Short Takes – 5-31-25 – Space Geek Edition

‘We did it!’ Globe-spanning travelers take a quick space trip on Blue Origin rocket ship. GeekWire.com article. Pull quote: “Since 2021, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture has flown 64 suborbital space travelers, including “Star Trek” captain William Shatner and Bezos himself. A previous New Shepard flight in April sent up an all-female crew including pop superstar Katy Perry, CBS morning-show host Gayle King and Lauren Sanchez, a helicopter pilot and journalist who is Bezos’ fiancée. That mission generated celebrity buzz as well as backlash.”

White House to pull NASA nominee Isaacman. Semafor.com article. Pull quote: “Conservative personality Laura Loomer suggested on Saturday Isaacman’s nomination is in danger because of the nominee’s friendship with Elon Musk. Musk departed the administration this week.”

Trump pulls Isaacman nomination for space. Source: “NASA is f***ed. ArsTechnica.com article. Pull quote: “The Trump administration did not immediately name a new nominee, but two people told Ars that former US Air Force Lieutenant General Steven L. Kwast may be near the top of the list. Now retired, Kwast has a distinguished record in the Air Force and is politically loyal to Trump and MAGA.”

White House to withdraw Isaacman nomination to lead NASA. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “Isaacman, in written responses to questions from members of the Senate Commerce Committee in April, said he was not involved in budget deliberations but said reports that science funding could be cut by nearly 50% “does not appear to be an optimal outcome.” The budget documents released May 30, as well as a top-level “skinny” budget four weeks earlier, confirmed those cuts.”

Elon Musk says SpaceX will launch its biggest Starship yet this year, but Mars in 2026 is '50/50'. Space.com article. Pull quote: “Musk seemed undaunted after Flight 9 on Tuesday, noting Ship's improved performance compared to the two previous liftoffs and stressing that the company has a wealth of data to analyze going forward.”

Scientists found a possible new dwarf planet — it could spell bad news for Planet 9 fans. Space.com article. Pull quote: “"2017 OF201 spends only 1% of its orbital time close enough to us to be detectable," said Cheng. "The presence of this single object suggests that there could be another hundred or so other objects with similar orbits and size; they are just too far away to be detectable now.”

FHWA Publishes 16 Deregulation Rulemakings – 5-30-25

Yesterday there was an unusual occurrence in the Federal Register, one agency published 16 separate rulemakings. The DOT’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) published five direct final rules and eleven notices of proposed rulemakings (NPRM). These are all part of the new administration’s deregulation efforts.

This area is not one that I have paid a lot of attention to in this blog and is certainly out of my area of expertise. But I thought that this bulk deregulation effort deserved some notice.

The final rules all took effect yesterday. The notices of proposed rulemakings all have a comment due date of June 30^th, 2025.

Final Rules

Rescinding Requirements Regarding Management and Monitoring Systems. (90 FR 22854) Summary: “This final rule rescinds the regulations issued on December 10, 1996, and amended on February 14, 2007, Management and Monitoring, thereby removing obsolete regulations governing transportation management and monitoring systems. Further, FWHA finalizes the proposed updates to the regulations governing risk-based Asset Management Plans by determining that no further action is needed.”

National Performance Management Measures; Rescinding Requirements for the First Performance Period. (90 FR 22852) Summary: “This final rule rescinds the requirements pertaining to the performance targets established by State departments of transportation (State DOTs) and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) for the first performance period (Calendar Years 2018 through 2021), as originally promulgated in the regulations issued on January 18, 2017, National Performance Management Measures; Assessing Performance of the National Highway System, Freight Movement on the Interstate System, and Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program.”

Rescinding Regulations on Projects of National and Regional Significance Evaluation and Rating. (90 FR 22856) Summary: This final rule rescinds the rule and regulations issued on October 24, 2008, Projects of National and Regional Significance Evaluation and Rating.”

Rescinding Preliminary Engineering Project 10-Year Repayment Provision. (90 FR 22858) Summary: “This final rule rescinds a portion of the regulations issued on May 10, 2001, Federal-Aid Project Agreement, which required that State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) repay FHWA Federal funds provided for preliminary engineering for a project if right-of-way acquisition for, or actual construction of, the road for which this preliminary engineering is undertaken is not started in ten years.”

State Highway Agency Equal Employment Opportunity Programs. (90 FR 22850) Summary: “The FHWA is removing outdated and duplicative regulations requiring State highway agencies to submit to FHWA, on an annual basis, Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Program plans for FHWA approval. Currently, FHWA is responsible for oversight of State highway agencies' EEO programs, which include collection and analysis of internal employment data, development of an internal affirmative action hiring plan, and contractor compliance reporting. These regulations overlap with, and are duplicative of, other Federal requirements enforced by other Federal agencies. In addition, an Executive order (E.O.) issued by President Donald J. Trump repealed a previous E.O. that was relied on to initially promulgate the regulation. Elimination of these regulations will reduce administrative and monetary burdens on Federal-aid recipients.”

NPRMs

Rescinding Requirements Regarding Bridges on Federal Dams. (90 FR 22874) Summary: “FHWA is proposing to rescind the rule and regulations issued on October 10, 1974, Bridges on Federal Dams.”

Rescinding Requirements Regarding Required Contract Provisions for Federal-Aid Construction Contracts (Other Than Appalachian Contracts). (90 FR 22876) Summary: “FHWA is proposing to rescind the rule and certain regulations issued on October 2, 1987, Required Contract Provisions.”

Rescinding Requirements Regarding the Forest Highway Program. (90 FR 22881) Summary: “FHWA proposes to rescind the regulations issued regarding the Forest Highway Program.”

Highway Safety Improvement Program; Withdrawal. (90 FR 22883) Summary: “FHWA withdraws its February 21, 2024, notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), which proposed to update FHWA's Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) regulations. FHWA will proceed to formally withdraw the proposed rule from FHWA's upcoming Spring 2025 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (“Unified Agenda”).”

Rescinding Regulations Regarding Management Systems Pertaining to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Reservation Roads Program. (90 FR 22889) Summary: “FHWA proposes to rescind the regulations issued on February 27, 2004, Federal Lands Highway Program; Management Systems Pertaining to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Reservation Roads Program.”

Rescinding Regulations Regarding Management Systems Pertaining to the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Refuge Roads Program. (90 FR 22887) Summary: “FHWA proposes to rescind the regulations issued on February 27, 2004, Federal Lands Highway Program; Management Systems Pertaining to the Fish and Wildlife and the Refuge Roads Program.”

