NASA Issues Dire Warning: Budget Cuts Could Trigger Emergency ISS Deorbit #1816

NASA and the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel are raising alarms about growing risks to the International Space Station due to structural damage, air leaks, and looming budget cuts. With SpaceX developing a deorbit vehicle, officials stress that the ISS may face an uncontrolled descent unless immediate funding and action are secured. Elon Musk’s call for … Continue reading NASA Issues Dire Warning: Budget Cuts Could Trigger Emergency ISS Deorbit #1816 →

The post NASA Issues Dire Warning: Budget Cuts Could Trigger Emergency ISS Deorbit #1816 appeared first on Geek News Central.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
The lead story for Monday, April 25,
NASA and aerospace safety advisory panel raising alarms
about growing risk to the International Space Station
due to
structural damage, air leaks,
and looming budget
cuts. With SpaceX developing a deorbit vehicle, officials
stressed that the International Space Station may face

(00:23):
an uncontrolled descent
unless imminent
and immediate funding
are secured.
Elon Musk has called for an earlier deorbit
as urgency to this pivotal moment for the
space agency. I wanna welcome you to episode
1,816.
Now this report

(00:44):
is coming from
a safety committee within
NASA.
And,
they're
raising concern
over the safety and have cast a shadow
on operations
by saying the cracks and air links
that have plagued the station

(01:06):
and with the administration proposed budget cuts, the
feature of the International Space Station seems
uncertain.
Now NASA apparently is grappling with these challenges.
The Aerospace
Safety Advisory Panel, ASAP,
has issued this warning,
and they say that the International Space Station

(01:27):
has entered the riskiest period of its existence.
Now this was,
this statement was made out of a
a meeting
of the aerospace safety advisory
panel.
And,
apparently, they're going to be
some of those team members

(01:48):
or NASA members are going to be going
to Moscow
to meet with, their counterparts
because of the Zavetta
module that seems to be the biggest
problem child.
So
the
the leaks in that module has been known
about for years. So this is nothing,

(02:11):
nothing that, we haven't already known about.
So we'll see what happens with this. But
it looks to me like
this particular article
is a little bit
of,
you know,
this report just
and I understand they have concerns. There's always

(02:32):
risk risk with the International Space Station,
and we also know that we wanna keep
the astronauts on board safe.
NASA spent 993,000,000
on ISS operations,
last year
along with, 1,630,000,000.00

(02:53):
on crew and cargo transportation.
So, you know, they basically are warning that
the that SpaceX, who's building
the deorbit vehicle,
could further strain the budget. Well, they knew
they were gonna have to do this.
And we know that the plan twenty thirty
deorbit,

(03:14):
is you know, that's the that's the plan.
So,
you know, at some point,
they have to decide if they're gonna start
spinning down operations
a little bit. But, anyway, this this particular
article
does
raise,
some questions.
And at the same time,

(03:36):
I wonder if it's just a little
bit,
overstated.
A time will tell. Again, Anna, welcome to
episode 1,816.
Of course, I'm your host, Todd Cochran.
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(07:09):
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(07:30):
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I think a thousand sats worth 93¢.

(07:55):
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ongoing support,
of the show. As I wrap my time

(08:16):
down here in The Philippines,
I'm about,
sixteen days or so from,
getting on an airplane to
to come home.
So let's go ahead and get into the
stack.
Microsoft is offering underperformers
cash to quit.
Microsoft has initiated a global, consistent performance improvement

(08:39):
profit process.
And according to internal documents, employee flagged as
underperformers.
Now phase two options, enter performance improvement plan
with clear expectations and a timeline
for improvement or accept a global voluntary separation
agreement worth
sixteen
weeks of pay.

