M. Del Branson

I do mathematics and play music. Interests in space technology, education, physics, coding, games, the politics of peace and poverty. Navy veteran. (he/him)

[Jared Isaacman @rookisaacman]

I understand some in the community have an affinity for specific hardware, but the focus should be on outcomes. With respect to SLS, the desired outcome is launching crewed Orion spacecraft at a reasonable cadence, rebuilding muscle memory, and buying down risk so we can land astronauts on the Moon. This is until such time as there are multiple crewed pathways that allow us to undertake lunar missions with even greater frequency and at lower cost, so that Artemis can live on for decades into the future.

The idea that Artemis II was only held up by the heat shield is not correct. Administrator Bill Nelson stated in December 2024, two years after Artemis I flew, that we would refly the same heat shield design on Artemis II, yet the mission did not fly until April 2026. On a side note, if leadership knew at the time that Artemis II would not launch until April 2026, it probably would have made sense to replace the heat shield altogether.

Even with as clean of a mission as Artemis II, it is hard to imagine waiting until 2028 to fly again and jump right to a lunar landing. SLS and Orion must launch with a reasonable cadence, and we need every opportunity to learn. That is why we added Artemis III, an easy trade against funding programs overbudget and behind schedule, in advance of a landing on Artemis IV.

You cannot point to the ML-2 structure and a single EUS tank and say it was “pretty much done" and you certainly have no specifics as to the suitability of stage adapter. The Government Accountability Office has been clear on the timing and remaining costs for both ML-2 and EUS, based on a history of OIG oversight reports. Simply put, we would be committing billions more to troubled programs when we can work cooperatively with the OEM and its joint venture to leverage an in-production upper stage with decades of flight heritage and get very good at turning ML-1. Of course, we retain the option of working with industry on ML-2, converting it to the SLS standard, or harvesting parts.

I am not here to favor companies or perpetuate underperforming programs. I do not want to throw away billions of taxpayer dollars, and time we do not have, on a flavor of a rocket that is not necessary to return astronauts to the moon. Those billions could go toward more Artemis missions or more science and discovery. Our focus must be on the immensely hard task of sending astronauts to the Moon with frequency and safely so we can land and stay.

Above all else, I care about outcomes, and so does the hardworking team at NASA, focused on delivering for the American people and everyone around the world who eagerly await the headlines we all experienced this past weekend.

[M. Del Branson @mdelbranson]

@go4gordon Who are we criticizing and why? Berger? Isaacman invited him to the HQ meeting with Olivas and Camarda in January, so presumably he's seen more unredacted risk analysis on the heat shield than any other reporter, no?

[NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman @NASAAdmin]

@ELGR3CO @SciGuySpace @WeHaveMECO Things have changed.

[NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman @NASAAdmin]

I am hesitant to get ahead of a proper data review, but I understand the space community’s curiosity, especially when imagery can give the impression of a problem.

As you would expect, engineers were eager to inspect the heat shield, starting with diver imagery shortly after splashdown and continuing with the review aboard the ship. No unexpected conditions were observed. I suspect when the images are released, it will be pretty obvious the stark difference between Artemis I and Artemis II head shield performance.

As to the question specifically, the discoloration was not liberated material. The white color observed corresponds to the compression pad area and is consistent with the local geometry, AVCOAT byproducts, and transitional heating environments. We observed this behavior in arc jet testing and expected it in this compression pad area.

We will complete a full data review across all systems, including the thermal protection system, and make the results publicly available.

[M. Del Branson @mdelbranson]

@Chris_Kurdyla @GrantObi It is technically worse, as I understand it, with 0% permeable surface area vs. 6% on Artemis I - a design change made before the Artemis I launch. I think that was specified in the Olivas interview on CNN in January.

[M. Del Branson @mdelbranson]

@psilynt @Chris_Kurdyla @GrantObi NASA OIG report indicated the break off pieces were large enough to puncture parachutes, I believe was the main concern.

[Mike Prysner @MikePrysner]

I have taken a good number of these calls. You definitely hear “I don’t want to die for Israel” but refusal to fight triggered by the girls’ school massacre is a much more frequent refrain. The anti-war movement can & must appeal to the morality of service members in this moment

[Tenobrus @tenobrus]

Donald Knuth is vibemathing now. real tough day for the stochastic-parrot crew.

