UPDATED to reflect the Senate Commerce Committee’s posting of the agenda for its markup session on Thursday.

Congress is still busily at work, and scientists are meeting at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) annual fall meeting, but the rest of the space policy world is refocusing its attention on the holidays.

The only space policy-related events SpacePolicyOnline.com is aware of this week are the following.

During the Week

• Congress may complete action on the Department of Defense Appropriations bill (H.R. 3326), the only one that has not yet cleared Congress. If action is not completed by December 18, another Continuing Resolution will need to be passed.
• The President is expected to sign into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 3288), which includes NASA, NOAA and NSF.

December 14-18, 2009

• The annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco is expected to be the venue for announcements about results from NASA missions, including the LCROSS mission and its search for water on the Moon’s south pole.

December 17, 2009

• Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation committee markup session, 10:00 am, 253 Russell Senate Office Building.

UPDATED: This article, originally published yesterday (Sunday), has been updated to correct the bill number, provide a link to the bill and report, and include the specific language in the bill that prohibits NASA from spending funds to change the Constellation program until Congress has time to consider whatever decision is made by the Executive Branch.

The Senate just passed the FY2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 3288, H. Rept. 111-366), which includes the Commerce-Justice-Science bill that funds NASA, NOAA and NSF, by a vote of 57-35.

It is a package of six of the seven remaining annual appropriations bills needed to fund the government. The total package is $1.1 trillion (NASA gets $18.7 billion). The bill now goes to the White House where the President is expected to sign it. Only the Department of Defense (DOD) appropriations bill (H.R. 3326) remains to be passed by Congress. That may be concluded by the end of this week when the current Continuing Resolution (CR) expires, but because the bill is expected to contain a number of unrelated provisions, such as raising the debt limit, it could be subject to extended debate. If it is not passed, another CR will be needed to fund DOD.

The NASA portion of the bill (in Division B, Commerce-Justice-Science) includes a prohibition on spending any funds to terminate any part of the Constellation program or to begin a new program. The language is on page 90 of the bill beginning on line 9 and reads as follows:

“That notwithstanding section 505 of this Act, none of the funds provided herein and from prior years that remain available for obligation during fiscal year 2010 shall be available for the termination or elimination of any program, project or activity of the architecture for the Constellation program nor shall such funds be available to create or initiate a new program, project or activity, unless such program termination, elimination, creation, or initiation is provided in subsequent appropriations Acts.”

The bill, accompanying report language, and other documents are on the website of the House Approriations Committee.

The Senate voted today to limit debate on the Consolidated Appropriations bill that includes the Commerce-Justice-Science measure, which funds NASA, NOAA and NSF. That means the Senate is likely to complete debate on the bill and be ready to vote on passage tomorrow (Sunday).

The Senate is in session this weekend attempting to finish work on pending legislation during a lull on health care reform debate while they await Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates (“scores”) on how much the latest version of the health care reform bill will cost. Once the CBO scores are completed the Senate is expected to return to the health care debate.

Britain will create a new space agency, according to the BBC. Britian is a member of the European Space Agency, but the British government has had an on and off interest in space activities — other than remote sensing — for many years. The British National Space Centre has been the main governmental body coordinating civil space activities, but the BBC has a pretty harsh assessment of it:

” … the UK’s approach has been to devolve space policy decisions to a club of “users” facilitated by a civil service unit called the British National Space Centre (BNSC).

“These users are the government departments and research councils that have interests in space science or space-borne services.

“The arrangement was supposed to ensure that limited space funding chased “need” and “value”. But critics complained the approach only promoted self-interest and made it hard for the UK to adopt coherent positions on big international programmes – where much space activity is now directed.”

The new space agency is supposed to fix that “and drive more and better cooperation among the different space users” according to the BBC, which also notes that it is not yet clear how the agency will be funded.

The House passed the Consolidated Appropriations bill (H.R. 3288) yesterday that includes the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill that funds NASA, NSF and NOAA. Details about the bill are posted on the House Appropriations Committee’s website. The DOD appropriations bill is not included in the package.

NASA would receive $18.7 billion, the same amount as requested, though there are adjustments within that overall figure. Language in the bill states that NASA cannot spend any of the funds to terminate the current Constellation program or begin a different program. Report language explains that Congress continues to await a decision by President Obama on the future of the human space flight program and that “accordingly it is premature for the conferees to advocate or initiate significant changes to the current program absent a bona fide proposal from the Administration and subsequent assessment, consideration and enactment by Congress.”

