Category: Civil

Are You in Cassini's Photo of Earth?

Are You in Cassini's Photo of Earth?

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 22, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: July 22, 2013 7:28 pm ET

Did you look up and smile at Saturn last week while NASA’s Cassini spacecraft was doing its photo shoot?

Today NASA released the images from Cassini.  In one, Earth is seen as a tiny dot under Saturn’s beautiful rings.  They added an arrow to point it out. 

Image credit:  NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

In another, Cassini captured the Earth and our Moon. 

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

JPL has published more images of Earth from Cassini, and another set from a different NASA spacecraft, MESSENGER, that is orbiting Mercury.

True, it’s only possible to see people in these images if you use your imagination, but then again, why not?

 

Last Updated: Jul 22, 2013 7:28 pm ET
House and Senate Far Apart on NASA Funding Recommendations

House and Senate Far Apart on NASA Funding Recommendations

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 22, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: July 22, 2013 7:05 pm ET

A new SpacePolicyOnline.com fact sheet shows clearly the considerable differences between the House and Senate funding figures for NASA in FY2014.

NASA’s two authorizing committees — the House Science, Space and Technology Committee and the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee — are working on a new authorization bill for NASA.  NASA’s current authorization bill (P.L. 111-267), enacted in 2010, contains funding recommendations only through FY2013, which ends on September 30.  The other provisions of the 2010 law remain in effect until and unless they are replaced by a new law, but the funding recommendations expire.   The House SS&T Committee approved its 2013 NASA Authorization bill, H.R. 2687, last week.  (A Democratic alternative, H.R. 2616, was offered as an amendment, but defeated.)   Senators Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) have introduced a Senate version of the bill (S. 1317).

The House and Senate Appropriations Committees have approved their Commerce-Justice-Science bills, which include NASA.  The Senate bill and report number are S. 1329 (S. Rept. 113-78).  The House has not assigned a bill or report number yet, but the texts are available on the committee’s website.

The table in this free SpacePolicyOnline.com fact sheet compares the recommended funding levels for NASA for FY2014 in the authorization bills and appropriations bills in each chamber.   The disparity is quite obvious.  The House authorization and appropriations bills would fund NASA at a level of $16.6-$16.9 billion, significantly less than the $17.7 billion requested.  The Senate authorization and appropriation bills would fund NASA at $18.0 – $18.1 billion, slightly more than the request.

The disparity reflects strong philosophical differences between the Republican-controlled House and the Democratic-controlled Senate on how to deal with the deficit.  The House and Senate each passed a Budget Resolution, which sets the top level of spending allowed for government programs, but took completely different approaches.  Officially, the two are now supposed to find a compromise so that all of Congress is working to the same number, but that is not expected to happen.

Under the House Budget Resolution, total FY2014 government spending is held to $967 billion and defense spending is protected while larger reductions are made in other discretionary programs, like NASA.   The Senate Budget Resolution allows total FY2014 government spending of $1.058 trillion, giving Senate appropriators $91 billion more to spend. 

Thus, although progress is being made on NASA’s authorization and appropriations bills, they have a long way to go before compromise will be reached, if it can be.  As Senator Nelson said last month, he does not expect Congress to reach decisions on any budget-related legislation until it is forced to raise the debt limit, which probably will not happen until the end of the calendar year.

This fact sheet will be updated when needed.

 

Last Updated: Jul 22, 2013 7:05 pm ET
Space Policy Events for the Week of July 22-27, 2013

Space Policy Events for the Week of July 22-27, 2013

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 21, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: July 21, 2013 6:20 pm ET

The following space policy events may be of interest in the week ahead.  The House and Senate are in session this week.

During the Week

The FY2014 Defense Appropriations bill (H.R. 2397) may come to the House floor this week, although that also was the  expectation last week and it did not.  It is scheduled for consideration by the House Rules Committee (the last step before going to the floor) on Monday at 5:00 pm ET; 165 amendments have been filed, only one of which appears to directly affect space activities — it would add $10 million for Operationally Responsive Space.   Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY), who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, lamented last week that there are six appropriations bills that have cleared his committee and are awaiting floor action.  He worries that time is running out before the beginning of FY2014 on October 1.  The House is scheduled to meet for only 17 more days between now and then (July 22-25, July 30-August 2, September 9-12, September 17-20, and September 30).  Among the other bills waiting for action are Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS), which includes NASA and NOAA, and Transportation-HUD (T-HUD), which includes the FAA and its Office of Commercial Space Transportation.  (The T-HUD bill, H.R. 2610,  is also on the Rules Committee’s schedule for July 22, but it is not included in the Majority Leader’s list of legislation headed to the floor this week.)

