DEIA dropped from NASA.

Summary

T-Minus Space Daily Episode Summary: "DEIA Dropped from NASA"

Release Date: January 23, 2025
Host: Maria Varmazas, N2K Networks

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1. NASA's Leadership Overhaul and DEIA Policy Removal

The episode opens with a significant update on NASA's internal restructuring. Maria Varmazas reports that Janet Petro, the newly appointed interim administrator of NASA, has initiated a controversial policy shift by eliminating DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility) programs within the agency.

• Petro's Directive: In an internal email to NASA employees, Petro stated, “[We] are taking steps to close all agency DEIA offices and end all DEIA related contracts in accordance with President Trump's executive orders” (02:45). She further criticized these programs, claiming they “divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars and resulted in shameful discrimination” (03:10).

• Impact on Contracts and Positions: Petro also instructed NASA employees to “report any change in contract description or personnel Position description Since November 5, 2024, to obscure the connection between the contract and the EIA or similar ideologies” (03:50).

• Wider Implications: This move is not isolated to NASA; several other U.S. agencies received similar directives, indicating a broader governmental shift away from DEIA initiatives. Additionally, a hiring freeze has been implemented across NASA and all federal agencies until Jared Isaacman is confirmed as the permanent administrator by the U.S. Congress (04:30).

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2. International Collaborations and Space Initiatives

a. UK's Blue Abyss and NASA Partnership

Maria Varmazas discusses a newly signed Space Act agreement between Blue Abyss, a UK-based commercial space company, and NASA's Glenn Research Center.

• Scope of Collaboration: The partnership aims to “accelerate advancements in commercial space training, research and infrastructure development” (05:15). Key focus areas include:

  • Innovative Training Methods: Developing innovative methods for preparing the next generation of space travelers.

  • Human Factors in Space: Studying the effects of extreme gravity conditions on humans.

  • Advanced Facilities: Planning and mapping advanced facilities like underwater laboratories, parabolic flights, and augmented reality training tools (05:45).

• Mutual Benefits: NASA will provide technical expertise, while Blue Abyss will conduct a market study to define infrastructure requirements for the next decade, aiding NASA’s future mission planning (06:10).

b. Eutelsat and NigComSat Partnership

Eutelsat has entered into a multimillion-dollar, multi-year partnership with Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NigComSat) to enhance satellite services in Nigeria.

• Service Provision: Utilizing the OneWeb Leo network, NigComSat aims to deliver “high speed, low latency connectivity” across Nigeria (07:00). Target sectors include government enterprises, underserved rural areas, remote communications, mobile connectivity, and offshore operations.

c. Italian Space Agency’s Collaboration with Thales Alenia Space

The Italian Space Agency (ASI) has selected Thales Alenia Space to contribute to NASA's Surface Biology and Geology Thermal Infrared Earth Observation Mission (SBG TIR).

• Mission Objectives: The collaboration focuses on collecting radiometric and multispectral data of land and water emissions to support climate, ecological, and geological analyses, as well as applications in food security and water management (08:00).

• Technological Integration: The mission will integrate NASA's thermal infrared radiometer with ASI's VIS near-infrared camera to deliver high-resolution observations of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, monitoring phenomena like wildfires and volcanic activity (08:30).

d. Rocket Lab and Aurora Technologies Wildfire Monitoring

Rocket Lab has secured a contract with Germany's Aurora Technologies to deploy a constellation of satellites aimed at monitoring wildfires.

• Mission Details: The contract involves launching eight satellites via Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand within the next four months. This rapid deployment is crucial for meeting the seasonal demands of wildfire detection (09:00).

• Future Expansion: Aurora Technologies plans to expand their constellation to up to 100 satellites by 2028, enhancing their capacity to alert first responders to wildfire dangers (09:30).

