Major Missions in DANGER? What JPL Layoffs Mean for NASA

[@ShadowRaptor8]

This is by far the best, most accurate description of the ongoing chaos. Really insightful, thanks for telling this story Casey!

[@50shadesofgreen34]

yeah, its definitely this video, and not the most recent tucker carlson interview

[@micheallee9793]

I work at Lockheed and JSC and we are feeling these cuts heavily.. it’s super frustrating..

[@frasercain]

The contractors and suppliers are going to get hit hardest, I think.

[@talkingmudcrab718]

Man that sucks! I work in manufacturing and was laid off last month from a job I really loved, so I know that feeling. Luckily I've got a good resume and I've already got a couple good opportunities coming up.

[@okman9684]

Interesting how employees are suffering while giving their day and night for the company but shareholders are getting big returns while doing nothing for the company

[@vinniepeterss]

@@okman9684 not quite NOTHING, the shareholders make more money because they are the biggest resource contributor, i.e money

[@vinniepeterss]

without shareholders money, the engineers and other couldn't work

[@potato9832]

The forest location on the intro was cool. I suggest doing it again occasionally.

[@sparkmanuk]

The biggest bar to space exploration is the fact Boeings mission for 40 years has been to filter money through nasa to their share holders, not to creating the next generation of space technology to make things cheaper.

[@joeybulford5266]

I have a LOT of faith in Blue Origin. They get most of their funding from Jeff Bezos himself. They recently got the contract to launch a Mars satellite later this year, and they have a working mock-up of a lunar lander for Artemis in 2029. They deserved the original contract over SpaceX.

[@markharmon4963]

​@joeybulford5266 Faith is the key when it comes to Blue Origin.

[@joeybulford5266]

@@markharmon4963 Would not surprise me whatsoever if Blue Origin takes NASA to the moon before SpaceX. Have you seen the lunar module SpaceX is going to provide???? Hint: No one has. It doesn’t exist.

[@markharmon4963]

@@joeybulford5266 It sounds like a dead-end approach. Good for propaganda...maybe. For an ongoing sustainable exchange with the Moon, it does not sound feasible. We have landed on the Moon. The challenge now is to develop ongoing science, development and industry. How is Blue Origin's Lunar Lander going to accomplish that?

[@joeybulford5266]

@@markharmon4963 I’m actually very glad you brought all that up. For starters the Blue Origin lander is at least HALF the size of the SpaceX rocket that is supposed to land ass-backwards on the moon. Do you know how many resupply missions it is going to take to get the SpaceX rocket to the moon one time? 20 rockets. They’re going to have to send 20 separate rockets to fuel up the Falcon Heavy for one singular landing. That’s insane. And NASA is finally, FINALLY taking a critical look at just how insane that is.

[@KevinJaako]

I recently saw an old article of yours and learned that you’re also in BC. I also vote for more outdoor content. Gotta rep the natural beauty of our corner of this planet!

[@acerafferty5761]

I’m a contract mechanical technician at Nasa Glenn in Cleveland and this is for sure concerning news. If those specialized techs at jpl can be let go it doesn’t inspire confidence in any of the other nasa centers contract workforces.

[@rJaune]

Wow, Fraser this is great! Going in depth on Breaking News. Thanks for helping to break this down for us.

[@lyledal]

Back in front of the green screen? It's just like old times!

[@xHomu]

21:00 the mental image of a mars rover pinging for its next assignment and receiving no response 😢

[@johndoepker7126]

Fraser, I usually same something or ask something related to the topic in the video.....but this time.....imma jus say WOW !!!! to be able to shoot the intro of this video on ENDOR !!!! You, sir, are so lucky to have that as your backyard !!! 🤟

[@davidwarner6755]

Nasa's plan to pick up samples years after collection seemed pretty sketchy from the start.

[@brittoncooper1251]

Barring a crewed mission, it was going to be years regardless. And a crewed mission is still decades off.

[@X5493-c7p]

The Chinese will get to Mars long before NASA gets anywhere near the place, perhaps NASA could ask the Chinese if they could be kind enough to pickup their samples while they are there :-)

[@belstar1128]

yea they basically got 4 to 8 years to launch something before the next president shuts everything down and starts from scratch .

