Nik Proxima - Space Policy Wonk

SLS Core Stage #2 in Front of NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Three T-38 Jets fly into Kennedy Space Center ahead of the Starliner CFT Mission

The Artemis I mission lifting off from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39B

A panorama of Launch Complex 39B showing the Artemis I rocket on the pad along with the large ramp up to the the pad surface used by the Crawler Transporter.

With Artemis II approaching I know a lot of news outlets are starting to look for in depth photos and knowledge of this mission.

I have a significant backlog of photos already available from the Artemis Program and will be on site covering the mission in the lead up to the launch in February.

After Biosignature Announcement, Mars Sample Return Remains in Limbo Ambitious plans by NASA and the European Space Agency to return samples of the Martian surface to Earth continue to remain in limbo even as the Agency has announced the collection of a potentially …

Check out my new article for @spacescout.bsky.social!
www.spacescout.info/2025/09/afte...

We face an uncertain future with spaceflight in the next 10 years, but do not forget that in our exploration of space we must continually reflect on who we are and why we go. Do our motivations for space accurately guide us, or lead us astray?

The truth of the matter is we don't know what will succeed ISS, and a lack of vision will lead to a loss in direction for American spaceflight in LEO. We need a comprehensive plan, now.

Where are America’s Commercial Space Stations in 2025? The ISS is aging rapidly, and a replacement is desperately needed. As America’s posture in low Earth orbit threatens to slip away, where are its commercial stations in 2025?

Where are America's space stations? The CLD program continues to hit snags in its development, threatening future leadership.

Read more here: www.spacescout.info/2025/06/wher...

Indian Satellites Practising "Dogfights" In Space. What It Means India is conducting a rare and very sophisticated "dogfight" in space between a 'chaser' and 'target' satellite orbiting nearly 500 kilometers above the Earth.

Everyone's dogfighting in space. These RPOs were separate from the SPADEX. Speaking of, the SPADEX included a power transfer from 1 sat to the other; it "involved operating a heater element in one of the satellites through power from the other satellite"

www.ndtv.com/india-news/i...

NASA’s TRACERS Mission Now Targeting No Earlier Than Summer for Launch - NASA Science NASA’s TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) now is targeting no earlier than summer 2025 for launch in order to give the mission spacecraft team additional ...

NASA: TRACERS Mission Now Targeting No Earlier Than Summer for Launch science.nasa.gov/blogs/tracer...

First Quarter Moon on Sunday evening at 6.21 PM (UTC+7).

Rep. Chu Sounds Alarm on White House’s Proposed Budget Cuts to Mars Sample Return
chu.house.gov/media-center... #Mars #NASA #Astrobiology

The launch of Minotaur this afternoon from Vandy is a powerful reminder of non-proliferation. When that vehicle was built, it was hopefully never going to be used - a delivery mechanism for nuclear warheads now turned into an orbital launch vehicle.

Planetary Defense remains a policy area with an incredible degree of unknowns. We must engage in proactive, multilateral cooperation to ensure the safety of the planet against hazardous NEO threats.

Attempting to spin up the writing gears for a new Medium article, stay tuned folks....

The Artemis II rocket sits inside VAB High Bay 3. The core stage is surrounded by work platforms shortly after being mated to the twin solid rocket boosters.

The SLS core stage suspended in the air by a crane as it is positioned above the solid rocket boosters. This aligns the stage prior to lowering and mating with the rest of the rocket.

This weekend NASA lifted the Core Stage of the second SLS rocket into place on Mobile Launcher 1. This 212 foot tall stage is the backbone of the SLS rocket, and is responsible for the majority of the energy needed to reach orbit.

📸NASA

Even regional asteroid threats are global because we exist in a volatile world and we must, at all costs, continue to engage in constructive international dialogue.

2024 YR4’s odds of hitting Earth continue to go up. It is not a certain impact yet, but it is a reminder that planetary defense requires a global response with a wide range of impact studies.

The impact and potential deflection are only a part of a critical chain of events.

A Reflection on Human Factors After a tragic crash on the Potomac River, the time for a reckoning looms.

I wrote about a tragedy that was way too close to home. The crash of AA5432 and PAT25 is a watershed moment.

Read more here: nikproxima.medium.com/a-reflection...

It is a fundamentally strange experience living in DC and experiencing the culture shift. Space policy work continues, but to what end? It feels beyond bizarre to be here.

A Reflection on Human Factors After a tragic crash on the Potomac River, the time for a reckoning looms.

I wrote about a tragedy that was way too close to home. The crash of AA5432 and PAT25 is a watershed moment.

Read more here: nikproxima.medium.com/a-reflection...

#SBAG - What HWO might look like keeping in mind too that what we thought JWST would look like when it started was a far cry from what got launched.

Some more detail:

Option 1: a JPL led design using a bigger skycrane, similar to the landing system for MSL/M2020 Estimated $6.6B-$7.7B.

Option 2: Use a "heavy lander" from "existing commercial partners." Est. $5.8B-$7.1B

Both options deliver the same payload.

Well. I feel like I’ve been thrown in a new direction.

Two possible paths forward: a skycrane derived, JPL led approach or a commercial option to get the MAV to the surface. A watershed moment for science policy, that’s for sure.

Chromata, one of the four Diamond Cities of the Cassini Dependencies. While most Saturnian void cities are made from parked asteroids, Chromata and her sister orbitals are built out of deconstructed moonlets within Saturn's ring system.

#hibourverse

I don’t pretend to know what’ll come of the Jan. 7 MSR announcement, but it is absolutely a shift for planetary science. This flagship mission is now an experiment for how we conduct the kind of cutting edge research required by a sample return mission, and execute on programs.

Astranis Aims to Breathe New Life into GEO On December 29, 2024, a new breed of geostationary satellites took flight – powered into space by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. From One to Many, the first Astranis Block 2 mission, is the first …

Astranis has launched their first operational batch of MicroGEO satellites, beginning a wave of deployment in GEO.

Read more from @nik-proxima.bsky.social here: www.spacescout.info/2024/12/astr...

New Glenn has a unique roll to fill in an ever evolving space ecosystem, coming online to support Amazon’s Project Kuiper, NASA’s Artemis program, and the United States Space Force’s buildup of assets in orbit. Another reusable heavy lift launcher is game changing.

New Glenn was successfully static fired last night in preparation for its maiden flight, now targeting early 2025. This vehicle is a behemoth, the largest and most powerful rocket fired at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station since Titan IV.

Can’t wait to see this monster spread its wings.

Almost a year ago (Jan 20, 2024) one little JAXA lunar lander made a successful soft Moon landing... on its nose... 🛰️. And then promptly refused to stop analysing rocks through 3 lunar night that should have frozen it solid 🔭. SLIM mission operations are now over, and here is a summary 🧪.

A stack of 3 New Horizons images of very different depths, showing the bright solar-illuminated and faint Jupiter-shine hemispheres together. Deconvolved to bring out fine detail.

Happy #MapMonday. Here is a map of the 2028 US presidential election from a future where there was a meteor impact off the west coast.

The moon briefly in the DC area around midnight. Beautiful!

My smart NASA astrobiologist friend @drfunkyspoon.bsky.social said something about the “23° degree arc.” So I googled it:

“A ‘23 degree arc moon’ typically refers to a halo around the moon, specifically the edge of a ‘22 degree halo’..."