Rescinding Regulations Regarding Management Systems Pertaining to the Forest Service and the Forest Highway Program. (90 FR 22885) Summary: “FHWA proposes to rescind the regulations issued on February 27, 2004, Federal Lands Highway Program; Management Systems Pertaining to the Forest Service and the Forest Highway Program.”

Rescinding Regulations Regarding Management Systems Pertaining to the National Park Service and the Park Roads and Parkways Program. (90 FR 22883) Summary: “FHWA proposes to rescind the regulations issued on February 27, 2004, Federal Lands Highway Program; Management Systems Pertaining to the National Park Service and the Park Roads and Parkways Program.”

Rescinding Regulations on Procedures for Advance Construction of Federal-aid Projects. (90 FR 22872) Summary: “FHWA proposes to rescind a specific provision of the rule and regulations issued on March 30, 1990, Advance Construction of Federal-aid Projects.”

Rescinding Requirements Regarding Federal-Aid Contracts for Appalachian Contracts. (90 FR 22878) Summary: “FHWA is proposing to rescind the rule and regulations issued on September 30, 1974, Federal-Aid Contracts (Appalachian Contracts).”

Rescinding Requirements Regarding Geodetic Markers. (90 FR 22870) Summary: “FHWA is proposing to rescind the rule and regulations issued on July 19, 1974, Geodetic Markers.”

OMB Approves CEQ Permitting Technology Action Plan

Yesterday the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had approved a notice from the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) on “Permitting Technology Action Plan”. The Plan was sent to OIRA on May 16^th, 2025.

This action was not listed in the Fall 2024 Unified Agenda, but Notices of this sort are not typically listed in the Agenda. It does look like this Action Plan may be associated with the requirements of §5(c) of EO 14154.

The Action Plan will likely be published in the Federal Register this coming week. I do not expect to cover it in any depth, but as with most of the other CEQ documents, I expect to announce its publication in the respective Short Takes post.

FCC Sends Alert System Modernization NPRM to OMB

Yesterday the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had received from the FCC a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on “Modernization of the Nation's Alerting Systems”. This rulemaking was not included in the Fall 2024 Unified Agenda.

I can find nothing on the FCC website related to this rulemaking, nor can I find any recent Executive Orders that might relate. There is a recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report on the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, but it focuses on potential actions by Congress.

Current FCC regulations concerning the emergency alerting system are found in 47 CFR Part 10 and Part 11.

Chemical Incident Reporting – Week of 5-24-25

NOTE: See here for series background.

Pasadena, TX – 5-22-25

Local News Report: Here, here, and here.

There was an ammonia leak at a chemical manufacturing facility. There were no reported injuries and no discussion of damage.

Not a CSB reportable.

Spokane, WA  – 5-29-25

Local News Report: Here and here.

There was a chemical reaction in the bed of a pickup truck at a recycling center. Trace amounts of chlorine gas were detected. No injuries were reported and there was no mention of any damages.

Not CSB reportable.

Review – Public ICS Disclosures – Week of 5-25-25 – Part 1

This is a moderately busy disclosure week. For Part 1 we have 18 vendor disclosures from Dell, Dassault Systems (10), Hitachi, Hitachi Energy, HP (3), and HPE (2).

Advisories

Dell Advisory - Dell published an advisory that discusses 313 vulnerabilities in their ThinOS product. One

Dassault Advisory #1 - Dassault published an advisory that describes a cross-site scripting vulnerability in their Service Process Engineer product.

Dassault Advisory #2 - Dassault published an advisory that describes a cross-site scripting vulnerability in their Collaborative Industry Innovator.

Dassault Advisory #3 - Dassault published an advisory that describes a cross-site scripting vulnerability in their Product Manager.

Dassault Advisory #4 - Dassault published an advisory that describes a cross-site scripting vulnerability in their Product Manager.

Dassault Advisory #5 - Dassault published an advisory that describes a cross-site scripting vulnerability in their Multidisciplinary Optimization Engineer.

Dassault Advisory #6 - Dassault published an advisory that describes a cross-site scripting vulnerability in their Product Manager.

Dassault Advisory #7 - Dassault published an advisory that describes a cross-site scripting vulnerability in their Project Portfolio Manager.

Dassault Advisory #8 - Dassault published an advisory that describes a cross-site scripting vulnerability in their City Referential Manager.

Dassault Advisory #9 - Dassault published an advisory that describes a cross-site scripting vulnerability in their City Referential Manager.

Dassault Advisory #10 - Dassault published an advisory that describes a cross-site scripting vulnerability in their Collaborative Industry Innovator.

Hitachi Advisory - Hitachi published an advisory that discusses three improper access control vulnerabilities in multiple Hitachi products.

Hitachi Energy Advisory - Hitachi Energy published an advisory that describes six vulnerabilities in their Asset Suite product.

HP Advisory #1 - HP published an advisory that discusses an improper locking vulnerability in their notebook PCs.

HP Advisory #2 - HP published an advisory that discusses an improper handling of physical or environmental conditions vulnerability in multiple HP products.

HP Advisory #3 - HP published an advisory that discusses five vulnerabilities (one with publicly available exploit) in multiple HP product lines.

HPE Advisory #1 - HPE published an advisory that discusses a cross-site scripting vulnerability (with publicly available exploit) in their Telco Service Orchestrator software.

HPE Advisory #2 - HPE published an advisory that discusses four vulnerabilities (two with publicly available exploits) in their OneView product.

 

For more information on these disclosures, including links to 3^rd party advisories, researcher reports, and exploits, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/public-ics-disclosures-week-of-5-fdb - subscription required.

Short Takes – 5-30-25

Blue Origin boss: Government should forget launch and focus on “exotic” missions. ArtTechnica.com article. Pull quote: ““Getting up there, building factories on the Moon is a great step, and the government can really help with research dollars around that," he said. "But it still does need the labs. The science missions need the JPLs [Jet Propulsion Laboratory] of the world. To make the human experience right, we need the Johnson Space Centers of the world to be able to kind of use that gold mine of institutional knowledge.”

University of Colorado, Boulder to announce new space policy center. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “On an early agenda for CSPC study includes what Baker said is the unregulated use of low Earth orbit (LEO). The policy center will also tackle science in the n space era, planetary protection, China policy and international partnerships, space commercialization, human versus robotic space exploration as well as relationships between national security and civilian space programs.”

