Category: Civil

Former NASA Chief Scientist To Be New NSF Director

Former NASA Chief Scientist To Be New NSF Director

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 31, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: July 31, 2013 11:43 pm ET

President Obama nominated France Cordova to be the next Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) today.   Cordova was NASA’s Chief Scientist from 1993-1996.

Cordova, an astrophysicist, has an impressive resume both as a researcher and an administrator.  Since her tenure at NASA, she has been President of Purdue University (2007-2012), Chancellor of UC-Riverside and Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy (2002-2007), and Vice Chancellor for Research and Professor of Physics at UC-Santa Barbara (1996-2002).  Prior to NASA, she was Head of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Pennsylvania State University and worked previously at Los Alamos National Lab.  She is chair of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution and has been a member of the National Science Board, which governs NSF, since 2008.  Her B.A. in English is from Stanford and her Ph.D. in physics is from CalTech. 

As a side note, Cordova’s successor as President of Purdue is former Indiana governor Mitch Daniels, who is co-chair of the National Research Council’s Committee on Human Spaceflight.

Last Updated: Jul 31, 2013 11:43 pm ET
House Republican Leaders Give Up on T-HUD Appropriations For Now, Lacking Votes

House Republican Leaders Give Up on T-HUD Appropriations For Now, Lacking Votes

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 31, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: July 31, 2013 11:10 pm ET

Republican leaders in the House postponed final consideration of the Transportation-HUD (T-HUD) appropriations bill today when it became clear they did not have the votes to pass it.  The bill, which includes funding for the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST), is seen as a bellwether of how funding bills for non-defense domestic programs will fare this year.

Adhering to limits imposed by the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA), the House passed a budget resolution that allows $967 billion in spending in FY2014.  It protects defense spending while taking deeper cuts from non-defense discretionary programs like those in the T-HUD bill.  The lack of sufficient Republican support to pass the T-HUD bill is viewed as a signal that the cuts approved by the House Appropriations Committee in conformance with the budget resolution are too steep even for the party whose mantra is to reduce the deficit through spending cuts alone, not tax increases.  The bill funds programs in the Department of Transportation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) said he was “deeply disappointed with the decision to pull the bill” from the floor today.  He feels the action means that “the House has declined to proceed on implementation of the very budget it adopted just three months ago.” 

The Senate did not adhere to the BCA limit in its budget resolution and approved a higher spending limit for FY2014 — $1.058 trillion.  It has been struggling to pass its own version of the T-HUD bill because many Republicans on that side of Capitol Hill believe it spends too much, though they have been less unified than in the recent past.

The House has passed four of the 12 regular appropriations bills so far, all of which fund national security programs that were generally protected from the deepest cuts:  defense, homeland security, military construction/veterans affairs, and energy/water (the Department of Energy oversees the U.S. nuclear arsenal).  Republican leaders clearly thought they had enough of their own members on board to pass the T-HUD bill as well, but concluded today they did not.  They say they will resume consideration when the House returns from its August recess, but Rogers is not optimistic.  Calling the bill “the first major attempt by the House to consider and pass an Appropriations bill that funds domestic programs under the austere limit” required by the BCA, he concluded that “the prospects for passing this bill in September are bleak at best.” 

The House is scheduled to be in session for only nine days in September, leaving them little time to pass appropriations bills before FY2014 begins on October 1.  The Senate has not passed any of its appropriations bills yet.  The T-HUD bill was the first to reach the Senate floor last week.  Debate in the Senate is continuing this week.  The Senate also will be in recess in August, but is scheduled to be in session for most of September.

The House T-HUD bill provides $14.16 million for AST; the Senate bill includes $17.01 million.  The President’s request was $16.01 million.

Republicans and Democrats on both sides of the Hill complain bitterly about the sequester that was created yy the BCA and insist that it must be replaced by another method of deficit reduction.  There is no indication that they are any closer to agreeing on an alternative than they were two years ago, however.

The stalemate means that once again government agencies are likely to be funded through a Continuing Resolution (CR).  Usually CRs fund agencies at their current spending levels.  In this case, that would be the FY2013 funding levels, which already included steep cuts.  For non-defense discretionary agencies like NASA and NOAA, the outlook is grim if they are held to FY2013 funding levels for much or all of FY2014.