(09:00):
Effect employees have five days to decide,
and those choosing improvement plan forfeit the severance
option.
The program announced an email from new chief
people officer, Amy Coleman,
operates year round to address performance issues while
offering employees
a choice.
So,
interesting move here by

(09:23):
by Microsoft.
Amazing.
Perform or leave?
A great option.
Absolutely a great option.
The politics situation is heating up, and I'm
starting to see it in more and more
articles.
And,
one that has popped up here

(09:45):
today from PC World
is is really takes a
a sharp shot
at,
at president Trump. Says tech manufacturers are spending
US shipments amid tariff woes.
Smaller companies are shutting down shipments to The
US while larger manufacturers
are scrambling to deal with a chaotic tariff

(10:06):
situation.
Well,
let me read
one of the
you can see
the bias
come out.
The Trump administration trade wars as oscillates tech

(10:28):
manufacturers are trying to deal with the unpredictable
nature of an economy held hostage
to a single man's whims.
You know, I I'm gonna be
kind of frank here.
I've spoken
in this show for many years
on how the Chinese have been stealing our
intellectual property,

(10:48):
have been undercutting
companies,
I'll have just been absolutely
brutal.
You know, I would go to CES show
and they would be walking around brazenly with
teams of four and five
and duplicating
and and, taking pictures

(11:09):
of menus, operating systems.
They would they would click through menus.
They would they would go so far as
to open devices and
all the time writing notes, taking pictures,
measuring, doing everything
one could imagine.
And then six months later, I would see
those products on Alibaba

(11:30):
available,
re basically,
completely remanufactured. Oftentimes,
the,
they would steal directly from the factory in
China that was making the
the equipment.
So we've been screwed
for a long time

(11:51):
by China.
Ultimately screwed.
If
in a
reasonable amount of time,
there is the ability to get a trade
agreement in place
that would allow
a more fur a more fair,

(12:12):
trading position.
I'm all for it. I I really, really
am.
I understand
that there's gonna be some pain.
It's I feel bad for these companies.
But at the same time,
this should not come as a surprise.

(12:35):
People people need to pay attention in the
world on what's going on.
And, you know, if you are in the
tech business,
you know, other companies
have diversified
where they've made
their components in Vietnam,
Thailand,
a variety of other countries.

(12:56):
I understand
that China is a big source
of manufacturing of electronics
and other items.
But I think at some point,
we have to draw the line here and
and and get some sort of concessions.
How big they will be? It is hard

(13:17):
to tell.
But many, many, many, many, many countries, not
just China,
have blocked stuff that comes from The United
States and put on massive tariffs,
massive
tariffs.
And we do not have a trading position
that is fair
in many parts of the world.

(13:38):
Many, many places take advantage,
of the American consumers,
yet American products
that are exported to those countries face massive
tariffs. So
I think it's time for a realignment.
That's my personal opinion.
I'm willing to go through a bit of

(13:59):
pain.
I'm hoping sixty, ninety, a hundred and twenty
days.
We'll we'll get it done. Time will tell.
Reports that I'm seeing here
getting a little different aspect of news,
it's having a real major impact in China.
Stuff they're selling stuff in their factories for,

(14:20):
you know, 5¢ on the dollar at this
point, which is making a buyer's market for
people that are,
should be able to within The United States
to be able to buy stuff,
cheaper,
because number one, the profit margins have been
so high because of slave labor in China
and not paying wages.

(14:40):
They should be able to buy stuff up
right now and not be impacted,
if if they've lowered the price
of the wholesale price of a product 50
to 75%,
the tariffs are awash.
Great time to renegotiate
contracts
and get and get a better price.

(15:03):
So, you know, there's two sides to this
thing.
So I I think time will tell
on this, but,
I I just
I I think people would need to have
been smart,
in in their business dealings. I I really,
really do. But,
again, I'm not in the manufacturing

(15:23):
of electronics equipment
and sourcing stuff from,
China's can be easy.
But, time to,
you know, think about that manufacturing at home
too.
I'd I'd love to see that happen. I
don't know if it's if it's an
an impossible dream
or not for

(15:44):
sure.
At the same time, the White House has
condemned Europe's extortion of Apple and Meta.
A spokesperson for the administration said the DMA,
the Digital Marks Act,
and other
EU regulations
specifically target
and undermine American companies and stifle innovation enabling

(16:04):
censorship.
Now if it looks like a trade war,
swims like a trade war, quacks like a
trade war, then probably it a trade war
that is now broken out this time be
between the e s and u
as the, White House condemns
Europe's punitive fines. We've talked about this many,
many times on the show
on how the EU has refilled their,

(16:27):
their budget pot again
with fines against Meta
and Apple,
recently with €500,000,000
and 200,000,000
million euros respectively.
You know, these are all custom fitted penalties.
The state fines,

(16:48):
are just becoming a regular thing here
and,
this needs to stop.
The self righteousness
of the EU
to extort money out of American companies has
has to end as well. I agree.
You know, because they specifically target these companies

(17:11):
that have big
big piles of cash
because they know they can they can they
can pay it,
enforce them to pay it. It's it's it's,
there there's a very,
it's it's it's not a nice phrase,
but

(17:31):
the phrase here is,
if I go and get transportation,
I always pay more for transportation than what
a local does. And it's commonly referred to
as a skin tax,
for when I'm doing certain things.
I go to the market, I pay a
higher price than locals.

