Senior Space Scientist
@srspacescientist.bsky.social
Kick-ass scientist, thinker, doer. Not afraid of megaparsecs, petabytes, or inclusion. Afraid of🕷️ Trying to save what I love as Rome burns
Pinned
Whelp, I’m watching as America is self-sabotaging our leadership role, and 50 years of preeminence in space science. As a government employee, I’m scared to speak out for fear of getting doxxed or fired. Trying to protect our people and save as much as I can
Reposted by Senior Space Scientist
Munich's famous river wave, the Eisbachwelle, vanished after a dredging in early November. Authorities are working to resurrect the beloved wave but impatient surfers have also tried their own methods.
Surf's down! Munich, until now an inland surfing hotspot, has lost its biggest wave
Munich's famous river wave, the Eisbachwelle, vanished after a dredging in early November. Authorities are working to resurrect the beloved wave but impatient surfers have also tried their own methods.
n.pr
November 23, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Munich's famous river wave, the Eisbachwelle, vanished after a dredging in early November. Authorities are working to resurrect the beloved wave but impatient surfers have also tried their own methods.
Reposted by Senior Space Scientist
A fantastic day with hundreds of their advocates for NASA’s science mission and the National Science Foundation. #savenasascience
October 6, 2025 at 3:37 PM
A fantastic day with hundreds of their advocates for NASA’s science mission and the National Science Foundation. #savenasascience
Reposted by Senior Space Scientist
What note would you leave for #Congress? Tell them to save NASA science funding! #nasaneedshelp #savenasascience #spaceisforeveryone
July 20, 2025 at 9:13 PM
What note would you leave for #Congress? Tell them to save NASA science funding! #nasaneedshelp #savenasascience #spaceisforeveryone
Reposted by Senior Space Scientist
AAS members are on the Hill today to #SaveNASAScience and advocate for sustained funding for NASA, NSF, and our nation's other science agencies! Help us amplify their voices by calling and writing to your Congressional offices today: aas.org/action-alert...
October 6, 2025 at 2:10 PM
AAS members are on the Hill today to #SaveNASAScience and advocate for sustained funding for NASA, NSF, and our nation's other science agencies! Help us amplify their voices by calling and writing to your Congressional offices today: aas.org/action-alert...
Hi all! It’s your friendly senior space scientist. Are you proud that the US leads the world in space science? Do you appreciate knowing where hurricanes are? How about black holes?
If Yes to any of the above, pls call your US Senators Representative. Tell them NASA science matters to you. Help
If Yes to any of the above, pls call your US Senators Representative. Tell them NASA science matters to you. Help
August 19, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Hi all! It’s your friendly senior space scientist. Are you proud that the US leads the world in space science? Do you appreciate knowing where hurricanes are? How about black holes?
If Yes to any of the above, pls call your US Senators Representative. Tell them NASA science matters to you. Help
If Yes to any of the above, pls call your US Senators Representative. Tell them NASA science matters to you. Help
Reposted by Senior Space Scientist
the American government is effectively ending its space program.
Over 2,000 senior staff set to leave NASA under agency push
The losses could endanger the administration’s plans for landing astronauts on the moon and Mars.
www.politico.com
July 9, 2025 at 5:19 PM
the American government is effectively ending its space program.
Reposted by Senior Space Scientist
We are absolutely losing an incredible amount of institutional knowledge and leadership. The current acting administrator of NASA is executing huge reductions with no plan or interest in maintaining space sciences in the United States
ALL CAPS
THIS IS CATASTROPHIC FOR SPACE SCIENCE AND ASTROPHYSICS ...
GLOBALLY CATASTROPHIC, NOT JUST FOR AMERICANS 🔭🧪
www.politico.com/news/2025/07...
THIS IS CATASTROPHIC FOR SPACE SCIENCE AND ASTROPHYSICS ...
GLOBALLY CATASTROPHIC, NOT JUST FOR AMERICANS 🔭🧪
www.politico.com/news/2025/07...
Over 2,000 senior staff set to leave NASA under agency push
The losses could endanger the administration’s plans for landing astronauts on the moon and Mars.
www.politico.com
July 9, 2025 at 10:12 PM
We are absolutely losing an incredible amount of institutional knowledge and leadership. The current acting administrator of NASA is executing huge reductions with no plan or interest in maintaining space sciences in the United States
The call to service — there it is. Young man quits his job as an accountant, gets trained as a Coast Guard rescue swimmer, and helps save frightened kids from floodwaters
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Coast Guard swimmer on first rescue mission helps save 165 in Texas floods
Coast Guard rescue swimmer Scott Ruskan helped save 165 people after the Guadalupe River surged by more than 20 feet in less than two hours early Friday in Texas.
www.washingtonpost.com
July 8, 2025 at 2:16 PM
The call to service — there it is. Young man quits his job as an accountant, gets trained as a Coast Guard rescue swimmer, and helps save frightened kids from floodwaters
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
It is still possible to save NASA science. Here’s my how to
panus.us-west.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atp...
panus.us-west.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atp...
panus.us-west.host.bsky.network
July 4, 2025 at 12:30 AM
It is still possible to save NASA science. Here’s my how to
panus.us-west.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atp...
panus.us-west.host.bsky.network/xrpc/com.atp...