[Hamid Kashfi @hkashfi]

Finally got some breathing room, so here's a quick recap of the cyber side of IR/US ongoing war:

1. Right after the first strikes by US, within the first hours, multiple popular (pro regime) news agencies and outlets were compromised at the same time. Legitimate looking news contents were injected to the front page, aimed at degrading morale of pro-regime force by typical PSYOPS tactics. Sites were quickly taken down and restored.

2. Shortly after that, BadeSabaa (Prayer time app), a popular mobile app with 30+ Million installations (from Iranian app store) was hijacked and used to send push notifications to users. This time the target audience was mostly army members, calling them to surrender and join the people, if they want to survive. This app is an interesting pick, not just because it has a high number of downloads. Users of the app are particularly religious people and have higher chance to be also pro-regime and within body of the army. One important but seemingly ignored fact about this app is that it requests location access to operate. It's safe to assume most users allow that for more accurate prayer time results. It's also safe to assume that, if the app backend is compromised enough to allow sending push notifications, it's safe to assume that any telemetry logs and data from the app would be also compromised. Correlating telemetry with unique device ID for that large user base can be (ab)used in many different and interesting ways! Not that it has been the case.

* Rumors circulated that EITAA, an Iranian popular messaging app, was also taken down and no longer accessible. That turned out to be just a rumor as I verified.

3. Iran internet went in full blackout mode again. Not that this had anything to do with a cyber operation. Initially starting from MCI and expanding to the entire country within a day. Like in previous case, there are still a small fraction of hosts that remain accessible from outside, but if you have been logging previous round's data and compare it with current one, you might notice interesting discrepancies ;)
This is likely a multi-reason effort to contain exposure of impact of strikes, possible denial of service to smaller drones (which turned out a failed assumption and attempt during IR/IL war too) and finally to have a veil over any potential aggression towards upcoming unrests and protests by people in the streets.

4. During second day of strikes, Iranian national TV's Channel 3 satellite streams (IntelSat) were hijacked (2nd time since recent protests) and videos of Trump and Netanyahu speeches were broadcasted instead. Again, expected PSYOPS move considering the situation.

Other covert operations have been also in progress, which I guess we might be hearing about them (or not) in near future. I will be occasionally updating this as a thread, if more notable cyber attacks takes place.

[Amanda Askell @AmandaAskell]

I believe these are reasonable lines to hold. And I'm proud to work for a company willing to hold them.

[Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @ReichlinMelnick]

Literal cages. Not even metaphorical ones. Literal ones.

[Project Hail Mary @projecthailmary]

11.9 Light-years from home.
6th grade science teacher.
1 chance to save us all.

Watch the trailer for Project Hail Mary – based on the novel by Andy Weir, starring Ryan Gosling, and directed by filmmakers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Only in theaters and IMAX - 3.20.26

[Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @ReichlinMelnick]

Yes, people who believe in upholding the US Constitution and in literally centuries of legal precedent dating back to the 1600s.

[Brian Allen @allenanalysis]

The National Archives at College Park is about to go dark; effective July 7, it’s becoming a restricted-access federal facility, meaning everyday Americans will no longer have public access to the very records that hold our government accountable.

This is where the receipts live; declassified files, presidential documents, historical memos, and now they’re walling it off behind a vague “legitimate business need” standard.

[Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @ReichlinMelnick]

Stephen Miller’s quotas have broken the systems ICE is supposed to use to keep track of people.

People go missing after they’re arrested. They never get logged into the Detainee Locator System. Files can’t be found. Even DOJ lawyers can’t figure out where people are sometimes.

[Pope Leo XIV @Pontifex]

Alarming news continues to emerge from the Middle East, especially from Iran. Against this tragic backdrop, which includes Israel and Palestine, people’s daily suffering, especially in Gaza and the other territories, where the need for adequate humanitarian aid is becoming increasingly urgent, risks being forgotten.

[Faytuks Network @FaytuksNetwork]

BREAKING: A U.S. official says multiple 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs were dropped on Iran’s Fordo nuclear site. Initial assessments indicate the facility has been “taken off the table.” - NYT

[Brian Krassenstein @krassenstein]

BREAKING: The U.S. military is now warning troops that the strike on Iran is expected to trigger immediate retaliation, including missile attacks on U.S. bases across the Middle East. Officials also say it will likely mobilize Iranian and foreign terrorist cells worldwide, including on U.S. soil.