(17:52):
I have less negotiating power,
when I try to negotiate a price on
a product
and it's just it's just a fact of
life.
Well, what's happening
in
in in the EU
is this is a,
it's essentially,
attacks

(18:13):
against these companies
because
they can they can extract it,
from them a little bit at a time.
And,
the EU has been very crazy in all
of the stuff that they've,
you know, their their lord oversight
of, of everything tech.

(18:33):
So, you know, I I think I agree
to an extent
that, our American companies have to be protect.
Now if you live in the EU, maybe
feel differently. I don't know. Maybe feel the
same. I'd love to love to hear from
you. If you're in the EU
and listening to the show, do you agree
with the extortion
of Apple and Meta and so forth?

(18:55):
The more happy note, everything on Netflix in
May 2025 is been announced.
So I'll have that link up in the
show notes for you to review.
Ransomware in The United States has cost victims
$16,600,000,000
in 2024.
Think about that.
16.6
complain about tax rose 916.6%

(19:20):
a 33%
increase.
And this is where someone hacks into your
system, locks your data and demands a check.
Crazy stuff.
IBM stock has fell after results reveal US
government contracts have been canceled by Doge.
IBM

(19:40):
stocks fell 6.6%
after the US government
canceled a hundred million dollars in contracts from,
from IBM.
I think you're gonna see more of these
types of reports coming out in earnings reports
as
we're trying to, to slash the budget.

(20:01):
You know, a lot of money
going to a lot of companies
for a lot of various reasons
and,
you know, cutting some of these useless contracts
is probably,
probably well worth it at this point.
All of us have seen this and the
title of this article is ads versus

(20:21):
paywalls,
the ongoing tug of war for website money.
And, you know, the Internet's a pretty chaotic
place. You can find everything from cat videos
to thought provoking pieces
and, you know, websites need money to keep,
keep running just like my website needs and
this show needs money to keep,

(20:42):
to keep running.
And,
people are asking today, you know, which one
works better, ads on websites or paywalls.
If I paid
for everything
that I was asked to pay for, I
would have no money left.
If I subscribe
to every site

(21:03):
that was trying to extract dollars from me,
I it it would it would be an
insane
amount of money. So, you know, what do
you pick?
And you pick ads
and
and I I essentially pick ads 90% of
the time. Every once in a while
and especially when it comes to creators,

(21:23):
I I support creators with my
with my dollars, but I do
rare do not do not very often,
pay for access,
to a website. And he and here's part
of the reason
is I continue to see more and more
AI generated content,

(21:44):
that was churned
from press releases
and not real commentary.
And or
just like the PC World article we talked
about earlier,
all of a sudden they're getting politically biased
and, you know, it's it's amazing.
You would think in tech that there would

(22:06):
not be this this political,
this political spin,
in the reporting
on online the websites knowing that they're gonna
irritate
part of their readership.
And I see this now on
certain,
sites more than others. Not this one specifically,

(22:27):
the webdesignerdepot.com,
but earlier on the other one.
So, you know, which one works better today?
And, you know, I think that's
that's a challenging conversation.
I think the majority of us probably do
not
pay,
for
for website access, do you? I'd love to

(22:47):
hear from you. Which ones are you
paying for? [e-mail].
Also, eight k movies are finally coming including
70 millimeter prints, but the biggest piece of
the eight k TV puzzle is still missing
and those are the TVs.
And I was arguing with, Rob the other
day that four k gotta be doing everything

(23:10):
in four k. Gotta be streaming in four
k.
I I don't believe we have to be
streaming in four k.
You know, I'm streaming the show right now
in in,
ten eighty p.
And
they go to four k, you know, just
because I can go to a new number,
I don't necessarily need to see YouTube videos

