米政府、１７年ぶり閉鎖 予算不成立、職員数十万人待機 [朝日]

　【ワシントン＝五十嵐大介】米政府機関の一部閉鎖が１日、１７年ぶりに始まった。オバマ政権が進める医療保険制度をめぐる与野党の対立が続き、１日からの新年度の暫定予算案で折り合えなかった。観光地の国立公園などが閉鎖されるほか、数十万人の政府職員が自宅待機などに追い込まれる見込みだ。

　前回の政府閉鎖は、クリントン政権時代の１９９６年１月までの２１日間だった。

というわけで、NASAの本サイトも落ちており、職員も多くが待機となりTwitterもしばらくお休みになるようです。JPLドメインは生きておりますが。

■A Government Shutdown Could Delay MAVEN's Launch to Mars [Planetary Society]

The best information we have is from NASA's shutdown guidelines [pdf], which state that "if a space launch has not commenced or is not in flight, preparation activities will generally cease, except to maintain powered systems to monitor and maintain the safety of the assets."

If that sounds a little vague, it is. But it's really hard to know what the impact to MAVEN's schedule will be. It's an understandably fluid situation, and the full impact of a shutdown – if it even happens at all – won't be known until after the government resumes its business. Even Lockheed-Martin, the prime contractor building MAVEN, doesn't know what will happen yet.

The worse-case scenario is that MAVEN misses its launch opportunity to Mars. These only come around every 26 months and remain open for only a short time. MAVEN's has only 20 days between November 18th and December 7th. If MAVEN cannot launch in time, it will have to wait for the next opportunity in early 2016, a delay that would cost NASA's Planetary Science Division tens of millions of dollars it cannot afford.

火星探査機MAVENが11月18日以降20日間のウインドウで打ち上げを予定しております。このタイミングでNASAの活動が停止することで、打ち上げウインドウを逃す危険性が出てきたようです。今年を逃すと3年後。

■Government shutdown puts MAVEN launch preps on hold [Spaceflight Now]

But the launch date could be in jeopardy if the federal government's partial shutdown lasts more than a week.

Uneasy with MAVEN's launch schedule following the government shutdown, officials said they are evaluating whether this fall's launch window could be extended a few days into mid-December to buy more time.

どうやら1週間続くと打ち上げウインドウに間に合わない恐れが出てくるようで、何とかウインドウを数日延ばせないか検討中だそうです。