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Deep Space Industries Joins Ranks of Asteroid Seeking Companies

By Marcia Smith | Posted: January 22, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: January 22, 2013 4:26 pm ET

Deep Space Industries (DSI) is joining the ranks of private companies trying to learn more about — and in some cases extract resources from — asteroids.

At a press conference today, Rick Tumlinson, David Gump and associates revealed a three-prong plan involving the launch of two classes of small spacecraft — FireFly and DragonFly — to respectively search for and return material from asteroids, plus a 3D printer called MicroGravity Foundry to turn asteroid material into metal parts.

Asteroids are of interest to diverse communities: entrepreneurs interested in profiting from their natural resources, which could be brought back to Earth or used to build or maintain space-based facilities; planetary defense experts worried about how to protect planet Earth from a potentially catastrophic collision; and scientists trying to understand the origin and evolution of the solar system. President Obama also decided that an as-yet-unidentified asteroid should be the next destination for U.S. human spaceflight as a step to sending humans to Mars.

Today’s announcement is the third privately-funded asteroid effort to kick off in less than a year. Although the goals can overlap to some extent, generally two are in the entrepreneurship category and one in planetary defense.

In April 2012, Planetary Resources Inc. announced similar plans to search for and mine asteroids. Planetary Resources is focused first on building a small space telescope for launch into low Earth orbit (LEO) to search for asteroids. It is to be followed by an Interceptor and a Rendezvous Prospector. When asked today about potential competition, Tumlinson said there is room for many companies and the fact that two exist already means that a new industry is starting.

The B612 Foundation’s goal, announced in June 2012, is not prospecting, but planetary defense. The foundation plans to launch a space telescope, Sentinel, into a special orbit around the Sun where it can catalog a greater number of Near Earth Objects (NEOs) – asteroids and comets — than can be observed using ground-based telescopes. Earth has been impacted by large asteroids in the past – the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago is attributed to the after-effects of such a collision – and near-misses of asteroids are frequently reported in the press. B612’s idea is that if potentially hazardous NEOs are located enough in advance, there may be time to deflect them. B612 is not trying to find investors with the long term goal of selling a product and making a profit. It wants to attract philanthropists to donate the money for Sentinel in the same way that philanthropists historically have funded ground-based telescopes such as the Keck Observatory and the Allen Telescope Array.

DSI provided few details today about how its efforts are being funded, but its near-term plan is to launch three cubesats, called FireFlies, in 2015 to travel to an asteroid and send back images and other data. Those are one-way missions that should take about 6 months. The next year, DSI would launch the first DragonFly on a 3-4 year mission to return a sample to Earth. They were not specific about how the probes would be launched other than saying they plan to “ride-share” on launches conducted for others. Tumlinson said a DSI customer could buy a trio of the 25 kilogram FireFlies – three to ensure mission success – for $20 million, but he and Gump declined to reveal how much they cost. Tumlinson said only that the price included a “good profit.”

Eventually, DSI plans to be in the business of harvesting resources from asteroids and running them through the MicroGravity Foundry 3D printer that would create tools and parts from the nickel. DSI also plans to extract water and other resources that could be made into propellant to refuel on-orbit communications satellites, for example. The company’s plans get more elaborate after that.

For the near-term, it is hoping to sell data and samples to the government and to obtain development contracts from the government. Tumlinson said this is a “huge opportunity for us to create a new partnership with government,” adding that they have met with top officials at NASA and the White House already. While speaking eagerly about individuals so wealthy that they could afford to buy a trio of FireFlies with just the interest that accrued on their accounts during the timespan of the press conference, Tumlinson allowed only that “we hope to hear from them.”