Last Updated: Jul 31, 2013 11:10 pm ET
Senate Commerce Committee Clears 2013 NASA Authorization Bill

Senate Commerce Committee Clears 2013 NASA Authorization Bill

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 30, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: July 30, 2013 5:20 pm ET

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee cleared its version of the 2013 NASA Authorization bill today on a party-line vote.  Several non-controversial Democratic amendments were adopted by voice vote.   One Republican amendment was defeated on a party-line recorded vote.

A substitute version of the bill (S. 1317) introduced by Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) was adopted, along with three amendments by Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) (Warner 1, Warner 2, Warner 3) and one by Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM).

A Republican amendment introduced by Senators Ted Cruz (TX), Marco Rubio (FL) and Roger Wicker (MS), however, sparked intense debate.   Committee Republicans complained that the $18.1 billion authorized in the bill ignores budget caps imposed by the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA), which created the sequester. Committee Democrats, led by Nelson, who chairs the Science and Space subcommittee, insisted that the BCA does not govern authorizations, only appropriations. The debate pitted Nelson against fellow Floridian Rubio.   Both said it was disappointing that it came down to a partisan vote considering that both support NASA, but each held firm to their fiscal positions.   The Cruz-Rubio-Wicker amendment would have required the level of funding in the bill to conform with the BCA and was defeated on a party-line vote.

The bill then passed the committee, also on a party-line vote, after a startling moment when committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) inadvertently voted against it.  He quickly realized his mistake and changed his vote.

The debate and voting in the Senate committee today mirrored action in the House Science, Space and Technology Committee when it approved its version of the bill (H.R. 2687) two weeks ago.  Nelson downplayed the differences between the House and Senate bills, saying that apart from the funding amounts, the only major disagreement is that the House bill prohibits funding for NASA’s proposed asteroid redirect mission (ARM) while the Senate bill is silent on it.  Nelson said he believes NASA’s scientists and engineers, not Congress, should decide what missions are needed to achieve the goals set forth in legislation.

 

 

Last Updated: Jul 30, 2013 5:20 pm ET
Wheeler Nomination For FCC Chairman Clears Committee – UPDATE

Wheeler Nomination For FCC Chairman Clears Committee – UPDATE

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 30, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: August 2, 2013 12:07 pm ET

UPDATE, August 2, 2013:  The White House nominated Mike O’Rielly to fll the vacant Republican seat on the Commission late yesterday.  If confirmed, he will serve out the unexpired term of Robert McDowell, who resigned.  The term runs through June 30, 2014.

ORIGINAL STORY, July 30, 2013:  In addition to approving its version of the 2013 NASA Authorization bill today, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee approved the nomination of  Thomas Wheeler to be the next chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The FCC oversees use of the electromagnetic spectrum and orbital positions by the private sector (NTIA, in the Department of Commerce, does that for government users).  It is a critically important player in hard-fought spectrum wars that more and more often pit satellites against the seemingly insatiable demand for terrestrial mobile broadband services.  The FCC also sets other requirements for commercial satellite operators, such as responsibly disposing of their satellites at the end of their service life as part of space debris mitigation.

The chairman and two of the other four members of the FCC are from the same party as the President; the other two members are from the opposite party. Often nominations for the FCC and similar governmental bodies are paired so that a Democratic nominee and a Republican nominee move through the Senate confirmation process together. In this case, the White House has not yet nominated a Republican to the FCC.  Today, Republicans on the Commerce Committee made clear that they oppose Wheeler’s nomination being considered by the Senate until a Republican nominee is ready.  Thune said there was no objection to Wheeler himself, only to the lack of a Republican nominee. 

Thus, even though Wheeler made it through committee today, it is difficult to say when he will be in place at the FCC.   The last FCC chairman, Julius Genachowski, left in May.  FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn is serving as acting chairwoman.  Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai are the other two commissioners currently in place. 

Wheeler is a venture capitalist and former head of the National Cable Television Association (NCTA) and of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA), both lobbying groups.

Last Updated: Aug 02, 2013 12:07 pm ET
Senate Commerce to Markup 2013 NASA Authorization Bill on Tuesday

Senate Commerce to Markup 2013 NASA Authorization Bill on Tuesday

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 28, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: July 28, 2013 12:18 pm ET

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee will markup its version of the 2013 NASA Authorization bill on Tuesday, July 30.

