Keith’s note: With regard to Mars Sample Return, Bill Nelson said today that “$11 billion for Mars Sample Return and waiting until the 2040s to get a sample back are both “unacceptable” … “What to do? I have asked staff to reach out via RFI to JPL, industry, to all NASA centers to report back this Fall an alternate plan that get samples back quicker and cheaper and stay within budget limits that Decadal Survey said we should.” More: NASA Sets Path to Return Mars Samples, Seeks Innovative Designs

Keith’s note: I was just on a media telecon with Astronaut Loral O’Hara who just returned from 204 days on the International Space Station.

“I have a question that comes out my own experience doing long expeditions to remote research locations, small tents, bad food, etc. But then there’s the amazing place I visited and explored. And you forget the hard parts of it all. You have been a submersible driver and a long-term space station astronaut. Both involved things called “expeditions”. In one case you leave the big floating lab and go somewhere. In the other you stay in the big orbiting lab while IT goes somewhere and you get to go outside maybe once or twice. Which of these activities is a better analog for what astronauts (maybe you) will be doing on the Moon and Mars? Or are they both valuable? What other non-space activities or analogs on Earth might be useful to help prepare these future space explorers (again, maybe you)?”

Note: There was an issue with the JSC PAO audio but they got enough to ask Loral the gist of my question.

Loral O’Hara: “I think that there a lot of analogs that we can do here on Earth.  Before I worked at NASA I worked as an ocean engineer and I went out on research ships and that was a great analog. Like you said you’ve had a lot of great experiences around the world working in (ant)arctica or doing field work pretty much anywhere – I think having those small teams in the field working with a team somewhere else back on shore with more resources I think is a good analog for space station and all the missions we’re hoping to do in the future.

Keith’s note: I had an interesting job at STS-1 – I was California Governor Jerry Brown’s advance man. I took a few days off from my job at Rockwell Downey where I stood inside of Discovery and Atlantis as they were being built to work for my old boss (I worked on his 1980 presidential campaign). The trip to the launch was insane. The area was still somewhat boarded up after the post-Apollo economic downturn and things were opening up for the shuttle era. So everyone was happy on the Space Coast.

“NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Japan’s Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) Masahito Moriyama have signed an agreement to advance sustainable human exploration of the Moon. Japan will design, develop, and operate a pressurized rover for crewed and uncrewed exploration on the Moon. NASA will provide the launch and delivery of the rover to the Moon as well as two opportunities for Japanese astronauts to travel to the lunar surface.” More

Keith’s note: I am an eclipse talking head today. I did KTRH and Alhurra interviews yesterday and did CNN this morning [audio]. I did Deutsche Welle just after 2:00 pm EDT [audio] and then again at 4:45 pm EDT [audio] and yet again just after 7:00 pm EDT [audio] today. I also did CTV at 3:15 pm EDT [audio]. I have to say it is nice to have a day off from all of the otherwise horrible daily news on planet Earth – and be able to talk about millions of people staring up at the sky (with their special eclipse glasses on) to observe a wonderous dance of the worlds.

Keith’s note: Chirag Parikh Deputy Assistant to the President and Executive Secretary, National Space Council posted something on LinkedIn. There is something happening next week – “Find Your Place in Space Week” from 6-13 April 2024. I never got anything from NASA PAO, OSTP, or National Space Council. There is no mention of this here at NASA news or here at the NASA main page or at NASA STEM Engagement or OSTP or National Space Council. Apparently NASA TV is ignoring it. If you use NASA’s search engine there is no mention. BUT If you Google these words “Find Your Place in Space Week NASA” a page shows up – but it is hidden inside of NASA.gov – you have to already know about it before you search for it. The Space Foundation is holding the Space Symposium next week – a natural tie-in, right? They ignore it too. The Coalition for Deep Space Exploration, AIAA, Planetary Society, National Space Society etc. make no mention of this either. There are lots of partners on listed by National Space Council but if you go to USGS, NSF, NOAA, etc. etc. there is no mention whatsoever of this event that they are co-sponsoring. Again, you already need to know exactly what words to use to find this – otherwise, no joy since none of the obvious places even mention it. It is baffling that one part of the federal government has no idea what other parts are doing – especially NASA. All we get is a White House guy telling the space wonk community about it on LinkedIn. Here’s what Parikh posted:

Keith’s note: NASAWatch turns 28 on 1 Apr 2024 (not a joke). It started as “NASA RIFWatch” on 1 Apr 1996 with this post “RIF at NASA In Summer 1997?”. The website was first hosted on a Mac Classic II on a 128 kbps ISDN line in a little condo in Reston, Virginia (see 20 Years Ago Today: The Seeds of NASAWatch). I sincerely doubt there will be many future birthdays for this website. Besides, Dan Goldin and I have a mutual admiration society thing going over on LinkedIn 😲. Meanwhile, here are a few things from those early days that are still online:

• Rogue Webmasters, Government Executive, 1 Oct 1996
• NASA’s Most Important Asset, Gerry Griffin, 31 December 1996
• Changes in Thinking At NASA November 29, 1996, PBS News Hour

Keith’s note: On 16/17 April 2009 astronaut Scott Parazynski and 3 Sherpa climbers at Everest Base Camp sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to astronaut Michael Barrett who was on board the ISS via satellite phone. I was trekking up to Everest Base Camp with several bags of chocolate-covered expresso beans that Scott had begged me not to forget. Flash forward to 2024 and Barratt has a family-sized bag of these candies on ISS. I don’t care what people say, astronauts are easy to train. Larger image

Keith’s note: Well you knew it was inevitable. When things get tough at NASA – announce some sort of reinvention or new direction and then come up with a motto, bumper sticker, talking points, and some elevator pitches – all of which are designed to make people think that there’s a new way of doing things that will be better than ever before. Even if it is just the same old nonsense in a new wrapper. This time it is “HQ Reimagined”. Before that there was “OneNASA”, “OpenNASA”, “Faster Better Cheaper”, “Journey to Mars”, “As Only NASA Can” etc. If only NASA could spend time actually implementing these changes and then sticking with them instead of coming up with new buzz words and talking points, maybe things would actually improve.

