NASA - Europa Clipper updates and discussion

[Blackstar]

At times like this, it's worth recalling that back in February, JPL announced workforce reductions of around 530 people, plus another 40 or so contractors, due to budget reductions. Perhaps among those deemed most expendable and let go were some of the staff responsible for PR and social media outreach.

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/jpl-workforce-update/

Except that this would not prevent them from putting out basic information. Clipper has a mission PI. He certainly knows everything about the status of the spacecraft. He could tweet an update a couple times a day. This isn't funding, it's a policy issue.

[ccdengr]

Clipper has a mission PI. He certainly knows everything about the status of the spacecraft.

To be pedantic, as a flagship mission Clipper has no "mission PI" -- there are PIs for the individual instruments, and a project scientist, Bob Pappalardo of JPL, who is presumably who you're talking about.

In my experience (over a dozen NASA missions) mission PIs have substantially more latitude about communicating to the public than project scientists do.

https://europa.nasa.gov/mission/the-team/overview/

As for the lack of information, "never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by incompetence."

[Robotbeat]

Clipper has a mission PI. He certainly knows everything about the status of the spacecraft.

To be pedantic, as a flagship mission Clipper has no "mission PI" -- there are PIs for the individual instruments, and a project scientist, Bob Pappalardo of JPL, who is presumably who you're talking about.

In my experience (over a dozen NASA missions) mission PIs have substantially more latitude about communicating to the public than project scientists do.

https://europa.nasa.gov/mission/the-team/overview/

As for the lack of information, "never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by incompetence."

Yeah, I highly suspect it's just crushing bureaucracy making it a headache to get anything public. I doubt there's anything wrong with the mission.

[LouScheffer]

The problem with the "There is no PR person" and "Crushing bureaucracy" theories is that the mission *is* able to post some bland, positive tweets (Here's some launch pictures!).  And the "PI too busy" argument fails too.  What we are asking for is less effort than any one of the posts in this very argument, *if things are going well*.  Just "Commissioning is proceeding as planned, more details next week".

But if something is not going well, then all of these objections apply.  In this case the tweet has to be carefully worded (takes more time, can't be done by PR person), likely all the PIs need to approve (bureaucracy), and at least one PI (the guy/gal whose instrument is stuck) is indeed too busy and has no time for sleep, much less tweets.

So I'm still convinced *something* is not right.  But riding this dead horse is not making progress in the absence of evidence.

[Blackstar]

Clipper has a mission PI. He certainly knows everything about the status of the spacecraft.

To be pedantic, as a flagship mission Clipper has no "mission PI" -- there are PIs for the individual instruments, and a project scientist, Bob Pappalardo of JPL, who is presumably who you're talking about.

In my experience (over a dozen NASA missions) mission PIs have substantially more latitude about communicating to the public than project scientists do.

https://europa.nasa.gov/mission/the-team/overview/

As for the lack of information, "never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by incompetence."

Yeah, corrected. I was typing that up late and didn't bother to look up titles. I know Bob, and that's who I was referring to. And you are right that a PI has more latitude. They tend to be owners of their missions, whereas for a big flagship mission there is no single voice and often the center director takes a lead on communications.

I don't think this is incompetence. This looks like a policy of saying as little as possible. I don't know why it is, but it just looks bad. We could go back in the JWST thread and see what kind of post-launch updates they did for that mission, which was run out of Goddard. JPL used to have a reputation for the slickest PR of any space center, so the lack of anything looks really odd.

[LouScheffer]

I compared the PR of this mission with Psyche.  The first few updates were similar - acquired lock, solar panels out, etc.  Then the next significant update was a tweet from the PI, Lindy Elkins-Tanton, just under two days after launch:  "Happy to report the spacecraft is healthy and initial checkout is underway (don’t hold your breath - it’s over 100 days long).".  She responded to a few replies to her tweet, then said "I’ll post some resources. There’s no special daily update place but I’ll also keep updating here."  After this, every few days there would be a tweet as each subsystem turned on.

All the information we have about the status of Psyche came directly from the PI.  So if the PI (project scientist in the case of EC) doesn't tweet/blog, then there appears to be no other mechanism.

So unfortunately this silence may be the new normal.

[ccdengr]

JPL used to have a reputation for the slickest PR of any space center...

During Voyager, maybe, but it's all been downhill since then.  Between JPL PIO's lackluster performance and increased control from NASA HQ, getting anything through the system has become really tough.  And cruise ops are only of interest to a tiny fraction of the public anyway, so I expect it's simpler to adopt a "no news is good news" attitude.  Especially since early Earth/Moon imaging is usually eliminated to reduce risk and workload.

[hartspace]

While it would certainly be desirable for us space-nerds to hear more about how the mission is going in the 4 days since launch, I suspect that the media folks at JPL understand that nothing much is going to be of general interest except the Mars and Earth flybys for the next 5-1/2 years until Clipper gets to Europa and may not have any planned coverage.  I haven't seen any timeline on activation and checkout, but I'd think the science instrument owners would probably indicate that their instruments are on and operating correctly when those activities occur.  I would think that if there was an indication of some issues, some enterprising space reporters (including those here at NSF) would contact the PIO at JPL and ask if everything was proceeding nominally.

[Targeteer]

Lets not forget that NASA's lack of transparency about Clipper started with hiding the mosfet issue from the public for months...

[redliox]

Cassini was a quiet between planets too, no asteroid flybys.  I’m just assuming minimal PR issues. 

[Metalskin]

Cassini was a quiet between planets too, no asteroid flybys.  I’m just assuming minimal PR issues.

I'm also assuming minimal PR issues, and maybe a bit more bureaucratic approach to who is allowed to release updates (even if it is via X or similar), and as mentioned previously, less staff.

Occam's razor to me leans on this side than there being something hidden.

[zubenelgenubi]

Moderator:
Stay on topic or lose your post.  Civil discourse or lose your post.

[Jim]

There is nothing wrong with EC.

[Jim]

Lets not forget that NASA's lack of transparency about Clipper started with hiding the mosfet issue from the public for months...

That is SOP.  Most problems are not publicized immediately.

[Blackstar]

Lets not forget that NASA's lack of transparency about Clipper started with hiding the mosfet issue from the public for months...

Look, I don't remember the details on that, but I don't think they "hid" anything. Managers have to manage, and that means having time to figure out a problem before going public with it. That also means having time to work on a possible solution before going public with it.

Nobody is being evil here.

[Blackstar]

I think this is the first semi-detailed update:

[vjkane]

Sorry have the post disappeared

*for the electronics issues before launch*, They tersely acknowledged there was a problem up front.  They were quiet while working the issue

[njb]

source ?

[Targeteer]

For the first time since launch I don't see Clipper getting DSN support.  Update--Madrid is supporting again.

[LouScheffer]

*for the electronics issues before launch*, They tersely acknowledged there was a problem up front.  They were quiet while working the issue

EC first learned about at potential problem, and verified it internally in early May, according to this New York Times article.  They started working on it immediately.  It was fully public, as in this Science article by early July.  I can't find any earlier notices of the problem, except perhaps in the 13 June review, which blandly states "There are a small handful of technical issues being worked  [...] including two part-related issues."  Blackstar reported hearing non-specific rumors of problems about a week before the public release.

Doesn't seem like a conspiracy to me...