Ed Weiler Will Keep His New Job

NASA Internal Memo: Weiler Assumes Official Role As NASA Science Chief

"Administrator Michael Griffin announced Wednesday that Ed Weiler will remain as NASA's associate administrator for the agency's Science Mission Directorate. Weiler was named interim chief of the directorate March 26."

Confusing ROSES-08 Amendment

NASA ROSES-08 Amendment 8: Cancellation of Space Policy Research program

"This amendment cancels the program element in Appendix E.5 entitled "Space Policy Research." At this time, the SMD program cannot support new investigations in this area. No Space Policy Research investigations will be solicited at this time."

Editor's note: I am confused. This says "Appendix E.5 entitled Space Policy Research" yet this is what Section E.5 is titled: "E.5 OPPORTUNITIES IN SCIENCE MISSION DIRECTORATE EDUCATION AND PUBLIC OUTREACH". Does NASA mean to cancel "E.6 SPACE POLICY RESEARCH" or are they canceling education and public outreach?

NASA ROSES-08 Amendment 8: Cancellation of Space Policy Research program

"This amendment cancels the program element in Appendix E.5 entitled "Space Policy Research." At this time, the SMD program cannot support new investigations in this area. No Space Policy Research investigations will be solicited at this time."

Editor's update: According to NASA "E6 (Space Policy) has been canceled, not E5 (E/PO)".

Life Science at NASA: Fixing A Problem That You Caused

Q&A With John H. Marburger, Chronicle of Higher Education

"The NASA budget -- people may complain about it, but it's still grown. It's still a very substantial fraction of everything else. The administration's been trying to repair the imbalance between life science and physical science, which is a problem."

Editor's note: That's hilarious - given that the current problem with life sciences was actually caused by by the Bush Administration in the first place. Didn't they brief Marburger on this?

NLSI Open For Business

New NASA lunar institute opens its doors, New Scientist

"NASA plans to select the first four research sites towards the end of this year. Each one will be funded to the tune of $1 to $2 million annually, and together they will employ about 50 scientists. As NASA's lunar budget grows in the build-up to a human flight to the moon by 2020, the institute will grow to include more collaborating sites, including sites in other countries. "I would anticipate that within a few years we may have five or six nodes abroad," said Worden."

Reverting to Old (Bad) Habits at NASA

Troubles parallel ambitions in NASA Mars project, USA Today

"They aimed high, and they got burned," says Arizona State University's Phil Christensen, a Mars scientist who helped review NASA's Mars program. To make up for Mars Lab's ballooning cost, $1.2 billion, NASA has had to raid the coffers of other science projects. ... Despite the missteps, Edward Weiler, the acting head of NASA's science division, says he'll do what it takes to fund the rover. Many NASA science projects will have take a small hit to pay for the overruns. "I'm trying to spread the pain," Weiler says. "Everything is fair game."

Editor's note: Ah, how quickly NASA slides back to the old way of doing things - one big project bursts through its cost cap and everyone else has to pay for it. Where is the incentive to stay within cost caps if you know that NASA will always pay your overrun and take it out of everyone else's hide - especially if you are a big center with lobbyists prowling around Congress? Indeed, doesn't this incentivize other projects to build in some margin in their proposals (thus increasing costs) as insurance ? Why "spread the pain", Ed? Why not focus the "pain" on the source of the overrun?

Phobos - Close Enough To Almost Touch

NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE Sees Phobos in Color and Stereo

"The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, run from The University of Arizona, has produced a new color stereo view of Phobos, the larger and inner of Mars' two tiny moons. The HiRISE camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took two images of Phobos 10 minutes apart on March 23. Scientists combined the images for a stereo view. "Phobos is of great interest because it may be rich in water ice and carbon-rich materials," professor Alfred McEwen of the UA's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, and HiRISE principal investigator, said."

News From Mars

Opportunity Update: Sols 1492-1494, Martian Chronicles

"Opportunity is still making her laborious way over to Cape Verde. This weekend we had a drive planned, but the wheels slipped too much in the loose sand that we're driving on, so just to be safe, the drive was cut short. The good news is that this week Opportunity will be driving every day, so we should make better time. More good news is that we got some pretty pictures down over the weekend. First and foremost, the full-res frames of the false color mosaic of Cape Verde finally came down. Check it out (click for full-res) ..."

Alan Stern Says Farewell

A Farewell Message from Alan Stern

"As you probably know by now, I have announced my resignation as NASA's Associate Administrator for SMD and will be departing at the end of this week. Dr. Ed Weiler will assume this post on Monday April 7. I assure you that my decision to resign came only after several months of hard thought and reflection about the consequences of spiraling mission costs that SMD could not control. In the end, this became an important matter of principle that trumped even my boss, NASA Administrator Mike Griffin's desire for me to stay and my regard for him."

SMD Update

NASA Weathers Departure, Rumors of Budget Cuts, NPR

"Audio for this story will be available at approx. 6:00 p.m. ET

Talk of the Nation, March 28, 2008 - Planetary scientist Alan Stern has announced that he is stepping down as NASA's associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, the head role in the space agency's science programs. His departure was unexpected, and the agency gave no reason for the sudden departure."

SMD Chief Scientist Leaving NASA HQ

Editor's note: SMD Chief Scientist John Mather announced this [Wednesday] morning that he is going back to his JWST job full time.

Editor's update: Anyone who seeks to connect the dots, so to speak, and think that John Mather's decision has anything to do with Alan Stern's decision to leave would be incorrect.

Mapping Titan

A Vector Map of the Unnamed Methane Sea on Titan, io9.com

"Peter Minton is a California teacher who loves to make vector maps in his spare time. His favorite places to map are islands and coastlines, and so when the Cassini-Huygens probe sent back images from Saturn's moon Titan he was happy to discover the geographical features he loves most. There, on the pole of Titan, was a sea full of islands. An unnamed methane sea, but still mappable using vectoring software. This is the map he created, with longitude and latitude lines."

Alan Stern Is Leaving NASA

NASA Administrator Announces Science Mission Directorate Leadeship Changes

"NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin issued the following statement Wednesday regarding the announcement that Dr. S. Alan Stern, NASA associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, has decided to leave the agency."

From: Stern, Alan (HQ-DA000): "SMD Colleagues-- Yesterday I offered and Mike Griffin reluctantly accepted my resignation as Associate Administrator. Mike will shortly be naming an interim AA. I will remain at NASA for a few weeks. It's been my privilege to serve the NASA and the scientific community, and to work with you. I also want you to know that Mike and I remain on good terms. He remains in my eyes the best Administrator NASA has ever had."

From an internal email by someone@smd.nasa.gov: "Today Alan Stern announced that he had resigned his position as AA. In his talk to the Science Mission Directorate he said that the management issues were about cost control and that he did not see a way for him to do what needs to be done. He didn't go into details. Evidently there are extremely strong opinions about all this. ... Staff reaction to the resignation was I think a bit of a shock and a great sense of loss. Alan brought a breath of fresh air and a new spirit to the organization that was a lot of fun for me to share."