(23:30):
in four k.
Some of you've got Internet connections that can
support that.
Are you enjoying
four k on your own?
Let's say you.
Vantrue has a Versailles
three sixty dash cam that shoots a true
three sixty degree video
plus it doubles for handheld use. This is

(23:51):
smart.
So you got a dash cam
that's,
you know, watching what's going in in on
inside and outside your vehicle.
And at the same time,
you can use this camera,
you know, carried around wherever you go that
your car goes.
It's not cheap. This is a $349

(24:13):
device.
So the e c three sixty, again, $3.49
and the e six e three sixty ace,
which adds adds a handheld mount,
costs $459.
So,
that camera
better be really, really rocking.
And I would not call that an affordable

(24:36):
they actually priced this. They actually said in
the article, this is an affordable
piece of kit.
I don't know about that. There's some three
sixty cameras out there. They're pretty doggone awesome
that are cheaper than this
that I'm sure someone was very entrepreneur
like could make it as a a dash

(24:57):
cam as well.
How many of you use Dropbox
for everyday
business file sharing?
I do not. I use Dropbox more for
like, yeah. Send me that file
or I'm gonna send you a file. I'm
gonna send you,
an image,
something easy to share that's bigger than email
will support.

(25:19):
So Dropbox is adding new features
to their AI called Dash.
And,
I guess I just don't use Dropbox
for
everyday business stuff.
I have a Dropbox account. I have stuff
in it, but it's usually for facilitating again

(25:41):
people sending me,
big files and so forth.
So, you know,
what say you? What are you using Dropbox
for? But if you're using it for business,
they've a k a improved AI search.
PCWorld is recommending don't pay Max for an
extra member until the service forces you to.

(26:03):
And,
this week, Max took a a a page,
out of the Netflix playbook by adding option
to pay $8 per month for an extra
member that doesn't live in your home, same
as Netflix.
Disney added similar options for Disney plus streaming
service $7 per month.
Both companies have updated the terms of c

(26:24):
service to say out of home accounts
sharing
is forbidden, but calling this a crackdown currently
is still relative is still extremely relative
to the actual level enforcement that's happening. So
you may buy yourself some time. They're waiting
until they actually put the clamps on you,
and that's what Netflix did. It went on
for about six months and then they they

(26:45):
they hit the,
they drew the line, hit the hammer.
Now,
you know, I'm obviously doing the digital nomad
thing
And
I I don't spend as much time in
hotels
as I've used to.
Although I have taken time here to make
myself a pretty good virtual,

(27:06):
work area and probably,
the next trip that I have, I will
probably upgrade my chair, the the laptop seat
or the the, computer chair that I have
is not great.
But,
Spacetop,
it's a company,
Sightfull Spacetops gigantic

(27:26):
virtual laptop screen is is ready for launch.
Insightful is betting $200
per year
that you will opt for this to have
a big workspace and planes, trains, and hotel
rooms.
I don't know. You gotta wear special glasses.
Use hey. You have to use a pair

(27:47):
of AR glasses and you you have to
have a whole bunch of, like,
special stuff to go along with this and
you you get a hundred
inch gigantic screen.
I don't know. I I think this is
a gimmick.
I really, really do.
Have any of you seen this product?

(28:10):
Have any of you digital nomads
played with it?
So in 2023,
they showed off Space Top, which was like
Chromebook without a display.
And,
if you didn't own a multiple display in
a Thunderbolt dock, the AR setup surrounds you
with the virtual display.
And I guess

(28:31):
oh, you don't even have a monitor.
So this is really weird.
You just put the glasses on.
It's it's very very odd.
Not $899
for the space top bundle.

(28:52):
Includes the AR Glass and a year's worth
$200
of the space top subscription.
But again, you'll you need to need to
buy your own laptop on top of that.
Seiflo has been selling preorders
of of bundle for $950.
So
this is a product that I'm just gonna
call

(29:13):
the dead on arrival. I I just can't
see
how this is going to succeed.
Google has announced that they extended the Pixel
seven a repair program for battery spelling issues.
So if you have a seven a,
you're gonna be able to still get that
fixed for a short period of time.
Samsung's next Galaxy unpacked event could be heading
back to New York. The annual event is

(29:34):
likely returned to the Big Apple after more
than two years.
So, we'll see what happens there with that
announcement.
The BBC is reporting that, president Trump's crypto
sores as president offers dinner to top holders.
The price of,
Trump's cryptocurrency
has went up.