[@FirestormX9]

​@@X5493-c7p erm.. NASA is literally all over Mars right now and the Chinese are still trying to get a firm footing on the moon and samples as well.

[@X5493-c7p]

@@FirestormX9 I meant BEFORE humans on a NASA mission get anywhere NEAR Mars

[@DrDeuteron]

10:35 Caltech is NOT The University of California. It is a private institution..and JPL employees are officially employed by JPL/Caltech.

[@GizzyDillespee]

Err... he said Caltech is a university in California, not the University of California.

[@jamescobban857]

Including Howard Holowitz.

[@DavidSClass]

Really really informative and thoughtful. Thank you so much.

[@hangmann747tinmann8]

I remember back in the day when so many complained about your "in the wood" background. They all said it was fake because the background was clearly in focus. Yet today your background is the wooden book case (looks like Joe Scott's old one BTW) and it is out of focus......yet I don't hear anyone complaining about it being fake? LOL

[@johnblanchard1428]

Imagine a world that the military budget and NASA budget are reversed.......

[@johnblanchard1428]

25 vs 877

[@frasercain]

That would be pretty amazing.

[@coulie27]

I bet if there was a prospect of Star Wars there'd be more funding.

[@redcat9436]

If the US didn't have such a large military budget Russia and China would dominate the world. The space program is nice to have but not a necessity.

[@classydave75]

@@coulie27 Yes, of course, they would open their pockets in a heartbeat because the defense budget ensures the US capitalist death-cult empire projection abroad and in the future, space as well. Everything else is secondary. Maximum funding for death and crumbs for life. Would be nice to cut down the insane Pentagon budget for space exploration, universal health care, public services & transportation, free education, environmental protection & development, stringent regulations for corporations, scientific research, etc. But it is very easy to demonize all those good things in the eyes of the average american... Just say: "that's socialism!, are you a socialist?"... Red scare brain seizure ensues and everyone goes back to dick ride capitalism, until the next round. Works every time...

[@douglaswilkinson5700]

Northrop Grumman, RTX (Raytheon), Lockheed, etc. here in SoCal are hiring based on contracts from the Defense Dept.

[@SciFiFactory]

Question: how "sharp" is the event horizen of a black hole? Is it: here you are outside but one picometer to the left you are inside? Is there any "fuzzyness" to it? In space or in time?

[@jessepollard7132]

The major problem with the contracts is that once they are signed, they are making assumptions about committing NEXT years budget to the projects. If next year is worse, then even the continuing project WITH committed money get cut. which then runs into contract penalties for cutting the project.

[@LeMAD22]

I really miss the days you were filming outside, I mean, you an outside green screen wallpaper.

[@jasonsinn9237]

This was a very interesting interview. Thanks Fraser for improvising and making it happen despite the power outage!

[@MichielHollanders]

Good to see your forest after all these years!

[@drem9805]

Keep up the great work

[@frasercain]

Thanks!

[@mysterycrumble]

@@frasercain no thank you!

[@rom26ik]

No way we got a fraser video outside again, sadly its not for a good reason

[@frasercain]

It was pretty easy to do, so who knows, maybe I'll be able to do more of them soon.

[@rom26ik]

​@@frasercain I know it can be a hassle to set up but it's really nice for the intros of interview videos

[@eamonia]

Dude, if you put some quiet ambient forest track in the background, I for real would have thought that you were legitimately just oot chilling in the woods. The lighting is spot on.

[@frasercain]

I am in the forest. The editor faked the green screen effect. 😀

[@mollyj2881]

@CaseyDrier Thank you for highlighting what's happening at Goddard. From personal experience, the hemorrhaging of contractors at GSFC is taking a huge toll on the center, and it's awful.

[@theresakaplanamuso6342]

Greetings from New River, Arizona-!!!

[@The-Musicians-Edge]

This question has nothing to do with this video but you want questions I have one. Not sure if it has been asked before but, with the talk of the famous 9th planet that has been found with math, affected orbits, and an estimated mass between Earth & Neptune, how possible is it that it could be a black hole orbiting our sun?

[@Jim22150]

Thank you, Fraser!!!