‘One of the most contagious diseases’: Bay Area health officials warn about possible measles exposure. MercuryNews.com article. Pull quote: “Across the state, MMR vaccination rates dipped during the COVID-19 pandemic and have struggled to recover since. In Alameda County, MMR vaccination rates of kindergarteners dropped nearly one percentage point from the 2022-2023 year to 2023-2024. In Santa Clara County, the rates remained largely steady from 98.7% to 98.6% over the same time period.”

CDC Now Advises Shared Decision-Making for Kids' COVID Shots. MedPageToday.com article. Pull quote: “Late Thursday, the CDC updated its childhood immunization schedule to reflect that for kids ages 6 months to 17 years who aren't moderately or severely immunocompromised, the decision to vaccinate should be made via a discussion between parents and healthcare providers.”

White House budget office rebukes watchdog over ‘invasive’ probes. WashingtonPost.com article (free). Pull quote: “But Trump officials have grown more emboldened to challenge the GAO since then. Paoletta’s letter asserts that the GAO has nearly seven times the number of employees as the budget office. It says that as of Friday, the GAO has about 50 “open engagements” with the budget office, which has “struggled to keep up” with the extent of the requests for information. The letter also accuses the nonpartisan watchdog of making recommendations that “take the form of substituting GAO’s policy views for those of the President.””

Review – HR 2515 Introduced – Railcar Telematics

Back in March Rep Nehls (R,TX) introduced HR 2515, the American Tank Car Modernization Act of 2025. The bill would require the DOT’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to establish a grant program to provide funds to freight railcar owners or operators to purchase and install onboard freight railcar telematics systems. The bill would authorize $100 million per year through 2029 to support the grant program. The bill would also require FRA to establish a telematics development pilot program, with $10 million in spending authorization through 2029.

Moving Forward

Both Nehls and his sole cosponsor, Rep Moulton (D,MA), are members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, to which this bill was assigned for primary consideration. This means that there could be enough influence to see the bill considered by that committee. The main impediment to this bill moving forward is that amount of new funding that would be authorized. In this Congress any new spending will have a higher bar than even normal for leadership to move forward with consideration. I do not expect that this bill would clear that bar.

Commentary

I certainly support the concepts put forth in this proposed legislation and I believe that the funding levels are certainly justified and perhaps should be expanded. I do, however, think that the crafters of this bill have missed three important sensors that should have been included in the §3 program:

Internal pressure measurement,

Operation of pressure relief devices, and

Toxic and/or flammable gas sensors.

These devices in particular should be capable of operation after a derailment. Most importantly, the readings from these devices would need to be accessible by first responders.

 

For more information on the provisions of the bill, including links to a related bill that was introduced in the 118^th Congress, and additional commentary on who may participate in the pilot program, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-2515-introduced-railcar-telematics - subscription required.

Transportation Chemical Incidents – Week of 4-26-25

Reporting Background

See this post for explanation, with the most recent update here (removed from paywall).

Data from PHMSA’s online database of transportation related chemical incidents that have been reported to the agency.

Incidents Summary

• Number of incidents – 265 (260 highway, 5 air, 0 rail, 0 water)

• Serious incidents – 1 (0 Bulk release, 0 evacuation, 1 injury, 0 death, 0 major artery closed, 0 fire/explosion, 8 no release)

• Largest container involved – 4,400-gal DOT 406 Tankwagon {Diesel Fuel} Truck rollover resulting in leak from vent.

• Largest amount spilled – 40-gal composite IBC {Environmentally Hazardous Substances, Liquid, N.O.S.} Forklift strike.

Most Interesting Chemical: Ethyl Acetate: A clear colorless liquid with a fruity odor. Flash point 24°F. Less dense than water. Vapors heavier than air. (Source: CameoChemicals.NOAA.gov).

 

Short Takes – 5-29-25

NASA switches to backup propellant line on Psyche spacecraft. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “The propellant valve problem was the first major issue NASA reported with Psyche since its October 2023 launch on a Falcon Heavy. The $1.2 billion Discovery-class mission had run into significant problems during its development, though, delaying the launch by more than a year and increasing its cost by 20%.”

A Texas startup has successfully tested a revolutionary engine for a supersonic jet that can zip passengers from New York to Paris in less than 60 minutes. LuxuryLaunches.com article. Non-tech puff piece. Pull quote: “The recent test flight in New Mexico lasted just seven seconds, but those seven seconds proved that decades of theoretical physics could actually work in the real world. The 12-foot test rocket experienced forces four times stronger than gravity as it accelerated, demonstrating that the engine could handle the extreme conditions of hypersonic flight. This wasn’t just a laboratory experiment; it was a full-scale validation that the technology could power actual aircraft.”

The Risky ‘Side Launch’ That Doomed Kim Jong Un’s New Warship. WSJ.com article (free). Pull quote: “Side launches are commonly used for cargo vessels or tankers, as they have flatter hulls and are therefore easier to balance after being dropped into the water, naval experts said. The method is risky for warships, since their hulls are narrow to maximize speed and they have bulky weapons systems mounted atop them.”

Brain drugs can now cross the once impenetrable blood–brain barrier. Nature.com article. Pull quote: “Fifteen years ago, big pharmaceutical companies started to pull away from neuroscience research, scared off by the failure of so many candidate drugs in clinical trials. But improved understanding of brain biology, and new methods of assessing a drug’s efficacy with biomarkers, has increased confidence. Industry investment has rocketed in the past half-dozen years, often in the form of multi-billion-dollar buyouts of small biotechnology companies. Between 2018 and 2023, shuttle technologies helped to grow the industry pipeline for drugs that act in the brain by more than 30%. One-quarter of these candidate therapies are biological drugs, the molecules that need help from shuttles the most.”

CISA loses nearly all top officials as purge continues. CybersecurityDive.com article. Pull quote: ““With these significant number of senior departures, several of which are leaders who have been here since the days of US-CERT, there’s a lot of anxiety around when the cuts and departures will finally stop and we can move forward as an agency,” said one CISA employee, who requested anonymity to discuss internal tensions.”

Northrop invests $50 million into Firefly for launch vehicle development. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “The companies provided few additional details about the status of Eclipse’s development, noting continued testing of the Miranda engine that will be used in its first stage as well as development of other flight hardware for the rocket. The first launch of Eclipse is scheduled for no earlier than 2026 from Wallops Island, Virginia.”

HHS cancels funding for Moderna’s candidate H5 avian flu and pandemic vaccines. CIDRAP.UMN.edu article. Pull quote: “Stéphane Bancel, MBA, MS, Moderna’s chief executive officer, said, “While the termination of funding from HHS adds uncertainty, we are pleased by the robust immune response and safety profile observed in this interim analysis of the Phase 1/2 study of our H5 avian flu vaccine and we will explore alternative paths forward for the program.””