(29:55):
According to crypto trading platform, Coinbase,
the crypto jumped more than 70%
after announcement. It remains well below the record
high
of more than $74
re shortly after it's launched.
It's currently
at what is the price?

(30:15):
They're gonna have a
gala dinner, which we had at Trump National,
Club in Washington,
and
they're gonna make this available for 25
coin holders.
The current circulation is around 2,500,000,000.
Of course, a lot of people have been
talking about

(30:36):
all kinds of legal actions around this, so
we will see.
I do not own any Trump crypto. I
only hold Bitcoin at this point.
Five point five million patients are affected by
the data breach at Yale New Haven Health.
So another hack that, that took place on

(30:56):
April 11.
At the same time, Blue Shield of California
had a data breach impacting 4,700,000
people. That hack happened
back
in February.
So these
these reports coming out. So be aware
of that if you're one of if you're
a customer of one of those two.

(31:17):
The FBI is also reporting cybercrime
losses surpassed 16,600,000,000.0.
So
I think we talked about this a little
bit already.
So double article. Sorry about that. Top employee
monitoring app has leaked 21,000,000
screenshots and thousands of users is called work
composer.

(31:38):
Work Composer has been leaking screenshots of user
activity on the clear web. This is not
good.
So a major time tracking company,
has got a flaw.
So meanwhile, you've been tracking your employees while
at the same exact time,
your
everything they're doing for you is is being

(31:58):
leaked.
That's that's quite the nice
situation, isn't it?
Apple Watch users who close
their rings today, I guess this is already
over, will get a cool free package of
limited edition
digital prizes to celebrate 10 of Apple Watch.
Apple is dubbed April 24 as global close
your rings day. So those of you that

(32:19):
are
on the West Coast Of The United States,
you got a few
more hours to do that.
So
should have had this out Monday.
To celebrate Hubble
Space Telescope's
thirty first thirty fifth anniversary in orbit, NASA
and ESA has released a series of new

(32:41):
out of this world images
spanning planets, nebulas, and galaxies. And I loaded
this page up
and, was
looking at some of the images in the
sidebar
and, how MIT very, very cool stuff.
And,
there for you to

(33:02):
to look at
might be a new
screen background for you potentially.
So,
link will be up in the show notes,
obviously.
IPhone 16 Pro is now less popular than
the baseline iPhone 16. Of course, the iPhone
16 has taken over the majority of all
Apple phone sales,
but the cheaper iPhone 16

(33:25):
is leading the pack here. So,
you're picking the regular version over the pro
version,
size and cost.
People are complaining about the Roku's new streaming
stick lineup because it's confusing. Now listen to
this.
The plus is four
k, but the four k is better than

(33:47):
the plus.
So if you order the four k plus,
it's not as good as the regular four
k.
Why did they do this?
Now, of course, you have to have a
four k TV,
and, of course, you want a four k
TV streaming stick.

(34:08):
But, yeah,
a little bit of confusion there.
So read the box,
read the description before you order.
Again, just order the regular four k,
according to this article from TechRadar.
Google is also demanding that some of its
remote employees

(34:28):
return to the office or lose their jobs.
So Google is reporting forcing a new hybrid
work model where employees are being asked to
come to office at least three days a
week, and those who failed to comply could
face
termination.
And
now it's not a company wide mandate. It's
just certain

(34:51):
certain sections or certain divisions.
Now listen to this.
For the AI division, boss Sergey Brin is
mandated in off presence adding that sixty hours
per week is optimal for productivity.
I I put in nearly sixty hours a

(35:13):
week.
I do. I can't get everything done in
forty hours.
Nearly impossible.
So, you know, if if you're complaining about
your forty hour week,
you know, you're gonna work at Google and
you're gonna be one of the on some
of these teams,
and sixty hours is gonna be the dealio.