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3. In-Depth Interview: Giovanni D'Antonio on Cryptalier Spaceport

A significant portion of the episode features an interview with Giovanni D'Antonio, Director of Technological Innovation at ENAC (Italian Civil Aviation Authority), discussing the development and strategic vision of the Cryptalier Spaceport in the Puglia region of Italy.

a. Development and Infrastructure

• Historical Context: The journey began in 2014 when ENAC designated the Cryptalier Spaceport as suitable for aeronautical industrial and research activities. A memorandum of cooperation with the FAA was signed to promote commercial suborbital operations in Italy (10:36).

• Spaceport Features: Cryptalier is designed for horizontal operations with a 3km runway, accommodating takeoff for orbital and suborbital missions. The spaceport aims to become a reference point for suborbital activities within the European Union and the Mediterranean basin (11:00).

b. Collaboration with Virgin Galactic

• Feasibility Studies: Cryptalier Spaceport has partnered with Virgin Galactic to conduct a two-phase feasibility study for suborbital operations.

  • Phase One: Focuses on technical feasibility, assessing ground and day risks, airspace management, and environmental impacts such as emissions and noise, including sonic booms (13:00).

  • Phase Two: Evaluates how the Italian industry can support and benefit from these operations through partnerships (14:15).

• Safety and Regulation: A key aspect of the collaboration is ensuring that Virgin Galactic’s vehicle designs comply with Italy’s stringent safety regulations, which emphasize high-level performance-based requirements for occupant safety (14:45).

c. Global Spaceport Alliance Membership

• Strategic Partnerships: Giovanni highlights the importance of Global Spaceport Alliance (GSA) membership for strengthening international relationships and facilitating point-to-point suborbital transportation (18:00).

• European Commercial Spaceport Forum: Italy also participates in the European Commercial Spaceport Forum, fostering collaboration between European spaceports and aligning with U.S. counterparts (19:30).

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4. NASA’s Day of Remembrance

The episode commemorates NASA’s Day of Remembrance, observed annually on the fourth Thursday of January. This day honors NASA personnel who lost their lives in the pursuit of space exploration, including the Apollo 1 crew and the Challenger and Columbia shuttle disasters.

• Memorial Activities: Individuals and NASA staff lay wreaths and place flowers at various memorials, including Arlington National Cemetery and Kennedy Space Center (21:00).

• Legacy and Future Exploration: The segment underscores the importance of remembering past sacrifices as humanity continues its quest to explore the Moon, Mars, and beyond, encapsulated by the motto “Per Aspera Ad Astra” (22:00).

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Conclusion

The January 23, 2025, episode of T-Minus Space Daily provided a comprehensive overview of significant developments in the global space industry. From NASA's controversial policy changes to international collaborations enhancing space exploration and infrastructure, the episode highlighted the dynamic and interconnected nature of modern space endeavors. The in-depth interview with Giovanni D'Antonio offered valuable insights into Italy's emerging role in suborbital operations and the strategic importance of international alliances in advancing space technology and infrastructure.

For more detailed information on the stories discussed, listeners are encouraged to visit the show notes at space.n2k.com.

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Produced by Alice Carou, Associate Producer Liz Stokes, Mixed by Elliott Peltzman and Trey Hester, Original Music by Elliott Peltzman, Executive Producer Jennifer Ibin, Executive Editor Brandon Karpf, President Simone Petrella, Publisher Peter Kilpe. Host: Maria Varmazas.

Transcript

[Maria Varmazas]

You're listening to the N2K space network.

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[Maria Varmazas]

Today is January 23rd, 2025. I'm Maria Varmazas and this is T minus.

[Giovanni D'Antonio]

T minus 20 seconds. Speed. Rest.

[Maria Varmazas]

Go for deploy.

[Dave]

Rock and Roll.