Senators Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) introduced the bill, S. 1317, on July 17.  Rockefeller chairs the full committee; Nelson chairs the Science and Space Subcommittee.  Unlike the last NASA authorization bill in 2010 when Senate Democrats and Republicans (under the leadership of then-Senator Kay Bailey Hutchsion) worked closely together, this bill has no Republican co-sponsors.   Nelson painted a grim picture of the likelihood of a NASA authorization bill clearing Congress this year during a talk to the Space Transportation Association in June.  He said at the time that a partisan split on the bill was a possibility for “the first time in my memory.”

The NASA bill is one of a dozen pieces of legislation and eight nominations scheduled for action on Tuesday at 2:30 pm ET in 253 Russell Senate Office Building.   Among the nominations to be considered is that of Mark Schaefer to be assistant secretary of Commerce for oceans and atmosphere (and a deputy administrator of NOAA).

The Senate bill is quite different from its House counterpart, H.R. 2687, which was marked up by the House Science, Space and Technology Committee on July 18.   From the total funding authorized to the direction of NASA’s human space flight program to science priorities, the two pieces of legislation are so different that it is difficult to see how compromise eventually might be reached.  Among the difference are:

  • Total FY2014 NASA funding authorized:  Senate bill: $18.100 billion; House bill: $16.865 billion. (The President’s request is $17.715 billion.)
  • Future of human space flight:  Senate bill: requires development of an “exploration strategy” covering a broad range of destinations, but does not mention the Asteroid Retrieval Mission (ARM) specifically; House bill: prohibits spending on ARM, requires a “program” (not just a plan) to develop a “sustained human presence on the Moon and the surface of Mars.”
  • Science priorities compared to the President’s request:  Senate bill:  substantial increase for planetary exploration, slight decrease for Earth science, very similar for astrophysics, James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and heliophysics; House bill: even larger increase for planetary exploration, deep cut to Earth science, smaller cut to heliophysics, identical for JWST and astrophysics.

A SpacePolicyOnline.com fact sheet compares the funding figures recommended in the Senate and House authorization bills, as well as the Senate and House appropriations bills for NASA, compared with the President’s request.

Last Updated: Jul 28, 2013 12:18 pm ET
Space Policy Events for the Week of July 29 – August 2, 2013

Space Policy Events for the Week of July 29 – August 2, 2013

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 28, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: July 28, 2013 1:36 pm ET

The following space policy events may be of interest in the week ahead.   The House and Senate are in session this week (and then will be on recess for 5 weeks).

During the Week

As the House and Senate try to complete as much work as possible before their 5-week summer break begins on Friday (returning on September 9), action is expected in committee and on the floor on space policy-related legislation.  Not many legislative days are left before the new fiscal year begins on October 1, so appropriations bills are the focus right now.  The House is scheduled to meet for only 9 days in September (September 9-12, September 17-20,  and September 30).  (The Senate will be in session from September 9 through the end of the month.)

On Monday, the Senate will resume consideration of its FY2014 T-HUD appropriations bill (S. 1243) that funds, among other things, the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST).   The outcome of that debate is viewed as a bellwether on how other appropriations bills may fare in the Senate where long-standing partisan divides on deficit reduction are taking unusual turns.  Senate Republicans are less unified than they have been recently on insisting that appropriations bills adhere to the strict top-line limit set by the House Budget Resolution ($967 billion).  The Senate Budget Resolution allows $91 billion more — $1.058 trillion — in spending for FY2014.  A sufficient number of Senate Republicans voted to allow the T-HUD bill to come to the floor for debate nevertheless, and on Thursday prevented it from being sent back to committee.  The outcome of this debate may be instructive.   Meanwhile, the House will begin debate on its version of the T-HUD bill (H.R. 2610) on Tuesday.  The Senate version provides $1 million more than the President’s request for AST ($17.01 million versus $16.01 million), while the House version provides much less ($14.16 million).

On Tuesday, the Senate Commerce Committee is scheduled to markup its version of the 2013 NASA authorization bill (S. 1317), which is quite different from its House counterpart (H.R. 2687).  Also on Tuesday, the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee will markup its version of the FY2014 defense bill, followed by full committee markup on Thursday.  The House passed its version of the bill (H.R. 2397) last week.   (To keep up to date on the status of space policy-related legislation, see our fact sheet: 113th Congress Legislative Checklist.)

Meanwhile, off the Hill, the NASA Advisory Council (NAC) and many of its committees will be meeting throughout the week at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC.

