Here are SpacePolicyOnline.com’s tidbits for June 20, 2018: White House releases NEO preparedness action plan; Pentagon moving forward on Space Force; Mars dust storm goes global. Be sure to check our website for feature stories and follow us on Twitter (@SpcPlcyOnline) for more news and live tweeting of events.
President Trump signed Space Policy Directive-3 (SPD-3) today as expected, but it was his order to Gen. Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to create a Space Force that stole the show. Trump has called for creation of a Space Force before, but his explicit direction to his top military officer to do it was a first, publicly at least. In reality, however, Congress would have a major role to play in any such military reorganization.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of June 17-23, 2018 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in the session this week.
Here are SpacePolicyOnline.com’s tidbits for June 15, 2018: Peggy Whitson retires; Rubio adds his support for Kavandi to be NASA Deputy Administrator. Be sure to check our website for feature stories and follow us on Twitter (@SpcPlcyOnline) for more news and live tweeting of events.
Here are SpacePolicyOnline.com’s tidbits for June 14, 2018: Senate appropriators approve NASA/NOAA bill; JAXA’s Hayabusa2 closing in on Ryugu; China’s Queqiao reaches destination. Be sure to check our website for feature stories and follow us on Twitter (@SpcPlcyOnline) for more news and live tweeting of events.
A dust storm on Mars is threatening NASA’s intrepid rover, Opportunity, but its human operators are hopeful that the 15-year-old robot will make it through. For now, Oppy, as it is fondly known, is asleep, waiting until it detects that it has enough power from its solar arrays to wake up and phone home.
In its actions on the FY2019 Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bill today, a Senate subcommittee added funding for NOAA’s next three polar-orbiting weather satellites. It also fully funded NOAA’s development of new geostationary weather satellites. The full Senate Appropriations Committee will mark up the bill on Thursday morning.
The Senate Appropriations Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) subcommittee approved its FY2019 bill today, allocating $21.3 billion for NASA. Although that is somewhat less than the $21.6 billion approved by its House counterpart, it is still significantly higher than the Trump Administration’s request. Among its actions, the Senate subcommittee rejected Trump proposals to eliminate four Earth science programs, the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), and programs funded in NASA’s Office of Education.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said today that he is advocating for Janet Kavandi to be Deputy Administrator. A former astronaut, Kavandi is now Director of NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. President Trump has not nominated her yet, however.
Here are SpacePolicyOnline.com’s tidbits for June 11, 2018: NASA MSFC Director Todd May is retiring; NASA releases lunar payloads RFI; Mars rover Opportuity hunkering down in dust storm. Be sure to check our website for feature stories and follow us on Twitter (@SpcPlcyOnline) for more news and live tweeting of events.