[@jamescobban857]

Some questions: 1. The biggest differences between Orion and Crew Dragon are life support duration and the ability to reenter at 11km/s. Orion has cost $21B since it started as part of the Constellation Program two decades ago. Crew Dragon was developed on a commercial basis with less than $1B from taxpayers. Justify. 2. What are the astronauts on Artemis II and Artemis III actually going to achieve that could not be done without risking human lives? Why is Artemis III only spending a few days on the surface? With the BO or Dynetics landers they are dependent on solar power, but the payload capacity of Starship HLS could deliver a nuclear reactor, supporting a standard 6 month shift like the ISS. Why not use robots to build the Moon Base first and only deliver mushware when it is already established?

[@boboblio4002]

This is scary to hear that project that I had considered "in the bag" may in some form be in financial jeopardy. Thanks for shedding light on this.

[@Adrian-foto]

Once you lose knowledgeable people it is about continuity and returning years or tens of years back. This will not save economy, but will ruin so much work and knowledge that you can get only the hard way and cannot "buy" it on the market "just in time". As kids we saw NASA as "Pantheon" of knowledge and spaceflight craft resides. Now... ... ... This is about societal will. We put effort in things we value, unfortunately, the values seem to be nearsighted and materialistic without future.

[@curtisquick1582]

The Chinese suffer from the same issues as we do. When funding dries up, space programs get delayed or gutted. Their economy is not doing as well as it did in decades past. Money is no longer growing on trees in Beijing. If their economy does not pick up, Chinese space programs are likely to be delayed, scaled back, and canceled.

[@DrDeuteron]

43:00 NASA reduced the number of 9's to one: 90% mission assurance, in the--wait for it--90's with "better faster harder cheaper -work it, do it, don't fear the reaper--(Gm, F, Cm, Eb, D).." it was a major fail.

[@itzmarianne11]

JPL employee here who got laid off. I am concerned about Europa Clipper. So many critical people on Clipper were let go. It’s going to be super painful for JPL to meet the October launch date. This is just THE WORST timing.

[@frasercain]

I was worried this would happen. It sounds like it's going to put a lot of missions at risk.

[@1mightymouse]

It's too bad about the cuts, just temporary layoffs, and you lose good talent, which is hard to replace later.

[@Swede_4_TRMP]

Greetings from Sweden

[@douglaswilkinson5700]

Hur kallt är det där?

[@FirestormX9]

Crisp bread and potatoes!

[@garysimon7765]

Howdy from TX. U.S

[@stanspanish253]

Great video! Thanks

[@mikapeltokorpi7671]

It is also interesting to see, how long SpaceX can run without government money. They also have commercial launches (other than their own), so it should be longer than NASA, though.

[@alanmodia]

Is JPL on the metric system?

[@injustice4194]

I thought the mission was designed so if anything got screwed up in the transfer of the samples there were backups on the surface left behind by the rover, no?

[@coralie9469]

Yes, there were 10 samples(I believe 10 was the amt) that they dropped last year on the surface as a plan b for retrieval!

[@Robert08010]

"Show of hands... Who wants to go on an away mission?"

[@DrDeuteron]

the point at 48:00 is serious. JWST is providing publications for many, many young scientists seeking tenure. MSR...you don't get tenure over "formulation" conference presentations.

[@PhilipPanacho]

Wow seeing Fraser in the woods was wholesome a f

[@kamilZ2]

We need data on dark matter and dark energy. Sending people to space is waste of money with little or zero knowledge in return.

[@martythemartian99]

I was always more excited by Asteroid Redirect (AR), than Mars Sample Return. We will go to Mars one day, so why hurry to get some early samples? Asteroids may not be as sexy, but in the mid term we can do more with them. I would like to see a Falcon 9 style of AR. By that I mean development of mass produced, cheap asteroid seeking probes, bringing back lots of small asteroids that can be taken to Earth or Moon orbit for study, experimentation, and resource utilization. Eventually we could bring back something a little larger (10 to 50 metres perhaps) and put habs on it. Yeah, I know I'm dreaming. 🤓

[@mrwolsy3696]

Dumping 4 space shuttle motors in the ocean after each launch is too wasteful, building cities on Mars is too optimistic, blank cheque waste had to be reigned in.