These non-governmental efforts are all on top of government-funded projects to catalog and study asteroids for scientific reasons. NASA has sent several missions to asteroids, the most recent of which, Dawn, just completed an encounter with the asteroid Vesta and is now enroute to the dwarf planet Ceres. A NASA asteroid sample-return mission, OSIRIS-Rex, is scheduled for launch in 2016. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was first to return a sample of an asteroid with its Hayabusa spacecraft in 2010. JAXA plans to launch Hayabusa2 in 2014 to return a sample from a different type of asteroid.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is working on a proposed Asteroid Impact Mission (AIM) that it briefed to NASA’s Small Bodies Assessment Group last week. ESA is investigating potential collaboration with the Applied Physics Lab at Johns Hopkins University to turn it into an Asteroid Impact Deflection Assessment (AIDA) mission.

President Obama’s decision to send astronauts to an asteroid in 2025 in preparation for human trips to orbit Mars in the 2030s remains controversial. The President decided there is no need to return astronauts to the Moon, but a test mission to an intermediate distance is still required before sending them on a 2-year journey to Mars. Only one asteroid has been identified so far as being in a useful location in 2025, however, and other doubts have arisen about the feasibility of such a mission absent at least one robotic precursor to characterize the target before humans arrive. That would add time and cost, and a recent National Research Council report also found that the asteroid-first concept is not winning support within or outside NASA.

Last Updated: Jan 22, 2013 4:26 pm ET

Events of Interest: Week of January 21-25, 2013 — UPDATE

By Marcia Smith | Posted: January 20, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: January 21, 2013 1:32 pm ET

UPDATE: Adds Deep Space Industries announcement on Tuesday (will be webcast).

The following events may be of interest in the week ahead. The House and Senate are in session for at least part of the week.

During the Week

The inauguration ceremonies for President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are the highlight of the week. Both have been officially sworn in already today, Sunday, January 20, as required, but the ceremonial event will take place tomorrow. Official events at the Capitol begin at 11:30 am ET, followed by the parade — with two NASA floats, one for Orion and one for Curiosity — which has an expected start time of 2:35 pm ET, but one never knows when it actually will start!

Almost anything else seems tame by comparison, but the first meeting of the new House Science and National Labs Caucus on Wednesday is more directly related to space policy. Hayden Planetarium Director Neil deGrasse Tyson is the speaker. The Caucus clearly has a broader focus than NASA — most national labs are operated by the Department of Energy and Department of Defense — but it is interesting that they picked Tyson as the first speaker. We don’t know what he will discuss, but he is the one who instigated the “penny4NASA” movement last year, calling for a doubling of NASA’s budget to lift the spirits of the nation and reclaim its “birthright to dream of tomorrow.” The meeting is Wednesday at noon in the Coolidge Auditorium of the Library of Congress.

Monday, January 21

Inaugural ceremonies: Events at the Capitol begin at 11:30 am ET; parade scheduled to begin at 2:35 pm ET (but subject to change)

Tuesday, January 22

Deep Space Industries announcement, Santa Monica Museum of Flying, CA, 10:00 am PT (1:00 pm ET)

Wednesday, January 23

House Science, Space and Technology Committee organizational meeting, 2318 Rayburn, 9:00 am ET
House Science and National Labs Caucus first meeting, Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, 12:00-1:00 pm ET

Thursday, January 24

Annual “Start of the Year” Press Conference by European Space Agency Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain, 09:00 Central European Time (3:00 am ET), Paris, FR

Friday, January 25

NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), Kennedy Space Center, FL, 10:00-11:00 am ET
FAA Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) Business/Legal Working Group re Maximum Probable Loss Methodology, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm ET, telecon

Last Updated: Jan 21, 2013 1:32 pm ET

Boeing 787 Batteries Made by Same Company Making Them for ISS

By Marcia Smith | Posted: January 18, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: January 18, 2013 2:29 pm ET

Government Executive (GovExec) reports that the same company that makes the troublesome lithium-ion (Li-Ion) batteries for Boeing’s 787 Dreamliners is under contract to make them for use on the International Space Station (ISS), too. NASA says the ISS batteries are a different configuration, however, and rigorously designed.

