NASA - In the Trump Era

"Why you should take a closer look at this week's NASA bill" by Andrew Wagner and Nsikan Akpan, PBS NewsHour 3/24/2017

President Donald Trump has signed the 2017 NASA Authorization Act, the first complete authorization for the agency since 2010.  The bill lays out NASA's directives along with a proposed budget for the 2018 fiscal year at $19.5 billion — a $0.2 billion raise from the previous year.  It must still run through a congressional appropriations process to set the final funding for NASA.

While the bill reaffirms NASA's commitments to the International Space Station (through 2024) and to future manned missions into deep space, certain elements — or the lack thereof — have caused concern among some scientists, including space baron Elon Musk.

Here are some of the bill's biggest changes.

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So long, Earth science

Rewind to 1958:  The act that formally created America's space agency had a set of objectives.  The first goal listed: “The expansion of human knowledge of phenomena in the atmosphere and space.”

Congress has maintained this objective for NASA, under Republican and Democratic administrations alike, until Trump signed this most recent bill Tuesday.

What changed:

• The new authorization bill removes all mention of earth sciences, a section that was included in the NASA authorization bill signed in 2010.

• It also removed sections on NASA's collaboration with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on the investigation of the Earth's atmosphere.

The 2015 Antarctic ozone hole area was larger than the continent of North America, based on research by NASA and NOAA.

Photo by NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Why it happened:

• The new bill was authored by Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who has said in the past that he “is concerned in the current environment, that NASA has lost its focus” by focusing on climate change.

• During a debate over the new bill, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), who chairs the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, said the bill ensures “NASA is not burdened with funding other agency missions.”

Why it matters:

• “Those programs provide the space-based measurements to help scientists understand the Earth's systems and changing climate to predict space weather events, which can have devastating impacts on our terrestrial infrastructure,” Rep.  Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), said of the missing science and heliophysics programs .

• Scientists have pointed out that the items in question also include a lot of practical programs, “such as safeguards to avoid eating toxic shellfish, reduce aviation disruptions and tracking unhealthy air quality,” said Brenda Ekwurzel, senior climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

• The fate of those programs won't be clear until the bill goes through the budget appropriations process.  The authorization act passed in the Senate with unanimous support and by voice vote in the House.

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Who's on the hook if a commercial spaceship goes kaboom?

Meanwhile, the commercialization of space travel has strolled into its heyday.

In the 2017 authorization, Congress restates its dedication to NASA's Commercial Crew Program, a six-year-old initiative that provides government funds to private sector companies — like Blue Origin, SpaceX or Boeing — to develop space transportation vehicles.

What changed:

• The bill requires NASA to prioritize the use of its own launch vehicles or commercial providers over those of foreign entities like Russia.  Russian space vehicles had transported a number of American astronauts, including Scott Kelly, to the ISS in recent years.

• The 2017 authorization act also calls on NASA to facilitate the “commercialization and economic development” of low-earth orbit activities, such as lowering the costs of commercial satellite operations and exploring the possibility of transferring the International Space Station into the private sector.

• The power to invoke indemnity clauses — which place risk, or financial liability for an accident, on the government instead of private suppliers — moves from Congress to the executive branch, in this case, the NASA Administrator.

Shortly after the signing, Vice President Mike Pence announced plans to reinstate the National Space Council.  The space policy committee , which ran from 1958 to 1973 and again under President George H.W. Bush in the early 1990s, has a long legacy of executive control over NASA.

“We're going to be bringing together the best and the brightest in NASA and also in the private sector,” said Pence, who will lead the NSC.  “We have elected a builder president and, as he said, America once again has to start building and leading to the stars.”

Why it happened:

• “This bill will make sure that NASA's most important and effective programs are sustained,” Trump said after Tuesday's signing.  “It orders NASA to continue transitioning activities to the commercial sector where we have seen great progress.  So many people and so many companies are so into exactly what NASA stands for, so the commercial and the private sector will get to use these facilities and I hope they're going to be paying us a lot of money.”

