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Space ventures call for boosting FAA’s budget

Image: Blue Origin launch
Blue Origin’s New Shepard spaceship lifts off for a test in January 2016. (Credit: Blue Origin)

When senators asked executives from Blue Origin and other commercial space ventures what they could do to help them at a Senate hearing today, they received an unusual reply: Give more money to the regulators at the Federal Aviation Administration.

“”It may be rare for companies to be pushing for more funding for their regulators, but we really think this is a case where it could be a good investment for the country,” Virgin Galactic CEO George T. Whitesides said during a Senate space subcommittee hearing.

The FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation, also known as AST, is responsible for regulating and encouraging development of private-sector launch companies such as Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin and SpaceX.

AST’s budget for the current fiscal year is just a little less than $20 million, or just a little more than 0.1 percent of the FAA’s total budget of $15.9 billion.

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Trump calls for speeding up trips to Mars

Trump in Oval Office
President Donald Trump chats with astronauts on the International Space Station from his desk in the White House’s Oval Office, flanked by NASA astronaut Kate Rubins on the left and Ivanka Trump on the right. (White House via YouTube)

Humans on Mars by 2024? President Donald Trump set that time frame today, almost certainly in jest, during a congratulatory video call to the International Space Station and its record-setting commander, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson.

The purpose of the orbital linkup from the Oval Office was to recognize Whitson’s new status as the U.S. record-holder for most cumulative time in space – “534 days and counting,” Trump noted.

But the topic soon turned to Mars, and how soon humans would be journeying to the Red Planet. When Trump asked Whitson what the time frame was, Whitson noted that the bill he signed into law last month called for the journeys to begin in the 2030s.

“Well, we want to try and do it during my first term, or at worst during my second term,” Trump replied. “So we’ll have to speed that up a little bit, OK?”

“We’ll do our best,” Whitson said, amid smiles and laughter.

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D.C.’s March for Science sparks chain reaction

Science marchers
A breast cancer survivor poses as Wonder Woman among other demonstrators at the March for Science, with the U.S. Capitol in the background. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The scenery for the world’s most watched March for Science may have featured the political icons of the nation’s capital, but the weather was pure Seattle.

Today’s rally brought thousands of people to the National Mall for hours’ worth of teach-ins and speeches, despite a Seattle-style drizzle.

Bill Nye the Science Guy, a co-chair for the national March for Science movement, struck on the theme of the day when he noted that many policymakers in Washington and around the world were “deliberately and actively suppressing science.”

He also noted the stereotypical view of scientists as detached nerds who dwell on topics with little relevance to society as a whole.

“But our numbers here today show the world that science is for all,” he told the crowd. “Our lawmakers must know and accept that science serves every one of us, every citizen of every nation and society. Science must shape policy. Science is universal. Science brings out the best of us. With an informed, optimistic view of the future, together we can – dare I say it? – save the world.”

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Stratospheric protest aimed at Donald Trump

Protest tweet
A protest tweet is suspended from a balloon in the stratosphere. (ASAN via YouTube)

If someone can send a Donald Trump bobblehead tribute up into the stratosphere on a balloon, we suppose it’s only fair that a protest of President Trump’s policies can go up there, too. That’s what the totally unofficial Autonomous Space Agency Network did with its Aphrodite Program balloon launch of a printed-out tweet that’s addressed to Trump. The message? “LOOK AT THAT, YOU SON OF A BITCH,” with our beautiful planet seen in the background from a height of 90,000 feet. The command was inspired by the late Apollo astronaut Edgar Mitchell.

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March for Science puts trio in the spotlight

Villa-Komaroff, Nye and Hanna-Attisha
Lydia Villa-Komaroff, Bill Nye and Mona Hanna-Attisha are the honorary co-chairs for the March for Science. (AAAS / Bill Nye / Hurley Medical Center)

Lydia Villa-Komaroff and Mona Hanna-Attisha may not be as well-known as Bill Nye the Science Guy, but all three scientists strike the right chords after what has been a somewhat dissonant buildup for next month’s nationwide March for Science rallies.