The vote was 221-202, with all Republicans and 28 Democrats opposing the bill, according to Congress Daily (subscription required), which added that Senate Republicans are expected to oppose the bill and use procedural measures to slow debate. The Senate is expected to remain in session this weekend (as it did last weekend) to try and pass the bill.

The Department of Defense appropriations bill (H.R. 3326) is the only pending FY2010 appropriations bill not included in the package. House and Senate leaders reportedly hope to pass that bill by the end of next week when the current Continuing Resolution expires. Congress Daily reports that the DOD bill is likely to be used as a vehicle to extend unemployment insurance, COBRA health and food stamp benefits, and deal with several other matters.

Congressional appropriators have reached agreement on an omnibus appropriations package that includes the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bill, which funds NASA, NOAA, and NSF. Details are available on the House Appropriations Committee’s website. More details are in the bill and report language in the statement of managers.

Invoking the heartwarming — and heartbreaking — story of Nkosi Johnson, a South African boy who was infected with AIDS at birth and died at 12 after traveling the world with an inspiring message, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden today called upon the aerospace community to embrace necessary changes that seem to be on the horizon.

Saying that “we have tough times ahead” and “some of you aren’t going to like me” as NASA adjusts to doing different things in different ways, he asked for support. He recalled Nkosi telling NPR’s Jim Wooten as the end of his life neared to “Do all you can with what you have in the time you have in the place you are.” Nkosi’s story is the subject of a 2007 book by Wooten, We Are All the Same.

Bolden stressed that one of the changes will be increased international cooperation, a goal embraced by President Obama: “He wants it and so do I.” Later, when asked about the impact of ITAR export control regulations on such cooperation, he responded that Secretary of Defense Gates is leading the drive on ITAR reform and NASA’s “persistence” on the issue helped raise awareness of its negative impact. Bolden said he is “encouraged” about ITAR reform.

Speaking to a luncheon meeting of Woman in Aerospace and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the main thrust of Gen. Bolden’s speech was the crucial importance of getting children interested in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. He said that one promise he made to President Obama was that NASA would again inspire future generations as it did during the Apollo era. “We need to change our mindset” from thinking about NASA as a collection of missions to focusing on its role in innovation that drives the national economy.

He drew a laugh as he opened his talk by saying that he was not going to address anything about the Augustine committee report, so those who had come to hear about it would be disappointed.

The National Research Council (NRC)’s new report on “mission-enabling” activities — or Research and Analysis ( R&A) — offers principles and metrics for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) to use in determining how to allocate R&A funding and recommendations on how to manage the R&A portfolio. The Space Studies Board’s committee that wrote the report, An Enabling Foundation for NASA’s Earth and Space Science Missions, was chaired by Dr. Lennard Fisk of the University of Michigan. Dr. Fisk is a former chair of the Space Studies Board and former NASA Associate Administrator for Space Science and Applications.

Spaceflight projects consume approximately 75% of SMD’s budget while mission-enabling activities take up the rest, according to the report, which identifies those activities as “basic research, theory, modeling, and data analysis; suborbital payloads and flights and complementary ground-based programs; advanced technology development; and advanced mission and instrumentation concept studies.”

The space and earth sciences communities loudly protested a 15% across-the-board cut in R&A spending in NASA’s FY2007 budget request. Congress restored much of that funding and when Alan Stern joined NASA as the Associate Administrator for SMD, he took a number of actions to resolve the communities’ concerns. Questions remained , though, about the importance of R&A to NASA’s goals and mission, how to determine how much R&A funding is needed, and whether that varies depending on the discipline. (SMD divides its disciplines into four divisions — astrophysics, heliophysics, earth science, and planetary exploration.) Congress subsequently directed NASA to ask the NRC to look into these issues.

The NRC report reiterates the importance of R&A activities, but stresses that they need to be linked to NASA’s and SMD’s strategic goals. The committee also concluded that the R&A needs of each discipline vary. Asserting that “performance metrics are essential tools for making effective portfolio management decisions,” the report provides a template for what it believes should be provided for such metrics to enhance transparency, which in turn will help justify the expenditures. The report also recommends that SMD “develop and implement an approach to actively managing” the R&A portfolio, and increase the number of “scientifically and technically capable program officers so that they can devote an appropriate level of attention” to that task.