Notices by AkaSci 🛰️ (akasci@fosstodon.org)

Additional coverage of the "The Bethesda Declaration" from NIH employees -
https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/09/health/nih-letter-bethesda-declaration
https://apnews.com/article/nih-letter-bethesda-declaration-bhattacharya-89724aee201f3e99fc1159adcbf9ac94
https://www.science.org/content/article/nih-staff-and-biomedical-community-sound-alarm-about-agency-politicization-funding
https://www.statnews.com/2025/06/09/nih-cuts-policies-provoke-employee-protest-letter-bethesda-declaration/
https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/nih-workers-protest-federal-cuts-bhattacharya-trump-american-health/
2/n

NIH employees publish ‘Bethesda Declaration’ in dissent of Trump administration policies

"Dear Dr. Bhattacharya,

For staff across the NIH, we dissent to Administration policies that undermine the NIH mission, waste public resources, and harm the health of Americans and people across the globe.

We are compelled to speak up when our leadership prioritizes political momentum over human safety and faithful stewardship of public resources. ..."

Will it bring change?

https://www.standupforscience.net/bethesda-declaration?utm_source=pressrel&utm_campaign=bethesdadec
1/n

We need a few more voices like Brian Schatz, U.S. Senator from Hawaii. Silence will only embolden the regime.

#Politics
5/n

Ned Resnikoff writes -

"Now it falls to the rest of us to choose which version of America we like better. If Trump’s America is the one we want, then all we need to do is stay home. But if we choose multiracial social democracy, then we’re going to need to follow the example being set in Los Angeles. We need to demonstrate that we won’t be so easily cowed, and that Trump will never have enough soldiers to quash the protests. "

https://publiccomment.blog/p/los-angeles-california-121b
https://bsky.app/profile/resnikoff.bsky.social
#Politics
4/n

Former DOGE engineer Sahil Lavingia:

"The government has been under sort of a magnifying glass for decades. And so I think, generally, I personally was pretty surprised, actually, at how efficient the govt. was. This isn't to say that it can't be made more efficient — elimination of paper, elimination of faxing — but these aren't necessarily fraud, waste and abuse. These are just rooms to modernize and improve the U.S. federal govt. into the 21st century."

https://www.npr.org/2025/06/02/nx-s1-5417994/former-doge-engineer-shares-his-experience-working-for-the-cost-cutting-unit
2/n

A former employee of the Dept of Government Efficiency says that he found that the federal waste, fraud and abuse that his agency was supposed to uncover were "relatively nonexistent" during his short time at the Dept of Veterans Affairs.

"Elon [Musk] was pretty clear about how he wanted DOGE to be maximally transparent. And so I thought, OK, cool, I'll take him at his word. I will be transparent."

Shortly after the interview was published, his access was revoked.

https://www.npr.org/2025/06/02/nx-s1-5417994/former-doge-engineer-shares-his-experience-working-for-the-cost-cutting-unit
1/n

Joyce Alene points out that the use of Title 10 "is almost certainly a conflict with the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the use of the military for domestic law enforcement, including the National Guard if they are federalized."

#Politics
3/n

The White House memo authorizing the federalization and deployment of at least 2,000 National Guard personnel in California.

Where is Congress?

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/06/department-of-defense-security-for-the-protection-of-department-of-homeland-security-functions/
#Politics
2/n

LA is about to become a war zone as trump finds his excuse to deploy soldiers in California.

He wants to bring CA to its knees. First the move to starve CA out of federal funds and now this.
#Politics
1/n

Food for thought from David Rothkopf:

"One of the most important jobs we face in life is distinguishing between what is real and what is not.

It is American capitalism, as it is practiced here in all its Darwinian law of the jungle brutality, that is killing American democracy.