Why it matters:

• The indemnity clause provisions actually aren't new.  “We have had commercial space transportation law going back to 1984 that codifies a risk-sharing agreement between the government and the private sector,” said Joanne Gabrynowicz, editor-in-chief emerita of the Journal of Space Law.  “It would be triggered in the event of a catastrophic loss — and happily, that provision of the law hasn't been needed yet.”  But the shift gives more power to the executive branch rather than Congress.

• The bill calls on private companies to buy insurance coverage of $500 million for any launch or reentry mission.  This kind of mandate has appeared in similar legislation before, but the 2017 version re-ups the terms.  By comparison, the Mars Curiosity Rover mission cost $2.6 billion.  (Reminder: NASA's current budget is $19.3 billion, approximately 0.5 percent of the total federal budget).

• Despite the commercial commitments to near-Earth travel, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said he wasn't happy with new act's prospects for deep space.  “This bill changes almost nothing about what NASA is doing,” Musk stated via Twitter.  “Existing programs stay in place and there is no added funding for Mars.”

Deep space and cyberspace

Two additional tidbits in the act address NASA prospects in deep space and cyberspace.

What’s changed:

• The bill creates the TREAT Astronauts Act, which addresses the need for medical coverage for U.S. astronauts that spend extensive time in space flight, such as on future missions to the moon, Mars or elsewhere in the Solar System.

• Unless new technology is developed, these trips will feature extensive exposure to microgravity and cosmic radiation with unknown ramifications.  The TREAT Act would provide medical monitoring for astronauts years after they return and retire, namely for those who may not have access to military insurance plans.

• The bill also requires NASA to establish agency-wide information security and to establish accountability, governance and implementation oversight to meet standard cybersecurity best practices.

Why it matters:

• Scientists have observed bone loss and eye injuries among long-term residents of space stations.

• But Gabrynowicz pointed out the bill only states the government “may provide” this medical coverage — but “it does not have to be provided,” she said.  “In other words, it is allowed but not obligatory.”

• Meanwhile, NASA computers, like any connected to a modem, are vulnerable to attacks, as demonstrated last year, when hackers caused breached a drone operated by the space agency.  The hack was minor relative to other recent government hacks, but still exposed the names, phone numbers and emails of more than 2,400 employees.

• The bill forces the agency to “modernize its cybersecurity defenses into a layered, security-by-design approach,” said James Scott, co-founder and senior fellow at the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology (ICIT) in Washington D.C.  “These low-level attackers typically exploit trivial vulnerabilities, such as FTP access to servers, that should have been mitigated.”

"What do the stars hold for the Trump administration?  Here's how NASA's mission could change" PBS NewsHour 4/12/2017

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Some big changes could be in store for American space exploration under President Trump and the Republican Congress.  Sending more humans to the moon, as well as a mission to Jupiter's moon Europa seem to be part of a plan that extends years beyond the Trump administration.  Science correspondent Miles O'Brien explores how NASA's mission could be reshaped.

MEMORIAM - John Glenn

"Remembering John Glenn, space pioneer, and American statesman" PBS NewsHour 12/8/2016

'I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth and beheld the face of God.'

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Former astronaut and senator John Glenn has died at age 95.  In every chapter of his life, whether on Earth or above it, Glenn accumulated achievements -- serving as a Marine fighter pilot in two wars and later launching into space exploration.  After retiring from politics, he continued to advocate for NASA.  Hari Sreenivasan speaks with science correspondent Miles O'Brien about this American icon.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  Finally tonight, remembering John Glenn, the Mercury astronaut and former U.S. Senator who died today at 95.

We start with this look back.

MAN:  Godspeed, John Glenn.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  February 20, 1962.

MAN:  Nine, eight.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  An Atlas rocket fired Friendship 7 into space.  And over the next five hours, John Glenn's name was indelibly inscribed in history, the first American to orbit the Earth circling the globe three times.

JOHN GLENN:  Zero g and I feel fine.  Capsule is turning around.  Oh, that view is tremendous.

MAN:  The honorable John Glenn.

(APPLAUSE)

HARI SREENIVASAN:  It was still fresh in his mind half-a-century later.

JOHN GLENN:  For many, many thousands of years, people had looked up and wondered.  They'd been curious about what was up there.  Now, we must consider ourselves among the most fortunate of all generations, for we have lived at a time when the dream became a reality.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  John Glenn's time began in Ohio, where he was born and raised.  He grew up to be a highly decorated Marine fighter pilot in World War II and Korea.  And, as a military test pilot, he set a transcontinental speed record in 1957.