EO 14299 - Deploying Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technologies for National Security. Federal Register.

EO 14300 - Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Federal Register.

EO 14301 - Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the Department of Energy. Federal Register.

EO 14302 - Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base. Federal Register.

EO 14303 - Restoring Gold Standard Science. Federal Register.

Review – 5 Advisories Published – 5-29-25

Today CISA’s NCCIC-ICS published four control system security advisories for products from Instantel, Consilium Safety, and Siemens (2). They also published a medical device security advisory for products from Santsoft.

Advisories

Instantel Advisory - This advisory describes a missing authentication for critical function vulnerability in the Instantel Micromate monitoring device.

Consilium Advisory - This advisory describes two vulnerabilities in the Consilium S5000 Fire Panel.

Siemens Advisory #1 - This advisory describes an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in the Siemens SiPass integrated products.

Siemens Advisory #2 - This advisory describes an improper verification of cryptographic signature vulnerability in the Siemens SiPass integrated products.

Santesoft Advisory - This advisory describes an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in the Santesoft Sante DICOM Viewer Pro.

 

For more information on these advisories, including links to researcher reports, as well as a down-the-rabbit-hole look at the Consilium vulnerability, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/5-advisories-published-5-29-25 - subscription required.

Review – HR 2613 Introduced - Next-Gen Pipelines

Last month Rep Weber (R,TX) introduced HR 2613, the Next Generation Pipelines Research and Development Act. The bill would require the Department of Energy to establish a new grant program to “carry out demonstration projects on low- to mid-technology readiness level subjects to achieve deployment of technologies”. It would also require DOE and DOT to conduct a joint R&D program to carry out basic research projects. Finally, the bill would require DOE to establish the National Pipeline Modernization Center. The bill would authorize $50-million, $30-million and $15-million through 2030 for the three new programs.

This bill is essentially the same as HR 7073 that was introduced by Webber in January of 2024. The Science, Space, and Technology Committee considered the bill in a March 20^th, 2024 business meeting. The Committee amended and then approved the bill by a vote of 36 to 0. On September 24^th, 2024, the House considered the bill under the suspension of the rules process and passed it by a vote of 373 to 41. No action was taken by the Senate in the 118^th Congress.

Committee Markup

The House Science, Space, and Technology Committee held a business meeting on April 29^th, 2025, that considered six bills, including HR 2613. The Committee ordered the bill reported favorably without amendment by a voice vote.

Moving Forward

Once the Committee report is published (or reported without written report) the bill will be available to be considered by the full House. With the bipartisan support the bill has received in the past, I would expect the leadership to bring this bill to the floor under the suspension of the rules process. That process would allow for limited debate, no floor amendments, and would require a supermajority for passage.

 

For more details about the provisions of this bill, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-2613-introduced-next-gen-pipelines - subscription required.

OMB Approves 2 PHMSA Regulatory Review ANPRMs

Yesterday OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had approved two advanced notices of proposed rulemakings (ANPRMs) from DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). These rulemakings were sent to OIRA on May 14^th, 2025. The two rulemakings are

Hazardous Materials: Mandatory Regulatory Review to Unleash American Energy and Improve Government Efficiency, and

Pipeline Safety: Mandatory Regulatory Reviews to Unleash American Energy and Improve Government Efficiency

These rulemakings were not listed in the Fall 2024 Unified Agenda, so they are almost certainly submitted in response to the requirements of §3(a) and §3(b) of EO 14154, Unleashing American Energy. That EO requires agencies to “identify those agency actions that impose an undue burden on the identification, development, or use of domestic energy resources” and then “develop and begin implementing action plans to suspend, revise, or rescind all agency actions identified as unduly burdensome”.

What is interesting here is the quick turnaround at OIRA, just two weeks. 45’s administration was no more efficient at processing rulemakings than has been the recent historical norm. It is not clear if this new bureaucratic speed is due to management efficiencies within OMB, or if it is more a reflection of the lower workload (only 38 active rulemaking today). If it is the later we should see a return to more common processing times as more regulatory actions join the queue.

These ANPRMs should be published in the Federal Register next week.

Short Takes – 5-28-25

2025 IEEE Power & Energy Society Summit: “Achieving a more reliable and resilient energy future”. SCADAMag.infracritical.com blog post. Pull quotes: “Because this was an engineering conference, there was no mention of the term “Operational Technology-OT” as that is a cybersecurity term. Cybersecurity was assumed to be a data issue and therefore not critical to a reliable and resilient grid. Consequently, there were no cybersecurity sessions, and no cybersecurity companies exhibited. All questions about cybersecurity were referred to the utilities or vendors IT organizations.” I know Joe rants, but damn, somebody ought to listen.

Apex announces Comet satellite bus for constellations. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “Comet incorporates lessons learned from Aries and Nova, including developing a more vertically integrated supply chain. “Being able to take those and then basically put them over into the larger form factor of Comet,” he said of those in-house components, “has let us create a vehicle that not only has the very unique shape that lets you put as many as possible in a Falcon 9 or any five-meter fairing, but it also lets us drive down on the price point to something where business cases actually start to make sense.””

Withdrawal of National Environmental Policy Act Guidance on Consideration of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate Change. Federal Register CEQ guidance withdrawal. Summary: The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) is withdrawing its interim guidance titled “National Environmental Policy Act Guidance on Consideration of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate Change,” for which notice was published [link added] in the Federal Register on January 9, 2023.

Bedbugs may have been one of the first urban pests. ScienceNews.org article. Pull quote: “The timing of this dramatic pivot from dwindling to thriving aligns with the emergence of the earliest known cities in western Asia and their subsequent expansions over the following millennia. Before, humans were mostly nomadic and didn’t intermingle with other groups of humans as regularly as people do today. So the bedbugs didn’t mix and mingle either. But when humans began gathering in cities, it was a whole new world for the bedbugs along for the ride. The team proposes that the bugs interbred, exploded in numbers and adapted to the fledgling urban ecosystem.”

Overcoming conservatism in the autonomous space revolution. SpaceNews.com commentary. Pull quote: “The benefits of autonomous spacecraft extend far beyond operational convenience. They will dramatically reduce costs by eliminating the need for constant monitoring, enable new mission profiles previously impossible due to communication constraints, and potentially increase reliability by removing the most common source of spacecraft failures: human error, often jokingly referred to as PEBCAK — “Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard.””