Reposted by Senior Space Scientist
Sadly true. Although most other nations, with the possible exception of China, do not have the resources to match what the US is giving away.
American science to soon face its largest brain drain in history
The largest brain drain in history was when thousands of scientists left Nazi Germany; it became known as "Hitler's gift."
America's current assault on science is set to surpass that.
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#space #science
The largest brain drain in history was when thousands of scientists left Nazi Germany; it became known as "Hitler's gift."
America's current assault on science is set to surpass that.
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#space #science
American science to soon face its largest brain drain in history
Over the first half of 2025, the USA has cut science as never before. This disaster for American science is a gift to the rest of the world.
bigthink.com
July 3, 2025 at 12:58 AM
Sadly true. Although most other nations, with the possible exception of China, do not have the resources to match what the US is giving away.
Everything is awful, America is turning its back on science, and yet, I am strangely elated because THERE IS A VERA RUBIN QUARTER
I’m 25 cents richer and a whole galaxy happier now that I have my very own Vera Rubin quarter 💫
June 18, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Everything is awful, America is turning its back on science, and yet, I am strangely elated because THERE IS A VERA RUBIN QUARTER
Reposted by Senior Space Scientist
I’m 25 cents richer and a whole galaxy happier now that I have my very own Vera Rubin quarter 💫
June 18, 2025 at 10:15 PM
I’m 25 cents richer and a whole galaxy happier now that I have my very own Vera Rubin quarter 💫
Shonda Rhimes’ great book, Year of Yes, includes a commencement address where she opens by admitting she may puke in fear. Which made her feel brave enough to give an amazing talk
Ran into dear friend @tomr-stargazer.bsky.social here and told him I’m so nervous I wanna projectile vomit—he said don’t worry I can pass it off as a live demo of an AGN jet 🤦🏻♀️😂
#AAS246 silver linings?
#AAS246 silver linings?
June 12, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Shonda Rhimes’ great book, Year of Yes, includes a commencement address where she opens by admitting she may puke in fear. Which made her feel brave enough to give an amazing talk
Reposted by Senior Space Scientist
As NASA faces down the prospect of significant budget cuts to its science portfolio, the question becomes: what is the space agency's future supposed to look like? www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Trump Plan to Kill Dozens of NASA Missions Threatens US Space Supremacy
The White House’s spending plans would further the space agency’s evolution toward becoming an incubator for private industry
www.bloomberg.com
June 12, 2025 at 4:07 PM
As NASA faces down the prospect of significant budget cuts to its science portfolio, the question becomes: what is the space agency's future supposed to look like? www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Watching the grim 2025 “State of the Science” report. Takeaway: China leads the US in almost every sector, because the US is under-investing in science
youtu.be/MENzD7eVtZA?...
youtu.be/MENzD7eVtZA?...
2025 State of the Science by NAS President Marcia McNutt
YouTube video by The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
youtu.be
June 12, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Watching the grim 2025 “State of the Science” report. Takeaway: China leads the US in almost every sector, because the US is under-investing in science
youtu.be/MENzD7eVtZA?...
youtu.be/MENzD7eVtZA?...
Reposted by Senior Space Scientist
Former Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board members said the Trump administration usurped their authority by denying awards to "a substantial number" of the individuals it had selected for the program.
Almost all of the Fulbright board resigns, citing Trump administration interference
Former Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board members said the Trump administration usurped their authority by denying awards to "a substantial number" of the individuals it had selected for the program.
n.pr
June 12, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Former Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board members said the Trump administration usurped their authority by denying awards to "a substantial number" of the individuals it had selected for the program.
Reposted by Senior Space Scientist
The Space Sci community is reeling today at the President's proposed NASA budget. I'll admit that angry crying may get added to my to do list.
Before that happens, however, the @aas.org has a letter for me to sign & I have phone calls to make.
May Congress listen.
aas.org/urge-nasa-su...
Before that happens, however, the @aas.org has a letter for me to sign & I have phone calls to make.
May Congress listen.
aas.org/urge-nasa-su...
NASA SMD Dear Colleague Action Alert | American Astronomical Society
aas.org
April 11, 2025 at 8:15 PM
The Space Sci community is reeling today at the President's proposed NASA budget. I'll admit that angry crying may get added to my to do list.
Before that happens, however, the @aas.org has a letter for me to sign & I have phone calls to make.
May Congress listen.
aas.org/urge-nasa-su...
Before that happens, however, the @aas.org has a letter for me to sign & I have phone calls to make.
May Congress listen.
aas.org/urge-nasa-su...