[Maria Varmazas]

5 Rocket Lab signs a contract with Germany's Aurora Technologies to launch satellites to monitor wildfires and alert first responders to danger. The Italian space agency has selected Taus Alenia Space to contribute to NASA's surface biology and Geology Thermal Infrared Earth Observation Mission. You tell SAT and NIGE COMSAT to launch satellite services. The UK's Blue Abyss has signed a Space act agreement with NASA's Glenn Research center to accelerate advancements in commercial space training, research and infrastructure development. NASA's acting administrator removes DEIA, or diversity, equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Programs from the space agency Foreign D'Antonio from the Italian Civil Aviation Authority, and Giovanni shared some updates with me about the Criptalier spaceport in the Puglia region of Italy. They've recently announced a new study with Virgin Galactic to explore suborbital missions in the region. So stick around for more details later in the show. Happy Thursday, everyone. We're kicking off today's intel briefing with an update on NASA's leadership change. For a second day in the row yesterday, we let you know that the White House had appointed an interim administrator after Bill Nelson stepped down from his role, and it seems that she is already implementing policies directly from the new occupants at the White House. Janet Petro's first point of order has been to remove the DEIA policy, and that would be the diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programs from the US Space Agency. In an email to NASA employees, Petro wrote this we are taking steps to close all agency DEIA offices and end all DEIA related contracts in accordance with President Trump's executive orders. The email went on to say these programs divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars and resulted in shameful discrimination. Petro also pushed NASA employees to report any change in contract description or personnel Position description Since November 5, 2024, to obscure the connection between the contract and the EIA or similar ideologies. Several other U.S. agencies received similarly worded messages from their acting directors on Wednesday. In the meantime, there is also a hiring freeze at NASA, which also affects all federal agencies until the nominated administrator, Jared Isaacman, passes the US Congress's vote to assume the role. Moving on to the UK now and the UK's Blue Abyss has signed a Space act agreement with NASA's Glenn Research center to accelerate advancements in commercial space training, research and infrastructure development. Under the agreement, Blue Abyss and NASA will work together to explore several crucial areas, including developing innovative methods for preparing the next generation of space travelers, studying the effects of extreme gravity conditions on humans, robotics and biological and physical sciences, and planning and mapping advanced facilities like underwater facilities, parabolic flights and augmented reality training tools. The US Space Agency will lend its technical expertise and insights from decades of space exploration to guide the development of future capabilities and facilities. Blue Abyss will conduct a market study to define infrastructure requirements over the next 10 years, and the results will help shape NASA's understanding of how commercial facilities could support its future missions. Blue Abyss is expected to make Spaceport Cornwall its base for the research. EUTELSAT and Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited also known as NigComSat, have announced a multi year, multimillion dollar partnership to deliver low Earth orbit satellite services in Nigeria. NIGE COMSAT will leverage the OneWeb Leo network to deliver high speed, low latency connectivity for the nation. Their services will cater to a wide range of sectors, including government enterprises and underserved rural areas supporting essential applications like remote communications, mobile connectivity and offshore operations. The Italian space agency has selected Thalesalenia space to contribute to NASA's Surface Biology and Geology Thermal Infrared Earth Observation Mission, also known as SBG tir, that one does not roll off the tongue. The agreement is a follow on from a 2023 collaboration pact between ASI and NASA for the SBG TIR mission. The mission's focus is on gathering radiometric and multispectral measurements of emissions from land and water. The data will aid climate, ecological and geological analyses while supporting applications in food security and water management. NASA's thermal infrared radiometer and ASI's VIS near camera will combine to deliver high resolution observations of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and these instruments will also monitor critical phenomena such as wildfires, volcanic activity and water resource dynamics. And speaking of wildfire monitoring, Rocket Lab has signed a contract for a responsive launch on Electron with German company Aurora Technologies. Aurora Tech is developing a satellite constellation to monitor wildfires and alert first responders to danger. The mission will launch from Rocket lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand and will deploy eight satellites within the next four months. The timeline will enable Aurora Tech to meet the season sensitive requirements of its wildfire detection mission. The company plans to expand their constellation with up to 100 satellites in total by 2028. And that is it for our intel briefing for today. You can head to the Selected Reading section of our show Notes to learn more about all of the stories I've mentioned for you throughout the show and today. We have included a call from Space Florida for projects to further develop Florida's spaceport system. Hi T minus crew. If your business is looking to grow your voice in the industry, expand the reach of your thought leadership or recruit talent, T minus can help. We'd love to hear from you. Just send us an [e-mail] or send us a note through our website so we can connect about building a program to meet your goals.