[@alanmodia]

Follow the layoffs

[@SebSN-y3f]

Extremely interesting. I had already read about space politics and agents months ago. Unfortunately, many people don't even realize what prerequisites are needed and how many good scientific and space travelprojects have already died, even though some of them were already very far along. The fact that this wonderful facility, JPL, of all places is affected is very, very bitter. Of all places where there is so much potential, both in terms of people and all other requirements. Unfortunately, as we said in the conversation, causing such difficulties for such an institution always has serious consequences that no one can really want. A suggestion about the Mars sample return mission: Canada and your many European viewers could motivate their joint space agency ESA to help. Or ask the Arab states interested in space travel or our friends at JAXA? Maybe so that US politicians feel motivated to do more? China's announcements should probably be taken extremely seriously, and not just from my point of view. These are not only preparing a permanent lunar station, but also a sample return from the Mars mission. They talk about this often and have been able to work on a huge amount of their plans. This was given far too little information to the public. But this could probably help motivate taxpayers and voters...

[@Bitchslapper316]

So internal review for the psyche mission (which is JPL) said management and workforce issues caused the project to be delayed a year (years factoring in travel time) and go 300 million over budget (almost 30%). Even more if you go off the proposed cost from the start. You can search for more details but apparently they botched the software. This caused the cancellation of the Venus VERITAS mission. That kind of performance shouldn't be rewarded. I wouldn't be surprised if they conducted a massive internal workforce review after that and got rid of a lot of people because of it and also clamped down on expenses with others.

[@bbartky]

@@Bitchslapper316Your response on the Psyche mission is spot on. However, VERITAS has _not_ been canceled. Per Wikipedia: “On 4 November 2022, NASA announced the postponement of the mission launch from 2027 to 2031, citing institutional problems at JPL delaying the launch of Psyche. The mission's Principal Investigator Suzanne Smrekar has counterproposed a November 2029 launch date, which she argued would require only modest "bridge" funding and compared to the 2031 option would offer lower overall cost and fewer conflicts with DAVINCI and EnVision; this position obtained endorsement by a Congressional committee in October 2023.”

[@Otisthelesser]

It’s economic. Inflation is through the roof. The money they did get was borrowed. That creation of money through borrowing increases inflation even more. Not an anti-space/nasa issue.

[@DrDeuteron]

ikr, but there is a reflexive: blame the gop in certain circles. Usually, the shutdowns are short enough that Caltech floats the salary, but what you said.

[@1nsertTitleHere]

I got laid off not from them but from another center. Its bad. Horribly bad. I left before the start of the fiscal year, and was already in limbo with layoffs for over a year. Ended up finding a new job outside of space. I wish I can go back but yeah, couldn't even find work in my industry I love.

[@theresakaplanamuso6342]

What about Solar Warden Dark Fleet??

[@denim_ak]

Amazing interview, not that he needed much guidance. Very very easy to follow and understand while multitasking around the house lol

[@MistSoalar]

If space program fades like high speed rail and particle accelerator, it's very disappointing and will be a turning point of the world power.

[@r-kan]

It would be enough to make us vumberable to our enemies. However, the real enemies are within destroying our nation.

[@churchdiscography]

52:31 ***BURP!***

[@Squeeko639]

Yayyy I miss the forest!

[@mihan2d]

That brings up an interesting thing to ponder about, how would it be different if countries WERE allowed to militarize space. Would it also drag many of our peaceful enterprises out into space in the wake of the world's militaries and their space/arms race, or would it just speed up our potential undoing

[@lenwhatever4187]

Space is already militarized. Yes it is and has pulled "peaceful enterprises" into space.

[@abrahamroloff8671]

What's preventing anyone from militarization of space? Every country capable has fired rockets/missiles over the Karman line. Almost every astro/cosmonaut has been either active or former military, multiple nations have fired off nukes in space or shot down satellites, spy sats and secret space planes applenty, virtually anything you put up there with the capacity to do high energy/mass/velocity science can be used as a weapon... Space already sounds pretty militarized.

[@savetheplantet5799]

We appreciate your dedication to us even in crappy times. Ty brother!

[@mattsmith8160]

News like this makes my blood boil. Cutting non-military spending when the military gets the lions share of the money already. This is why we can't have nice things.

