November 12, 2023

Nelson Confirms Funding for Deorbit Tug in Budget Proposal Amid Shutdown Drama (Source: Space Policy Online)
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson confirms that President Biden is requesting initial funding for the ISS Deorbit Vehicle in a recent supplemental funding request. NASA’s safety advisory panel is adamant the vehicle must not be delayed. When Congress will get around to dealing with supplementals is a huge question since it is struggling just to pass another Continuing Resolution by Friday to keep the government open.

New House Speaker Mike Johnson released his proposal today — a “laddered” CR extending funding for some agencies through January and others through February — a novel approach certain to face opposition.  Johnson got a taste of the challenges ahead last week when he had to pull two appropriations bills from the floor when he couldn’t garner enough support from his own party. Nonetheless, he plans to bring up the FY2024 bill that funds NASA and NOAA this week. (11/11)

Meet Washington’s Shadow Diplomat: NASA (Source: Politico)
When foreign leaders come to Washington they often make the rounds at the White House and Capitol Hill. But NASA? Bill Nelson, the head of the NASA, regularly welcomes foreign leaders to his office, showing off his collection of spacecraft figurines and sitting them down to press for decadeslong partnerships with Washington. Nelson is, after all, the second sitting member of Congress to fly into space.

NASA plays an unusual and often overlooked role in America’s global outreach. It’s influential but not explicitly aligned with the Pentagon, State Department or other makers of Washington’s foreign policy. And its ability to push the executive branch’s international objectives through other channels is a formidable tool in diplomacy efforts.

Some of its latest wins: a rare data-sharing deal with Saudi Arabia and a satellite agreement with Brazil that could tilt the country further away from China’s orbit. Such partnerships are especially important now as China’s space program expands — quickly catching up to Washington’s prowess in space flight — amid increased tensions between the world’s two largest economies. The agency could play a crucial role in determining how the lines are drawn between Washington’s allies and Beijing’s. (11/11)

NASA’s Hunt for Signs of Life on Mars Divides Experts as Mission Costs Rocket (Source: Guardian)
It is one of the most complex space missions ever contemplated. A flotilla of unmanned probes and robot rovers will be flown to Mars to gather rock samples which will then be blasted back to Earth for study for signs of life. This is NASA’s Mars Sample Return and it would involve the first-ever space launch from another planet, as well as the first-ever rendezvous in orbit around another planet.

But this massively ambitious mission is in trouble. Its costs have spiralled dramatically and an independent review panel – set up by the space agency – has just warned that the mission’s original $4.4bn price tag is likely to soar to $8-11bn. A swath of other NASA missions could be canceled as a result. (11/12)

‘Violent Colonialist’ Magellan is Unfit to Keep His Place in the Night Sky, Say Astronomers (Source: Guardian)
For centuries Ferdinand Magellan has been accorded a rare privilege. The explorer’s name has been written in the stars. Two satellite galaxies of our own Milky Way, which sparkle conspicuously over the southern hemisphere, are labelled the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. Now astronomers want to erase this celestial distinction. They say that Magellan, the 16th century Portuguese sailor, was a murderer who enslaved and burned down the homes of Indigenous peoples during his leadership of the first expedition to circumnavigate the globe. They insist his name should no longer be honoured by being associated with the clouds. (11/12)

ISS Dodges Orbital Debris Hours before SpaceX Cargo Arrival (Source: Space.com)
The ISS moved out of the way of space debris yet again this year, hours before a new cargo ship is supposed to arrive. A Russian Progress cargo spacecraft attached to the ISS fired its engines Friday (Nov. 10) in a space debris avoidance maneuver, Russian federal space agency Roscosmos officials wrote on Telegram; translation was provided automatically by Google. (Space.com reached out to NASA officials and is awaiting the agency's confirmation of the maneuver, as well as the nature of the debris. (11/10)

Avanti in LEO Talks to Become a Multi-Orbit Connectivity Provider (Source: Space News)
Avanti Communications is in talks to procure capacity from a low Earth orbit (LEO) operator to transform into a provider of multi-orbit broadband services, the British regional geostationary satellite operator announced Nov. 10. Kyle Whitehill, Avanti’s CEO, said the company is in the final contractual stages of a deal he expects to announce in coming months that would expand its presence worldwide. (11/10)

Iridium Tumbles as Qualcomm Kills Satellite Deal (Source: Seeking Alpha)
Iridium Communications tumbled 8% post-market on Thursday after disclosed that Qualcomm terminated its satellite feature agreement. Iridium had previously said Qualcomm agreed to enable satellite messaging and emergency services in smartphones powered by Snapdragon Mobile Platforms using Iridium’s satellite network. However, smartphone manufacturers have not included the technology in their devices and on November 3, Qualcomm notified Iridium that it elected to terminate the deal. (11/9)