Many other societies offer a better quality of life. Many other countries provide more generously and wisely for their people. Many other countries are better democracies."

https://davidrothkopf.substack.com/p/we-are-not-the-nation-we-thought
#Politics
1/n

The ispace HAKUTO-R RESILIENCE landing site is in Mare Frigoris or the "Sea of Cold, at 60.5°N 4.6°E, close to the north polar region on the near side of the moon.

https://quickmap.lroc.im-ldi.com/?camera=8561807.3289%2C8152.5348%2C173960.9062%2C-0.9998%2C-0.0009%2C-0.0197%2C-0.0197%2C0.0063%2C0.9998%2C60&showGraticule=true&shadowsType=all&layers=NrBsFYBoAZIRnpEBmZcAsjYIHYFcAbAyAbwF8BdC0ypcOKbRFOOZRBaAOnXfyJpVBFIA&proj=22
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakuto-R_Mission_2

#Moon #Space
3/n

The ispace Hakuto-R M2 landing webcast will begin at 2:10 p.m. EDT (18:10 UTC).

Landing is scheduled for 3:17 p.m. EDT (19:17 UTC).

https://www.youtube.com/live/BVSMXQPeTcw
https://ispace-inc.com/news-en/?p=7631
#Moon #Space
2/n

After a close to 6 month journey along a low energy transfer trajectory, the Japanese ispace Hakuto-R Mission 2 RESILIENCE lander will attempt to land on the moon on Thu, June 5 at 19:17 UTC (3:17 p.m. EDT).

Hakuto-R M2 was launched on Jan 15, alongside the Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lunar lander. The mission will deploy a European-built mini rover named TENACIOUS and other science payloads on the lunar surface.
🤞
https://ispace-inc.com/m2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakuto-R_Mission_2
1/n

Here is a closer look at the ispace HAKUTO-R Mission 2 landing site in Mare Frigoris. The landing site, at 60.5°N 4.6°E, seems to be located in a shallow depression at the northern end of a fairly flat area.

The camera angle is from the North looking South.

https://quickmap.lroc.im-ldi.com/?camera=740082.0796%2C49941.955%2C1663979.9771%2C0.5854%2C0.056%2C-0.8088%2C0.8066%2C0.0603%2C0.588%2C60&showGraticule=true&shadowsType=all&layers=NrBsFYBoAZIRnpEBmZcAsjYIHYFcAbAyAbwF8BdC0ypcOKbRFOOZRBaAOnXfyJpVBFIA&proj=22&features=4.6%2C60.5%7C4.6%2C60.5%7C4.6%2C60.5
4/n

I did not get time to follow the landing webcast of the ispace HAKUTO-R M2 mission.
Any news?
8/n

The ispace RESILIENCE lander is currently in a 100 km altitude circular orbit around the moon, traveling at ~5,800 km/h, getting ready for the next set of maneuvers to start the landing sequence.

Here is a recent pic on the lunar surface taken by the spacecraft.

https://ispace-inc.com/news-en/?p=7631
7/n

Space is hard, lunar landings are even harder.

Only 4 of 13 robotic lander missions since 2019 have been successful, as shown in the table below.

Note that the ispace Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander ended with a hard landing in April 2023.

Sending best wishes to RESILIENCE for a successful landing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_missions_to_the_Moon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_missions_to_the_Moon
#Moon #MoonLanding
6/n

After landing, the ispace RESILIENCE lander will have about 14 earth days (one lunar day) to complete its mission, before night falls, bringing darkness and brutally cold temperatures.

Similar to other recent robotic landers, RESILIENCE is powered by solar cells and will not have sufficient energy storage to survive the lunar night.

#Moon #Space #MoonLanding #HAKUTO #ispace
5/n

The ispace HAKUTO-R mission 1 crash-landed for a different reason on April 25, 2023.

Around 5 km altitude, the onboard software incorrectly presumed that the radar altimeter was faulty because its reading of 5 km diverged from that of the inertial measurement unit. The spacecraft descended slowly thinking it was near the surface, ran out of fuel and then crashed into the lunar surface at more than 100 meters per second.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakuto-R_Mission_1
https://spacenews.com/software-problem-blamed-for-ispace-lunar-lander-crash/
12/n

Update from ispace about the failed HAKUTO-R M2 mission -

After decelerating from 20 km altitude to near vertical attitude, telemetry was lost.

The laser rangefinder used to measure the distance to the lunar surface experienced delays in obtaining valid measurement values. As a result, the lander was unable to decelerate sufficiently, crashing on the lunar surface at ~187 km/h.

The table in post #6 gets another red row 🙁.

https://ispace-inc.com/news-en/?p=7664
11/n