Court of International Trade blocks Trump’s tariffs in sweeping ruling. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: ““Regardless of whether the court views the President’s actions through the nondelegation doctrine, through the major questions doctrine, or simply with separation of powers in mind, any interpretation of IEEPA that delegates unlimited tariff authority is unconstitutional,” the opinion continued.”

Reader Comment – BioLab Response

I received the following statement from a spokesperson from Bio-Lab in response to my post about the CSB’s second update on their investigation of the fires and chemical release at their Conyers, GA facility in September of 2024:

“BioLab has a strong track record of working constructively with regulatory agencies and will continue to cooperate with the CSB’s ongoing investigation, although we disagree with many of CSB’s statements. The health and safety of the communities within which we operate is a top priority, and we worked collaboratively with first responders and local, state, and federal authorities to complete the emergency response operation in October 2024. The clean-up of the site affected by the fire has also been successfully completed. In addition, consistent with our commitment to the community, we established support resources that over the course of six months were dedicated to continually fielding calls, emails, and in-person questions – helping area residents and business owners with processing claim requests and more.”

Having published their statement, I have forwarded some questions that I have about some the details disclosed in the CSB update. If/when I receive a response, I will address those questions and answers here.

Review - CSB Publishes Final Report on Three HF Release Incidents

Yesterday, the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) announced the release of their final report on the investigation of three separate hydrogen fluoride release incidents at the Honeywell manufacturing plant in Geismar, LA. The incidents occurred over a three-year period and resulted in one death, over $18 million in facility damages and the hospitalization of one worker. Yesterday’s announcement noted that the Board found that “repeated failures in Honeywell’s safety management systems led to the incidents, including poor hazard identification, inadequate equipment maintenance, and lapses in critical safety systems.” Nine key safety issues were identified, and four formal recommendations were made to prevent future incidents of these types.

The three covered incidents were:

October 21, 2021 – Gasket Failure; Fatality,

January 23, 2023 – HF Reboiler Explosion, and

June 7, 2024 – Line break HF Release; Serious Injury

 

For more information on the report, including a summary of the nine safety issues and four recommendations, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/csb-publishes-final-report-on-three - subscription required.

Short Takes – 5-27-25

Empyreum, Italy’s new satellite platform for the constellation era. Spacenews.com interview. Pull quote: “Importantly, Empyreum is constellation-ready. Each satellite comes pre-integrated with optical inter-satellite links, which we believe are essential for next-generation distributed architecture.”

There is unexpected chemistry going on in lithium deposits. ChemistryWorld.com article. Chem-Geek note. Pull quote: “‘When you talk about boron and pH the general understanding has been that boron speciation of water depends on pH – the relationship between boric acid and borate depends on the pH of the seawater,’ explains Avner Vengosh, an environmental quality professor at Duke who led the study. ‘But here we see the boron content controls the pH rather than the pH controlling the boron, and for chemists this could be intriguing,’ he tells Chemistry World. ‘It is unusual for someone who has understood one thing for 30 years and now understands that it’s the opposite.’”

NASA Is Shutting Down The International Space Station Sighting Website. HackADay.com article. Pull quote: “With smart phone apps hardly a replacement for a website of this type, it’s easy to see how the app-ification of the WWW continues, at the cost of us users.” Note: I would have spelled the made up word as “app-lification”, sounds better.

Review – Committee Hearings – Week of – 5-25-25

Even with the House and Senate out of Washington for their Memorial Day break, there is one hearing scheduled this week, and as luck would have it is a cybersecurity hearing.

Cybersecurity Field Hearing

On Wednesday, the House Homeland Security Committee will hold a field hearing on “Innovation Nation: Leveraging Technology to Secure Cyberspace and Streamline Compliance”. The hearing will take place at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, in Stanford, CA.

 

For more information on these hearings, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/committee-hearings-week-of-5-25-25 - subscription required.

Review – One Advisory Published – 5-27-25

Today CISA’s NCCIC-ICS published one control system security advisory for products from Johnson Controls.

Advisories

Johnson Controls Advisory - This advisory describes a use of unitialized variable vulnerability in the Johnson Controls iSTAR Configuration Utility (ICU) tool.

 

For more information on this advisory, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/one-advisory-published-5-27-25 - subscription required.

CSB Publishes 2nd Update on BioLab Fire

Yesterday the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) announced the publication of their second update on their investigation of the chemical fire that consumed the Conyers, GA warehouse of the Bio-Lab company in September of 2024. Their first investigation update was published on November 22^nd, 2024. The Bio-Lab incident garnered national attention when 17,000 people were evacuated from the area around the facility during the height of the incident and nightly shelter-in-place warnings were issued for portions of Atlanta, GA due to the toxic cloud released during the multi-day incident. There were no reported injuries or deaths related to the fire.

While the CSB has not yet identified the source of the water that initiated the chemical reaction that caused the fire, this new update notes that (pg 14):

“Due to the storage of TCCA and DCCA outside the bunker, near the firewall, Bio-Lab personnel also reported observing corrosion on the sprinkler heads outside the bunker, which led to multiple sprinkler head failures and leaks where fire protection piping and pipe couplings were corroded. At the time of the incident, most of the sprinkler heads outside the bunker were still brass-finish heads, as specified and installed during the construction of the storage warehouse in 2019. According to Bio-Lab, the corrosion-resistant sprinkler heads would not provide adequate fire protection for the warehouse rack storage. Therefore, the corroded sprinkler heads outside the bunker were replaced in kind.”

CSB also notes that: “Similarly, corrosion on the fire protection system piping was observed by CSB personnel in February 2025 at the third-party warehouse in Texas, where Bio-Lab began storing TCCA and DCCA in November 2024 after the Bio-Lab Conyers incident.”

The report also notes that first responders reported water in the storage area (pgs 7-8):

“When two responders entered the building for reconnaissance, both described hearing water falling throughout the building and noted that a large volume of water was flowing out of the building through the dock doors. Both Bio-Lab and RCFR personnel also had observed large volumes of water running out of the dock doors even before the RCFR respondents flowed any water, suggesting the sprinkler system was activated.”

Another new bit of information that was not included in earlier discussions is the fact that TCCA produces Nitrogen Trichloride (NCl3), an explosive liquid. The report notes (pgs 9-10):

“Because TCCA and DCCA produce nitrogen trichloride when wet, which is an explosive material that is unstable when exposed to air, RCFR responders reported observing chemical reactions in the form of “small explosions” with product physically shooting out from the building, as well as hearing “popping” sounds. RCFR personnel explained that they had to relocate one of their engines because it was “getting pummeled” by the reacting product and that “it sounded like you were at the gun range with pow, pow, pow, pow, pow.””