Editor's note: Mike Griffin seems to have an uncanny ability to cause anyone with talent, energy, and dedication to walk away from NASA. This departure by Alan Stern is troubling - no, it is downright depressing. Indeed, I think it clearly signals the end of Mike Griffin's ability to credibly manage the agency.

Comments? Send them to nasawatch@spaceref.com. Your responses thus far:

Taken together, they seem to say that there may be no one who could "credibly manage" NASA in the current environment.

Give Us What We Want or We'll Shoot The Cute Little Rover

NASA cut means no roving for Mars rover, AP

"Scientists plan to put one of the twin Mars rovers to sleep and limit the activities of the other robot to fulfill a NASA order to cut $4 million from the program's budget, mission team members said Monday."

Mixed signals from NASA about fate of Mars rover, CNN

"There is a process that has to be followed for any mission to be canceled and the cancellation of the Mars Exploration Rovers is not under consideration," Jacobs said. "There is an ongoing budget review within the agency's Mars exploration program. However, shutting down of one of the rovers is not an option."

Editor's note: JPL is spinning this as if Spirit is being put to death as an innocent victim. It is already in hibernation for the winter and will stay that way for quite some time. Even if it was fully active its ability to do meaningful science is all but at an end - and its useful lifetime has vastly exceeded everyone's wildest expectations. [note: I will admit that I was a little harsh on Spirit's lack of usefulness. It is just sad that JPL is holding it hostage in order to make its political points]

Meanwhile, yet another outrageous cost overrun on MSL due to JPL's bad management has forced NASA to cough up $200 million in an attempt to fix things. If keeping a hobbled rover, as spunky and adorable as it is, alive is that important you'd think that JPL could find a way to work that $4 million out of the $200 million they have all but extorted from NASA HQ.

Moreover, given that they screwed up, you'd think they'd dip into the fee (i.e. their profit) that they get from their contract to NASA. But no, JPL only knows how to stick their hand out - and not into their own pocket.

That said, the rovers are still an astonishing investment that can be capitalized on for mere peanuts - its just a shame that JPL has let the situation stoop to this new low and allows the rovers to be held hostage.

Some folks mumble behind the scenes that HQ forced JPL into the situation it now finds itself in. All I can offer is to ask what this says about JPL's ability to understand the real cost of its programs. Moreover, it speaks volumes as to the lengths JPL will go to get missions including looking the other way when they know that the numbers don't add up.

Stay tuned. I am certain that Lou Friedman and the Planetary Society will soon sound off on Pasadena-centric Mars politics once again.

Comments? Send them to nasawatch@spaceref.com. Your comments thus far:

Hi Keith, I have to disagree, you are wrong about your assessment of Spirit. "Even if it was fully active its ability to do meaningful science is all but at an end...". There is still plenty of meaningful science left in Spirit and for Spirit to do! We are currently parked on Home Plate for the winter season, by the way we did this same type of thing last martian winter. In this stationary mode we are/were still able to conduct useful and meaningful geologic and atmospheric investigations. As for your comment if it was 'fully active' if by that you mean that if we were driving Spirit then you are wrong yet again on this. We have many exciting and important targets awaiting us to the south of Home Plate (von Braun, Goddard, The Promised Land, search for more silica rich deposits) and I could go on. The geologic story here in the Inner Basin of the Columbia Hills is a very rich and complex one indeed, with a plethora of more meaningful scientific discoveries awaiting to be made!

New Uses For Old Spacecraft

NASA Request for Information: New Science Investigations Using Existing NASA Spacecraft

"NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) currently sponsors approximately 85 flight missions, involving over 90 spacecraft, divided between missions in development and missions in operations. One of SMD's programmatic objectives is to maximize the science return for the Nation within the available budget. This Request for Information (RFI) solicits input from the broad space science community that would contribute to NASA's study of possible new uses for current NASA spacecraft beyond their current missions. Responses to this RFI (NNH08ZDA005L) will be used to inform NASA's program planning."

NASA FY09 Science Budget Hearing

House Science and Technology Subcommittee Expresses Concern over Budgetary Outlook for NASA Science Programs

"Added Udall, "NASA's challenging new science initiatives are to be built on a budget that increases by only 1% through FY11, and that assumes only inflationary increases at best in the years beyond that. There will be little new money--instead, there will be a continuing need to transfer of funds across the science accounts to support each new initiative--an approach some might call 'robbing Peter to pay Paul'. I'm very concerned that such an approach will not prove sustainable or credible."

Witnesses: FY 2009 NASA Science Budget Makes Best of Limited Resources

Statement of Alan Stern
Statement of Jack Burns
Statement of Berrien Moore
Statement of Lennard Fisk
Statement of Steven Squyres

Barnstorming Over Enceladus

Editor's note: According to NASA sources Cassini's flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus occurred today around noon Pacific time.

As scheduled, no contact was made with the spacecraft until around 7:00 PM PST today. Science data collection was been completed and Cassini has reoriented itself so as to point at Earth and play back the data that was collected. This playback will continue until tomorrow afternoon.

Early science results may be available Thursday afternoon.

Cassini Spacecraft to Dive Into Water Plume of Saturn Moon

"NASA's Cassini spacecraft will make an unprecedented "in your face" flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus on Wed., March 12. The spacecraft, orchestrating its closest approach to date, will skirt along the edges of huge Old-Faithful-like geysers erupting from giant fractures on the south pole of Enceladus. Cassini will sample scientifically valuable water-ice, dust and gas in the plume."

Enceladus Flyby Blog

More Unsubstantiated Arm Waving From Lou Friedman - Update

A Letter to Rep. Adam Schiff on the Mars Exploration Program, Planetary Society

"We support the new proposed direction for Mars sample return proposed by NASA. But it is being offered with no funds in the next five years."

Editor's 3 March 2008 note: NASA has set aside $68 million for Mars Sample Return mission studies so Friedman's claim is demonstrably wrong - as are many other things in this letter (what else is new?) Stay tuned.

Editor's 10 March 2008 note: Have a look at this presentation from the LSPC and some of the disinformation that is being sewn regarding SMD projects: Mars Program Myth Busters (PDF), SMD

Interesting Neighbors?

Alpha Centauri should harbor detectable, Earth-like planets, according to new study by UC Santa Cruz astronomers

"A rocky planet similar to Earth may be orbiting one of our nearest stellar neighbors and could be detected using existing techniques, according to a new study led by astronomers at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The closest stars to our Sun are in the three-star system called Alpha Centauri, a popular destination for interstellar travel in works of science fiction."

