Over three consecutive days this week, European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) Director Kai-Uwe Schrogl introduced his Institute to the Washington space policy community, capping his appearances with testimony to the House Science and Technology committee on Thursday.

ESPI was created five years ago by the Member States of the European Space Agency (ESA) to provide independent analysis for policymakers about a broad range of space policy issues. Located in Vienna, Austria, the Institute receives direct funding from the host government and ESA for operations and the conduct of studies. European space agencies detail staff to the Institute.

At a meeting co-sponsored by George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute (SPI) on Tuesday, Dr. Schrogl and colleagues Wolfgang Rathgeber and Nina-Louisa Remu briefed four ESPI publications, and on Wednesday, Dr. Schrogl briefed a fifth to a seminar hosted by the Space Foundation on Space Applications for International Development. Four of the five studies are available on ESPI’s website; the fifth (Responsive Space in Europe) will be published in January.

• Europe’s Way To Space Situational Awareness
• ESPI Perspective on EU Draft Code of Conduct
• Space and Internal Security: Developing a Concept for the Use of Space Assets to Assure a Safe Europe
• Responsive Space in Europe (to be published in January)
• Threats, Risks and Sustainability – Answers by Space

The Space Situational Awareness (SSA) briefing on Tuesday at the ESPI/SPI event sparked the most discussion. Richard DalBello, Vice President and General Counsel of Intelsat General, argued that ESPI’s focus on governmental approaches to SSA was “insensitive” to what is being done already by commercial satellite operators like Intelsat, which operates a fleet of 50 satellites. DalBello said that the commercial sector could not wait for “glacial” governmental discussions and negotiations and that putting governments in the role of regulator on SSA is “wrong.” The commercial sector is stepping up to this issue, he said, and can help lead the way.

The ESPI/SPI event was kicked off by a stimulating talk by Richard Buenneke, Deputy Director of the State Department’s Office of Missile and Space Policy. Noting that this year not only marks the 40^thanniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, but also of Sesame Street, Mr. Buenneke joked that his talk was sponsored by the letter “C.” For space policy, he said C stands for the adjectives “congested,” “complex,” and “contested” and the nouns “concept” and “capabilities.” Citing a recent statement by the United States to the United Nations General Assembly reaffirming U.S. support “for a number of long-standing principles, including those in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty,” Mr. Buenneke provided a summary of the key features of U.S. space policy and how the five C’s factor into them.

On Wednesday, Dr. Schrogl discussed ESPI’s book on sustainability as part of a panel on capacity building. He was joined on the panel at the Space Foundation event by Ken Hodgkins, Director of Space and Advanced Technology at the U.S. State Department, and Dr. Carlos Ganem, President of the Brazilian Space Agency. Dr. Ganem’s remarks focused on Brazil’s interest in launching a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) remote sensing satellite to improve studies of the Amazon rain forest. Noting that Brazil’s existing CBERS remote sensing satellites, built and launched in cooperation with China, cannot see through clouds or heavy tree canopies, he appealed for relief from the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) that apparently are a barrier to Brazil acquiring the necessary technology.

On Capitol Hill on Thursday, Dr. Schrogl was part of a five-person panel testifying before the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee of the House Science and Technology Committee on global space capabilities. The panelists discussed the advantages of international cooperation in space and challenges of international competition. He identified three fields of transatlantic space cooperation: “promising” — space for security, especially SSA and Europe’s draft code of conduct for outer space activities; “necessary” — space as a strategic economic issue area and tool to deal with climate change; and “potential” — space exploration. Regarding the latter, he emphasized that “full and successful use” of the International Space Station must be the priority in establishing a basis for future human space flight cooperation. A webcast of the hearing is posted here.

The Japanese government is looking to cut spending for its Fiscal Year 2010 (which begins April 1, 2010) and the space program appears to be one target. Asahi Shimbum reports that the Government Revitalization Unit, which is looking across the Japanese government to cut wasteful spending, has asked the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to withdraw its request for 5.8 billion yen for development of Japan’s new GX medium class launch vehicle. The GX would be powered by a liquified natural gas engine. Japan has spent 70 billion yen already on the engine and another 140 billion yen is needed, according to the report.

An English-language report citiing another Japanese news source, Yomiuri, has more discouraging news: “JAXA’s financial woes do not end with the recommended cancellation of the GX engine; the advisory committee also called for a ten percent budget reduction to about 350 billion yen (~390 million USD) for resources related [to] its HTV program, according to the Yomiuri.” HTV is Japan’s automated transport spacecraft for taking cargo to the International Space Station. Its first flight was a complete success earlier this fall.

Update

The White House has released this press statement.

Original Story

Amercan and Chinese media sources are reporting that increased space cooperation was one area of agreement between President Obama and Chinese President Hu. China’s Xinhua press agency reported: “Hu said the two leaders also agreed to deepen cooperation on the basis of mutual benefits in areas such as anti-terrorism, law enforcement, science and technology, space exploration, civil aviation, high-speed railway, infrastructure, agriculture and health care.”

The Associated Press reported: “Charting a new frontier for cooperation, the two agreed to reciprocal visits by the heads of their space programs.”