Cal Poly alum will launch into space today

Author

Carly Heltzel
April 01, 2026

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, and I’m reading the obituary of the first dog to be inducted into the Surfer’s Hall of Fame. Onto the five Cal Poly, SLO and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

At 3:24 p.m. today, a Cal Poly alum will pilot NASA’s first mission to the moon in 50 years. The launch was delayed after technical issues during a dress rehearsal in February. Victor Glover graduated with a degree in General Engineering in 1999 and three of his four daughters attend or having attended Cal Poly. The missions will take him in the moon’s orbit to take photos of the moon’s south polar region where NASA hopes to land astronauts in it’s next mission.

2.

Cal State has yet to renew its contract for universal ChatGPT access. The initial $17 million, 18-month contract expires in July. In a system-wide survey of 94,000 students, faculty and staff, 84% of respondents had used AI, 30% of students used it daily, 80% said they would not pass off AI work as their own, 90% said a human needs to check AI work for accuracy and 70% of faculty and half of students desired more formal training on AI. A petition calling for an end to the partnership has 3,300 signatures.

3.

A proposed state bill would require AI companies to disclose their safety frameworks and release transparency reports that detail if they contribute to the death or injury of 50 or more people, loss of $1 billion in damages or if critical safety incidents that occur on their platforms. California is only among New York, Arkansas and Oregon in passing AI regulations at the state level. Anthropic, the company of the Claude AI platform, endorse the bill as a “thoughtful” regulation of AI.

4.

Non U.S.-citizens are no longer eligible for federal small business loans as of today. Even businesses partly owned by permanent legal residents with a green card will not be able to secure the low-interest loans. California has both the most small businesses and the most immigrants in the country, with 40% of the state’s business community made up of immigrants. Small businesses are responsible for 99% of net new jobs created.

5.

Mr. Turtle is rapidly expanding. The Cal Poly alumni-founded company eliminates plastic waste from single-use soap dispensers and laundry detergent bottles through a refilling kiosk that first launched in Poly Canyon Village’s market last year. It now has 10 more machines installed across California, Nevada and Oregon, including five SLO County locations. It dispenses roughly 3,000 ounces of cleaning product per week, saving around 20 pounds of plastic from the landfill.