The most concerning information, though, to come out of this report is the fact that the water reactive nature of TCCA is not mentioned in the Safety Data Sheet from manufacturers of the material. The report notes that (pg 4):

“Although TCCA and DCCA are known to have water-reactive properties, according to the NFPA and the International Fire Code definitions of water-reactive materials, the predominant manufacturers of the material do not list their reaction with water in the storage, hazard statements, or precautionary statement sections of the SDS.”

This new report concludes by outlining the remaining investigative areas that the CSB is pursuing:

• Testing the solid oxidizer(s) to quantify their water reactivity characteristics, including the heat of mixing, thermal stability, and fully define the conditions where the material behaves hazardously upon contact with water,

• Information and evidence to help determine the most likely water source that initiated the chemical reaction,

• Storage and handling of oxidizers that also have water-reactive characteristics,

• Regulatory and Industry guidance on storage and handling of reactive materials, and

• Regulatory and Industry guidance on design, maintenance, and inspection of fire protection systems.

Short Takes – 5-27-25 – Space Geek Edition

Impulse Space to launch SES satellites. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “Impulse Space said this was the first commercial contract for a dedicated mission for Helios, a high-performance transfer vehicle the company announced in early 2024. The company designed the vehicle to carry satellites weighing up to five tons from LEO to GEO in less than a day. Such satellites, using conventional kick stages or electric propulsion, can takes weeks to months to transit to GEO.”

Dawn Aerospace Opens Orders for Aurora Spaceplane, They Don't Have History on Their Side. AutoEvolution.com article. Pull quote: “No sooner does the composite metal external skin cool down enough not to barbecue your fingers than the Mk-II Aurora platform can refuel, change crews, and get back into space as if it were a puddle jumper. It's a point proven later when it took off from the Glentanner Aerodrome in New Zealand, conducted a high-speed test flight, and landed not once but twice on the same day. Keep in mind that this is an airframe designed to break the 100-km Karman line one day. To do it with the ease of a 737 or an A320 is potentially game-changing for commercial space travel.”

How to watch SpaceX's ninth Starship flight test on Tuesday. EnGadget.com article. Pull quote: “For flight nine, the Super Heavy booster won't return to the launch site, but will instead splash down in the ocean. The Starship upper stage will attempt to deploy eight Starlink dummy satellites, and SpaceX is otherwise looking to this flight to test "several experiments focused on enabling Starship’s upper stage to return to the launch site."”

Discovery Alert: A Possible Perpendicular Planet. Science.NASA.gov article. Pull quote: ““Circumbinary” planets, those orbiting two stars at once, are rare enough. A circumbinary orbiting at a 90-degree tilt was, until now, unheard of. But new measurements of this system, using the ESO (European Southern Observatory) Very Large Telescope in Chile, appear to reveal what scientists previously only imagined.”

Short Takes – 5-26-25

NOAA's 2025 hurricane forecast warns of a busy season. A scientist explains why and what meteorologists are watching. Phys.org article. Discussion about short term things that effect hurricane development and location. Pull quote: “It's important to emphasize that these factors merely load the dice, tilting the odds toward more or fewer storms, but not guaranteeing an outcome. A host of other variables influence whether a storm actually forms, how strong it becomes, and whether it ever threatens land.”

Mysterious sphere in Colombia sparks UFO talk. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: “A video posted online that has racked up more than half a million views shows researcher Jose Luis Velazquez discussing the multilayered sphere with “no welds or joints” that would be expected of a man-made object of its kind.”

GOP senators say Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ needs spending cuts. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: “If Johnson and Paul both opposed the bill but the other 51 Republicans in the Senate were unified in support, the bill could still inch through the Senate and even still lose another vote, with Vice President Vance positioned to a break a 50-50 tie in such a circumstance.”

DHS plans for skinny staffs at civil liberties, oversight offices. FederalNewsNetwork.com article. Pull quote: “The Trump administration had announced plans to conduct reductions in force at those offices in March. A DHS official at the time said the department was “committed to civil rights protections” but argued the offices were a roadblock to immigration enforcement.” Reducing the workforce processing complaints is not going to speed up processing.

Methylene Chloride; Regulation Under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA); Compliance Date Extensions. Federal Register, EPA notice of proposed rulemaking. Summary: “The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) is proposing to extend the compliance date applicable to certain entities subject to the regulation of methylene chloride recently promulgated under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Specifically, EPA is proposing to extend by 18 months the Workplace Chemical Protection Program (WCPP) and the associated recordkeeping compliance dates for laboratories that are not owned or operated by agencies or Federal contractors acting on behalf of the Federal government. Under this proposal, all laboratories, whether federal or not, would have the same compliance dates, which would be aligned with current compliance dates for Federal agencies and Federal contractors. EPA is proposing to extend the compliance dates for associated laboratory activities detailed in this proposal to avoid disruption of important functions such as the use of environmental monitoring methods needed for cleanup sites and wastewater treatment, as well as activities associated with university laboratories.” Comments due: June 26^th, 2025.

Reader Comment – More on Deferred Resignation Program

This weekend an anonymous reader left a comment on my post about the introduction of HR 3026, the Protecting America’s Cybersecurity Act. With respect to HR 3026, the reader makes an important point:

“For any legislation to be effective DRP needs to be addressed before October and employees currently on administrative leave need to get back to work because every day that passes is another day for our adversaries to strengthen and our country becomes less secure.”

Employee by-out programs have a long history, both inside and outside of government. Typically, these programs have a tendency to self-select the most effective employees for termination. Those employees generally feel that they have good prospects for finding a new job, so they have the most to gain from a buy-out. The anonymous reader points out that that might not be the case here:

“The catch 22 is this was anything but voluntary and all made the decision under extreme duress created by management.”

Threatening folks with widespread (and indiscriminate) reductions in force certainly would encourage a wide number of people to accept this deferred resignation process. The self-selection process would still apply, but you would also tend to see larger participation by people who feel that they have less attractive prospects for finding a new job. Still, a large number of people remaining (not all by any means) are going to be coming from the lower portion of the employee bell curve because they will feel that they have very low prospects of finding a new job.

Review – HR 2594 Introduced – Water Risk and Resilience Organization

Last month Rep Crawford (R,AR) introduced HR 2594 (no fancy name). The bill would require the EPA to craft regulations providing for the certification of an independent Water Risk and Resilience Organization (WRRO) seemingly similar to NERC in the electric sector. The bill would authorize $10 million dollars to initially fund the WRRO.