Spirit Lives Up To Its Name

NASA Mars Exploration Rover Update March 3, 2008

"Spirit has achieved a northerly tilt of 29.9 degrees! As a result, based on power projections, Spirit has a fighting chance of surviving another winter on Mars, if the weather and environment cooperate. Plans for sol 1471 (Feb. 22, 2008) called for a test of the stability of Spirit's new perch prior to using the rock abrasion tool by having the rover touch the Martian surface with the Moessbauer spectrometer and apply 10 newtons of pressure (called a pre-load)."

Avalanches on Mars

NASA Spacecraft Photographs Avalanches on Mars, NASA

"A NASA spacecraft in orbit around Mars has taken the first ever image of active avalanches near the Red Planet's north pole. The image shows tan clouds billowing away from the foot of a towering slope, where ice and dust have just cascaded down. ing Experiment (HiRISE) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took the photograph Feb. 19. It is one of approximately 2,400 HiRISE images being released today."

New Frontiers AO NET June

NASA Offers Pre-screening of Principal Investigator Revised Requirements for New Frontiers Opportunity

"The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Mission Directorate (SMD) plans to release an Announcement of Opportunity (AO) for the third New Frontiers (NF-3) mission no earlier than June 2008. Downselection would occur in 2009. This NF-3 AO will solicit only missions that do not require nuclear sources for power generation or propulsion."

What is a Planet?

The Next Great Planet Debate, MSNBC

"Many astronomers say the definition that the IAU came up doesn't adequately reflect the diversity of worlds we see even in our own solar system - and arguably, might even exclude Jupiter as an official planet. Now a replay of the "Great Planet Debate" has been scheduled for August. Pluto may remain in the pint-size pigeonhole - but the other planets, in our solar system and beyond, would get their own pigeonholes as well."

SMD Update

NASA SMD SARA Update 15 February 2008

"In round numbers, though, the Space Science divisions each increased R&A at least 10% and as much as 30%. The increases are strategic, so not every program element will be increased. In Planetary, for example, look for significant repair to the Astrobiology program, and the exciting start to the lunar research line, among other changes to come. Earth Science is busy advancing the decadal survey recommendations and the many missions they are starting each have R&A components to them, so while the R&A budget stays the same for Earth, it is really getting a boost in other ways."

NASA Sponsors Studies of Next Generation Astronomy Missions

"NASA has selected 19 science teams to conduct yearlong studies of new concepts for its next generation of major observatories. The studies will help NASA make decisions about how it explores the heavens in the future, following the Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey."

SMD Budget Update

A Budget Message from Alan Stern Associate Administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate

"A month ago today I wrote you an email via NSPIRES about the work being done in NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) to invigorate the flight and research programs we're administering. Although there was good news to talk about then, I could not discuss the content of the President's FY09 budget request and what that budget portends for SMD."

The Greening of SMD

Editor's note: Due to several problems with today's NASA Science Mission Directorate telecon I was unable to ask SMD Associate Alan Stern a question. However, I did manage to get in touch with him after the telecon. I asked him "This budget calls for some new Earth science missions at a time when the Bush Administration is often cited as being uninterested in Earth and/or climate related science. Can you describe the impetus for this decision - did NASA suggest these missions on their own initiative or did the White House ask that NASA propose them?"

Stern said "neither". He explained by recalling that early in his time at NASA he told Mike Griffin that he wanted to try and ramp up Earth Science. According to Stern, Mike Griffin said "I am good with that". NASA then took this idea forward to John Marburger at OSTP only to discover that Marburger had already decided on his own that he wanted to see NASA do this. As such, the idea did not meet with resistance, but rather, it was met with open arms in both locations. "And Mike was green light all the way". Stern said.

Speaking to the overall SMD budget picture Stern expressed enthusiasm for the way things have changed for SMD in the past year, noting that R&A was up and that there multiple new starts which Stern characterized as being "like a Gatling gun as opposed to the occasional pistol fire."

The Stars Like Dust

The Growing-up of a Star, ESO

"The astronomers had a close look at the object known as MWC 147, lying about 2,600 light years away towards the constellation of Monoceros ('the Unicorn'). MWC 147 belongs to the family of Herbig Ae/Be objects. These have a few times the mass of our Sun and are still forming, increasing in mass by swallowing material present in a surrounding disc."

Editor's note: I see a lot of stunning images every day as I prepare and post items on SpaceRef.com. Yesterday, one image passed through my gaze and caused me to take notice.

This image reminded me of one I first saw 30 years ago - in a (pre-Hubble) book called "Colours of the Stars" - an image of a star field so dense that you could see thousands of them in a glance with no effort. Almost like stepping stones across a brook. This new image from ESO, titled "Around MWC 147", shows a similar distribution of stars. In some places, at full resolution, it seems that the stars are bumping into each other - almost like couscous or grits in a pot of hot water.

Of course, they are not bumping into each other - we are looking at a 2D image of a vast 3D structure. That said, the clustering of so many stars gives them a commonality - almost Saganesque i.e. like the proverbial grains of sand often used to describe how many stars there are.

As always, there are artifacts in electronic images - places where images have been pasted together or portions where data collection was less than perfect. Stars that are a bit less than a pixel in size do not fully appear. Kind of like watching digital cable TV when the bandwidth drops and things start to break down to isolated clusters of pixels.

In looking at the hi-res version of this image I noticed some of these artifacts - seams in the image. Given the sheer density of the stars in this image, I could not help but think that the home star of a sentient civilization could have inadvertently been omitted due to someone's Photoshop skills or the sensitivity of a CCD. A few pixels and someone's history is omitted.

Just recall the scene from the film "Apollo 13" where Tom Hanks (as Jim Lovell) holds his thumb up to obscure Earth - and his reaction to be being able to do so.

Zooming back out a bit, I get this impression that stars are not rare things. Indeed, they are common. And even if the conditions for life require a rather rare confluence of conditions, ample opportunities for life exist due to the sheer number of stars.

As I look at this image, I cannot help but think of the title of an Isaac Asimov novel "The Stars Like Dust" - for that is exactly what I am seeing.

So, take that, those of you out there who think we can learn nothing from exploring space - and ourselves - virtually and in person.

Space Imagery as Art

Editor's note: I was doing my regular walk through raw images sent back from Saturn by Cassini. The images are organized on the webpage as thumbnails, 12 at a time. This time, something emergent appeared in my mind as I looked at several pages of thumbnails. The first thing that came to mind - instantly - was "Frank Stella".

Now, some of you may get this instantly. Most of you will not. You see, I served time as an art major in the 70s and my brother-in-law runs a modern art museum in The Netherlands. My point? Pictures from space can be pretty and often inspirational in their own right as individual works of art. However, they can evoke unexpected responses when seen in groupings. Perhaps someone at NASA should be thinking of a travelling exhibit - an art exhibit in a large format - of images from space.

There is a precedent: NASA just took the transcendent step of producing a tactile art book of images taken by spacecraft for the blind.