Today organizers named Villa-Komaroff, Hanna-Attisha and Nye as the honorary national co-chairs for the March for Science, which is set for April 22. The main event will be in Washington, D.C., but more than 400 satellite marches are being planned in locales around the world, including Seattle.

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Richard Branson fears Trump will ‘blow it’

Richard Branson
Richard Branson isn’t shy about his political views. (GeekWire Photo / John Cook)

Virgin Atlantic founder Richard Branson is clearly unhappy with President Donald Trump – and he thinks that a different sort of business leader, such as former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, would have been much better for America.

But the way Branson sees it, even Bloomberg may have a problem now.

“There is a danger that Trump will have blown it for any business person to ever follow into the White House,” Branson told GeekWire today during an exclusive interview in Seattle. “I hope not, because I think there are lots of extraordinarily good entrepreneurial types of business people out there, both male and female, who would make very good presidents.”

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Treasury chief downplays AI impact on jobs

Donald Trump and Steven Mnuchin
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin during his White House swearing-in ceremony in February. (White House via YouTube)

Experts say the potential impact of automation and artificial intelligence could be one of the biggest economic issues of the 21st century, but Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin says it’s not on his radar screen.

Mnuchin made his comments during a “News Shapers” sitdown with Axios’ Mike Allen. His observations are pointed enough, and brief enough, that they’re worth an extended quote:

Mnuchin: “In terms of artificial intelligence taking over American jobs, I think we’re like so far away from that, not even on my radar screen.”

Allen: “How far away?”

Mnuchin: “Far enough that it’s …”

Allen: “Seven more years?”

Mnuchin: “Seven more years? I think it’s 50 or 100 more years.”

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Elon Musk isn’t smiling over NASA legislation

Elon Musk
Elon Musk has his sights set on going to Mars. (SpaceX via YouTube)

President Donald Trump may be beaming over a newly signed law that calls on NASA to look into sending astronauts to Mars by 2033, but not Elon Musk.

SpaceX’s billionaire CEO is aiming to put his fortune behind a push to send up to a million settlers to Mars, starting as early as the mid-2020s.

In a back-and-forth series of tweets with Recode’s Kara Swisher, Musk made clear that he’s looking for much more than words from the federal government when it comes to Mars missions.

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Trump signs off on NASA’s Mars agenda

Donald Trump signs NASA bill
Flanked by astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tracy Caldwell Dyson, President Donald Trump shows off a flight jacket he was given after signing a NASA authorization bill into law. (NASA Photo / Bill Ingalls)

President Donald Trump today signed legislation laying out the broad agenda for NASA’s journey to Mars – but not to a near-Earth asteroid – and signaled that Vice President Mike Pence would revive a panel to oversee U.S. policy beyond Earth.

“In very short order, the president will be taking action to relaunch the National Space Council, and he’s asked me to chair that, as vice presidents have in the past,” Pence said during the Oval Office signing ceremony. “And we’re going to be bringing together the best and the brightest in NASA and also in the private sector.”

As Pence was speaking, Trump nodded his head and said, “Right.”

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Boeing exec named as deputy defense chief

Pat Shanahan
Boeing executive Pat Shanahan speaks at the opening of the company’s Seattle Delivery Center in 2015. (GeekWire Photo / Jacob Demmitt)

President Donald Trump today announced his intent to nominate longtime Boeing executive Patrick Shanahan as deputy secretary of defense, the Pentagon’s No. 2 civilian spot.

Shanahan, 54, currently oversees Boeing’s manufacturing operations and supplier management functions as senior vice president for supply chain and operations. He’s the chair of the University of Washington’s Board of Regents, a UW engineering grad and a member of the Washington Roundtable.

His background also includes management roles for the 737, 747, 767, 777 and 787 commercial airline programs, as well as work with Boeing Missile Defense Systems.

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