The bill is very similar to HR 7922 introduced by Crawford in April of 2024. No action was taken on that bill in the 118^th Congress. There are a large number of editorial changes made in this latest version of the bill that have little or no impact on the legislative intent.

Moving Forward

Crawford is a member, as is his sole cosponsor {Rep Duarte (R,CA)}, of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to which this bill was assigned for primary consideration. This means that there may be sufficient influence to see it considered in Committee. I expect that any number of small communities are going to pressure their representatives to oppose this legislation as it would end up increasing the costs of maintaining their water systems. Many mid to large size water systems will also object, again because of funding issues. I suspect that there will be significant bipartisan opposition to this bill based upon those objections.

I do not expect this bill to move forward, especially since there is no cosponsor on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, to which this bill has been assigned for secondary consideration. That Committee is well known for guarding their prerogatives when they have even limited oversight responsibilities.

Commentary

The change from an annual funding authorization to a single funding amount (…“$10,000,000 to remain available to the WRRO until expended.”) better reflects the fact that §1(h) firmly establishes that the “The WRRO is not a department, agency, or instrumentality of the United States Government.” The only other funding source for the WRRO provided for in this bill is the retention of the of the penalties by the WRRO for any enforcement actions taken by the organization. This would seem to ensure that the WRRO would be quick to undertake formal enforcement actions rather that work with water agencies to increase their resilience to cybersecurity risks. This could be problematic for the vast majority of covered water systems that are smaller systems financed by local governments agencies. An annual funding mechanism, while certainly an anathema to the current Republican controlled congress, could help to ensure that the focus of the WRRO is more on helping these smaller water agencies than on collecting penalties.

 

For more information on this provisions of this bill, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/hr-2594-introduced-water-risk-and - subscription required.

Review – Public ICS Disclosures – Week of 5-17-25 – Part 2

For Part 2 we have five vendor updates from Broadcom, GE Vernova, HPE (2), and Siemens. There are also eight researcher reports for vulnerabilities in products from ABB (7) and eCharge.

Updates

Broadcom Update - Broadcom published an update for their curl/Libcurl advisory that was originally published on December 14^th, 2016.

GE Vernova Update - GE published an update for their WorkstationST EGD Configuration Server advisory that was originally published on September 24^th, 2024, and most recently updated on November 1^st, 2024.

HPE Update #1 - HPE published an update for their ProLiant DL/ML, MicroServer, Synergy and Edgeline Servers advisory that was originally published on May 12^th, 2025.

HPE Update #2 - HPE published an update for their ProLiant DL/ML/XL, Alletra, Edgeline and Synergy Servers advisory that was originally published on May 13^th, 2025.

Siemens Update - Siemens published an update for their Mendix OIDC SSO Module advisory that was originally published on May 13^th, 2025.

Researcher Reports

ABB Cylon BACnet Report - Zero Science published a report that describes an out-of-bounds write vulnerability in the ABB Cylon BACnet MS/TP Kernel Module.

ABB Cylon FLXeon Reports - Zero Science published six reports describing individual vulnerabilities (with publicly available exploits) in the ABB Cylon FLXeon product.

eCharge Report - SEC Consult published a report describing seven vulnerabilities in the eCharge Hardy Barth cPH2 and cPP2 charging stations.

 

For more information on these disclosures, including a summary of changes made in updates and links to exploits, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/public-ics-disclosures-week-of-5-a55 - subscription required.

Chemical Incident Reporting – Week of 5-17-25

NOTE: See here for series background.

Breaux Bridge, LA– 5-15-25

Local News Report: Here, here, here, and here.

There was an anhydrous ammonia leak from a food processing facility due to a malfunctioning valve. No injuries or damages were reported.

Not CSB reportable.

Freeport, TX – 5-20-25

Local News Report: Here, here, and here.

There was chlorine gas release at a chemical plant, with the gas being detected off-site. Nearby residents were ordered to shelter in place. Four people were transported to the hospital, three have been released. There are no reports of damage because of the release.

Possible CSB reportable.

Review – Public ICS Disclosures – Week of 5-17-25 – Part 1

This week we have 14 vendor disclosures from ABB, AUMA Riester, Broadcom, Eclipse, HPE, Philips, Phoenix Contact, Siemens (2), SMA, VMware (2), Weidmueller, and Wiesemann & Theis.

Advisories

ABB Advisory - ABB published an advisory that describes 32 vulnerabilities (all with publicly available exploits) in their ASPECT Enterprise, NEXUS Series, and Matrix series products.

AUMA Advisory - CERT-VDE published an advisory that describes a classic buffer overflow vulnerability in multiple AUMA Riester products.

Broadcom Advisory - Broadcom published an advisory that discusses two vulnerabilities in multiple Brocade products.

Eclipse Advisory - Eclipse published an advisory that describes an XML external entity reference vulnerability in the Eclipse.

HPE Advisory - HPE published an advisory that discusses 13 vulnerabilities (one with publicly available exploit) in their NonStop servers.

Philips Advisory - Philips published an advisory that discusses two vulnerabilities (both listed in CISA’s KEV catalog) in their 860343 - ST80i product (applicable to software only products).

Phoenix Contact Advisory - Phoenix Contact published an advisory that describes an allocation of resources without limit or throttling vulnerability in AXL F BK and IL BK bus couplers.

Siemens Advisory #1 - Siemens published an advisory that describes an improper verification of cryptographic signature vulnerability in their SiPass integrated AC5102 / ACC-G2 and ACC-AP products.

Siemens Advisory #2 - Siemens published an advisory that describes an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in their SiPass integrated products.

SMA Advisory - CERT-VDE published an advisory that describes an incorrect resource transfer between spheres vulnerability in the SMA Classic Portal.

VMware Advisory #1 - Broadcom published an advisory that describes three vulnerabilities in the VMware Cloud Foundation product.

VMware Advisory #2 - Broadcom published an advisory that describes four vulnerabilities in multiple VMware products.

Weidmueller Advisory - CERT-VDE published an advisory that discusses an uncontrolled resource consumption vulnerability in the Weidmueller ResMa product.

Wiesemann Advisory - CERT-VDE published an advisory that discusses a cross-site scripting vulnerability (with known public exploits) in multiple Wiesemann & Theis products.

 

For more information on these disclosures, including links to 3^rd party advisories, researcher reports, and exploits, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/public-ics-disclosures-week-of-5-19e - subscription required.

