News NASA's Future: The News and Updates Thread

[Thunder Chicken]

... but money still exists for this insanity

https://twitter.com/x/status/1939757493162258775

The Discovery display at Udvar-Hazy is one of the most bad-ass displays of flight hardware anywhere:

Why do they want to wreck this and waste taxpayer's money doing it? It seems all they want to do is break everything good about the US and waste money doing it.

 

[Urwumpe]

Why do they want to wreck this and waste taxpayer's money doing it? It seems all they want to do is break everything good about the US and waste money doing it.

Its all because Ted Cruz has only a very small rocket, that too often fails to lift off.

 

[Frilock]

Its all because Ted Cruz has only a very small rocket, that too often fails to lift off.

Rafael Edward Cruz, of the 51st state!

 

[GLS]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1943108658163806510

 

[GLS]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1943318149840929271

 

[Thunder Chicken]

NASA facilities are distributed over lots of states. A lot of senators really don't want that money to stop flowing to their states.

 

[GLS]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1944861703830741374

 

[steph]

Going Out Of Business Sale For JPL Satellites

an effort is underway to get rid of their satellite inventory

nasawatch.com

I hope it's fake, but I don't know

 

[Arvil]

The printing on the banner looks fake to me.

 

[Buck Rogers]

The printing on the banner looks fake to me.

Not only the printing, where's the left top rope hanging from, a satellite?

 

[Urwumpe]

Going Out Of Business Sale For JPL Satellites

an effort is underway to get rid of their satellite inventory

nasawatch.com

I hope it's fake, but I don't know

The image clearly is, the rest of the news sounds dramatic, but lacks some context. Its pretty hard to turn a Earth Observation satellite into something else, but it could really be possible to sell a satellite to a different agency or commercial operator. Of course, its not really cost-effective, since the large upfront costs have already been paid, while the nearly finished satellites should be sold before they earn any value for the USA and the scientific community.

But, I know that realism is not a concern for the current executive and any news is better than talking about the Epstein files that are obviously a communist fake by Obama and the space pigs. And of course, satellites that monitor and quantify a climate change that can't happen (according to MAGA ideology) must better be scrapped than sold, before they measure something that doesn't exist.

 

[GLS]

The new acting admin is certainly doing the job he is was picked to do...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1950574186151223368

Context:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1950531059814166815

 

[GLS]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1953072969367842975

NASA transferred the title for space shuttle Endeavour to the California Science Center in Los Angeles in 2012, and as such it is no longer US government property.


NASA still owns space shuttle Atlantis and displays it at its own Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida.


For the past 13 years, Discovery has been on public display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, the annex for the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. As with Endeavour, NASA signed over title upon the orbiter's arrival at its new home.

As such, Smithsonian officials are clear: Discovery is no longer NASA's to have or to move.

"The space shuttle [Discovery] is the Smithsonian's, and any law that suggests the intention to take it violates the fifth amendment on its face — the government cannot take private property."

Well, then it would be Atlantis, which should provide for some nasty fight between space centers...

 

[GLS]

The KeepTheShuttle team is disappointed to report that the White House’s Office of Management & Budget has asked the Smithsonian and NASA to explore cutting up the Space Shuttle Discovery to enable moving the shuttle to Houston.
https://nasawatch.com/shuttle-news/senators-cruz-and-cornyn-want-to-chop-up-space-shuttle-discovery/

 

[richfororbit]

I guess send the module too, nobody needs that hunk of junk.

 

[Linguofreak]

"The space shuttle [Discovery] is the Smithsonian's, and any law that suggests the intention to take it violates the fifth amendment on its face — the government cannot take private property."

Well, then it would be Atlantis, which should provide for some nasty fight between space centers...

The nasty bit here is that the Smithsonian is, like the Post Office, a weird amalgam of private corporation and federal department. Its board is selected entirely by the federal government, including VPOTUS and CJOTUS holding positions ex-officio, and the Speaker of the House and President pro tempore of the Senate each appointing three members of their own house.

Of the 17 board members, 10 are currently Democrats, 6 of whose terms on the board will expire before Trump leaves office, and 4 of whose terms on the board will expire before the 2026 midterms. One member is an independent appointed by Trump. CJOTUS John Roberts is nominally independent, was appointed to SCOTUS by a Republican, but, given his voting record on the court is considered unreliable by moderate Republicans, let alone hardcore Trumpists. In any case, if the matter is litigated, he will probably have to recuse himself both from any board deliberations on the matter and from the inevitable case before SCOTUS given his position in both bodies (and this isn't a personal conflict of interest, it's a conflict of interest created by the CJOTUS having a position on the board ex-officio, which a smarter Congress might have foreseen when creating the Smithsonian).

So while the current leadership of the organization may be able to make a case for any transfer of Discovery being a taking of private property, by this time next year the Smithsonian board will probably just sign over the title. And even the private property case may be weak: Discovery is the private property of an organization that is itself effectively owned by the federal government, so in the end the government would be taking private property from... itself???

 

[Urwumpe]

And even the private property case may be weak: Discovery is the private property of an organization that is itself effectively owned by the federal government, so in the end the government would be taking private property from... itself???

As far as I know, the Smithsonian is specifically no part of any of the three branches of government. So yes, that argument can matter a lot. Of course, things look different if the Smithsonian board agrees on giving Discovery away. Maybe some small legal challenges could come up in a normal world, like other museums feeling being discriminated. Or it violating fiscal laws (For example the Space Center Houston is owned by a NASA foundation)

But... Il Duce could do what he wants anyway. Who is going to stop him?

 

[DaveS]

As far as I know, the Smithsonian is specifically no part of any of the three branches of government. So yes, that argument can matter a lot. Of course, things look different if the Smithsonian board agrees on giving Discovery away. Maybe some small legal challenges could come up in a normal world, like other museums feeling being discriminated. Or it violating fiscal laws (For example the Space Center Houston is owned by a NASA foundation)

But... Il Duce could do what he wants anyway. Who is going to stop him?

Well, this idea is not a product of Trump, but rather the two Senators of Texas, Greg Abbot and Ted Cruz. They're the ones that introduced this additional legislative text into the original FY26 budget text. And AFAIK, no one else in either chamber is willing to slugging it out if it comes to a legal challenge, so it would quckly be overruled by supplemental text if it came down to keeping either the budget or the shuttle where it is, as Cruz and Abbot are not that powerful, loud yes, powerful enough to override other senators, no.

 

[Linguofreak]

Well, this idea is not a product of Trump, but rather the two Senators of Texas, Greg Abbot and Ted Cruz.

Abbot isn't a Senator, he's governor. Sen. Cornyn, however, is involved with the idea.

 

[GLS]

... and back.... maybe?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1976335604003553492