[@neolynxer]

More nature backgrounds! Yeeey!

[@rajahua6268]

Great infos.

[@DrunkNamedJohn]

I missed the old green screen so so much!

[@jjRayjj5000]

Isn't JPL what stands for Job Programing Language one of the oldest programing languages but also most used in NASA's space probes.

[@CyberiusT]

That's a seriously advanced greenscreen: it makes you wear gloves, and your breath steam!

[@careyparker2673]

I hope the how to piss money up against the wall mission is still going strong. Look what spacex has done on a 10th of the budget others have been gifted.

[@classydave75]

SpaceX Starship in just the last couple of years, with a mix of private funding and subsidies : $2bn spent in 2022 + $2bn spent 2023 + $2bn of the HLS $3bn contract paid by NASA in 2023. Total: $6bn. And probably more than $10bn since 2018. And around $18bn or more, until an hypothetical 2018 Artemis 3 landing, if you take the estimate of Musk himself on spending $2bn each year on Starship. They took and will take a lot of money... And Musk do very much like subsidies (that and private funding rounds), as SpaceX regularly applies for federal funding programs (and was denied the last one directed at Starlink). I don't know why you are saying they have been "gifted" one tenth of the budget of others like, SLS? It's ridiculous.

[@Hooves1]

I love a good project manager

[@leeFbeatz]

Caught it on Spotify Superhero!!!!

[@NunoPereira.]

Cool, you have the forest in your backyard. Find extraterrestrial life for the first time will happen only once. Even if it's just microbes on the subsurface of Mars. The first Space Agency(ies) to bring the samples back will take the credit for that historic achievement.

[@cyrusthevirus9878]

Maybe because they found something they don't want us to know about

[@DrDeuteron]

no. nada. zip. forget it.

[@davidguy209]

I thought it was Dan Murrell...😂

[@PeterHaida]

Why not launch the Artemis crew to orbit on a Dragon spacecraft, then transfer them to the Lunar Starship in Earth's orbit before setting off to the Moon and landing? Upon return, the Starship could dock with a Lunar Refuel Depot before returning to Earth and rendezvousing with the Dragon capsule for the journey back. Subsequently, the Starship could remain in orbit, ready for another mission to the Moon.

[@mirfjc]

I don't see how we get $bn's in pork to the right congressional districts with this plan.

[@Bitchslapper316]

The lunar starship isn't taking them from earth to the moon. The Orion spacecraft is. The current plan: Orion launches on SLS, travels to the moon, the crew transfers to the lunar starship, lands, takes off, crew goes back to orion and goes home The dragon isn't designed or rated to go that far. It's just an orbital craft.

[@FirestormX9]

It is absolutely certain that the launch and landing on Earth will be done in a NASA spacecraft, not SpaceX or any other. There's more than the quest for scientific discovery at play here. Mostly politics and marketing.

[@rgraph]

Call me a pessimist (I am...) but I don't think that Artemis will ever launch. It's too expensive and there are better rockets (ie Starship) available (or will be hopefully)

[@Wolf-Spirit_Alpha-Sigma]

Seem like I'm even a bigger pessimist than you. Starship won't be ready for even cargo missions for years, the way things are going and probably never for manned missions.

[@classydave75]

Did Artemis 1 happened in a parallel universe or what?

[@belstar1128]

yea i am sure it will be cancelled over politics at the last moment similar things happened in the previous decades were they had a long term plan. and then a new president got elected and just cancelled everything

[@mikefeierberg7712]

Why not send a more advanced Mars rover to study the samples? If we can't get them back to Earth, at least get some science out of them at a fraction of the cost of MSR.

[@DrDeuteron]

MSL did that.

[@2150dalek]

With the abysmal record of problems with Boeing Orion maybe this is a good thing. Maybe the money should go to other outfits like SpaceX, private rocket companies who are making impressive progress instead of excuses.

