This is another weird week for space news, where it felt like human space exploration was going to steal every headline. We saw the successful return to Earth of Boeing’s Starliner capsule, the successful launch of Polaris Dawn and what appears, at the time of this recording on the morning of Sep 12, the successful space walk of non-NASA astronauts. As we look at all these headlines, it’s important to remember that today’s spending on human space flight is motivated by both a modern Lunar Space Race, and the desire of billionaires to colonize Mars. These adventures in human exploration build on lifetimes of careful science and engineering performed by government employees and grant holders who will never get to go to space, and whose paychecks are now getting endangered by the need to cut science budgets to keep the Artemis program on track.
As we head into the end of the fiscal year, there is currently no budget in place for FY25. Without a continuing resolution or other budget deal, NASA, NSF, and other governmental agencies are looking at an Oct 1 shutdown.
If you have any Federally funded scientists in your life, check in on them, and ask them if they’re ok.
This is your reminder, voting matters. Wherever you are in the world, if you live in a democracy you need to be registered to vote and then take the time vote in an informed manner. As Allen says over on Generation Tech, my allegiance is to the republic, to democracy. If you want to see science keep going, take a moment to find out who your representatives are and let them know how you feel with a postcard or phone call or both.
While human space flight has certainly headlined the news, there has been lot of science taking place, and for the next 2 segments I’m going to dig into lunar volcanism, plate tectonics, atmospheric science, and asteroids asteroids asteroids. Erik Maddaus will also be joining us for tales from the launch pad.