Of course, that’s just the House.  Bills must also pass the Senate — and it may consider its T-HUD bill this week — and the two chambers are working with widely different spending totals, so reaching compromise will be extremely difficult.  There is no expectation that Congress will complete the appropriations process by October 1, which will mean a Continuing Resolution (CR), which is likely to continue spending at the FY2013 levels that were subject the sequester and other across-the-board spending cuts.  Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned his civilian workforce last week that the one-day-a-week furloughs that recently began are likely to continue next year and layoffs are another possibility.

Monday, July 22

Tuesday, July 23

Tuesday-Wednesday, July 23-24

Wednesday, July 24

Wednesday-Friday, July 24-26

Thursday-Saturday, July 25-27

Note:  This article was updated at 6:15 pm ET July 21, adding the nomination hearing on Wednesday and the possibility of Senate action on the T-HUD bill.

Last Updated: Jul 21, 2013 6:20 pm ET
U.N. Group Reaches Consensus on TCBMs for Space Activities

U.N. Group Reaches Consensus on TCBMs for Space Activities

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 20, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: July 20, 2013 1:47 pm ET

A special United Nations group of experts has reached consensus on Transparency and Confidence Building Measures (TCBMs) for space activities. 

In a statement, the U.S. State Department commended the U.N. Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) for reaching “landmark consensus” during meetings last week in New York.  The State Department explained that the GGE recommended that countries and international organizations “consider and implement a range of measures to enhance the transparency of outer space activities, further international cooperation, consultations, and outreach, and promote international coordination to enhance safety and predictability in the uses of outer space.”  The TCBMs would be implemented on a voluntary basis.

Fifty years ago, in December 1963, the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) adopted principles that ultimately were codified in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which 102 countries had signed and ratified as of January 2013 (another 26 countries have signed it).  Among the principles are that exploration and use of outer space shall be for the benefit of, and in the interests of, all countries.  The State Department said that the GGE consensus “sends a strong signal” that countries “must remain committed to enhance the welfare of humankind by cooperating with others to maintain the long-term sustainability, safety, security, and stability of the space environment.” 

The Obama Administration made TCBMs a centerpiece of its strategy for working with other countries to ensure “space sustainability” — an effort to ensure that space can be utilized in the long-term by improving cooperation and reducing the risks of misunderstanding and miscommunication.   The Secure World Foundation has several fact sheets explaining space sustainability and TCBMs.

Avoiding the creation of space debris is probably the best known example of space sustainability.  Though the term reflects much broader aspirations, the literal explosion of threats to space operations from space debris catalyzed the debate over space sustainability after China’s test of an anti-satellite (ASAT) device against one of its own satellites in 2007 created more than 3,000 pieces of debris and the accidental collision of an operational U.S. Iridium commercial communications satellite and a defunct Russian government satellite in 2009 created even more.

The United States led the effort to establish the 15-member GGE, which was officially created by UNGA Resolution A/RES/65/68 in January 2011.  Russia chaired the group; the other 14 members were  Brazil, Chile, China, France, Italy, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, South Korea, Romania, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and United States.  It completed its work on July 12, 2013 according to the U.N. and will submit its study to the UNGA at its 68th session this fall. 

Last Updated: Jul 20, 2013 1:47 pm ET
Look Up and Smile! Cassini Photographs Earth Today

Look Up and Smile! Cassini Photographs Earth Today

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 19, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: July 19, 2013 7:34 am ET

At 5:27 pm Eastern Daylight Time (21:27 GMT), NASA’s Cassini spacecraft will begin taking a photograph of Earth from its vantage point at Saturn. The photo shoot will last about 15 minutes.

True, the entire planet will appear as just a “pale blue dot” in the resulting image, but NASA is hoping that the people of Earth will play along by giving Cassini a wave and a smile to “help acknowledge the historic interplanetary portrait as it is being taken.”  There’s even a cute YouTube video featuring the voice of Morgan Freeman to encourage everyone to participate.

This is not the first portrait of Earth from the distant reaches of the solar system.   The iconic “Pale Blue Dot” image was taken by a different spacecraft, Voyager 1, in 1990 when it was 4 billion miles (6 billion kilometers) away.  Cassinl took Earth portraits in in 2006 and 2012, but this is the first to capture the Saturn system with Earth in natural color and the first taken with Cassini’s highest resolution camera. 

Cassini will be 898 million miles (1.44 billion kilometers) away, so Earth will be only about one pixel in size in the image. Though your friends won’t be able to pick you out, would a wave and a smile looking skywards on a Friday afternoon be such a bad idea anyway?  But, of course, don’t do it while driving, operating heavy machinery or performing any other task that requires your full attention.

