NASA

AUSTIN, Texas — NASA selected Firefly Aerospace to launch a trio of Earth science smallsats that will study the formation of storms.The agency said March 4 that it awarded a task order through its Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) contract to Firefly to launch the three-satellite Investigation of Convective Updrafts (INCUS) mission. NASA did not disclose the value of the task order, a practice it has followed on other VADR awards.The INCUS satellites will launch on a Firefly Alpha rocket from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. NASA did not disclose a launch date in its announcement but Firefly, in its own statement, said the launch would take place as soon as 2026. The INCUS mission is working towards a launch in October 2026, according to its website.INC...

WASHINGTON — NASA employees are being advised not to immediately respond to an email sent over the weekend by the Office of Personnel Management despite a threat by Elon Musk that failing to respond would result in losing their jobs.NASA employees, along with others across the federal government, received an email from OPM Feb. 22 with the subject line “What did you do last week?” The email asked employees to respond with a list of their accomplishments in the last week.“Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager,” the email stated, adding that they should not provide any links, attachments or classified information. The email gave a deadline of 11:59 p.m. Eastern Feb. 24.The message came hours after a social media post b...