Then, space beckoned.  That same year, the Soviet Union stunned the world with Sputnik, the first manmade satellite.  More Soviet successes followed, while initial U.S.  unmanned launches met with repeated failure.

The Soviets also leaped ahead in manned flight with cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin making the first orbital flight ever in April 1961.  Glenn was still training at that point.  One of the first astronauts, the Mercury 7, he spoke of them at Cape Canaveral in 2012.

JOHN GLENN:  That was a real team we put — it was put together back in those days.  And while we were competitors, boy, were we competitors to try and get the different flights, never was there anything anymore tight than the brotherhood we had that supported each one of those flights.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  Glenn's moment came in early 1962, when he crammed his silver-suited frame into the tiny Friendship 7 capsule.

JOHN GLENN:  We used to joke about the spacecraft.  We said, you didn't climb — you didn't get into it, you actually put it on.  It was more like putting on clothes.  It was that small, because the whole thing, if you spread your arms out like that, the — you were touching both sides of the spacecraft.

ASTRONAUT - The Book "Spaceman"

"How setbacks and failures shaped an improbable astronaut" PBS NewsHour 11/16/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  It's completely improbable that Mike Massimino actually became an astronaut.  With a fear of heights, impaired vision and difficulty with swimming, he calls his achievement a miracle, but his is a story of overcoming setbacks.  In his new book, “Spaceman,” Massimino details his long and difficult journey.  He talks with science correspondent Miles O'Brien.

MILES O'BRIEN (NewsHour):  Mike Massimino went to low-Earth orbit twice aboard the space shuttle, both times to repair the Hubble space telescope.  In his new book, “Spaceman,” he details the long and difficult journey he took to become an astronaut.

So, you're afraid of heights.

MICHAEL MASSIMINO, Author, “Spaceman”:  Yes, I still am.  I don't like this right here, Miles.  I'm a little worried.

MILES O'BRIEN:  You don't swim very well.

MICHAEL MASSIMINO:  No.  The hardest thing for me as an astronaut was to improve my swimming skills.

MILES O'BRIEN:  Vision was a problem, a real problem.

MICHAEL MASSIMINO:  Imagine being D.Q.ed because I couldn't see well enough.

MILES O'BRIEN:  And you barely got through the program at MIT.

MICHAEL MASSIMINO:  Yes.  Yes.  Yap.

MILES O'BRIEN:  So, really, it's completely improbable that you became an astronaut.  Right?

MICHAEL MASSIMINO:  Yes, yes, absolutely.

MILES O'BRIEN:  We met beside the shuttle Enterprise display at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City, his hometown.

It occurs to me, though, that the lessons you learned all along the way, then, dealing — coping and dealing with those setbacks, those failures, the resilience, are exactly what you need to go through to become an astronaut.

MICHAEL MASSIMINO:  Aha.  Now we're getting at something.

I think you're right, yes.  It's not a question of being the best at something or things coming easy to you, but it's being a person that can work with others and not give up.  And, for me, that was part of it too.

At every step of the way, when I had trouble, there were people that came in, in my life that helped me.  It's important to go seek help when you need it, and to give help when other people need it.  And that is really more important than coming in with a gigantic brain into the astronaut program.

ASTRONAUT - As 'Major Tom'

NASA - Twin Research Halfway Update

"What NASA’s twin tests will teach us about life in space" PBS NewsHour 9/15/2015

SUMMARY:  What are the long-term effects of living in space?  Astronaut Scott Kelly is now halfway through a year-long mission.  In our NewsHour Shares video of the day, NASA offers a progress report, comparing Scott with his twin brother, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, who remains on Earth.

In our NewsHour Shares series, we show you things that caught our eye recently on the web.  What about you?  Leave your suggestions in the comments below, or tweet to @NewsHour using #NewsHourShares.  We might share it on air.

GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  Today marks the halfway point in a year-long mission on the International Space Station.  The goal?  To figure out the long-term effects on the human body from being out of this world.

They are comparing NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, up in the station, with his identical twin brother, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, back here on Earth.