Monday-Tuesday, July 29-30

Monday-Wednesday, July 29-31

Tuesday, July 30

Wednesday, July 31

Wednesday-Thursday, July 31-August 1

Thursday, August 1

 

 

Last Updated: Jul 28, 2013 1:36 pm ET
Spacesuit Repair Tools Enroute to ISS – UPDATE

Spacesuit Repair Tools Enroute to ISS – UPDATE

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 27, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: July 28, 2013 12:03 am ET

UPDATE:  The Progress spacecraft successfully docked with the ISS at 10:26 pm EDT as scheduled.

NASA is still trying to determine what when wrong with Luca Parmitano’s spacesuit, but tools to repair it are on their way to the International Space Station (ISS) this afternoon on a Russian cargo spacecraft.

Progress M-20M lifted off as scheduled today, July 27, at 4:45 pm Eastern Daylight Time (2:45 am July 28 local time at the launch site in Kazakhstan).  It is using the expedited four-orbit trajectory to reach ISS and will dock at 10:26 pm EDT tonight.

European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Parmitano, often referred to simply as Luca, was on a spacewalk with NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy on July 16 when his helmet mysteriously filled with water.   A NASA engineering team and a separate mishap investigation board continue to troubleshoot the problem with the help of the ISS astronauts.

The cargo spacecraft, designated Progress 52 by NASA because it is the 52nd Progress to visit ISS, is carrying 1,212 pounds of propellant, 42 pounds of oxygen, 62 pounds of air, 926 pounds of water, and 3,395 pounds of spare parts, including tools that could be used to repair the spacesuit.  NASA was not specific about what the spacesuit repair tools are.

NASA TV will cover the docking live tonight.

Last Updated: Jul 28, 2013 12:03 am ET
Congress May Be Unenthusiastic, But Asteroid Mission Appeals to Some

Congress May Be Unenthusiastic, But Asteroid Mission Appeals to Some

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 26, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: July 26, 2013 5:38 pm ET

NASA may be having a hard time selling its Asteroid Retrieval Mission (ARM) concept to Congress, but apparently there are lots of other people who think it’s a swell idea.

NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said today that the agency received over 400 responses to its Request for Information (RFI) for the ARM concept.  The Obama Administration proposed ARM in the FY2014 budget request, but the agency has not yet performed a mission concept study and is seeking ideas for how to accomplish it.  The idea is to send a robotic probe to a small 7-10 meter diameter asteroid, capture it, and redirect it into lunar orbit where it could be visited by astronauts in an Orion spacecraft launched by the Space Launch System.  An alternative currently under discussion is for the robotic probe to go to a larger (and therefore easier to find) asteroid and obtain a large sample from its surface and bring the sample back for study by astronauts in space.   NASA already is planning an asteroid sample-return mission, OSIRIS-REx, and that very small sample (about 2 ounces) will be returned to the surface of Earth.  In the case of ARM, the sample would be much larger and need to be studied in space.

In any case, the RFI responses are intended to help NASA determine exactly what to do and how.  The RFI was released on June 18 and responses were due July 18.   Garver said one-third of the responses were related to the “Grand Challenge” announced by the White House and NASA in June to identify “all asteroid threats to human population and know what to do about them.”  The other two-thirds were related to five mission components.

NASA is planning a public workshop in September where the highly rated responses will be discussed.

NASA is proceeding with its planning for ARM despite, at best, a lack of enthusiasm for it in Congress.  NASA is requesting $105 million for ARM, although it is not specifically identified in the budget request.  The $105 million includes an additional $20 million in the Science Mission Directorate to search for asteroids; $45 million in the Space Technology Mission Directorate for technologies, such as solar electric propulsion, expected to be needed for whatever mission design is chosen;  and $40 million in the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate for studies. 

NASA has two committees that authorize its activities (they permit NASA to start new projects, set policy, and recommend funding) and two appropriations committees that actually give it money.  Here is where each of them came down on ARM in their respective actions to date:

  • Authorization Committees
    • House Science, Space and Technology Committee:  prohibits spending any money on ARM in H.R. 2687, the 2013 NASA authorization bill, as ordered reported from committee
    • Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee:  neither supports nor prohibits ARM in S. 1317 as introduced
  • Appropriations Committees
    • House Appropriations Committee:  “does not include any of the requested increases” for ARM in the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) bill as reported from committee (H.R. 2787, H. Rept. 113-171)
    • Senate Appropriations Committee:  silent on ARM as reported from committee (S. 1329, S. Rept. 113-78)

A Democratic alternative to the House authorization bill introduced by Rep. Donna Edwards (H.R. 2616) neither endorses nor opposes ARM.  The bill was offered as an amendment during committee markup of H.R. 2687, but was defeated.