[Dave]

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[Maria Varmazas]

T minus will be in Florida next week for Commercial Space Week. I am looking forward to it IMMENSELY and day one kicks off with the Global Spaceport Alliance's annual spaceport summit. And I spoke to Giovanni D'Antonio from the Italian Civil Aviation Authority recently. He shared with me some updates about the Cryptali Spaceport in the Puglia region of Italy.

[Giovanni D'Antonio]

I am Giovanni D'Antonio, director of technological innovation at Enec, the Italian civil Aviation Authority, which is the equivalent of the FAA in the United States or CAA uk, for example. And of course we are dealing with aviation, but also with the emerging topics of Aviation like commercial space transportation, hydrospace operations, drones and so on and so forth.

[Maria Varmazas]

Well, thank you so much for joining me. And there is so much happening in Italy in aerospace. It's quite amazing to hear all the news, all the announcements, very exciting things happening, not least of which is the spaceport. So tell me a little bit about cryptalje about the spaceport specifically, of course.

[Giovanni D'Antonio]

And let me say the journey started a decade ago, in 2014, when ENAC designated the airport that airport has suitable for aeronautical industrial activities and research and test activities. That year we also entered into an agreement, a memorandum of cooperation with the faa AST specifically signed with George Nild that at that time was the associate administrator to promote the commercial suborbital operations in Italy. And since then our Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport tasked us to develop the regulatory framework for spaceports and suborbital operations. And with a specific address act in 2018, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport designated identified Grottalia SPACeport as the first spaceport in Italy for suborbital operations. And since then we continue to develop the regulation. And in 2002 we set up a specific association, the Kryptalia Spaceport association, with the aim to guide and steer the development of the site based on an holistic and coherent vision. The characteristic of our spaceport is thought for horizontal operations, which means it is a 3km Runway airport for horizontal and takeoff orbital and suborbital operations, which means basically in principle, air launching into orbit, re entry from orbit and suborbital flight. And specifically in this moment we would like to develop this last sector, the suborbital flight. And our vision for the spaceport is that may become a reference point, a reference base for suborbital activities, for sure in the European Union, but in general in the Mediterranean Basin.

[Maria Varmazas]

Absolutely. You answered a whole bunch of my questions in that right there, beautifully. So thank you. I appreciate that answer very much. Thank you. It gives me a better sense of how the spaceport fits in with the overall ecosystem and how it's going to help develop so much of the already very strong aerospace space ecosystem, not just in Italy, but also in the Mediterranean and in Europe in general. So I want to skip ahead a little bit to the agreement that you all signed with Virgin Galactic, which was very interesting to hear about that news. Please tell me more about that.

[Giovanni D'Antonio]