Ever see a football player catch the punt, run 60 yards down the field, dodge and weave around the other team’s defenders — then on the 10 yard line bend over, tie his shoelaces together, start running again, and faceplant onto the grass? ME NEITHER, but that’s exactly this plan for US space science
The cuts "would kill the much-anticipated Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, an observatory seen as on par with [Hubble & JWST] that is already fully assembled and on budget for a launch in two years." Would also apparently close NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Huge, HUGE loss for science.
Hey! It's bad! arstechnica.com/space/2025/0...
2/3 cut in astrophysics
2/3 cut in heliophysics
50% cut in Earth science
30% cut in planetary science
This is just such an incredible self-own, what are we doing?
2/3 cut in astrophysics
2/3 cut in heliophysics
50% cut in Earth science
30% cut in planetary science
This is just such an incredible self-own, what are we doing?
April 11, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Ever see a football player catch the punt, run 60 yards down the field, dodge and weave around the other team’s defenders — then on the 10 yard line bend over, tie his shoelaces together, start running again, and faceplant onto the grass? ME NEITHER, but that’s exactly this plan for US space science
Reposted by Senior Space Scientist
The cuts "would kill the much-anticipated Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, an observatory seen as on par with [Hubble & JWST] that is already fully assembled and on budget for a launch in two years." Would also apparently close NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Huge, HUGE loss for science.
Hey! It's bad! arstechnica.com/space/2025/0...
2/3 cut in astrophysics
2/3 cut in heliophysics
50% cut in Earth science
30% cut in planetary science
This is just such an incredible self-own, what are we doing?
2/3 cut in astrophysics
2/3 cut in heliophysics
50% cut in Earth science
30% cut in planetary science
This is just such an incredible self-own, what are we doing?
Trump White House budget proposal eviscerates science funding at NASA
“This would decimate American leadership in space.”…
arstechnica.com
April 11, 2025 at 4:13 PM
The cuts "would kill the much-anticipated Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, an observatory seen as on par with [Hubble & JWST] that is already fully assembled and on budget for a launch in two years." Would also apparently close NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Huge, HUGE loss for science.
Reposted by Senior Space Scientist
To continue to comply with the decadal planetary survey, NASA had preliminary plans to send a flagship-class orbiter to investigate this world and it's moon system. The Trump Administration's new budget proposal would terminate this and many other #NASA Science efforts.
Shared: Hubble Helps Determine Uranus’ Rotation Rate with Unprecedented Precision ift.tt/WQ2n8cp
#WinObsWiKi
#WinObsWiKi
Hubble Helps Determine Uranus' Rotation Rate with Unprecedented Precision - NASA Science
An international team of astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has made new measurements of Uranus' interior rotation rate with a novel
ift.tt
April 11, 2025 at 6:23 PM
To continue to comply with the decadal planetary survey, NASA had preliminary plans to send a flagship-class orbiter to investigate this world and it's moon system. The Trump Administration's new budget proposal would terminate this and many other #NASA Science efforts.
All right, nasa watchers. What did you think of Jared Isaacman’s confirmation hearing?
April 10, 2025 at 11:13 PM
All right, nasa watchers. What did you think of Jared Isaacman’s confirmation hearing?
NIH has been shepherding the breakthrough medicines that may save my spouse’s life. Mass firings at NIH are terrifying us
www.washingtonpost.com/science/2025...
www.washingtonpost.com/science/2025...
NIH scientists have a cancer breakthrough. Layoffs are delaying it.
A big step forward in cancer therapy has been slowed by layoffs and new restrictions at the National Institutes of Health, where it was developed.
www.washingtonpost.com
April 7, 2025 at 4:15 PM
NIH has been shepherding the breakthrough medicines that may save my spouse’s life. Mass firings at NIH are terrifying us
www.washingtonpost.com/science/2025...
www.washingtonpost.com/science/2025...
Alicia was an amazing scientist. I miss her
Laura Chomiuk, Raffaella Margutti, Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz, and Nathan Sanders are strong mentors to me, and as I read their description of Alicia, I see how much of her shines through them. It's an honor to get to know her through their eyes. I encourage all to read.
baas.aas.org/pub/2025i006...
baas.aas.org/pub/2025i006...
Alicia M. Soderberg (1977-2025)
Soderberg made important contributions to studies of supernovae and gamma ray bursts and was known for extraordinary scientific mentorship.
baas.aas.org
April 6, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Alicia was an amazing scientist. I miss her
Reposted by Senior Space Scientist
“By going after the federal work force, Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk are radicalizing the very people who can best explain how the government does so much good for so many.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/05/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/05/o...
Opinion | Trump and Musk Have Created a New Kind of Opposition in Federal Workers (Gift Article)
Federal workers can become the standard bearers of the Democratic opposition.
www.nytimes.com
April 6, 2025 at 2:15 PM
“By going after the federal work force, Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk are radicalizing the very people who can best explain how the government does so much good for so many.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/05/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/05/o...
They are destroying whole agencies just to watch them burn.
What is wrong with these people?
What is wrong with these people?
April 2, 2025 at 3:28 PM
They are destroying whole agencies just to watch them burn.
What is wrong with these people?
What is wrong with these people?