Editor's note: Several readers brought these art activities to my attention today:

From Earth to the Universe - an exhibit of astronomical images, International Year of Astronomy

"IYA2009 is an unprecedented opportunity to present astronomy to the global community in a way that has never been done before. The "From Earth to the Universe" project is an exhibition arranged by the IYA2009 that will bring these images to a wider audience in non-traditional venues such as public parks and gardens, art museums, shopping malls and metro stations."

Universal art - Photos from the Hubble Space Telescope show that science and beauty go hand in hand, Baltimore Sun

"Mapping the Cosmos: Images from the Hubble Space Telescope presents a vision of the universe that normally is invisible to us, in part because of the great distances involved and the obscuring effects of our atmosphere, and in part because Hubble's unblinking eye, orbiting 350 miles above Earth's surface, detects wavelengths of light that our eyes can't see."

Reader note: This book, "Touch the Invisible Sky," is actually just the latest in a series of books for the visually impaired (including Touch the Stars, Touch the Sun, and Touch the Universe). The author's website has more information: http://youcandoastronomy.com. The prototype for the next book in the series, Touch the Solar System, is under development.

Mapping Half a New World

Counting Mercury's Craters

"On January 14, 2008, MESSENGER flew by Mercury and snapped images of a large portion of the surface that had not been previously seen by spacecraft. Ever since the first images were received back on Earth one day later, January 15, MESSENGER team members have been closely examining and studying this "new" terrain with great interest and excitement."

Comets and Asteroids: Not So Different?

Stardust comet dust resembles asteroid materials

"Contrary to expectations for a small icy body, much of the comet dust returned by the Stardust mission formed very close to the young sun and was altered from the solar system's early materials. When the Stardust mission returned to Earth with samples from the comet Wild 2 in 2006, scientists knew the material would provide new clues about the formation of our solar system, but they didn't know exactly how."

Big Rock Set To Buzz Earth

Asteroid to Make Rare Close Flyby of Earth January 29

"Scientists are monitoring the orbit of asteroid 2007 TU24. The asteroid, believed to be between 150 meters (500 feet) and 610 meters (2,000 feet) in size, is expected to fly past Earth on Jan. 29, with its closest distance being about 537,500 kilometers (334,000 miles) at 12:33 a.m. Pacific time (3:33 a.m. Eastern time). It should be observable that night by amateur astronomers with modest-sized telescopes."

No Longer Undiscovered Country

NASA MESSENGER's First Look at Mercury's Previously Unseen Side

"When Mariner 10 flew past Mercury three times in 1974 and 1975, the same hemisphere was in sunlight during each encounter. As a consequence, Mariner 10 was able to image less than half the planet. Planetary scientists have wondered for more than 30 years about what spacecraft images might reveal about the hemisphere of Mercury that Mariner 10 never viewed."

JPL's SIM Prepares to Eat SMD's Lunch

Editor's note: Looks like the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM) is not only back, but it is going to eat SMD's lunch for the remainder of this decade and part of the next. The Omnibus Appropriations bill signed into law in December 2007 brings SIM back to life and puts it on a path toward launch.

If you look at this document, page 108, you will see wording for SIM inserted into legislation at the insistence of JPL via its congressional supporters:

"A total of $60,000,000, an increase of $38,400,000 above the budget request, has been provided for the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM). The Appropriations Committees disagree with the Administration's budget request of refocusing the Navigator Program to fund only core interferometry and related planet-finding science and reducing SIM to a development program. It should be noted that this mission was recommended by the National Academies Decadal Astrophysics report in 1990 and 2000 and should be considered a priority. With the funds proposed, NASA is to begin the development phase of the program in order to capitalize on more than $300,000,000 already invested by the agency. The SIM program has successfully passed all its technological milestones and is thus ready for development."

This means that Congress is pushing to actually do this mission i.e. it is pushing it from "studies" and "risk reduction" into an overt development phase. Of course, SIM development was not in SMD's budget. In so doing, JPL and its Congressional friends are putting NASA on a clear path toward needing more than $1 billion to make this mission happen over the coming years - money that will simply get carved out of the top line for SMD's budget for years to come. Of course, this is a budget that has no prospects for growth to counter this unplanned for addition - a budget many complain has already suffered too much at the hands of the White House and Congress. Stay tuned - the planetary science community is not exactly happy about this. Let's see if the Planetary Society gets hot and bothered by this Pasadena-centric issue.

Address By Mike Griffin Before the American Astronomical Society

"But let me be clear. As it stands now, my recommendations have not been adopted. The Fiscal Year 2008 Congressional direction for NASA "to begin the development phase" of SIM is quite clear. It disregards the community-based recommendations of the NRC and NASA's other advisory committees for maintaining a balanced portfolio of large and small missions, along with basic research and technology investments. The Congress does not dream up such direction on its own; clearly, external advocacy for SIM has been successful. If it stands, then the mission will be executed, and the remainder of the astrophysics portfolio will suffer. I hope this is what you want, because it appears likely to be what you will get."

Editor's update: Now, according to Nature, the name of the lobbying firm, the organization who paid it to lobby, they target of the lobbying is clear:

Funding edict for mission has NASA over a barrel, Nature

"Such advocacy is not a secret; nearly all major research institutions have a presence on Capitol Hill. SIM is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, which, as a NASA research centre, is forbidden from directly lobbying Congress. But the lab's operator, the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena, can. It has previously employed Washington-based Lewis-Burke Associates to lobby for it. Certainly, someone was able to bend the ear of Adam Schiff, a Democrat who represents Pasadena in the House of Representatives. Schiff is on the subcommittee responsible for funding NASA, and he was instrumental in pushing through the language specifying $60 million for SIM, saying the project is too important scientifically for NASA to kill it. "Congress is not willing to take a back seat on this," Schiff says."

Lewis-Burke Associates - note their clients

Countdown to Mercury Flyby

Today MESSENGER Flies by Mercury!

"Today, at 19:04:39 UTC (2:04:39 pm EST), MESSENGER will fly 200 kilometers (124 miles) above Mercury’s surface. As the spacecraft continues to speed toward the planet, the Narrow Angle Camera, part of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) instrument, acquired this crescent view of Mercury. The image was taken on January 13, when the spacecraft was about 760,000 kilometers (470,000 miles) from Mercury. Mercury is about 4,880 kilometers (about 3,030 miles) in diameter, and the smallest feature visible in this image is about 20 kilometers (12 miles) across."

MercuryToday.com
MercuryToday (Twitter)

MESSENGER Closes In On Mercury

MESSENGER Set for Historic Mercury Flyby

"On January 9, 2008, the MESSENGER spacecraft snapped one of its first images of Mercury at a distance of about 2.7 million kilometers (1.7 million miles) from the planet. The image was acquired with the Narrow Angle Camera, one half of MESSENGER's Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS) instrument."

MESSENGER Team Receives First Optical Navigation Images of Mercury, Mercury Today

"MESSENGER mission operators at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., have received the first eight optical navigation images from the spacecraft."