[@classydave75]

The Orion is built by Lockheed Martin and its service module by the Airbus Defense & Space... Boeing is in charge of the SLS core stage. Problems are to be expected and costs overruns and delays are almost a given when it comes to corporations, as well as political shenanigans, SpaceX included. The latter has already gobble up $6bn the last couple of years in private funding, subsidies and two of the HLS $3bn contract already paid by NASA. So at least $10bn spent since 2017/2018 on Starship and super-heavy development. Two IFT carried out as of now but no HLS mockup. And they still have to work-proof LEO refuling, the high launch cadence for it and a proof-landing test on the Moon. At the very least. If 2028 is an optimistic Artemis 3 landing "date", SpaceX has 4 years to make it work. And they will spend an additional $8bn or more on it. At the end of the day, HLS/Starship will be a 10+ year project costing north of $20bn. I don't know if that's impressive but not really surprising for sure. After all, rockets are hard as they say...

[@savethedave]

I love you Fraser

[@Miata822]

You know the show "For All Mankind?" Yeah, this is kinda the opposite.

[@PhantomHarlock78]

I(s better to make another space telescope than return samples from Mars.

[@jotai99]

The sad thing is both Artemis or MSR can fail because NASA is not rule by people have realistic goals and realistic self assessments.

[@jamescobban857]

Perhaps JPL needs to learn how to design spaceprobes that use fewer custom parts. For example how about using mass produced satellite buses instead of designing one of a kind backbones. The HST for example used an assembly-line core. With Falcon 9 SpaceX cut the cost per kg to orbit in half, and Starship will cut it by a factor of TEN. How about figuring out how to build a space telescope that only costs $1B instead of $10B? The Mars Sample Return mission was inflating into multiple billions to return a few kg. Probably in 2026 SpaceX will send a Starship to Mars orbit. It could deliver 100 tonnes of commercisl payload. And then bring back 100 tonnes. That 100 tonnes is enough capacity to deliver 100 Mars Rovers to 100 different spots, but if EACH Mars Rover costs billions that ain't gonna happen. Could Musk reprogram one Tesla assembly line to manufacture 100 Mars Rovers for say $200M?

[@jamescobban857]

I wonder whether the robots at a Tesla GigaFactory could be programmed to build a Mars or Lunar Rover? Admittedly a mass-produced rover or probe would probably mass a tonne more than the custom-built rover, and using off the shelf cameras and other instruments would add more mass. But Starship can deliver over 100 tonnes to Low Mars Orbit by 2029, and probably at least 20 tonnes by 2027. This is assuming that the first prototype of an orbital refilling station will face storage problems with cryogenic fuels, and will not be able to fully fill a Starship, and that Starship will lose much of its fuel during the 6 months en-route to Mars. However I note that JWST can keep its instruments at less than 50 kelvin using just an aluminized kapton umbrella! That is 40K below the boiling point of liquid oxygen and 5K below the *freezing point*. The five layers of the JWST sunshield have a total of 1,500 square metres of area. For some reason no public source indicates its mass as a portion of JWST but I doubt it is more than 100kg. So I presume that by 2028 both the refilling station and any beyond-Moon missions will have aluminized kapton sunshields.

[@lenwhatever4187]

We want blue origin to succeed because they are the only possible competitor? The word hooped comes to mind. ULA? maybe, Sierra? maybe. Both ULA and Sierra are ahead of BO. Yes a competitor is needed but don't look for BO to do that.... even Boeing is ahead of BO and they may not "make it". BO seems to have started out with the same "culture" that is killing Boeing now. Rocket Lab is at least presenting some competition right now, certainly more than BO. Will this change in the future? It may but I honestly think ULA (if they survive) will remain the first real competitor. I can't see BO changing enough to really compete. New Glen is becoming just Glen and by the time it flies may well be Old Glen. I am glad ULA is back in the race, less glad their engine supplier is so unreliable.

[@robertanderson5092]

Don't see why any space enthusiast would want anyone to not succeed.

[@frasercain]

I don't really care, I just want to see a competitive landscape. Sierra would be great.

[@lenwhatever4187]

@@robertanderson5092 I was not asking anyone not to succeed. I do in fact expect BO to eventually get to orbit. They may even compete with someone but I don't see them as a competitor to spacex any time soon. I will say that in the long run spacex may not be the main way to get to space. Their focus adds too many blind spots.

[@classydave75]

@@robertanderson5092 True. Except for Musk cult members.

