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Reposted by Michael Battalio

Simeon Schmauß @stim3on.bsky.social · 1d

Ha! It looks like Avi Loeb silently edited his Medium post about the Perseverance Navcam images, after being called out for his wrong interpretation.
While he previously claimed the image was of 3I/Atlas, he now says the claim came from "social media". 🔭

A paragraph about the Navcam image that claimed the image is of 3I/Atlas was edited to say "This was claimed on social media to be an image" of the comet

A paragraph that previously only mentioned the object creating the source could be much closer to the camera than Atlas was extended with a speculation that it could be one of the Martian moons.

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Michael Battalio @battalio.com · 21h

It is bonkers that whether or not your mission is still alive is totally dependent on whether a mission PI was able to get to some house member to tell some 20 year old staffer to put a line item, single sentence in a house budget request that will never actually end up passing. This is just insane.

Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 1d

One NASA science mission saved from Trump’s cuts, but others still in limbo arstechnica.com/space/2025/1...

One NASA science mission saved from Trump’s cuts, but others still in limbo

“Damage is being done already. Even if funding is reinstated, we have already lost people.”…

arstechnica.com

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Reposted by Michael Battalio

Thomas Zimmer @thomaszimmer.bsky.social · 23h

We need to talk about Russell Vought – But Properly

Why certain mainstream outlets insist on sanitizing Vought as a devout “small government” conservative – and what actually animates his war against pluralistic democracy.

Some thoughts from my new piece:

🧵

We need to talk about Russell Vought – But Properly

Why certain mainstream outlets insist on sanitizing Vought as a devout “small government” conservative – and what actually animates his war against pluralistic democracy

steady.page

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Michael Battalio @battalio.com · 1d

The full comments I wrote to the CNN writer. I'm delighted the part they pulled is about the broader usefulness of studying Mars.

The 3-step process of creating a dataset with humans, training an AI , but then validating is robust against false detections versus trusting AI. The combination of 2 cameras that can detect the motion of small-scale features at different times of day make this new catalog of dust devils particularly useful for probing Mars's weather and climate. This catalog might be used to estimate the background wind and would be valuable as we have no way to measure winds on a global scale.

At present, we only derive winds from temperature, but this is computationally expensive. Winds across all scales from meter to 1000s of km control the opacity of the atmosphere and dictate where dust travels. These wind observations validate and improve models to ensure crewed and robotic mission safety, durability, & longevity. These results highlight the value in having a range of long-term datasets, the future of which is in jeopardy due to proposed NASA budget cuts. Separately, studying Mars's climate is important for understanding Earth. Mars's unique conditions provide an independent laboratory for comparing to how Earth's weather works to make sure we have the most complete, general formulation of atmospheric dynamics possible. Studying the solar system broadly isn't just about exploration, it helps us understand our home.

A second use of this dataset to extract information about the atmosphere is to use the dust devil observations to estimate generalized dust lifting from non-dust devils. The maximum wind stress values derived from this study are appreciably larger than what models provide, and this was only found because the dataset can probe a range of times of day. This study supports the hypothesis that an under-appreciated amount of dust is lifted in joint events by both vortices and straight-line winds in combination instead of the two types operating somewhat separately. This is not captured well in models, but appears to be an important part of the Mars dust cycle.

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Michael Battalio @battalio.com · 1d

I was able to read an embargoed version of this yesterday. It is pretty amazing what this team was able to do. They tracked these dust devils to estimate the background wind and wind shear. Models look to underestimate this.

I was quoted in this @cnn.com article about it.

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Reposted by Michael Battalio

Chris Schaller @hicommander.bsky.social · 1d

More CaSSIS coolness!

The correct link is in the thread, but here it is as well: www.esa.int/Science_Expl...

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Michael Battalio @battalio.com · 1d

Jacobs is an actual scientist and seems willing to try behind-the-scenes to protect us from the destructive potential of an RFK-like anti-administrator. I'd rather have Jacobs than Mass, Maue, Curry, Koonin, Ramaswamy, or rando tech bro. I mean, we have Acting NASA Real World Admin Duffy right now.

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Michael Battalio @battalio.com · 1d

Standards are low, but despite Sharpiegate and the troubling ways (see UCS blog below) Jacobs contorts himself into not crossing the admin (which is how Isaacman failed his NASA confirmation), Jacobs is the best person we can hope to run NOAA. Perfect is the enemy of the good for the next 3 years.

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Reposted by Michael Battalio

Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 2d

We made a similar argument in Nature on research funding:

"[G]rant-receiving institutions and the communities that they serve need assurance that funds allocated by Congress will be spent."

Impoundment subverts the law.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg.bsky.social · 2d

If appropriations bills are not seen as enforceable contracts, why should any Member of Congress vote to fund any part of the federal government under Donald Trump? You're voting to provide money for lawlessness. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/there-is-n...

