JunoCam just got the rings of Jupiter FROM THE INSIDE. Audible ooos and aahs in the room. #AGU16 — Simon Porter (@AscendingNode) December 13, 2016 @NASAWatch They are literally the worst instrument to launch a tinfoil hat "NASA is covering stuff up" attack against. — Simon Porter (@AscendingNode) December 13, 2016 @NASAWatch Yes, when they release all the other images for this week's perijove passage. Three seconds of research would […]

Keith’s note: The next time you hear the space and planetary science communities complaining about budget cuts consider what their NASA mission PIs are paid at SwRI (2014 IRS Form, Part VII) [Juno] Scott J Bolton $345,145 + 51,887 [New Horizons] Sol A Stern $370,522 + 52,435 SwRI is not at all shy about telling you how much money they earn – indeed they put this on their press releases. […]

Keith’s note: The use of social media during the recent Pluto encounter has been widely hailed. That said, Southwest Research Institute Public affairs continues with its slightly strange media policy – in this case by blocking @NASAWatch from following @NewHorizons2015 on Twitter. Despite the recent “personal” label on this Twitter account, this account is used by a SWRI employee for NASA-funded work-related news and has been mentioned in official SWRI, […]

Public Asked to Help Name Features on Pluto, SETI Institute Keith’s 6 April update: NASA has yet to mention this public engagement project on its own New Horizons website. Nor has JHUAPL. Gee, and there’s only 1 day left. Next time perhaps SETI Institute and SwRI will actually get NASA’s permission for things like this before they go off and tell others (IAU etc.) that they already have NASA’s permission […]

Keith’s note: In October NASA SMD PAO was caught totally off guard when the New Horizons team announced that debris in the vicinity of Pluto might force them to “bail out” (their term) of the original encounter. I submitted the following questions to NASA SMD PAO on 16 October and was told that a reply was being prepared. It has been 2 1/2 months and I still haven’t heard anything […]

SwRI Selected as Payload Integrator for Three NASA Suborbital Flight Opportunities Research Providers “Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has been selected to provide payload flight integration services as part of three suborbital flight provider contracts recently announced by NASA to Virgin Galactic, XCOR and Masten Space Systems. These contracts are an important step forward for the NASA Flight Opportunities Program, funded by NASA’s Office of the Chief Technologist and managed by […]

In Historic First, Three Scientists to Fly on Commercial Spacecraft, CSF “Three scientists, including a former NASA executive, will become some of the first scientists to fly on a commercial spacecraft — and they will fly multiple times — under the terms of two funded agreements announced between the nonprofit Southwest Research Institute and two commercial spacecraft providers, Virgin Galactic and XCOR Aerospace.” Keith’s note: Something interesting is happening: XCOR […]

SwRI signs contracts to fly eight pioneering missions with SwRI payload specialists aboard reusable suborbital launchers, with options for more flights “Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) announced pioneering agreements today to send three scientists as payload specialists aboard eight suborbital flights — some to altitudes greater than 350,000 feet, above the internationally recognized boundary of space. No other organization has yet concluded contracts to fly its researchers in space aboard next-generation […]

Virgin Galactic to Fly Scientists to Space “Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, LLC, the world’s first commercial spaceline, announced today the first ever commercial contracts to fly scientists into space for the purpose of conducting research experiments. Virgin Galactic’s signed contract with the Southwest Research Institute is the first such agreement to fly scientists into space (over 100 kilometers or 328,000 feet above the Earth), enabling valuable microgravity, biology, climate […]

Southwest Research Institute SwRI and XCOR Sign First Ever Commercial Reusable Suborbital Vehicle Scientific Flight Contract “In a first for the reusable suborbital launch vehicle industry, XCOR Aerospace announced today that the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), a commercial entity, has purchased six suborbital flights to carry SwRI experiments as pathfinder missions for other SwRI suborbital clients. This is the first such contract SwRI has issued, and XCOR is proud to […]