Review – S 1118 Introduced – Water System Threats

Back in March, Sen Markey (D,MA) introduced S 1118, the Water Intelligence, Security, and Cyber Threat Protection Act of 2025. The bill would require the EPA to carry out a program to support, and encourage participation in, the Water Information Sharing and Analysis Center (W-ISAC). The legislation would authorize $10 million for FY 2026 and FY 2027 to support this initiative.

This text of this bill is essentially identical to S 660, the Water System Threat Preparedness and Resilience Act of 2023, that was introduced by Markey in March of 2023. No action was taken on that bill in the 118^th Congress.

Moving Forward

Markey is a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to which this bill was assigned for consideration. This means that there should be sufficient influence to see the bill considered in committee. I see nothing in this bill that would engender any organized opposition, and the spending issue is less of a problem in the Senate than in the House. At this point, this bill is more likely to move forward in committee than is the House bill.

Commentary

While the undefined term ‘malevolent acts’ used in §2(b)(4)(B) would certainly seem to include cyber incursions or attacks, I would prefer to see cybersecurity specifically addressed. To that end, I would suggest changing subparagraph (B) to read:

“(B) enhancing the preparedness of community water systems and publicly owned treatment works to identify, protect against, detect, respond to, and recover from cybersecurity threats (as defined in 6 USC 1501), malevolent acts (within the meaning of section 1433 of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300i–2)) or natural hazards.”

Transportation Chemical Incidents – Week of 4-19-25

Reporting Background

See this post for explanation, with the most recent update here (removed from paywall).

Data from PHMSA’s online database of transportation related chemical incidents that have been reported to the agency.

Incidents Summary

• Number of incidents – 292 (287 highway, 4 air, 1 rail, 0 water)

• Serious incidents – 0 (0 Bulk release, 0 evacuation, 0 injury, 0 death, 0 major artery closed, 0 fire/explosion, 6 no release)

• Total amount released – 625-gal

• Largest container involved – 25,062-gal DOT 117J100W Railcar {Petroleum Distillates, N.O.S. Or Petroleum Products, N.O.S.} Manway gasket deteriorated resulted in a vapor release.

• Largest amount spilled – 80-gal Plastic IBC {Corrosive Liquids, N.O.S.} Heavier freight stacked on top damaged IBC.

NOTE: Links above are to Form 5800.1 for the described incidents. Links are no longer working for report numbers in the database.

Most Interesting Chemical: Hydrofluoric Acid, Solution - A colorless fuming mobile aqueous solution with a pungent odor. Corrosive to metals and tissue. Highly toxic by ingestion and inhalation. Exposure to fumes or very short contact with liquid may cause severe painful burns; penetrates skin to cause deep-seated ulceration that may lead to gangrene. Fumes in air. Fumes are highly irritating, corrosive, and poisonous. Generates much heat on dissolution. Heat can cause spattering, fuming, etc. (Source: CameoChemicals.NOAA.gov).

 

CSB Releases Optima Belle Safety Video

Yesterday the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) announced that the Board had released a new safety video describing the December 2020 fatal explosion and fire at the Optima Belle chemical facility in Belle, West Virginia. The new safety video, called “Outsourcing Responsibility: Explosion at Optima Belle,” includes an animation of the events leading to the incident and an analysis of the root cause of the incident.

This incident was just another in the long series of incidents that the CSB has investigated over the years that involved essentially unregulated self-reactive chemicals. Yesterday’s announcement notes that:

“Among other important issues, the CSB’s report [link added] and the new video point out that although CDB-56 is a reactive chemical that can undergo a self-accelerating decomposition when heated, it and many other such reactive chemicals are not regulated under OSHA’s Process Safety Management (PSM) standard or the EPA’s Risk Management Program (RMP) rule. Consequently, the CSB recommended that OSHA amend the PSM standard to achieve more comprehensive control of reactive hazards that could have catastrophic consequences and that EPA amend the RMP rule to explicitly cover catastrophic reactive hazards that have the potential to seriously impact the public.”

Short Takes – 5-22-25

Venus Aerospace debuts potentially revolutionary rocket engine with landmark 1st flight. Space.com article. Pull quote: “Normally, rocket engines burn fuel in a combustion chamber in a steady, controlled process. RDREs [rotating detonation rocket engine] use a continuous detonation wave that travels in a circle within a ring-shaped chamber, which produces higher pressure and efficiency and results in increased thrust with less fuel.”

Space mining: corporate autocracy or global solidarity? TheSpaceReview.com article. Interesting discussion but ignores the increasing presence of China in space. Pull quote: “A firm commitment to benefit-sharing in this debate is therefore not merely about redistributing profits to the developing world. It is also about establishing global cooperative oversight over space mining and maintaining the discussion on future political power in outer space within the United Nations framework. Effective oversight and an agreed benefit-sharing mechanism would help prevent the emergence of tax havens at the national level by introducing a system of global taxation at the source. Ultimately, democratic systems were created to empower people, not corporations. Benefit-sharing would ensure a fair distribution of power and prevent the rise of new communities in space governed by corporate interests.”

An asteroid’s threatened impact may still impact planetary defense. TheSpaceReview.com article. Pull quote: “The biggest concern, it seemed at the hearing, was how astronomers would handle all of the data NEO Surveyor would return. Matthew Payne, director of the Minor Planet Center at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, said at the hearing that NEO Surveyor, along with the Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile, will soon provide the center with ten times the data on NEO than all other current sources combined.”

3D printing deep in the body using ultrasound could deliver drugs, heal wounds. ChemistryWorld.com article. Pull quote: “‘I think it’s an excellent advance in the field of in situ bio-printing,’ says Skylar-Scott, who was not involved in the work. He suggests that, in future, it could be possible to create multi-material tissue scaffolds inside the body by injecting different bio-inks at different times. He does note that the axial resolution at present is only around 2mm, but suspects this will probably be improved in future. ‘I think it opens up a lot of different avenues to explore.’”

FAA provides final approval for next Starship launch. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “The FAA announced May 22 that it approved the return to flight for Starship. The FAA updated the launch license for Starship May 15 that included changes such as an increased launch rate from its Starbase facility in South Texas, but said then it would withhold approval for the next launch until it either closed the mishap investigation into the previous launch in March or made a “return to flight” determination.”

Dawn Aerospace begins sales of Aurora suborbital spaceplane. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “On a typical suborbital flight, Aurora will take off from a runway and immediately head straight up. The vehicle will reach top speeds of Mach 3.5 on a flight and offer about three minutes of microgravity during the peak of its trajectory. The overall flight, from takeoff to landing, will last about half an hour, Powell estimated, with most of that time spent gliding back to a runway landing after reentry.”