Bob Brewin of GovExec’s NextGov website wrote yesterday that GS Yuasa Lithium Power Inc. of Roswell, GA, the U.S. subsidiary of Japan’s GS Yuasa, supplies the Li-Ion batteries for Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner jets and is under contract to Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne to provide Li-Ion batteries for the ISS. They will replace nickel-hydrogen batteries currently used.

Boeing’s Dreamliners have been grounded worldwide after one of the batteries started a fire in a Japan Airlines jet parked at Boston’s Logan Airport last week and this week a Japanese All Nippon Airways jet had to make an emergency landing in Japan after the pilots smelled something burning. Preliminary indications reportedly are that one of the batteries was operating at a voltage above its design limit.

In an e-mailed statement to SpacePolicyOnline.com today, NASA confirmed that GS Yuasa is designing and developing Li-ion batteries for use on the ISS under contract to Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. However, NASA public affairs officer Josh Byerly said that “they are a different configuration than those used on the Boeing 787” and “the entire battery assembly has been through a rigorous design and development process for the space environment. The design has been carefully implemented to mitigate and contain the potential hazards of Li-Ion cells.”

Byerly added that NASA is in “close communication with Boeing, the FAA, and the cell manufacturer on the ongoing failure analysis, and will apply any relevant lessons learned as appropriate.”

Last Updated: Jan 18, 2013 2:29 pm ET

Neil deGrasse Tyson to Headline First Meeting of House Science & National Labs Caucus

By Marcia Smith | Posted: January 18, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: January 19, 2013 12:54 pm ET

The new House Science & National Labs Caucus will kick off its activities next week with a lecture by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, Director of the Hayden Planetarium.

The caucus was created last month by a bipartisan group of four Congressmen: Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-IL), Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA), Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) and Rep. Alan Nunnelee (R-MS). Its purpose is “reinforcing federal investment in research and the national laboratories, as well as raise awareness in and out of Congress about the role they play in long term economic growth.”

Choosing Tyson as its inaugural speaker suggests that the space program will be one focus of the caucus’s efforts. Tyson is an avid NASA supporter and instigated the “penny4NASA” movement last year when he told Senator Bill Nelson’s (D-FL) Senate Commerce subcommittee that “Right now, NASA’s annual budget is half a penny on your tax dollar. For twice that — a penny on a dollar — we can transform the country from a sullen, dispirited nation, weary of economic struggle, to one where it has reclaimed its 20th century birthright to dream of tomorrow.”

The U.S. government supports dozens of national labs, many of which are funded through the Department of Energy (DOE) or Department of Defense (DOD). Among the best known are DOE’s three nuclear weapons labs — Los Alamos (NM), Lawrence Livermore (CA), and Sandia (NM) — as well its Oak Ridge (TN), Lawrence Berkeley (CA), Brookhaven (NY), Argonne (IL) and Fermilab (IL) national labs. The definition of a “national lab” is not straightforward, so what facilities are captured by that term can be debated. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), operated for NASA by the California Institute of Technology, probably qualifies, but some count NASA’s nine civil service field centers as national labs, too. The one unequivocal NASA national lab is the U.S. segment of the International Space Station (ISS), which was legally designated as a national laboratory in the 2005 NASA Authorization Act. NASA selected the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) in Florida to manage the ISS National Lab and find non-NASA users for it.

The four founders of the caucus have varying interests in the national labs. Hultgren represents the Illlinois congressional district that includes Fermilab and is close to Argonne National Lab. Luján’s district includes Los Alamos. Nunnelee’s district includes the University of Mississippi that, along with the state’s other research universities, is seeking to expand cooperation with national labs, a topic that was the focus of a meeting with Nunnelee in November.

Fattah, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Commerce-Justice-Science subcommitee that funds NASA (as well as NOAA and the National Science Foundation), has visited six national labs over the past two years with a particular focus on neuroscience research, although the list also includes JPL and meeting with a CASIS official earlier this week. He plans to re-introduce legislation to declare 2013 “The Year of the Federal Lab” to highlight that federal labs “remain at the cutting edge of scientific and technological advancement.” There are “over 100” federal labs according to his count.