Of course, aside developing the regulation, aside facilitating the ecosystem and building the infrastructure, of course we need an operator and since last year we have been working diligently with Virgin Galactic to let me say finalize this agreement with foresee the development of a feasibility study to understand, to identify the conditions under which suborbital operations could be carried out in Italy at Crustagi spaceport in our environment, according to our regulation, our technical regulation. So basically this study will be divided into two phases. The first phase will be devoted to the technical feasibility and will be carried out this year. In this first phase, we are going to assess ground and day risk in terms of expected casualties calculation and day risk contour for the management of the airspace. The procedures for the air stress management and specifically tailored to Virgin Galactic operations. Procedures that we have been simulating in this week, for example, in Eurocontrol, in Paris, at Eurocontrol Innovation Hub. Because we are trying to simulate some assumption we would like to validate during the feasibility study directly with Virgin Galactic. Then we are going to assess the needs for ground infrastructures in terms of building layout, operational procedures, like for example, the handling and storage of the propellants and so on and so forth. Then the environmental issues, specifically you can imagine toxicity, emissions and noise, including the problem of the sonic boom, of course, that we expect to have over land. Probably we will see. And finally, let me say the also we are going to assess to which extent the new design of the vehicle of Virgin Galactic will be able to comply with our regulations. Because one of the main differences we have with the US Regulation is that we also have some high level performance based requirement for the safety of the occupants, which is something different from the United States. Very, very high level. But we would like to ensure, let me say, a minimum level of safety for the occupants. And to that end it will be important to have a minimum assessment of the design of the vehicle. And so we are also going to assess this one also to understand whether it would be possible to optimize the expected casualties calculation based on more, let's say, failure, more representative failure rates of the vehicles. Because our environment is more complex than the environment where Virgin Galactic flies in the United States. In the United States there are deserts. We don't have desert, but we have the sea. But nevertheless, we are close to dense populated areas. So our big effort will be to try to understand how to mitigate this problem and how to reach the goal to ensure minimum level of safety for people on ground in this complex environment. And the second phase of the study, after the completion of this phase, we are going to assess how the industry, the Italian industry base, may support and take benefit from these operations in terms of partnership agreements.

[Maria Varmazas]

Yes, there's so much that goes into an agreement like this. So much research to be done, so much to be determined. It is quite a lot of work. I know part of the reason that you and I are speaking today is because of the Global Spaceport Alliance. It's sort of what brought us together. Can you tell me a little bit about how you have found working with that alliance and also with other spaceports to advance your mission?

[Giovanni D'Antonio]

Yes, this is also linked to our long term vision. This question because our long term vision is from one side to allow daily operations for suborbital operations for space tourism experimentations and also training based on the Virgin Galactic operations. But the second piece of the vision we have is the point to point transportation. In the future we would like to make the cortail spaceport a node of an intercontinental network of spaceport where it could be possible to fly point to point suborbitally. And to do so of course we should strengthen our relationship with other spaceport around the world and in particular with spaceport in the United States. That's why we choose to join the gsa, the Global Spaceport Alliance. Because this will offer us the possibility to have these relationships with other spaceport to exchange experience first of all, but also in the future to possibly build relationships for allowing the point to point transportation. And another important reason why we are very happy to be a member of this organization is also because in Europe we have also founded a similar group of people which is named the European Commercial Spaceport Forum where the majority of institutions are dealing with spaceport participate in terms of automation authorities and space agencies. And our participation in both group could be a good opportunity to threaten the relationship between Europe and United States in this field.

[Maria Varmazas]

We'll be right back.

[Dave]

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[Maria Varmazas]

Welcome back. Every year on the fourth Thursday of January, NASA observes its Day of Remembrance. This year, that day is today, January 23rd. The day of Remembrance, NASA says, is to honor members of NASA who lost their lives while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery, including the Crews of Apollo 1 and space shuttles Challenger and Columbia. Participating members of the public, as well as NASA staff, often lay wreaths and place flowers for these fallen crew at memorials around the country, including at Arlington National Cemetery, where many of these brave explorers have memorials and grave markers, and also at Kennedy Space center in Florida. As humanity continues to push the boundaries of exploration and return to the moon and one day go to Mars and beyond, we should always take a moment to remember the sacrifices of those who gave their lives for space. Per Aspera Ad Astra that's it for T minus for January 23, 2020, brought to you by N2K Cyberwire. For additional resources from today's report, check out our show [e-mail] we're privileged that N2K and podcasts like T Minus are part of the daily routine of many of the most influential leaders and operators in the public and private sector, from the Fortune 500 to many of the world's preeminent intelligence and law enforcement agencies. This episode was produced by Alice Carou. Our associate producer is Liz Stokes, were mixed by Elliott Peltzman and Trey Hester, with original music by Elliot Peltzman. Our executive producer is Jennifer Ibin. Our executive editor is Brandon Karpf, Simone Petrella is our president, Peter Kilpe is our publisher and I am your host, Maria Vermazes. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow.

[Dave]

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