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.

Keith’s note: In the ‘Star Trek Strange New Worlds’ Second Season episode “Under The Cloak of War” there are battle scenes that feature military base with a lot of tents. Those tents were bought by the production company from the manufacturer Heimplanet. By coincidence, astrobiologist, SCUBA explorer, and adventurer Dale Andersen had several of these tents at his base camp at Lake Untersee, Antarctica in 2023. One thing led to another and now Heimplanet has a blog post on Dale’s expedition and their tent referencing my Astrobiology.com website and Star Trek Strange New Worlds. Life imitating art imitating life etc. C’mon NASA SMD, you need to push the envelope a lot further as you tell the world about your various Astrobiology projects. Your outreach is paltry and boring. Full story: That Time Star Trek Tents Were Actually Used In Antarctica.

Keith’s note: Unfortunately Governor Abbott and his posse are diminishing the rights of many of the current and future space employees in Texas to have control over their own bodies. Not the best way to attract business. Good luck with that Texas Space Commission. it is much the same situation in other space states like Alabama and Florida. Don’t be surprised when people turn down job offers. Just sayin’. Here’s the press release.

Keith’s 26 March 2024 note: 3 months ago I posted a note about the badly maintained Astrobiology program pages at NASA.gov. Among other things it was not clear who was in charge of NASA’s Astrobiology program, NASA SMD’s public-facing webpages seemed to be uninterested in even mentioning the word “astrobiology” much less sending you to places where you could learn about it, and NASA’s own search engine was not at all helpful and downright misleading. Since then couple of personnel-related things have been fixed but otherwise, if you want to understand what NASA is doing in Astrobiology, you should use Google instead. “Searching for life” in the universe is often cited by NASA – and is one of the most provocative things NASA does – with profound implications. Yet the agency seems to go out of its way to make sure all the existing research and potential stays out of date and hidden inside of badly designed and maintained websites. Go figure. Below is my earlier post with comments about the few things that have been fixed.

Keith’s note: George Abbey has died. It is not an understatement to note that he has left an indelible and enduring mark on NASA and human spaceflight. They only make one of these models once in a generation. Ad Astra George. From the Abbey Family: “Our devoted father, mentor, guidepost, and hero, George W. S. Abbey, passed away last night after an illness. He was 91.”

Keith’s note: According to the NASA OIG Report Audit of NASA’s High-End Computing Capabilities: Despite a history of innovation in HEC, NASA needs a renewed commitment and sustained leadership attention to reinvigorate its HEC efforts. Without key changes, the Agency’s HEC is likely to constrain future mission priorities and goals. NASA’s HEC is not managed as a program or centralized Agency strategic service; instead, resources are managed within the Earth Science Research Program within SMD, and this organizational placement hinders NASA’s HEC efforts. One scientist within that Program is responsible for HEC capabilities at both HEC facilities, in addition to their Earth science responsibilities. This disjointed organization and management of HEC resources exacerbates several issues, including oversight, monitoring, and the foreign national accreditation access process.

• Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee Hearing – Advancing Scientific Discovery: Assessing the Status of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate
• March 21, 2024 10:00 AM EDT
• Hearing charter
• Dr. Nicola Fox, Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA
• Mr. George A. Scott, Acting Inspector General, NASA
• Dr. Jonathan I. Lunine, Cornell University
• Mr. A. Thomas Young, Former Director, GSFC and Former President and COO, Martin Marietta
• Watch live

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

Keith’s note: A lot of things in space are the direct result of Jeff’s quiet, diligent, and inspired work behind the scenes at both NASA and Congress over the decades. Jeff could use a hand right about now. Go to the Jeff Bingham Cancer Treatment and Care Fund and please consider making a donation. Thanks.

Keith’s Note: Former NASA astronaut Gen. Thomas Stafford has died. Details to follow. Ad Astra. Update from Bill Nelson: “Today General Tom Stafford went to the eternal heavens which he so courageously explored as a Gemini and Apollo astronaut as well as a peacemaker in Apollo Soyuz. Those of us privileged to know him are very sad but grateful we knew a giant.”

Keith’s note: As best I can collate the facts, on 18 March 1945, 79 years ago today, a V-2 missile was launched from Statenkwartier in The Hague in occupied Netherlands at 9:25 am by Germany’s Battery 485. My father was almost killed when it struck London a few minutes later. My 50 year career was enabled by that V-2. A direct descendant, a Saturn V, designed by the same V-2 team, placed Americans on the Moon. The other day, yet another direct descendant, the SpaceX Starship, leapt above the sky. I originally wrote this story in 2019 as the Apollo 11 anniversary approached. Humanity now lives in space permanently. Our spacecraft have left the solar system. Our space telescopes look back to the beginning of time. We are spacefarers. Space technology has its roots in weapons of war. America’s early accomplishments in space were achieved with direct use of Nazi technology and personnel. Russia followed a similar path. Today North Korea, Iran, Russia and other nations use rocket designs with a clear lineage originating with Hitler’s V-2. All technology is iterative. Smart technology persists and finds peaceful uses despite its war making origins.