Tyson will speak at the first caucus meeting on Wednesday, January 23, 2013, in the Coolidge Auditorium of the Library of Congress from 12:00-1:00 pm ET. It is open to the public, but seating is limited and Members of Congress and their staff get priority. An RSVP is requested to Rep. Hultgren’s office (link to the announcement) by January 22.

Last Updated: Jan 19, 2013 12:54 pm ET

Congress Probably Has Fewer Lawyers Than You Think

By Marcia Smith | Posted: January 17, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: January 17, 2013 11:08 pm ET

Think what you will of Congress — and it certainly is polling at record lows these days — but whether you love it or hate it there is a widespread perception that most of the 435 Representatives and 100 Senators are lawyers. Is it true?

Business Week published this graphic showing the backgrounds of the current members of the House and Senate. Lawyers are not in the majority, though it is pretty close in the Senate (45 out of 100). The House has 128 lawyers.

Science and engineering certainly are not well represented, though. The Senate has three medical professionals. The House has 29 medical professionals (including 2 veterinarians), one microbiologist, one physicist, and two engineers.

Last Updated: Jan 17, 2013 11:08 pm ET

Next ISS Crew Ready to Try 4-Orbit Rendezvous, But Pros and Cons Still Being Weighed

By Marcia Smith | Posted: January 17, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: January 17, 2013 10:49 pm ET

The next International Space Station (ISS) crew is ready to try a four-orbit rendezvous instead of the usual two-day approach when it heads to the ISS in March, but NASA and its ISS partners are still weighing the pros and cons of the shortened trip.

In twin press conferences today, the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) officials who oversee ISS operations and the three-man crew of the next ISS mission discussed what is on tap for the next several months of ISS operations.

NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin are scheduled for launch on March 27, 2013. During an afternoon press conference, Vinogradov, who will command the Soyuz spacecraft, responded to a question about whether the crew is ready to try the new four-orbit rendezvous approach — already practiced by robotic Progress cargo spacecraft — by saying he is confident it would be successful. He said it really is not new, noting that shorter rendezvous trajectories were used in the U.S. Gemini program and in the early days of the Soviet Union’s human spaceflight program when two spacecraft co-orbited. The latter apparently is a reference to the Vostok program of the early 1960s where Vostok 3 and 4, launched one day apart, flew in a close co-orbit about four miles from each other.

Throughout the history of the Soviet and Russian space station programs, as well as ISS, however, two-day rendezvous trajectories for the Soyuz spacecraft are the norm. The Soyuz spacecraft, in use since the 1960s, is cramped, however, and reducing the time needed to reach the ISS is desirable from some aspects of crew comfort.

Earlier in the day, however, NASA’s ISS program manager, Mike Suffredini, explained the overall pros and cons of the shorter transit time.

On the positive side, he said, the crews would spend less time in Soyuz, and the size of the ground operations crew would be reduced, saving money. On the other hand, the crew would have to remain buckled in their seats for as many as 10 hours, from the time they get strapped in on the ground until they dock. “Can they go stretch, can they use the facilities if necessary and … [get] strapped back in” during that time, he asked. More importantly, with a four-orbit rendezvous ground controllers would have to know in advance more precisely where the ISS would be at the time of launch. Under the four-orbit rendezvous scenario, “today If I do a debris avoidance maneuver I have to consider whether that impacts a flight in March,” Suffredini said. What needs to be decided from an operational standpoint, he explained, is the savings in time versus the impact of “flying the ISS day by day.”

There is agreement to try it once or twice to show that it is possible, he continued, but whether it will be a long term strategy remains to be seen, adding that the good news is that it is easy to transition from a four-orbit rendezvous to the traditional two-day rendezvous if needed.

