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4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

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Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#651

Post by antonvs »

kortilla wrote: post #642
moolcool wrote: post #633

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NASA and SpaceX aren't competitors. NASA's mission statement is "explore the unknown in air and space, innovate for the benefit of humanity, and inspire the world through discovery". SpaceX is a p̶u̶b̶l̶i̶c̶l̶y̶ ̶t̶r̶a̶d̶e̶d̶ privately held company whose mission is to increase shareholder value.

SpaceX’s mission is very explicitly not shareholder aligned, which is why Musk explicitly said he would never take it public or sell his majority stake. The mission is mars and the money making endeavors (starlink) are to bring in the cash to do that.

> The mission is mars

It's hard to believe that by now Musk still hasn't realized what a ridiculous idea this is.

That realization could explain his weird pivot into e.g. buying Twitter and far-right politics. A midlife crisis triggered by discovering that his childhood dream was just a fantasy.

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#652

Post by whatevaa »

Molitor5901 wrote: post #614

But haven't people wanted NASA to be more streamlined, and efficient? Not sure if that is reducing staffing, or changing its mission. SpaceX making such leaps and bounds over NASA had to be a shot across the bow.

NASA is handicaped by politics. SLS is a jobs program, nothing else. Did they axe that shit or they kept it even after funding was cut?

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#654

Post by fnordpiglet »

moolcool wrote: post #633
Molitor5901 wrote: post #614

But haven't people wanted NASA to be more streamlined, and efficient? Not sure if that is reducing staffing, or changing its mission. SpaceX making such leaps and bounds over NASA had to be a shot across the bow.

NASA and SpaceX aren't competitors. NASA's mission statement is "explore the unknown in air and space, innovate for the benefit of humanity, and inspire the world through discovery". SpaceX is a p̶u̶b̶l̶i̶c̶l̶y̶ ̶t̶r̶a̶d̶e̶d̶ privately held company whose mission is to increase shareholder value.

Specifically NASA is an exploration and science mission while SpaceX is a lift and transit provider for organizations like NASA. Historically NASA did their own lift and transit because no one else could and they seeded and researched the capabilities that SpaceX and other private ventures do today. This is a fine arrangement because commoditizing delta V is not exploration and science, it’s the means to it.

I’d note SpaceX is by far the most successful but by far not the only player in that space.

The brain drain and funding attack is on non military goals of NASA as well as on college and specifically graduate level people in the United States because they don’t ideologically align to the president. It’s a cultural revolution America style.

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#655

Post by lenerdenator »

jotux wrote: post #638
Molitor5901 wrote: post #614

But haven't people wanted NASA to be more streamlined, and efficient? Not sure if that is reducing staffing, or changing its mission. SpaceX making such leaps and bounds over NASA had to be a shot across the bow.

>SpaceX making such leaps and bounds over NASA had to be a shot across the bow. SpaceX, which has been awarded tens of billions in government contracts from NASA, is making leaps and bounds over NASA? I think in 2022 almost 50% of SpaceX revenue was NASA contracts. All those leaps and bounds over NASA are literally NASA funded.

Not to speak for the other commenter, but there's a perception that private industry (SpaceX specifically) has been more agile in getting some things done than NASA had been; specifically, getting a purpose-built ISS taxi (the Dragon) built, tested, and launched.

In some ways, this isn't wrong. It's easier to get a private company to do that than to get NASA to do it, because there's not some congresscritter from Alabama or wherever constantly trying to direct aspects of the project into their state, or to make the project serve their patrons' interests.

Of course, you could also say that up until recently, Elon himself was just as much of a patron, but still.

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#656

Post by [deleted] »

wat10000 wrote: post #518
ToucanLoucan wrote: post #509

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NOAA, NASA, NIH, FWS, and DOE all regularly push how bad the situation is around global climate change. That's likely why they're getting targeted. The GOP's position on climate change is sticking their fingers in their ears and screaming LALALALALA and having credible government agencies pointing out the ongoing effects is detrimental to this strategy. Meanwhile the USDA, FWS, and DOE do those pesky regulatory thing…

I think it’s even simpler: government is seen as bad. The military and some law enforcement are excepted, but otherwise, dismantling government agencies is a goal in and of itself. I listened to way too much Rush Limbaugh in the 90s and none of this stuff is a surprise. Distressing, but exactly what this particular segment of Republicans have been working towards.

[deleted]

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#657

Post by Gud »

antonvs wrote: post #645
dylan604 wrote: post #641

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you were acting on behalf of the other players in the sequel, these would be great moves.

Turns out people like Trump and Gabbard might be smarter than they appear. It's just a pity that they use that against the US.

They aren’t.

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#659

Post by MattGrommes »

Molitor5901 wrote: post #614

But haven't people wanted NASA to be more streamlined, and efficient? Not sure if that is reducing staffing, or changing its mission. SpaceX making such leaps and bounds over NASA had to be a shot across the bow.

This is the same argument people made for DOGE. "Don't we want the government to be more efficient?" Yes, nobody is going to argue the opposite. But there are ways of doing this that are rational, then there is the way this is happening. Using a chainsaw for fine cutting only works when you are an expert at chainsaws. Otherwise you're just chopping chunks off something with a dangerous tool.

Of course this is assuming they actually want these agencies to be more efficient and not just die, which is a big assumption.

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#660

Post by Trasmatta »

schmidtleonard wrote: post #627
lawlessone wrote: post #624

They'll do this now and then act shocked when some of these ex nasa people end up working in Europe or China lol

Even without that factor, making deep cuts to research funding right before Cold War II: Electric Boogaloo seems like a bad move.

We've been in Cold War II for awhile now
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