[@classydave75]

The BE-4 was reliable enough for Vulcan first launch to succeed... I wouldn't discount BO too fast. They are almost done with New Glenn, aren't they? And I think they will manage the engine demand. They have been very, very quiet about their progress the past what, four or five years now? But they obviously did work very hard. And keep in mind that they are aiming for orbit and a Moon landing (teaming with others) without prior experience like SpaceX. And with a big, big rocket as well. If they succeed, it's going to be a pretty enormous feat to be proud of. Honestly I'm not too worried about them. Neither am I about the SLS. I'm more skeptical about the HLS architecture of SpaceX. I'll see if I'm wrong or right in a few years, but it doesn't look good, imho.

[@BestBFam]

Oh no. :(

[@MelindaGreen]

Regarding the tension within NASA and the external political pressures, can we maybe find a budget split between science and human space flight? 50/50 would be great, but is probably not enough to appease the public which wants to see boots kicking rocks. Maybe 1/3 science and 2/3 humans? If we can settle on a number, then we can work together to make the case for space funding without the infighting.

[@DrDeuteron]

does the public care about the moon? I don't see it.

[@dootsmcdoots5807]

Do you get the sence that NASA doesn't want to find life elsewhere?

[@douglaswilkinson5700]

No. Politics in this case has to with money.

[@belstar1128]

yea i think its because of politics Christians wont like it because it contradicts the bible and some far left people don't like it because its just a conspiracy theory and "we got earth problems to deal with"

[@PigeonHoot]

That background is pretty, still snowy and moldy here sadly

[@Sonic_Shroom]

So Elon can lie about timelines because space is hard and he didn't know that?

[@rorykeegan1895]

NASA has been it's own worst enemy by pissing away so much money on a few programs. JWST is wonderful, but the overruns killed many programs. Artemis is mind bogglingly expensive for very little, and desperately needs a major rethink. The Mars sample return mission is way too complicated and is bound to go far over budget. Better planning at NASA would help.

[@aroemaliuged4776]

It’s like Oliver Twist Please can I get some more

[@curtisquick1582]

Since science is funded by society, science must be responsive to the desires of society. Decadal surveys mean nothing if society does not want to pay for them. If science wants something that society does not value, science needs to find another funding mechanism than taxpayer dollars.

[@Squishy9387]

Safety is paramount ! Is it not ?

[@BESTISD]

It is but we also wanna get to the moon you know… this century kinda hard to do the moon to mars thing without our companion

[@jamescobban857]

We are talking about NASA here. That is the organization that killed 14 heroes through bad management. I am therefore skeptical of leaving responsibility for safety to these idiots. The safety of space missions, for example determination of when a vehicle is "crew-rated", should not be entrusted to an agency which so obviously puts political objectives ahead of safety.

[@davidguy209]

Why don't they just cancel S.L.S.?

[@georgitushev]

Half of my soul died listening about politics..

[@frictionhitch]

Where does Space X get their money from?

[@frictionhitch]

The good news is... oh well

[@richardanderson1988]

Really? Artemis is going to be less of a risk than Starship? At least SpaceX is hiring. Artemis has taken how long to launch once? With supposedly proven technology, for how much money? The only reason it’s still on is for political reasons. There are alternative plans: example, use Dragon/Falcon9 to rendezvous in LEO with Starship, ride it to the moon, land, explore and return to LEO, rendezvous with the Dragon, return to Earth. Way less expensive, so more missions/year, money left over to fund a Blue Origin alternative plus actually build a base on the surface that can do much more. It’s funny that your arguments against the Mars Sample Return also apply to Artemis.

[@ghostwarrior0329]

This feel like a cloudy day for the future of humanity, hopefully it clears up soon

[@wusta515]

Man, this information is sooo good and accurate. I can attest because I’m living it in the west coast😢. To summarize,our future doesn’t look good and money most likely going to Artemis. God speed! 🙏

[@bergonius]

Get a powerwall or two

[@frasercain]

We're working on it.

[@mskellyrlv]

What an impressive young man. Great interview

[@robertanderson5092]

I'm sure Elon would grab the samples on his way back from Mars and return them

[@mickeymelnick2230]

That was an amazing interview

[@leeFbeatz]

❤