Short Takes – 4-10-25

A ‘little pillow fort’: Making plans to protect the Artemis 2 crew. Spacenews.com article. Pull quote: “The vest could allow astronauts to exit the storm shelter during a solar event to perform critical spacecraft operations while still having some protection. “Just wearing this vest would give you some benefits,” he said. “We can do more than cuddle up under a pillow fort when these things happen.””

Trump revokes security clearances for Chris Krebs, SentinelOne in problematic precedent for security vendors. CSOOnline.com article. Pull quote: “As bad as the EO is for Chris Krebs, it poses a highly problematic situation for SentinelOne. Cybersecurity vendors depend on security clearances to provide contracted services to the government and to obtain or discuss frequently classified or sensitive government intelligence for research they provide to clients.”

Space Force chief: ‘Golden Dome’ is a missile shield built in pieces, not a single system. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “Saltzman outlined the budgetary approach: “If you don’t do the initial survey of what’s out there, if you don’t structure it under one system of systems, then you can’t properly budget for it. You can’t properly design the programs and the acquisition strategies to get after it.””

Johnson presses ahead with vote on Trump budget blueprint. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: “But it remains unclear if the public statements will be enough to assuage the conservatives to back the budget resolution. The comments came less than 24 hours after Johnson was forced to yank a planned vote on the framework as hardline House conservatives dug in on their opposition to the legislation.” Published before the vote in the House.

House Passes G.O.P. Budget After Conservative Revolt Collapses. NYTimes.com article (free). Pull quote: “It was the latest instance of House Republicans caving to Mr. Trump on a critical issue. But in the days before the vote, normally reliable Trump allies displayed a remarkable degree of resistance to passing a measure that would allow their party to get started on his agenda. After a meeting that Mr. Trump hosted at the White House on Tuesday failed to flip a critical number of holdouts, he began stepping up the public pressure on Republicans to back the blueprint.”

Vast signs three more payload partners for Haven-1. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “Vast will use Haven-1, which will be visited by four short-duration crewed missions, to gain experience for its larger Haven-2 station it proposes to develop for NASA’s Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destinations program. The company also seeks to gain spaceflight experience by flying one or more private astronaut missions, or PAMs, to the ISS through a new solicitation by NASA for such missions.”

The U.S. measles outbreak shows no signs of slowing. ScienceNews.org article. Pull quote: “As of April 8, the ongoing measles outbreak in Texas’ South Plains region has grown to at least 505 cases since January. Texas health officials announced April 7 that six additional counties are now included in the outbreak area, bringing the total to 10. The outbreak has also spread to New Mexico, where the death of an adult with measles is under investigation. Outbreaks in Oklahoma and Kansas and a case in Pennsylvania also have ties to Texas.”