NASA Teleconference to Preview Messenger's Flyby of Mercury, Mercury Today

"NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EST on Thursday, Jan. 10, to preview the historic Jan. 14 spacecraft flight past Mercury that will explore some of the last major never-seen-before terrain in the inner solar system."

MercuryToday.com
MercuryToday (Twitter)

Group Photo of All of Humanity

Favorite Cassini Image Contest Draws Space Enthusiasts, And Winners, From Across The Globe, Space Science Institute

"Thousands of enthusiastic fans of NASA's Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft have chosen a color picture of a tiny, dot-like planet Earth, cradled by Saturn's rings during a total solar eclipse, as the most popular image of all those so far returned by the Cassini mission. People from across the globe visited the official website of Cassini's Imaging Team, http://ciclops.org, during the month of December to vote for their favorites in the categories of color images, black & white images and movies."

NASA Changes Its Mind and Releases DART MIB Report

Editor's update: According to NASA PAO sources there is no ITAR sensitive material in this report online at NESC. What is odd is why they did not issue this report back in 2006 - but rather just released a portion thereof sans correspondence and other items. Oh well.

Overview of the DART Mishap Investigation Results - For Public Release (15 May 2006)

"NASA has completed its assessment of the DART MIB report, which included a classification review by the Department of Defense. The report was found to be NASA-sensitive, but unclassified, because it contained information restricted by International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR). As a result, the DART mishap investigation report was deemed not releasable to the public. The following provides an overview of publicly releasable findings and recommendations regarding the DART mishap."

Editor's update: Well, here is the full MIB report (or something certainly much longer than the summary that was released) online at NESC. So much for ITAR concerns, I guess.

Changes and Challenges Ahead at SMD

New Year's Message From Alan Stern Associate Administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate

"Make no mistake, we understand that there is far more work in front of us than behind us to turn SMD around, but we have already made some very real progress. So as this New Year 2008 dawns, I want to provide you with some examples of what we accomplished across our Earth and space science programs since April of 2007 when our new team took the reigns at SMD. Then I will say some things about the challenges that face us this year."

NASA Solicitation: Simplifying NASA Announcements of Opportunity - Science Mission Directorate

"Alan Stern, Associate Administrator for Science Mission Directorate (SMD), has initiated an effort to simplify NASA Announcements of Opportunity (AOs). This AO simplification effort is being led by Paul Hertz, Senior Advisor in SMD at NASA Headquarters responsible for the AO process, and Brad Perry, Head of the Science Support Office at NASA Langley research center and responsible for the technical/ management/ cost (TMC) review process."

Tough Love at SMD

Wielding a Cost-Cutting Ax, and Often, at NASA, NY Times

"With today's tight budgets, he said, it is unfair to expect NASA to raid other programs or stop initiating programs to pay for the excessive costs of current projects. "The mission that makes the mess is responsible for cleaning it up," Dr. Stern said. He acknowledged that NASA shared responsibility for some problems, noting that "the blame goes all around." The agency needs to change the way it does business, he said, in part by avoiding the tendency to micromanage projects and by doing a better job of picking more experienced people to lead programs. "The person at the helm should not be a rookie," he said."

Mars Impact Chances Rise - A Teeny Bit

Astronomers Monitor Asteroid to Pass Near Mars: Impact Chances Now 1 in 25, JPL

"Updated Dec. 28, 2007 -- Astronomers have identified asteroid 2007 WD 5 in archival imagery. With these new observations, scientists at NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif have refined their trajectory estimates for the asteroid. Based on this latest analysis, the odds for the asteroid impacting Mars on Jan. 30 are now 1-in-25 -- or about 4 percent."

Simplifying AOs

NASA Solicitation: Simplifying NASA Announcements of Opportunity - Science Mission Directorate

"Alan Stern, Associate Administrator for Science Mission Directorate (SMD), has initiated an effort to simplify NASA Announcements of Opportunity (AOs). AOs are issued by NASA to solicit proposals for complete PI-led missions (like Explorer, Discovery, Mars Scout, etc.), for smaller PI-led missions of opportunity, and for instruments for NASA's strategic missions (like recent AOs for RBSP, MMS, MSL, JWST, etc.). This AO simplification effort is being led by Paul Hertz, Senior Advisor in SMD at NASA Headquarters responsible for the AO process, and Brad Perry, Head of the Science Support Office at NASA Langley research center and responsible for the technical/ management/ cost (TMC) review process."

Conspiracy Mongering From The Planetary Society's Leader

NASA Conflict Delays Mars Probe, AP

"NASA will wait two years longer than planned and spend another $40 million to launch a half-billion-dollar probe to Mars because of an unspecified conflict of interest in the purchasing process, officials said Friday."

NASA Delays Mars Scout Mission to 2013

"NASA announced today that the next mission in the Mars Scout program, originally planned for launch in 2011, is now targeted for launch in 2013."

NASA announces delay of Mars Scout launch until 2013, Planetary Society

"Since I was not at all sure what to make of this, I had to call my boss, Executive Director Lou Friedman, and find out what he thought. He said he didn't have a full understanding yet of what was behind the decision but he deplored, he said, the flouting of Congressional will that had just been expressed on Tuesday; Congress expressed to NASA that Mars missions should be launched at every opportunity. And to wait to make the announcment until after Congress went home for the holidays -- that seems designed to try to make the announcement fly under the radar. He also seemed a bit disgusted that the delay should be for such a bureaucratic reason. I'm sure you'll be hearing more from him on this once we all have a better idea what happened."

Editor's 21 Dec note: Atta boy Lou - read, fire, aim. You might want to do a little research before you go into armwaving conspiracy mode on your organization's website.  I sincerely doubt that a little cabal of NASA HQ folks had this all planned - just as you hypothesize - such that they could deliberately "flout" Congress - and do so when Congress was home for the holidays - oh yes, with no one noticing.  Get a grip, Lou.

Mars Scout Briefing

NASA to Make Announcement About Mars Scout Evaluation Schedule

"NASA will hold a media teleconference at 11 a.m. EST, on Friday, Dec. 21, to make an announcement about the schedule for evaluating its Mars Scout program."

Shhh! Possible Cool News From Mars

Asteroid on track for possible Mars hit, LA Times

"An asteroid similar to the one that flattened forests in Siberia in 1908 could plow into Mars next month, scientists said today. Researchers attached to NASA's Near-Earth Objects Program, who sometimes jokingly call themselves the Solar System Defense Team, have been tracking the asteroid since its discovery in late November. The scientists, based at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, put the chances that it will hit the Red Planet on Jan. 30 at about 1 in 75."

Editor's note: Oddly enough, there is no mention of this potentially excting event on NASA JPL's Near Earth Object Program website or on JPL's news page. Nor is there any mention at NASA HQ's SMD page.

Editor's update: Someone just sent me this link that they found at JPL showing the orbit of asteroid 2007 WD5.