 

Last Updated: Jul 26, 2013 5:38 pm ET
Senate Struggles with FY2014 T-HUD Appropriations Bill

Senate Struggles with FY2014 T-HUD Appropriations Bill

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 25, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: July 25, 2013 9:42 pm ET

The Senate kept the appropriations bill that funds the Department of Transportation and its Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) alive today, but its ultimate fate remains up in the air.

The Transportation-Housing and Urban Development (T-HUD) bill is the first FY2014 appropriations bill to reach the Senate floor for debate and is heralding debates to come.  The Senate Budget Resolution provided substantially more funding ($91 billion) for the Appropriations Committee to spend in its 12 regular FY2014 appropriations bills than its House equivalent.  The fundamental difference is between Republicans and Democrats over how to deal with the deficit — by cutting spending only (the Republican approach) or by a combination of spending cuts and tax increases (the Democratic approach). 

The Senate version of the T-HUD bill allows $17.01 million for AST, which is part of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which in turn is part of DOT. That’s a million more than the Obama Administration’s request of $16.01 million.  By contrast, the House Appropriations Committee would reduce the AST budget to $14.16 million, a cut that Bigelow Aerospace’s Mike Gold characterized as “crippling.”

Senate Republicans are grappling with the consequences of sticking to the steep cuts being put forward by their House counterparts versus going along with the more generous allocations in the Democratic controlled Senate.   A sufficient number of Senate Republicans (19) voted to allow the T-HUD bill to come to the floor for consideration and today a vote that would have sent the bill back to committee failed 56-42.  The bill will need 60 votes to pass when debate resumes next week, however.   The Senate currently has 52 Democrats, 2 independents who usually vote with Democrats, and 46 Republicans.

Senate Appropriations Committee chair Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) told The Hill newspaper that she was not certain that she had the 60 votes needed to pass the bill, a sentiment echoed by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), the top Republican on the T-HUD subcommittee.  The fate of the T-HUD bill could be a harbinger for what lies ahead on other appropriations bills in the Senate, including the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) bill that includes NASA and NOAA.

Even if the T-HUD bill passes the Senate with its $54 billion intact, that amount is $10 billion more than the House version of the bill.  Reaching compromise between the two will be very difficult.

Last Updated: Jul 25, 2013 9:42 pm ET
NASA Creates Mishap Investigation Board for Luca's Spacesuit Malfunction

NASA Creates Mishap Investigation Board for Luca's Spacesuit Malfunction

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 23, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: July 23, 2013 11:49 am ET

NASA is still trying to determine what happened to European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Luca Parmitano’s spacesuit during a July 16 spacewalk.   Today it announced creation of a mishap investigation board to work in parallel with its ongoing engineering analysis.

Parmitano, usually referred to simply as Luca, was outside the International Space Station (ISS) performing a spacewalk with NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy.  The spacewalk was scheduled to last 6.5 hours, but was terminated after 1 hour 32 minutes because Luca’s helmet was filling with water.   What began as a small amount of water collecting behind his head grew to 1-1.5 liters of water inside the helmet covering his ears, affecting his eyes and hindering his ability to communicate.   He safely returned to the interior of the ISS and was helped out of his spacesuit by the other four ISS crewmembers who mopped up the water.

The announcement today indicates that NASA remains uncertain as to what caused the leak and wants a thorough review not only of this specific incident, but broader issues.  The mishap investigation board, chaired by ISS chief engineer Chris Hansen, will look at past operations and maintenance, quality assurance, flight control and organizational factors.  Meanwhile, the ongoing engineering analysis is focused on resolving equipment issues so that U.S. spacewalks can resume.   (Russia has its own spacesuits and a number of Russian spacewalks are planned for later this year.)

The other four members of the mishap investigation board are NASA astronaut Mike Foreman; Richard Fullerton from NASA Headquarters’ Office of Safety and Mission Assurance; Sudhakar Rajula, a human factors specialist at Johnson Space Center; and Joe Pellicciotti, chief engineer of NASA’s Engineering and Safety Center at Goddard Space Flight Center.  They will have access to experts and support personnel including a liaison from ESA.

Last Updated: Jul 23, 2013 11:49 am ET

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