Stephen Smith 🇺🇦
I am a long-time advocate of space exploration, settlement and commerce. Migrated from @WordsmithFL on Twitter.
Joined Nov 2022
#Space From #ArsTechnica: Space journalist Eric Berger on where the #Trump administration needs to go with #NASA.
Elon Musk may have gone full Darth Vader on us, but there was a time when he was apolitical and a friend to the #Obama administration.
This is April 15, 2010. Elon gave President Obama a tour of the Space Canaveral SpaceX launch site. They agreed to work together to achieve rocket reusability.
The #Falcon9 that just launched today and landed for the 18th time? Obama helped make that happen. Otherwise, Elon might be out of business.
George Whitesides was one of the NewSpace voices during the #Obama administration. He defeated a Republican incumbent.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-11-11/la-me-congress-california-27-garcia-whitesides
The National Science Foundation and the University of Central #Florida released today a final report on the collapse of the Arecibo Telescope in 2020.
"... [T]he root cause of the Arecibo Telescope's collapse was unprecedented and accelerated long-term zinc creep induced failure of the telescope's cable spelter sockets."
How loyal will Republican politicians be to the #Trump #MAGA agenda versus protecting the pork in their districts and states?
Will Rick Scott (R-FL), a potential Senate Majority Leader, dismantle #KSC to pass a destructive Trump agenda?
The potential for needed reform is there, but MAGA sees "reform" as blowing up government without any thought to the consequences.
A President Vance/Elon Musk team will have more of a clue than Trump/Musk, but I'm not sure that's good. (6/6)
The #Trump administration tried to kill NASA's climate change programs, but Congress stopped him. It will be a different story this time; we know they intend to try to sell off NOAA and the National Weather Service. I'm sure Trump will try to end NASA's climate observation satellites; Elon will see a new profit center for Starlinks and probably support it.
So the question becomes ... (5/x)
That's where it gets interesting, because #Vance was a tech venture capialist. Vance and Elon are kindred spirits.
As VP, Vance will head the National Space Council, an advisory body. Some NSpCs have been more effective than others; the #Trump NSpC passed a number of policy changes and turned meetings into spectacles.
Representing Ohio as a senator, one can also expect Vance to try to direct NASA pork to the Glenn Center in Cleveland. (4/x)
If they try to reform NASA as the #ArsTechnica article suggests, the political fireworks on the Hill will be a true must-see 🍿 event.
Of course, Elon will be entirely self-serving. He will try to angle things so Blue Origin (Jeff Bezos) and other competitors are left out in the cold.
My suspicion is that, by the time any reform gets to the Hill, #Trump will have quit and been succeeded by #Vance. (3/x)
Apollo created a space-industrial complex that motivated members of Congress to protect NASA legacy employees and infrastructure in their districts and states.
#Obama tried to change that but suffered terrible political blowback as a result.
Backed by Elon Musk, will #Trump try to return NASA to its NACA roots?
I doubt Trump knows, much less cares, what NACA was. But Elon sure knows. (2/x)
#Politics #NASA My two credits' worth ...
NASA's bureaucracy has been bloated, hidebound, and inbred for far too long.
NASA was originally intended to be a space version of the old National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. NACA was a think tank for developing technologies to transfer to the private sector. NASA was supposed to do the same for space, until JFK created Apollo as a global propaganda organ. (1/x)
#Politics #NASA #SpaceX #Trump
From #ArsTechnica:
"Musk is unquestionably in a position for self-dealing. Normally, such conflicts of interest would be frowned on within a government, but Trump has already shown a brazen disregard for norms, and there's no reason to believe that will change during his second go at the presidency."
https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/11/space-policy-is-about-to-get-pretty-wild-yall/
#Politics #NASA From #NYTimes:
"Even before Donald J. Trump was re-elected, his best-known backer, Elon Musk, had come to him with a request for his presidential transition.
"He wanted Mr. Trump to hire some employees from Mr. Musk’s rocket company, #SpaceX, as top government officials — including at the Defense Department, according to two people briefed on the calls."
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/06/us/politics/elon-musk-trump-benefits.html
Idle thought ... Will #Trump nominate Elon Musk to be #NASA Administrator?
Elon has so many conflicts of interests, but the Republicans have shown that they don't care, they'll approve him anyway.
Trump's last administrator, Jim Bridenstine, just abruptly resigned from a NASA advisory committee. I wonder if he's coming back. Bridenstine was widely respected and non-partisan; I'd rather him than the dancing dips**t.
Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin endorsed #Trump, which is weird, since Aldrin was one of the few astronauts back in 2010 who backed #Obama 's NewSpace plans to reform the agency. (So did Elon Musk.)
But Obama's NASA administrator Charlie Bolden has endorsed #HarrisWalz2024. So has former Teacher in Space Barbara Morgan.
#NASA and #SpaceX will attempt to launch the Europa Clipper mission today atop a #FalconHeavy from #KSC Pad 39A. The NASA webcast begins at 11 AM EDT / 8 AM PDT with launch time targeting 12:06 PM EDT / 9:06 AM PDT. Here's the YouTube link.
#SpaceX just made history, as the Boca Chica launch tower caught the #Starship #SuperHeavy booster in mid-air on return to launch site. The Starship upper stage is in orbit attempting to successfully demonstrate entry and soft landing (in the Indian Ocean).
Stephen Smith 🇺🇦
I am a long-time advocate of space exploration, settlement and commerce. Migrated from @WordsmithFL on Twitter.
Joined Nov 2022