Separately, Suffredini declined to provide any specifics on the cause of the engine failure on the last SpaceX flight to the ISS. Although the mission was an overall success for NASA, delivering the Dragon spacecraft to ISS, one of the Falcon 9’s nine engines failed during ascent and a secondary payload was not placed in the proper orbit. SpaceX has not made the root cause of the failure public and Suffredini said that NASA is precluded from doing so because the information is proprietary. He said the investigation is “not completely closed,” but NASA was “deeply involved” in reviewing the anomaly. While it is “hard to find the smoking gun,” the failure appears to be related to amount of testing to which the engine was subjected prior to launch. He said there are no reasons he knows of that the next launch will not take place on schedule on March 1, and the engines for that vehicle are all new, having been through acceptance testing only.

Last Updated: Jan 17, 2013 10:49 pm ET

Bigelow Aerospace to Attach Inflatable Module to ISS in 2015

By Marcia Smith | Posted: January 16, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: January 16, 2013 5:00 pm ET

Bigelow Aerospace and NASA announced today that they have signed a $17.8 million fixed price contract under which one of Bigelow’s expandable modules will be attached to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2015.

Bigelow Aerospace is developing inflatable space modules based on technologies developed by NASA under the Transhab program in the 1990s. Transhab was envisioned as an inflatable module that could be used as crew quarters on the ISS, replacing the traditional module NASA originally planned. Concerned about cost overruns, however, Congress terminated Transhab in the 2000 NASA Authorization Act (Sec. 127), while leaving open the possibility of NASA leasing such a module if the private sector developed it. Bigelow took up the challenge.

Two test Bigelow inflatable structures, Genesis I and Genesis II, were launched on Russian rockets in 2006 and 2007 respectively. The company is hoping to create and fulfill a market for inflatable modules that could be used for purposes ranging from research in low Earth orbit to bases on the Moon.

The advantage of inflatable structures for use in space is that their mass and volume are relatively small when launched, reducing launch costs. They inflate once they are in orbit. The first inflatable space object was NASA’s Echo communications satellite, launched in 1958.

Today’s agreement, announced at the company’s facilities in Las Vegas, NV, will provide an opportunity to test a small version of one of these modules on the ISS. NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver explained at the press conference that it will be launched on the eighth Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-8) flight NASA already has under contract with SpaceX for launch in May 2015. The module, called BEAM, for Bigelow Expandable Activities Module, will berth to the ISS Tranquility node and operate in a “closed hatch” mode where ISS crewmembers will enter only occasionally to check on experiments. Under current plans, BEAM will be jettisoned after two years, but Garver left open the possibility of an extended mission if all is going well.

The $17.8 million NASA contract is quite small compared to what the company itself has invested. Robert Bigelow, owner of the hotel chain Budget Suites of America and founder and president of Bigelow Aerospace, said at the press conference that he and his wife have invested $250 million in BEAM so far and expect to invest a similar amount between now and the end of 2016. He said the value of the agreement for himself, personally, and for his company is working with NASA and starting a long term relationship with that agency, rather than financial.

The agreement is for only one module to be attached to ISS. It will serve as a technology demonstrator to determine how it withstands the radiation, debris, and thermal environment.

Apart from that technology demonstrator for ISS, Bigelow is planning to launch two full-size “BA 330” models by the end of 2016 that will be available for lease. Those modules have 330 cubic meters of volume, hence their designation.

Artist Illustration of Bigelow Aerospace’s BA 330: Credit Bigelow Aerospace

Bigelow is working with both SpaceX and Boeing for providing crew transportation services to and from the BA 330s, which are designed to be habitable. SpaceX and Boeing are already working with NASA in its Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCAP) program to develop commercial systems to take people to and from low Earth orbit. Bigelow said the round-trip per-seat price would be $26.25 million on SpaceX’s Dragon or $36.75 million on Boeing’s CST-100. He added that his company has been waiting for commercial space transportation systems to mature before signing up customers to use his modules. With SpaceX’s success, this will be the “kickoff” year to find those customers, he said.

NASA’s international partners in the ISS program — Russia, Japan, Canada, and Europe — had to agree to the idea of adding BEAM to the facility. Garver said that those consultations were part of the reason it took 20 months from when NASA and Bigelow first announced their intention to partner to today’s announcement.