Pluto Has Been Decommissioned

New Release of NASA Approved Collectible Space Coin Collection

"This first collection of 10 coins focuses on the eight planets in our solar system. This commemorative coin collection includes an extremely rare Pluto coin, the last Pluto-Hubble coin approved by NASA before the planet was decommissioned in 2006."

Mars Scout Delay

Mars Scout Selection Update: Announcement from the Mars Exploration Program, NASA Headquarters

"In preparing for the evaluation of Mars Scout Concept Study Reports for the final selection, NASA identified an organizational conflict of interest. NASA determined action had to be taken to resolve the conflict in order to maintain a fair competition."

NRC Reviews NASA's Solar System Exploration Program

Grading NASA's Solar System Exploration Program: A Midterm Review,Committee on Assessing the Solar System Exploration Program, NRC

"The Committee on Assessing the Solar System Exploration Program has reviewed NASA's progress to date on implementing the recommendations made in the National Research Council's (NRC's) 2003-2013 solar system exploration decadal survey, New Frontiers in the Solar System, and in its Mars architecture report, Assessment of NASA's Mars Architecture 2007-2016."

Hey That's No Asteroid - its Rosetta!

MPEC 2007-V70: EDITORIAL NOTICE, Minor Planet Electronic Circular

"A posting on the Minor Planet Mailing List by Denis Denisenko suggested that the object designated 2007 VN84 on MPEC 2007-V69 might be the Rosetta spacecraft. Our investigation of this possibility, using information from the Satellite Situation Center, show that this suggestion is indeed correct."

The Moon and Europe - Rosetta OSIRIS images

"As Rosetta closed in on Earth, swung by and then left on its course again, several instruments on the spacecraft were busy taking snaps. As it swung away, the OSIRIS camera also caught glimpses of the Moon."

MSL Cost Issues: SMD Prevails

Two Instruments Restored to the Mars Science Laboratory, Planetary Society

"This is a victory for space science and Mars exploration -- The Planetary Society had protested the decision to cut these instruments from the project. We congratulate and thank Alan Stern for overturning this earlier decision."

Editor's note: There is an important distinction to make here. This Planetary Society memo gives a somewhat erroneous impression - as if opponents to this decision somehow prevailed and that NASA somehow relented - i.e. that a “victory” was won. That did not happen. Rather, Alan Stern and SMD prevailed. Stern did not "overturn his earlier decision".  SMD's position on cost over runs has not changed. Instead, the initial problem that caused Stern to make the decision has been changed, rendering part of his  initial decision moot. Reading the memo carefully, one can see that Stern said "Malin Space Science Systems has agreed that there will be no additional costs to NASA for the completion of the Mars Descent Imager (MARDI). Furthermore, funds returned to the Mars Exploration Program from the unfortunate elimination of MARDI operations on Phoenix will be used to support MARDI integration on MSL." and also that "In the case of ChemCam, LANL, the French Space Agency (CNES), and even other MSL instrument team members have developed a series of descopes and support arrangements to allow instrument completion, reducing the development cost-to-go by a little over 80%--i.e." In other words, instrument developers cut back so as to accommodate  Stern's initial concerns.  

Again, SMD's position on costs did not change.  Note the original memo's mention of a "change from a rock grinding tool to a rock brushing tool". This decision still stands.  Stern did not budge. Neither did SMD. Rather, instrument developers got the message - and SMD prevailed. An equally strong stance has been taken with regard to costs issues on Kepler, SDO, and other projects. MSL is not an isolated instance. Stay tuned.

Mars Science Laboratory Instrumentation Announcement from Alan Stern and Jim Green, NASA Headquarters

Push back on MSL cuts, earlier post

Mars Science Laboratory Project Changes Respond to Cost Increases, Keep Mars Program On Track, NASA

MSL Has (Nearly) All Of Its Instruments Again

Mars Science Laboratory Instrumentation Announcement from Alan Stern and Jim Green, NASA Headquarters

"Dear Colleagues: We are very happy to announce that MARDI and ChemCam's cost issues have been solved and both instruments are going forward to launch on MSL. Malin Space Science Systems has agreed that there will be no additional costs to NASA for the completion of the Mars Descent Imager (MARDI). Furthermore, funds returned to the Mars Exploration Program from the unfortunate elimination of MARDI operations on Phoenix will be used to support MARDI integration on MSL."

50 Years On Orbit

Vanguard Approaches Half A Century In Space, SpaceRef

Editor's note: I received this note the other day from someone at the NASA Alumni League: "Calling all Vanguardians: On March 17, 2008, the Vanguard One satellite, the oldest object in space from Planet Earth, will complete its 50th year in Earth orbit. A small group of former NRL and NASA folks has been in communication, and a number of government agencies have been asked to commemorate the event."

Cosmology@Home

Home Computers to Help Researchers Better Undestand Universe, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

"Want to help unravel the mysteries of the universe? A new distributed computing project designed by a University of Illinois researcher allows people around the world to participate in cutting-edge cosmology research by donating their unused computing cycles. The project is called Cosmology@Home, and is similar to SETI@Home, a popular program that searches radio telescope data for evidence of extraterrestrial transmissions."

What A Difference A Year Can Make

DPS: NASA Night: Sweetness and light, Planetary Society

"... Well, things have changed, a lot. A majority of the people leading NASA Headquarters and its various divisions have been replaced in the last year, and all four of the people on stage for NASA night at DPS 2007 were new to Headquarters, but not new to the science community. They quickly had the gathered scientists eating out of the palm of their collective hand."

NASA Lunar Science Institute To Be Formed

Editor's note: On Tuesday night NASA Science Mission Directorate Associate Administrator Alan Stern announced that NASA plans to form a NASA Lunar Science Institute (NLSI) patterned on the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI).

Speaking tonight at the Division for Planetary Sciences meeting in Orlando, Stern said that the initial selection would be done of 4 to 5 lead teams at a cost of $1-2 million each.

As is the case with the NAI, the NSLI would be managed by NASA Ames Research Center.

NEO Hearing Postponed Until 8 Nov

Hearing: Near-Earth Objects - Status of the Survey Program and Review of NASA's Report to Congress

Editor's note: According to the House Science and Technology Committee this hearing has been postponed. Congress cancelled all business for this Thursday due to the funeral for Rep. Jo Ann Davis.  When Congress is not in session, the Committee cannot hold a hearing. The new date is 8 November.

NASA's Clean Rooms Aren't

In NASA’s Sterile Areas, Plenty of Robust Bacteria, NY Times

"Researchers have found a surprising diversity of hardy bacteria in a seemingly unlikely place — the so-called sterile clean rooms where NASA assembles its spacecraft and prepares them for launching. The findings are significant, the researchers report, because they can help reduce the chances of stowaway microbes contaminating planets and other bodies visited by the spacecraft and confounding efforts to discover new life elsewhere."