(35:36):
I think companies are now starting to put
out products just to put out products.
Here's another one. IRobot has launched a new
flagship
flagship Roomba,
but it's less impressive than its existing models.
The max
Roomba max seven zero five,
only is a vacuum. It doesn't have any

(35:59):
brushing capability.
So they're confused on why other units
that
are available today,
it's just like they went backwards with this,
but not backwards in price.
So, again, if you're shoot shopping Roombas,
definitely look at different models. I think that's

(36:20):
super super critical.
Volkswagen will deploy thousands of robo taxis on
Uber's platform in The United States.
So, you know, Volkswagens typically mentioned conversations about
robo taxis, but the German auto giant has
been quietly working on its self driving tech
for over a decade.
And, they're gonna start

(36:41):
commercial
robotaxi service in Los Angeles in 2026.
The vehicles will be VW's
ID Buzz electric minivans equipped with self driving
driving sensors and software
developed by subsidiary, Moya.
So,
keep an eye out for these,
coming in 2026.

(37:04):
The EU has introduced new smartphone labels for
battery life and repairability.
So they they want you to know exactly
how
repairable your smartphone is, and most of them
are
barely
repairable.
And it gives a a, b, c, d,
e grade,
for that. And you'll probably have to figure
out the,

(37:25):
the code here, but they give it a
a a grade from a to g,
assuming a is best and g is worst.
So and also battery lifetime as well. So
interesting,
new label for devices.
You never know where the threat is gonna
come from, but booby trap Alpine Quest Android

(37:47):
app has is geolocating Russian soldiers.
The
software in question is a legit topographical
mapping tool popular among hikers, hunters, and more.
Russian military personal operation and combat zones have
found a tampered version
with spyware dubbed as Android spy twelve ninety
two
injected into it an,

(38:09):
origin unknown,
Ukraine,
and threat actors embedded this into
the older Alpine Quest app version distributed trojanized
variant under the guise of a freely available
application
to Russian forces.
So,

(38:30):
nothing like having the IP. I mean, the,
lat long location of,
of your enemy.
According to the register, your vendor may be
the weakest link. Percentage of third party breaches
doubled in the past year. And, of course,
this probably is exactly the case.
Of course, now this is according

(38:52):
oh, this didn't come from the well, the
register is reporting on what Verizon
is saying.
Verizon data breach investigation, one of the industry's
most watched autopsies and what actually goes on
in IvoSEC this year's edition released Wednesday.
It found that the proportion of breaches involving
third parties rose from fifteen percent to thirty
percent.

(39:12):
This figure includes those breaches including in the
instance which data losses was confirmed
caused by exalated software vulnerabilities.
So,
it's always it
more and more, it's now that it's now
companies that are integrated with your platform
that are causing the data loss.

(39:32):
And at the same time, people have to
realize that
those APIs,
those integrations that are made available,
those have to be, pretty tight
and not let people have access to data
they shouldn't have.
LinkedIn will let your verified identity show up
on other platforms.
I didn't even know this is an issue

(39:52):
a thing. I don't know if I even
have a a verified identity on LinkedIn,
but,
I guess it's getting progressively cheaper and easier
to pretend you're someone you're not online.
You're also be do so in a ways
that look more credible than ever.
So they're offering,
I guess, they introduced verification in 2023,

(40:15):
allowing users to confirm specific details such as
the attending workplace or education history using government
issue IDs or company emails.
So I don't know if I verified ever
before or not. It's been around a couple
of years.
So
twenty years ago,
yes, twenty years ago, the first video was
uploaded to YouTube,

(40:36):
and they were very short and sweet. Twenty
seconds, sixty seconds.
Twenty years ago,
we were introduced to YouTube, of course, the
home of all podcasts now,
quote, unquote.
So,
happy twentieth,
YouTube.
So,
a lot of,

(40:57):
earnings reports are coming out right now.
A lot of the tech companies are reporting
big earnings.
So a lot of that data is, is
surging. Alphabet has reported quarter one revenues up
12%.
And,
so,
we'll start seeing more of these,
in the coming days.

(41:17):
Alright. I'm gonna wrap this up. I wanna
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(41:37):
as well. Geekcentral.com/insider.
It's been my pleasure to bring you the
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out with me. I'll be back with you
on
Monday
for another edition of the Geekness Central podcast.
Everyone, take care. We'll see you next time.
And those you've been on live, thank you
for being here as well. Bye bye.