Last Updated: Jan 16, 2013 5:00 pm ET

NASA-ESA Agreement on Orion Service Module is For Only One Unit Plus Spares

By Marcia Smith | Posted: January 16, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: January 17, 2013 12:00 am ET

NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) provided more details today of their agreement for ESA to provide the service module for NASA’s Orion spacecraft.

ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain announced the plan following ESA’s ministerial meeting in November. Dordain extolled its significance both in terms of demonstrating ESA’s commitment to partner with NASA in human exploration of space beyond low Earth orbit and in NASA allowing other countries to be in the “critical path” of the U.S. human spaceflight program.

At a press conference today, NASA and ESA officials continued to tout the importance of the agreement, although as details emerge it seems less dramatic than at first glance.

The agreement is part of a barter arrangement between the two space agencies through which ESA compensates NASA for common systems operating costs on the International Space Station (ISS). Except for Russia, there is no exchange of funds between NASA and its ISS partners. Instead, the partners reimburse NASA for the costs of providing life support, electrical power and other basic needs on ISS through offsets, such as providing spacecraft to take cargo to the ISS. In ESA’s case, it is launches of the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV).

Under this new agreement, ESA will compensate NASA for future common systems operating costs by using ATV hardware for the service module for one of NASA’s Orion spacecraft. The service module provides electrical power, propulsion and storage for consumables.

Orion, also called the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV), is being designed by NASA to take astronauts to destinations beyond low Earth orbit, such as asteroids, the Moon and Mars and their environs. It will be launched on the Space Launch System (SLS) also under development by NASA.

In 2014, Orion prime contractor Lockheed Martin will launch a test version of Orion to the distance of the Moon to obtain data on its characteristics as it reenters Earth’s atmosphere. That launch will be on a Delta IV. The next flight of Orion will be in 2017 atop the SLS. Orion will not have a crew aboard for either of those flights. The first Orion flight with a crew, using SLS, is scheduled for 2021.

The agreement is for ESA to provide some of the service module systems for the 2017 flight. It will also provide spare parts. If the spare parts are not required, they will be used for the 2021 flight. That is the extent of the agreement at this point. NASA will be provided with the intellectual property to enable U.S. companies to build whatever systems are needed for Orion service modules after that.

At today’s press conference, NASA Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations Bill Gerstenmaier said that the decision to put ESA in the critical path was not taken “lightly” and NASA and ESA carefully identified the interfaces between the U.S.- and European-built hardware. He added, however, that as humans push further out into the solar system the missions certainly will be international “and this is the first step.” He is “not 100 percent comfortable, but I’m never 100 percent comfortable, so that’s OK, and we’ve done it smartly.” Later he added that if he was 100 percent comfortable, people should wonder why considering the challenges that lie ahead. “We’re not foolish” and “I know it won’t be easy,” he stressed.

Gerstenmaier sidestepped a question about the destinations for the 2017 and 2021 flights in light of recent press reports that an outpost at the Earth-Moon L2 Lagrange point or capturing an asteroid and bringing it to cis-lunar space (between the Earth and the Moon) are under consideration. He said somewhat wryly that a number of missions are being studied by a variety of stakeholders and he is not taking a position on any of them and “then I won’t be disappointed.“

Thomas Reiter, director of ESA Human Spaceflight and Operations, was asked if an ESA astronaut might be on the 2021 mission. He replied that ESA is focused on the technical work ahead right now, but that future human space exploration would be international “and that kind of international crew would testify to that as it does today on the ISS.” He also acknowledged that ESA committed to only 60 percent of the necessary funding at the November ministerial meeting, but he is confident the remaining 40 percent will be approved at the next ministerial meeting in 2014.

