The House is expected to pass a two-week Continuing Resolution (CR) today that would extend government spending at FY2010 levels for most agencies through March 18. The bill, H. J. Res. 44, contains $4 billion in spending reductions.

The $4 billion reduction is achieved by eliminating earmarks and cutting spending by small amounts in a variety of government agencies. NASA is not affected by those cuts. The bill does not contain language lifting the restriction on terminating the Constellation program that was in the FY2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act.

Under the rule approved by the House Rules Committee yesterday the bill can be debated on the floor for only one hour and no amendments are permitted.

What the Senate will do this week remains unclear. It could agree to the House-passed bill or pass one of its own. Rumors are that the White House wants a 30-day bill instead of a two-week bill. The two chambers have until midnight Friday to reach agreement or force a government shutdown.

What will happen for the rest of FY2011 remains up in the air. It is conceivable that Congress would continue to pass short-term CRs if they cannot reach agreement on a version to last through the end of September. That would pose problems for all the government departments and agencies who would have no certainty about their funding levels. Compared to the deep cuts passed by the House on February 19, however, it might be preferable for some agencies if a series of short-term CRs meant they could retain their FY2010 funding levels. Under the February 19 bill, for example, NASA would lose $601 million compared to its FY2010 level.

Whether the government shuts down on Friday at midnight is now in the Senate’s court. The House just passed the two-week Continuing Resolution (H. J. Res. 44) that would fund the government through March 18. It contains $4 billion in cuts, but none directly affects space activities at NASA, NOAA or DOD.

The White House was hoping to get the bill extended to a 30-day CR instead of two weeks. It is up to the Senate at this point to decide whether to agree with the House or pass a bill with different language.

Thanks to Jeff Foust of spacepolitics.com who is doing a splendid job tweeting from the Next Generation Suborbital Researchers conference that is going on right now in Orlando. For those of us who couldn’t make the trip, it’s almost like being there. Check him out on Twitter: jeff_foust.

The National Research Council’s (NRC’s) Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board (ASEB) is holding a workshop next week to gather ideas on gaps and possible directions for NASA’s Micrometeoroid and Orbital Debris (MMOD) Programs. The public is invited to attend.

The workshop will be held March 9-10, 2011 at the Mason Inn Conference Center and Hotel in Fairfax, VA. The agenda and more details can be found on the ASEB website. One of the more interesting sessions is how to retrieve and remove orbital debris as called for in President Obama’s National Space Policy.

The workshop is part of an NRC study that is assessing NASA’s orbital debris activities.

The National Research Council’s (NRC’s) Decadal Survey for planetary science will be released on March 7, 2011. The study was conducted under the auspices of the Space Studies Board.

Decadal Surveys are studies conducted by the NRC on behalf of NASA and other space science agencies. The NRC committees that write the reports use a consensus-based approach to determinig priorities for scientific research in various disciplines. The surveys are conducted about every 10 years — a decade — looking forward to the next decadal of research, hence their name. The most recent Decadal Survey for astronomy and astrophysics was released last year. The NRC is currently conducting another one for the field of solar and space physics (heliophysics).

The agencies that sponsor the Decadal Survey, in this case NASA and the National Science Foundation, typically tell the NRC’s study committee how much money they expect to be able to devote to new missions and research in the upcoming decade. The Decadal Survey committee then is asked to create and prioritize a list of research missions that need to be undertaken to answer the most compelling scientific questions in that discipline.

Prognosticating future budgets is always problematical, especially so today. The planetary science community has been expectantly awaiting the release of the Decadal to see what their community has determined to be the most compelling research priorities. The report will be released in conjunction with the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference being held in The Woodlands, TX, outside Houston, from March 7-11.

UPDATE: A link to the agenda for Friday’s “State of the Agency” meeting at NASA Headquarters has been added.

The following events may be of interest in the coming week. For more information, check our calendar on the right menu or click the links below. Times, dates and witnesses for congressional hearings are subject to change; check the relevant committee’s website for up to date information.

During the Week

Hopefully the House and Senate will reach agreement on at least a short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the government operating past midnight on March 4 when the current CR expires. Check back throughout the week for our continuing coverage of this issue, critical to the nation as well as the space program.

Monday-Wednesday, February 28-March 2

• Next Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference, University of Central Florida, Orlando FL

Tuesday, March 1

• NASA Advisory Council (NAC) Planetary Science Subcommittee, Virtual (via telephone and WebEx — see Federal Register notice on how to participate), 1:00 – 3:00 pm EST

Tuesday-Thursday, March 1-3

• National Research Council (NRC) Committee on Human Spaceflight Operations, Keck Center, Washington DC. Some sessions may be closed.

Wednesday, March 2

• House Science, Space and Technology Committee hearing on NASA’s FY2012 budget request, 2318 Rayburn House Office Building, 10:00 am EST
• House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing on FY2012 DOD budget request, 2359 Rayburn House Office Building, 10:00 am EST

Wednesday-Friday, March 2-4

• NRC Commiittee on the Origins and Evolution of Life(COEL), Keck Center, Washington, DC. Some sessions are closed; see agenda for details.

Thursday, March 3

• House Appropriations Commerce-Justice-Science subcommittee hearing on NASA’s FY2012 budget request, 2362A Rayburn House Office Building, 10:00 am EST

Thursday-Friday, March 3-4

• NAC Science Committee, NASA Headquarters, Washington DC
  • Thursday, March 3, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm EST, room 9H40
  • Friday, March 4, 8:30 am – 2:00 pm EST, room 3H46

Friday, March 4

• NASA Alumni League et al conference on State of the Agency: NASA Future Programs Presentations, NASA Headquarters Auditorium, 7:30 am – 5:30 pm EST

Space Shuttle Discovery is in its final planned hold waiting to pick up the count at T-9 minutes (9 minutes before launch). Everything was going well until moments ago when the range went red because of a problem with the range safety command system.

That’s a computer, and what all this means is the subject of considerable discussion to which one can listen on NASA TV or Spaceflightnow.com. The NASA launch director, Mike Leinbach, has decided to take the countdown all the way down to T-5 (5 minutes before launch) before deciding whether to launch today. So apparently they will pick up the count at T-9 hoping that the problem can resolved quickly.

UPDATE: The launch has been rescheduled for March 4.

ORIGINAL STORY: The launch of NASA’s Glory earth observation satellite has been postponed again, this time until March. Engineers still have not determined why the Vehicle Interface Control Console (VICC) sent a “hold-fire” command to the Taurus XL rocket 15 minutes before its intended launch early yesterday morning.

NASA reports that the VICC is located in a mobile launch support van a few miles from the launch pad. More time is needed to determine the cause of and remedy the problem. NASA now is looking at launch dates in early to mid-March.

An updated version of our fact sheet on NASA’s FY2011 Appropriations: The Debate Continues in the 112th Congress is now available. It reflects House action on H.R. 1. An amendment was adopted during floor debate reducing NASA’s budget by an additional $298 million below the House Appropriations Committee’s recommendation for the Cross Agency Support line.

Space Shuttle Discovery is off on its final mission.