Scientists "Stunned" By New Horizons Jupiter Encounter

NASA Scientist Available for Interviews About New Jupiter Findings, NASA ARC

"A NASA scientist will be available to reporters Tuesday, Oct. 9, to discuss Jupiter findings to be published Friday, Oct. 12, in the journal Science.

What NASA's Pluto-bound New Horizons spacecraft found when it flew by Jupiter on Feb. 28, 2007, stunned scientists who now are releasing more information in nine journal articles in Science."

Saving Arecibo

HR 3737: To provide for National Science Foundation and National Aeronautics and Space Administration utilization of the Arecibo Observatory

"(3) Arecibo Observatory's planetary radar has unique abilities worldwide for research on our solar system, including near-Earth asteroids. Besides their scientific importance, near-Earth asteroids may be both a significant hazard to Earth and a potential source of future resources."

Hearing: Near-Earth Objects - Status of the Survey Program and Review of NASA's Report to Congress

Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee Meeting

NSF Dear Colleague on the Senior Review: Arecibo

Is Space Solar Power Back?

New Alliance for Space Solar Power to Be Announced, NSS

"On October 10, 2007, leading space advocacy organizations and Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin will announce the formation of a new alliance to advance a common goal: Ensuring that the benefits of renewable clean energy from space solar power are understood and supported by business, governments and the general public."

Russia Hitches A Ride

NASA Spacecraft to Carry Russian Science Instruments

"NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos have agreed to fly two Russian scientific instruments on NASA spacecraft that will conduct unprecedented robotic missions to the moon and Mars."

Back to the Future: Nuclear Power Is Back

NASA To Accelerate Space Nuclear Power, Aviation Week & Space Technology

"NASA will accelerate missions featuring space nuclear power, Aviation Week & Space Technology reports in its Oct. 1 issue. The decision marks a major milestone for robotic exploration, but is a controversial move among groups that oppose space nuclear power because of launch safety concerns. NASA's objective will be to use nuclear power much more frequently to open previously isolated areas of the solar system for robotic exploration as early as 2013, Aviation Week reports. NASA is moving quickly to make space nuclear power, and eventually nuclear propulsion, an inherent design element in near term, medium cost planetary missions."

Amendment to the NASA Research Announcement Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences, NASA HQ

"This amendment establishes a new program element in Appendix C.26 of ROSES-2007 entitled "Discovery and Scout Mission Capabilities Expansion." This new program element solicits mission concept proposals for small planetary missions that require a nuclear power source, such as the Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator (ASRG) currently under development by NASA."

Editor's note: This ROSES-2007 amendment only concerns nuclear power generation (electricity etc.) not nuclear propulsion.

Advanced Stirling Technology Development at NASA Glenn Research Center (PDF 5.5 mb)

Presented at the NASA Science Technology Conference, Session D2 – Space Power on June 18, 2007 by Richard K. Shaltens Chief, Thermal Energy Conversion Branch and Wayne A. Wong ASC Project Manager.

Keeping Jupiter Attack Probe Technology Away From Jovian Terrorists

Editor's note: I got this from a reader tonight. I give up. We're talking about a 15 year old spacecraft - one which was destroyed years ago - of which high resolution images are readily available - and have been in the public domain for decades. And the drawings are ITAR-controlled?

Oh yea I forgot - we did attack the planet Jupiter with Galileo in 1997. OK. My bad. I guess that makes it a weapon.

Still, I wonder what would happen if more people made the same FOIA request. Here's where you can do it yourself online.

The following response is the result of a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request sent to NASA JPL several months ago:

Dear Mr. Brotherton:

Your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for release of information from the files of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was received in FOIA processing at the NASA Management Office-Jet Propulsion Laboratory on July 16, 2007. You requested the following:

"...scale outline drawings of the Galileo spacecraft ... ... I would like to get a view from all six axis, X, -X, Y, -Y, Z and -Z.. . "

The records you requested contains International Traffic in Arms regulated information on design parameters, requirements and mission operational information consistent with that described in 22 CFR 120.10(a)(l), and is exempt from release under Title 5, USC, Section 552, Exemptions (b)(2) High and (b)(3) of the FOIA, to wit: Information, other than software as defined in 120.10(4), which is required for the design, development, production, manufacture, assembly... operation, repair, testing, maintenance or modification of defense articles. This includes information in the form of blueprints. drawings, photographs, plans, instructions and documentation. However, you may access instructions to make a Galileo 1/45^th scale model that includes drawings and pictures cleared for public release from the following website: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/model/instructions.html.

You may appeal this initial determination to the NASA Administrator...

Editor's note: "Comment from Scott Brotherton: I have recently be told that my name and information was used in a slanted article at your site.  The article by Keith Cowing on Thursday, September 27, 2007 named "NASA Blocks Release Of Galileo Jovian Spacecraft Drawings on ITAR Grounds".  I would probably not mine my name being used if the article had told the whole truth of the matter.  I was granted my request, and did receive the drawings I requested.  However, due to Mr. Cowing's blatant half truth of the matter, it looks like NASA is the bad guy.  Mr. Cowing has tried to make a story out of nothing, as the premise of his title is not even accurate."

Editor's response: I am pleased, of course, to see that some common sense prevailed at NASA. But yes, Mr. Brotherton, since you phrased it this way, someone at NASA was indeed "the bad guy" for making this nonsensical refusal of your initial request in the first place. Why else did you post this letter, I wonder?

Dawn Is On Its Way

NASA Dawn Mission to Vesta and Ceres Launched

"A four-year, 1.8 billion-mile flight to asteroid Vesta started with the rumble and roar of a Delta II rocket Sept. 27 that hurtled the Dawn spacecraft off a launch pad in Florida and into space."

United Launch Alliance Successfully Launches Dawn Mission for NASA, ULA

"Following a nominal one hour and two minute flight, the rocket deployed the spacecraft on its eight-year mission to study Ceres and Vesta, two asteroids residing in the vast asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter."

Gloomy News for Arecibo

NSF Dear Colleague on the Senior Review: Arecibo, AAS

"Nonetheless, in order to plan responsibly, and weigh the various options, we have to understand the cost of closure to be weighed against other options. As recommended by the Senior Review, NSF is also engaging an engineering firm to carry out a study of the cost of decommissioning the observatory facility. The study will explore a variety of possible endpoints, ranging from complete deconstruction and restoration of the site to its natural state to securely 'mothballing' the facility. The results of this study will be available in December 2007 and will serve as critical input to our planning for the long-term future of the observatory. This is part of responsible lifecycle costing, and should not be regarded as indicating that any final decisions have been made."

Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee Meeting

"October 11-12, 2007 .. Contact Person: Dr. G. Wayne Van Citters, Director, Division of Astronomical Sciences .... Purpose of Meeting: To provide advice and recommendations to the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on issues within the field of astronomy and astrophysics that are of mutual interest and concern to the agencies."

