The Powerpoint presentations from the May 2009 meetings of the National Research Council’s Space Studies Board (SSB) and Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board (ASEB) are now available on SpacePolicyOnline.com. Look under “National Research Council” on our left menu, or simply click here.

The following presentations are included. Most of them focus on the FY2010 budget request for the various agencies represented.

George Nield, FAA Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation
Christopher Scolese, Acting NASA Administrator
Gale Allen, NASA Exploration Systems Mission Directorate
Lynn Cline, NASA Space Operations Mission Directoate
Chuck Gay, NASA Science Mission Directorate
Mary Kicza, NOAA/NESDIS
Rich Behnke, NSF
John Rush, NASA Space Communications and Navigation Office

NASA has released the agendas for the three public meetings of the Augustine panel on the future of the U.S. human spaceflight program that will be held next week in League City, TX, Huntsville, AL, and Cocoa Beach, FL.

The launch date for the next shuttle mission will probably slip to the last week of August in order to allow NASA to conduct additional tests of the foam on Discovery’s external tank. Bill Harwood of CBS News’ Space Place reports that shuttle engineers want 125 more “plug-pull” tests to add to the 26 they have done already in order to ensure a statistically significant result. Greater than expected foam loss was experienced on the most recent shuttle mission, but NASA has determined that the resulting damage to the space shuttle orbiter was minor and does not pose reentry problems.

The following events may be of interest. Meetings that are closed to the public are not listed. Some events require an RSVP. Check our calendar or the sponsor’s website for further information. This list was updated on July 24 and July 26 to insert links to the newly released agendas for the Augustine panel meetings, to reflect the fact that the Senate has passed the DOD authorization bill so it will not be on the floor next week, and to add the House Rules Committee meeting on July 28 to formulate a rule for the DOD appropriations bill.

It is expected that the House will debate the FY2010 Department of Defense (DOD) appropriations bill late in the week.

Monday, July 27

1:00-4:00 EDT AIAA Seminar “Space: Stimulating Economic Growth Today and Tomorrow” 253 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC

Tuesday, July 28

10:00-4:00 CDT Augustine Panel Public Meeting, South Shore Harbour Resort and Conference Center, 2500 South Shore Blvd., League City, TX

8:30-noon EDT Marshall Institute and Space Enterprise Council/TechAmerica seminar “A Day Without Space: Economic Ramifications” TechAmerica, 601 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., North Building, Suite 600, Washington, DC

3:00 EDT House Rules Committee meets to formulate a rule for the FY2010 DOD appropriations bill Room H 313-Capitol

Wednesday, July 29

8:00-4:00 CDT Augustine Panel Public Meeting at U.S. Space and Rocket Center, 1 Tranquility Base, Huntsville, AL

12:15-3:15 MT Open Sessions of NRC Committee on Near Earth Object Surveys and Hazard Mitigation: Mitigation Panel Boulder, CO

Thursday, July 30

8:00-4:00 EDT Augustine Panel Public Meeting, Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront Grand Ballroom, 1550 North Atlantic Ave, Cocoa Beach, FL

11:00-4:00 EDT Open Sessions of NRC Committee on Impediments to Interagency Cooperation in Space and Earth Science Missions Keck Center, 500 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, DC

12:15-3:15 MT Open Sessions of NRC Committee on Near Earth Object Surveys and Hazard Mitigation: Mitigation Panel Boulder, CO

Friday, July 31

9:30-3:15 EDT Open Sessions of NRC Committee on Impediments to Interagency Cooperation in Space and Earth Science Missions Keck Center, 500 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, DC

The Wall Street Journal online reports that Boeing has withdrawn its protest of the GOES-R weather satellite contract to Lockheed Martin. The newspaper quotes Boeing as saying that it withdrew the protest “after gaining additional insight into the re-evaluation” of how Lockheed Martin won.

Steve Squyres, chair of the NRC’s Planetary Science Decadal Survey, has issued a second “letter to the community.” Among other things, it contains a list of upcoming steering committee and panel meetings. The website for this Decadal Survey is located here and provides up to date information about the conduct of the survey, including how to submit white papers for the committee to consider.

The chair of the Astro2010 astronomy and astrophysics decadal, Roger Blandford, also issues periodic “bulletins” to that community. The most recent was in May.