Last Updated: Jul 19, 2013 7:34 am ET
Roscosmos Official Confirms Proton Sensors Upside Down, Flights May Resume in September

Roscosmos Official Confirms Proton Sensors Upside Down, Flights May Resume in September

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 18, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: July 18, 2013 10:35 am ET

Despite skepticism from a Russian Deputy Prime Minister, an official with Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, confirms that the recent Proton-M launch failure was caused by sensors that were installed upside down.

Alexander Lopatin, a deputy director of Roscosmos, is quoted today by Russia’s official news agency, Itar-Tass, as confirming earlier reports that angular rate sensors were installed “head over heels.”  Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin disputed the earlier reports saying that installation of the sensors was virtually foolproof.

Nonetheless, that is what happened according to Lopatin.  “The cause was an industrial process violation, the human factor,” he said.  The six angular rate sensors themselves were fine and passed all tests, but three of them were installed “head over heels” by workers at Khrunichev, the rocket’s manufacturer. 

The Proton-M rocket crashed spectacularly 17 seconds after launch on July 1 Eastern Daylight Time (July 2 local time at the launch site in Kazakhstan).  Three Russian GLONASS navigation satellites were destroyed.

Lopatin added that Proton rocket launches could resume in September.

Last Updated: Jul 18, 2013 10:35 am ET
Text of Nelson/Rockefeller 2013 NASA Authorization Bill Now Available

Text of Nelson/Rockefeller 2013 NASA Authorization Bill Now Available

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 18, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: July 18, 2013 2:01 pm ET

Senators Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) introduced their version of the 2013 NASA authorization bill yesterday and the text is now available.

The bill, S. 1317, authorizes funding for three years as follows:

  • FY 2014, $18.100 billion
  • FY 2015, $18.462 billion
  • FY 2016, $18.831 billion

Check back here later for a more complete analysis of the funding and policy provisions included in the bill.

Last Updated: Jul 18, 2013 2:01 pm ET
House and Senate Committee Actions Today Highlight Divide on NASA Funding

House and Senate Committee Actions Today Highlight Divide on NASA Funding

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 18, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: July 18, 2013 11:15 pm ET

The Senate Appropriations Committee and the House Science, Space and Technology (SS&T) Committee each marked up their NASA bills today.  The markups themselves, not to mention the funding figures therein, demonstrate the magnitude of the divide between the two chambers on NASA’s FY2014 funding prospects.

Appropriations committees determine how much funding agencies like NASA will get.   Authorization committees, like the House SS&T Committee, set policy and recommend funding levels; they do not have any money to spend, however.

The latter point was stressed by Democrats on the House SS&T Committee who unsuccessfully sought to restore funds to NASA that were cut in the Republican version of the 2013 NASA authorization bill.  That bill (H.R. 2687) recommends that NASA receive $16.9 billion for FY2014, a significant cut from the President’s request of $17.7 billion.  Among the 35 amendments offered by Democrats today was a complete substitute for the Republican bill, crafted by Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD), that recommended $18.1 billion.  Edwards is the top Democrat on the Space Subcommittee and she has introduced her plan as a separate bill, H.R. 2616.  She offered it as an amendment during subcommittee markup last week and again today.  It was defeated both times.  Her argument is that authorization committees need to set vision and goals and recommend the funding levels needed to achieve them, not focus on whether those funding recommendations fit within a specific budget envelope.  That is the job of appropriators, she insists.

Republicans remained adamant during markup today that their funding figures conform with the 2011 Budget Control Act and adopting the Democratic recommendations would be irresponsible.   The Republican version of the bill was approved by the committee on a party-line vote.  The top Democrat on the full committee, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), made an impassioned opening statement calling it a “terribly flawed piece of legislation.”  After it was reported from committee, committee Democrats issued a press release saying that Republicans had “set NASA up to fail.”  A major Democratic complaint is that the Republican bill does not provide the funding NASA needs to achieve the tasks required therein.   For their part, committee Republicans lauded their bill as making tough choices.  “That is our priority — to take the initiative, make decisions and govern,” committee chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) said.

Meanwhile, across Capitol Hill, the Senate Appropriations Committee made short work of marking up the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) bill, which includes NASA.  The bill was marked up at subcommittee level on Tuesday in just a few minutes and the same was true this morning at the full committee level.  What little discussion there was focused on Department of Justice programs, not NASA or the other science and technology agencies in the bill.   The top Republican on that committee, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), reiterated that he will vote against the bill when it reaches the Senate floor because the $18.1 billion it approves is too high in his opinion, but he agrees with the priorities it sets and offered no amendments.