Reader note: I sent the following message today, shortly after receiving the AAS message: "Wayne Van Citters -- In your letter to the community, you spent more words (a whole paragraph) discussing the planetary radar capability of Arecibo than in the entire Senior Review (not even one sentence).

It is patently clear that the Senior Review did not even seriously evaluate this jewel in the crown of American astronomy. And the participants in that review process were not knowledgeable about active (as distinct from passive) astronomy. Your statement that NASA "terminated" planetary radar falsely implies that NASA found planetary radar to be unworthy of funding, rather than that the NSF undertook responsibility as part of a complex interagency agreement.

Your continued failure to fairly evaluate this unique facility is doing an awful disservice to science. I hope that you will reconsider and invoke a multi-agency, interdisciplinary review to reconsider this matter that was simply ignored in the Senior Review.- Clark Chapman, Senior Scientist, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder CO"

Dawn Is Ready To Go

NASA Dawn Spacecraft is a 'Go' for Asteroid Belt

"Launch and flight teams are in final preparations for the planned Sept. 27 liftoff from Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., of NASA's Dawn mission. The Dawn spacecraft will venture into the heart of the asteroid belt, where it will document in exceptional detail the mammoth rocky asteroid Vesta, and then, the even bigger icy dwarf planet Ceres."

Dawn Launch Slip

Editor's note: According to KSC PAO "Dawn's launch day has been delayed 24 hours to Sept. 27. Weather prevented techinicians from completing the loading of fuel on the Delta rocket's second stage."

Beagle 3 To The Moon? No Chance.

New chance for Beagle as Nasa favours mission to the moon, The Guardian

"Nasa has given preliminary approval for a successor to the British-based Beagle 2 space mission that crash-landed on Mars on Christmas Day 2003. The Beagle to the Moon mission would search for water supplies on the surface that could support astronauts living on a future moon base. It would reuse many of the designs for instruments that flew on the ill-fated Mars mission. Nasa has given the go-ahead for a study into adapting Beagle 2 for a moon landing. If it formally approves the mission next year, it could launch in 2012."

NASA gives Beagle 2 another shot at glory, The Register

"Now it seems the space agency has relented and agreed to give Beagle and Pillinger another chance. It has okayed a feasibility study that would work out how to adapt the lander for lunar exploration. The hope is that Beagle 2 could dig into the lunar surface and find water ice."

Editor's note: According to NASA sources there is no truth to this story.

Beagle 3 on MSL?, earlier post (2004)

Editor's note: Now I have seen everything. For years Colin Pillinger dumped on the U.S. and the way it builds spacecraft. Then he crashes his spacecraft on Mars - most likely because he cut too many corners - and his country loses faith in him. Now he tries to get a ride on a U.S. Mars mission due to lack of enthusiasm back home. What a hypocrite.

Push Back on MSL Cuts

Budget Axe Falls on Mars Science Laboratory -- Science Plans for the Mission Cut, Planetary Society

"The loss to science on MSL seems out of proportion," said Wesley T. Huntress, Jr., former NASA Associate Administrator for Space Science and member of the Society's Board of Directors. "The goal of MSL is to conduct science, and to throw out so much of the mission science objectives for less than 4 percent of the mission cost, and for assurance costs that have net yet been realized, seems penny-wise and pound-foolish," he added."

Editor's note: OK Wes: where's the additional money supposed to come from? This is a zero sum game. To write a check for a mission that is out of the cost box means taking something away from another mission that planned ahead. Isn't it about time to instill some cost realism - and responsibility - into this process?

Reader comments - send them to nasawatch@reston.com. Your comments thus far:

Hi Keith,

I would like to add to the discussion thread, suggesting that the true budget-busting culprit is often times not the obvious party. To the untrained eye, it might seem that the proposing mission team and/or Principal Investigator should ultimately be resonsible for delivering a mission on budget. In this simplistic view, the "provider" proposes to deliver something, and the "customer" (NASA) agrees to fund the project. Afterall, this is how most things work in our life, right?

Well, the reality of a project with NASA is quite different. Imagine you want to buy a house (just like NASA might want to buy a mission). So, you hire a builder, he proposes the design/budget, and you write him a check. But wait, it turns out that you also own a brick company (NASA field center), so you tell the builder that he has to buy your bricks for fives times the going rate for bricks. Now, the builder says he doesn't want to buy your bricks, so basically you rig the system so that his project gets cancelled unless he buys your bricks (the Mafia kind of work this way...). Oh, wait again, you tell the builder that you now want 3 stories instead of 2 (requirements creep). Now, all of the sudden, the "builder has gone over budget." So, you flog him in the local newspaper, saying how horrible he is. Heck, you even hire a "manager" on your side of the fence who goes around threatening all the local builders because they seem to always go over budget. Gee, those darn builders, how is it that everytime they build a house for me, they bust the budget. Boy, there must be something wrong with them!

I've seen this game on JWST and Sofia. Both involved field centers that spent hundreds of millions of dollars of project money that produced nothing and was required internally within NASA against the wishes of those with a scientific stake in the project. The argument within NASA at the time was that HQ did not have the authority to stop all this waste because they had to let NASA field centers spend down project budgets in order to avoid layoffs in key congressional districts.

Really, this isn't rocket science.

Name witheld

Keith,

This all comes down to whether or not you have adequate cost reserve built into the initial commitment. History provides ample evidence on which to select levels of reserve that provide whatever confidence you like of both not overrunning and not reducing scope.

However the very same NASA HQ that is demanding scope reductions and blaming projects for underestimating the costs is also pressuring new projects to maximize scope and minimize cost in order to be selected to go forward, whether they are competed or directed. There is a large range of possible cost reserves you can assign to a project and still be considered credible. (More on why that is below.) The pressure to be selected forces the cost reserve to the low end of that range, to be replaced by increased scope to make the project more attractive. In that case, overruns are inevitable. Even if you know that you will be descoped when you overrun, which is the "discipline" that is currently in vogue, you will still take this path, since you'd rather be eventually descoped than not selected in the first place.

NASA HQ is even able to do this directly without the help of a project when they select a payload for a directed mission. The desire to pack as much science as possible in the available mass and budget results in inadequate consideration of the required reserves, for what are often new instrument concepts that promise exciting and compelling investigations, but with little or no flight heritage. Pushing the edge of the envelope is what NASA is all about, but you need adequate resources to do that.

It doesn't hurt a project to be descoped -- a project is only a means to an end. It will do what it can with the resources it has, and will do so prudently. Instead, descoping hurts the sponsor in reducing the bang for the buck that they are getting. When you skim off the top, you're always taking away the cream. So it is up to the sponsor, NASA HQ in this case, to decide how to incentivize the behavior it wants. If NASA wants as many launches as it can get, with low bang-for-the-buck, descoped payloads, then it is on the right path. If NASA wants to maximize the science return per dollar, then it is not.

The objective should be to avoid late descopes to the greatest extent possible. You end up spending a lot of money on something that doesn't fly. For the very same reason, y