note: NASA Sources report that OCOMM – NASA Office of Communications – employees are saying that at least 60% of their staff need to take advantage of a NASA Deferred Resignation Program (DRP), Voluntary Early Retirement (VERA), and/or Voluntary Separation Incentive Program (VSIP) to leave the agency and do so by the deadline. Otherwise there is going to be an involuntary RIF beginning in August. NASA is moving ahead with implementing the implications of the White House FY 2026 NASA Budget Request (detail below) even before Congress has a chance to take up the budget. All positions at field centers are being eliminated and NASA HQ will go from 39.9 to 33.8 FTE overall the agency will go from 76.2 FTE to 33.8 FTE. (FTE Chart below). Even though this would seem like jumping the shark (no budget in place) the folks running NASA have been told that organizational changes and efficiency actions such as this are simply following various Executive Order directives and would be happening anyway regardless of where the FY 2026 budget lands.

Keith’s note: According to Bob Jacobs (@BNJacobs) at NASA PAO: “After 25 years of public service, I have decided to retire from NASA. If I enjoyed any success, it was because of the team around me. Yes, I am looking forward to a new career challenge.” Bob’s contributions to NASA are immense and far too numerous to mention. 99% of what he did for the agency was without attribution and often involved diving catches behind the scenes. Some of the coolest things NASA talked about were the direct result of his steadfast dedication to the agency – often when others did not want to expend the energy to fix things and do them the right way. My only concern is where his small army (I am not exaggerating) of ‘Lost In Space’ robots that have guarded his office will end up – hopefully not homeless. I wish Bob all the best now that he is returning to the real world. Ad Astra.

Keith’s note: The following was sent out the other day after news of firings at NASA Public Affairs started to appear on social media (see screen grab from one fired employee below): “As many of you are aware, the spending caps enacted by Congress for fiscal year 2024 and 2025 are requiring many organizations like ours to make hard choices. We are not unique, and, unfortunately, we have had to make difficult decisions that affect some of our team. After thorough analysis and review of all available options, we are reducing some requirements at Goddard, Marshall and HQ on the eMITS and SRACES contracts. These decisions were not made lightly and do not reflect on the outstanding and tireless work of the communications team. While they will no doubt have impact, our core mission remains unchanged– we will continue to tell the incredible NASA story and inspire all to reach for the stars. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me, Michelle Jones or Wes Brown with any questions or concerns you may have. Together, we will navigate these challenges. Marc Etkind Associate Administrator for Communications”

Keith’s note: 56 Nations have signed the Antarctic Treaty and 33 have signed the Artemis Accords. Given more than a half century of global, peaceful collaboration in Antarctica we can now work toward a similar mode of cooperation in space – for everyone, everywhere. Alas, you’d think that on #AntarcticaDay that NASA OIIR or NASA PAO or someone at NASA HQ might stop to note the resonance between these two similar efforts. A worthy goal would be for NASA to seek to equal – and perhaps surpass – the size and extent of the successful Antarctic Treaty. But no. They just do photo ops at embassies.

Family note: “It is with a heavy heart that the Redmond family announces the passing of Chas Redmond. Our loving grandfather/father/husband/brother passed away on November 6th. He will be forever remembered for his laugh, art, music, kindness, adventurous spirit, and the joy he brought to so many.” Keith’s note: I think I knew Chas for nearly all of my 38+ years in DC in and around NASA. He was a multi-talented, creative guy at PAO before creativity was really considered a valuable asset for NASA public affairs. He was fascinated by the whole NASAWatch thing in the 90s and how it developed. Over the past decade or more we interacted multiple times a week on Facebook. Even when his body was doing its best to thwart him he kept going and going. We’ll miss you Chas. Class Act. Ad Astra.

Keith’s 8 March update: NASA PAO has contacted me to tell me that they have corrected this issue. Keith’s original note: NASA issued a press release on 1 March 2023 about newly published results from the DART mission. In that release they link to four papers in Nature magazine about DART mission results. Except when you go to the links that NASA posted you quickly find out that you can only read the abstracts of these papers – not the full paper that is behind Nature’s paywall (see the screen grab from Nature). You have to pay money out of your own pocket to read each of the papers. That’s odd. Repeated calls from the OSTPs in both the Obama and Biden Administrations were made to make access to government-funded research open and transparent for all taxpayers as soon as possible (see “OSTP Issues Guidance to Make Federally Funded Research Freely Available Without Delay” from 25 August 2022). More below.

NAC notes: Wayne Hale, closing today's NASA Advisory Council meeting, suggested the agency would be better served by increased transparency, citing public affairs "happy words" vs more frequent briefings/discussion of technical challenges, problems and solutions — William Harwood (@cbs_spacenews) January 19, 2022

NASA ‘looks to the heavens’ for help: Agency enlists 24 theologians to assess how the world would react to the discovery of alien life on distant planets and how it might change our perception of gods and creation, Daily Mail “NASA is looking to the heavens for help with assessing how humans will react if alien life is found on other planets and how the discovery could impact our ideas […]