The current status of NASA’s FY2014 funding bills is as follows:

  • House:   The House Appropriations Committee yesterday approved $16.6 billion for NASA, even less than the $16.9 billion recommended by the House SS&T committee today in H.R. 2687.
  • Senate:  The Senate Appropriations Committee today approved $18.1 billion for NASA, the same as what is recommended in the Senate version of the authorization bill (S. 1317) introduced by Senators Bill Nelson and Jay Rockefeller yesterday. (It is also the same as the Edwards bill in the House, H.R. 2616.)

It is difficult to see how the House-Senate differences, which are Republican-Democratic differences, will be resolved.  The Republican-controlled House is working on total government funding figures approved in the House Budget Resolution that require cuts to agencies like NASA even more severe than what is required by the sequester.   The Democratic-controlled Senate made fundamentally different assumptions in its Budget Resolution, which is why Senate appropriators have much more money to work with.  As Politico commented at the time, the two Budget Resolutions “aren’t even apples and oranges.  They’re more like apples and bicycles.”

 

Last Updated: Jul 18, 2013 11:15 pm ET
House Provision to Make NASA Administrator Term Appointment Deleted

House Provision to Make NASA Administrator Term Appointment Deleted

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 18, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: July 19, 2013 12:00 am ET

A Republican provision in the 2013 NASA authorization bill to make the position of NASA Administrator a 6-year term appointment was removed by a close vote during committee markup today.

Democrats offered 35 amendments during markup of the 2013 NASA authorization bill (H.R. 2687) and few were adopted, but one that made it through deleted the term appointment provision.   Offered by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), the top Democrat on the committee, amendment 007 strikes Sec. 711, lines 3 through 19 on page 81 of the bill.  It was approved by a vote of 20-19.   It is the only amendment approved by recorded vote.  Several others were adopted by voice vote, but most of the amendments were defeated on party lines.  Three Republicans (Rohrabacher, Sensenbrenner and Stockman) joined all 17 of the Democrats present in voting to adopt the amendment.

Sec. 711 not only would have made the NASA Administrator a term appointment, but limited to 45 days the period of time that the Deputy Administrator could serve as Acting Administrator.  After that time, the Associate Administrator would become Acting Administrator.   Like the Administrator (currently Charlie Bolden), the Deputy Administrator (currently Lori Garver) is a political appointee.   The Associate Administrator (currently Robert Lightfoot) is the top civil servant in the agency.

The ideas of appointing the NASA Administrator for a fixed term and limiting how long the Deputy Administrator may serve in an acting capacity are part of the Space Leadership Preservation Act introduced by Reps. John Culberson (R-TX), Frank Wolf (R-VA) and others last year and again this year (H.R. 823).   They argue that a term appointment for the NASA Administrator would help depoliticize the agency.

Last Updated: Jul 19, 2013 12:00 am ET
House Appropriators Clear CJS Bill, Hope for Floor Action

House Appropriators Clear CJS Bill, Hope for Floor Action

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 17, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: July 17, 2013 1:58 pm ET

The House Appropriations Committee approved the FY2014 Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) bill, which includes NASA and NOAA, but what will happen to it next is unclear.

The committee is currently considering, and is expected to approve, the Financial Services bill.  As Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) pointed out, by the end of today six appropriations bills will be waiting in line for floor action.  He said he hopes House leadership will find time to bring them up for consideration as the days count down to the beginning of FY2014 on October 1.   Congress will be in recess for much of August.   The House is scheduled to be in session for only 19 more days prior to that deadline.

The defense appropriations bill may reach the floor this week, but the status of the others, including CJS, is up in the air. 

It has been many years since Congress completed action on the 12 regular appropriations bills on time; this year is not likely to be an exception.   Differences between the House and Senate are pronounced, with the House and Senate Budget Resolutions making very different assumptions about spending levels, so even if the House passed all its bills, reaching agreement between the two chambers will be a Herculean feat.  Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) predicted last month that no major budget-related decisions will be made until Congress is forced to act to raise the debt limit, which will not be under the end of the calendar year.

NASA is a good example of the differences.  The House committee approved $16.6 billion for the agency, $1.1 billion less than the $17.7 billion request.   The Senate Appropriations CJS subcommittee approved $18 billion, about $300 million more than the request when it marked up its version of the bill yesterday.  The full Senate committee is scheduled to mark up the bill tomorrow morning.

 

 

Last Updated: Jul 17, 2013 1:58 pm ET

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