Last Updated: Jan 17, 2013 12:00 am ET

House Passes Hurricane Sandy Supplemental With NASA Funds Intact

By Marcia Smith | Posted: January 15, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: January 15, 2013 8:11 pm ET

The House passed a FY2013 supplemental appropriations act for the victims of Hurricane Sandy (H.R. 152) this evening, including $15 million to cover damages to NASA facilities at Wallops Flight Facility and Cape Canaveral.

How to deal with the damage from Hurricane Sandy was a hard-fought issue two weeks ago as the 112th Congress ended. The Senate passed a $60.4 billion disaster relief bill, but House Speaker John Boehner refused to bring the bill to the floor. Instead, the House passed a $9.7 billion bill strictly to keep the National Flood Insurance Program solvent.

Today, the House dealt with the rest of the disaster relief proposal. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) introduced a $17 billion bill for immediate assistance, to which Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) offered a $33.7 billion amendment for additional aid, bringing the total (along with the previously passed $9.6 billion) very close to the Senate’s $60.4 billion mark. The Senate acted during the 112th Congress, however, so it must consider the legislation anew.

The underlying Rogers bill passed 327-61 earlier today, despite efforts by some conservative Republicans to force the funding to be offset by across-the-board cuts to other government agencies, including the Department of Defense. The Frelinghuysen amendment, which includes the $15 million for NASA, was debated throughout the afternoon and early evening, with numerous amendments proposed, most of which were rejected. No amendments to delete the NASA funds were raised. The Frelinghuysen amendment passed 228-192 and at 7:29 this evening, the bill as amended passed 241-180 with the NASA funding intact.

Funds for NOAA are also included in the bill. An amendment by Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) to cut $13 million from the National Weather Service ground readiness project was rejected. None of the NOAA funds appears to directly impact its satellite programs.

Action now returns to the Senate, which is in recess until next week.

Last Updated: Jan 15, 2013 8:11 pm ET

Intelligence Authorization and Space Exploration Sustainability Act Become Law

By Marcia Smith | Posted: January 15, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: January 15, 2013 11:29 am ET

President Obama signed into law yesterday the FY2013 Intelligence Authorization Act (S. 3454) and the Space Exploration Sustainability Act (H.R. 6586).

Those are the last two space-related bills that we were tracking in the 112th Congress and our fact sheet has been updated accordingly. Once the Public Law numbers are assigned, we will do a final update. A new fact sheet for the 113th Congress will be created when there is relevant legislation to track.

Congress did not pass any of the regular FY2013 appropriations bills, instead passing a 6-month Continuing Resolution that funds the government through March 27, 2013. As for other space-related legislation that was being considered in the final days of the 112th Congress that we reported on January 3, here is how it all turned out:

American Taxpayer Relief Act (H.R. 8). Public Law (P.L.) 112-240. Among other things, delays automatic across-the-board spending cuts — the sequester — until March 1, 2013.
FY2013 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 4310). P.L. 112-239. Among other things, eases export controls on satellites.
FY2013 Intelligence Authorization Act (S. 3454). Signed by the President January 14, 2013; P.L. number not yet assigned. The unclassified text does not directly address satellite programs conducted by the intelligence community, but the classified annex may.
Space Exploration Sustainability Act (H.R. 6586). Signed by the President January 14, 2013; P.L. number not yet assigned. Extends launch liability indemnification for one year, gives NASA relief from some provisions of the Iran, North Korea, Syria Nonproliferation Act (INKSNA), expresses the sense of Congress that NASA not take money from SLS/Orion to pay for commercial crew and vice versa.
Renaming Dryden Flight Research Center after Neil Armstrong (H.R. 6612). Passed House, but not Senate, so died at the end of the Congress.
Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for relief of Hurricane Sandy victims (H.R. 1). Passed Senate, but not House, so died at the end of the Congress. The House passed a different bill providing $9.6 billion to the National Flood Insurance Program. The House is considering this week additional funds for the victims of Sandy. Whatever passes will have to be considered anew in the Senate.
Condemning North Korea’s Missile Launch (H. Con. Res. 145). Passed House, but not Senate, so died at the end of the Congress.

Category: Civil