There is no budget "deal" to be made

President Trump has so broken the constitutional framework as to make joint normal, responsible government impossible.

www.doomsdayscenario.co

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Reposted by Michael Battalio

Hannah Richter @hannah-richter.bsky.social · 2d

The world's premier space agency isn't exempt from the U.S. government shutdown. "You can't just sit in your lab and think that this doesn't impact you, because it's very clear now that it does,” says one planetary scientist. 🏛️ ❌ Read more in @skyandtelescope.bsky.social: tinyurl.com/26e5h4d2 #nasa

NASA Faces Government Shutdown, Funding Fears Rise

While civil servants are furloughed or working without pay, funding for NASA remains uncertain.

tinyurl.com

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Reposted by Michael Battalio

Kevin Olsen @drksolsen.bsky.social · 2d

Wow, our observations of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS with ExoMars TGO turned out better than expected!
I have seen the dot observed with perseverance, and the weak signal in our spectrometer data, but the tracking and coma from CaSSIS are sure to impress!
🔬🧪 #planetsci
www.esa.int/Science_Expl...

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Michael Battalio @battalio.com · 3d

Loeb is just not a serious person.

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Michael Battalio @battalio.com · 3d

I want to point out another insane thing. He names to his executive board his favorite cuckoo MAGA House Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, the Rep who proposed adding Trump to Mt. Rushmore and said "Congress has seen proof of 'interdimensional beings.'" Great company and judgement there, Avi.

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Michael Battalio @battalio.com · 3d

You'll love this then; he specifically motivates the idea using the IPCC as as an example of "international community has successfully achieved remarkable scientific breakthroughs through specialized international frameworks"

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Reposted by Michael Battalio

Michele Bannister @astrokiwi.bsky.social · 3d

Just going to say that it is hurtful when a systematic study effort by the global small-body community, with many of the campaigns led by women, with results being pushed to free open-source arXiv & data repos for scicomm as quickly as possible, is described as lacking coordination/communication

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Reposted by Michael Battalio

Meg Schwamb @megschwamb.bsky.social · 3d

This is complete and utter pompous bullshit. It's telling that of the people proposing it wants to anoint themselves director general when every one of his claims of having discovered technosignature interstellar objects has been debunked by the planetary community. arxiv.org/pdf/2510.01405

arxiv.org

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Michael Battalio @battalio.com · 3d

I don't give a damn if he mouths off nonsense to get adulation from Stephen Miller, Newsmax, and idiots in comment sections. If grift and ruination of his reputation is a trade off he wants to make, fine. But when he starts trying to take over scientific resources, we should stop placating him.

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Michael Battalio @battalio.com · 3d

Oh, and BTW, he unilaterally names himself Director General of the proposed resource allocation body to be adopted under the U freaking N. You have to admire the gall. But this is insane.

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Michael Battalio @battalio.com · 3d

If anyone is wondering why I'm being pissy about Loeb, it's his latest BS on arXiv. He proposed a coordinated study of interstellar objects. Great, actually. But he wants $380M, adopts the classification scale he named after himself (Yes, he calls it the Loeb scale), and control over telescopes.

arxiv.org

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Michael Battalio @battalio.com · 3d

Loeb is the latest in a long line of once competent scientists who got bored with their original field, ventured off into new topics, and made fools of themselves. I, honestly, don't know if he believes the BS he spews, but at this point it doesn't matter. Reporters, contact Simeon to debunk.

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Michael Battalio @battalio.com · 3d

Prof. Loeb is a punch line. In the exact same way that Trump is the poor person's idea of a rich person, Loeb is an idiot's idea of a scientist. He sure as hell isn't Galileo; Galileo's experiments were repeatable and provable. Loeb has the credibility and veracity of a Youtube comment section.

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Michael Battalio @battalio.com · 3d

Did Perseverance see 3I/Atlas? Yes, maybe.

Is Avi Loeb using this as an opportunity to falsely impugn actual science in an effort to blow smoke up his own ass? Yes, undoubtedly.

Basically nothing Loeb has been in the news for in the last 5 years has proven correct. Stop falling for his grift.

Simeon Schmauß @stim3on.bsky.social · 5d

Last night, NASA's Perseverance rover looked up at the night sky once more, to capture interstellar #comet 3I/Atlas flying by the red planet.

The distance was "only" 0.2 AU or 30 Mio km, far closer than the comet ever got to Earth. 🔭 #3IAtlas

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/Simeon Schmauß

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Reposted by Michael Battalio

Simeon Schmauß @stim3on.bsky.social · 3d

To any (mutual) space journos, I'm happy to answer a few questions about the 3I/Atlas images from Perseverance in the hope we can debunk some of the misinformation that is going around currently.

Simeon Schmauß @stim3on.bsky.social · 5d

Last night, NASA's Perseverance rover looked up at the night sky once more, to capture interstellar #comet 3I/Atlas flying by the red planet.

The distance was "only" 0.2 AU or 30 Mio km, far closer than the comet ever got to Earth. 🔭 #3IAtlas

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/Simeon Schmauß

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Reposted by Michael Battalio

Tod Lauer @todlauer.bsky.social · 3d

The effort put into understanding 3I/Atlas has been spectacular, imaginative, professional and well-organized. Planetary scientists don't need Avi Loeb put in charge of an international directorate to tell them how to do their jobs.

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Reposted by Michael Battalio

Simeon Schmauß @stim3on.bsky.social · 3d

No Avi, that Perseverance Navcam picture you posted isn't showing 3I/Atlas, it's just Phobos, the brighter one of Mars' moons.

If you were even half the expert you think you are, this possibility should have been quite obvious and worth mentioning.

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