SPACE - Latest Spacewalk

"Astronauts begin spacewalk to fix space station cooling system" by Mike Wall (Space.com), Fox News 11/1/2012

Two astronauts are floating outside the International Space Station today (Nov. 1) in an effort to isolate and repair an ammonia leak in part of the orbiting lab's cooling system.

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and Japanese spaceflyer Akihiko Hoshide officially begun the spacewalk — also known as an extra-vehicular activity, or EVA — this morning at 8:29 a.m. EDT (1229 GMT). They're expected to stay outside for about 6 1/2 hours, NASA officials said. You can watch live coverage of the spacewalk here on NASA TV.

Each of the orbiting lab's eight huge solar arrays has its own associated power system, and circulating ammonia helps cool this gear down. The spacewalk's first objective is to find the source of the leak, which could affect one of these power channels if it's not addressed soon.

"We don't know exactly where the leak is," space station manager Mike Suffredini of NASA told reporters during a teleconference last Friday (Oct. 26). "It's possible the leak is in the PVR itself, the [photo-voltaic] radiator itself. It could be in the pump system, or it could be in any one of the [coolant] lines." [Gallery: Building the International Space Station]

On Thursday's EVA, Williams — commander of the station's current Expedition 33 mission — and Hoshide will make their way over to the port side of the station's backbone-like truss. They'll reconfigure some lines in the affected coolant system and install a spare radiator to see if that stops the leak.

"We're real suspicious of the radiator," said spacewalk flight director Mike Lammers, of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "It kind of stretches out there and is susceptible to micrometeorite impacts."

Because the leak is so slow, it will likely take several weeks before it's known if the fix works, officials said.

If ammonia continues to escape, the station's operators will eventually have to try something else. For example, they may direct astronauts to swap out some of the coolant system's pump gear on another spacewalk. But there likely won't be an urgent need for a new fix, since the spare radiator should provide enough ammonia to keep the coolant system operating until next October or so, officials said.

NASA and its space station partners have known about the ammonia leak since 2007, and they've taken measures to deal with it before. Astronauts aboard the space shuttle Endeavour recharged the coolant system with 8 pounds (3.6 kilograms) of ammonia last year.

Spacewalks are always challenging, but Thursday's EVA is unlikely to throw anything at Williams and Hoshide that the two astronauts can't handle. In late August and early September, the duo replaced a vital power unit over the course of two spacewalks, defeating an unexpectedly stubborn stuck bolt in the process.

"I would say this is an average-skill-level EVA — maybe slightly more challenging than an average EVA," said lead spacewalk officer Allison Bolinger of the Johnson Space Center.

HISTORY - Sally Ride, NASA Astronaut, Dies at 61

"Sally Ride, 61, Left Major Imprint on Space Program, Inspired Young Scientists" PBS Newshour 7/24/2012

Excerpt

SUMMARY: Known for being the first American woman in space, Sally Ride dedicated her life to inspiring young people to engage in science, using space travel as a means to an educational end, rather than her own personal thrill ride. Judy Woodruff talks with science correspondent Miles O'Brien about Ride and her legacy.

SALLY RIDE, NASA astronaut: The moment of ignition, there's absolutely nothing like it. There's so much power, so much thunder. You know that something you have no control over at all is happening for the next eight-and-a-half minutes.

JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour): It was 1983, and Sally Ride made history as the first American woman in space. The first Russian woman had made it 20 years before. Ride reflected on the experience in a NASA interview 25 years after her mission.

SALLY RIDE: And I remember unstrapping from my seat, floating over to the window, and that's when I got my first view of Earth. I could see coral reefs off the coast of Australia, huge storms swirling in the ocean. I could see an enormous dust storm building over Northern Africa and then starting its way across the North Atlantic toward us. Unbelievable sights.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Ride was just 32 during that first flight, and she said at the time she thought her age was more important than her gender.

SALLY RIDE: I guess that I was maybe more excited about getting a chance to fly early than I was about getting to be the first woman. I'm more excited about that opportunity than I am about being the -- as you say, a footnote in history.

"From the Vault: Roger Mudd's 1987 Report on Sally Ride" by Jenny Marder, PBS Newshour 7/24/2012