The following events in the coming week may be of interest. In addition, the Senate is expected to pass the conference report on the Energy-Water appropriations bill, pass the Department of Defense appropriations bill (action was not completed last week as earlier expected), and possibly turn to the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill (which includes NASA and NOAA).

Monday, October 5

• NRC Astro2010 Decadal Survey. Open Sessions 9:15 am -12:30 pm. National Academy of Sciences building, 2100 C Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.

Wednesday, October 7

• Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act, 10:00 am, 253 Russell Senate Office Building. Dates and times for congressional hearings are subject to change. Check the committee’s website for up to date information.
• President Obama to speak about his commitment to science and math education as part of a White House Star Party in celebration of the International Year of Astronomy. 8:00 pm, EDT. His brief remarks will be streamed on the White House website: whitehouse.gov.

Thursday, October 8

• Augustine Committee, Public Teleconference, 1:00-2:00 EDT. See NASA’s press release for call-in numbers to listen.
• NRC Decadal Survey on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space, Panel on Plant and Microbial Biology. Open Sessions 1:00 pm-5:00 pm. Keck Center, 500 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, DC

Friday, October 9

• Watch LCROSS impact the Moon at the Newseum. Open and free to the public. Doors open at 6:30 am; program begins at 7:00 am. Impact of the Centaur is scheduled for 7:25 am with LCROSS following suit at 7:30. The Newseum is located at 555 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.
• Beyond the Decade: The Future of International Astronomy – A Celebration of the International Year of Astronomy. National Academies’ Keck Center, 500 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington , D.C. 9:00 am-5:00 pm.

Despite the optimistic assessment of Augustine committee member Les Lyles at Monday’s Space Policy Institute (SPI) meeting that the committee would meet its goal of submitting a final report by the end of September, that clearly will not happen. Instead, the Augustine committee has scheduled a public teleconference for October 8, 2009. Public meetings are required under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) for deliberations by federally-chartered advisory committees. According to the announcement, the only topic for the one-hour teleconference (1:00-2:00 EDT) is finalization of the scoring of the options the committee presented in its summary report. The following numbers are available to listen to the teleconference:

Toll-free number: 1-888-373-5705

Other number: 1-719-457-3840

Participant Passcode: 190078

Soyuz TMA-16 successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) early this morning and its three crew members opened the hatch to the space station at 6:57 am EDT. Two of them, Russian Maxim Suraev and American Jeffrey Williams, will become part of the Expedition 21 crew. The third is Canadian “spaceflight participant” Guy Laliberte, founder and CEO of Cirque du Soleil. He will return to Earth with two members of the current Expedition 20 crew on October 11. To follow ISS events, visit NASA’s ISS website.

The National Academies are sponsoring a day-long symposium in celebration of the International Year of Astronomy on October 9, 2009. “Beyond the Decade: The Future of International Astronomy” features a veritable who’s who of astronomers and astrophysicists from around the world, including the United States, China, Japan, India, Europe, Chile, and Australia. View the agenda for more details.

Conferees on the Department of Energy’s appropriations bill (H.R. 3183) adopted the Senate position of zero funding for restarting production of plutonium-238 for NASA’s robotic space science missions, and House language regarding what is required to possibly obtain congressional approval next year. Conferees completed work on the bill today (Wednesday) and it may go to the House floor as early as tomorrow. The conference report is posted on the House Appropriations Committee’s website. On this matter, the conferees stated:

“Pu-238 Production Restart Project.-The conference agreement provides no funding for the Pu238 Restart Project. The conferees agree with language proposed by the House regarding a start-up plan which shall include the role and contribution of major users of Pu-238, such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and shall be submitted with the fiscal year 2011 budget submission.”

The Senate passed the conference report on the FY2010 Legislative Branch appropriations bill today, to which a one-month Continuing Resolution (CR) is attached to prevent a government shutdown at midnight tonight (Wednesday) as fiscal year 2009 ends and fiscal year 2010 begins. The “Leg Branch” bill is the first of the 12 appropriations bills to clear Congress. It funds Congress’s own operations and with the CR that is attached to it, provides funds for Executive Branch agencies whose FY2010 funding bills have not yet cleared Congress.

The House has passed the other 11 appropriations bills; the Senate has passed six including Leg Branch. Conference agreement was reached today on the Energy-Water Appropriations bill that includes the Department of Energy (DOE). Conferees zeroed a request to restart DOE’s production of plutonium-238 fuel for NASA’s robotic space science probes. Conferees are expected to complete work on the other four bills that have passed both chambers in the near future. The bill that covers NASA and NOAA funding — the Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) bill (H.R. 2847) — is still waiting for action in the Senate.

The conference committee meeting on the Energy-Water appropriations bill (H.R. 3183) that was scheduled for this afternoon was postponed for unspecified reasons, according to Congress Daily (subscription required). A new date was not set, but could be as early as tomorrow (Wednesday). The DOE bill includes a critical provision related to production of the plutonium-238 fuel that NASA needs for its robotic planetary spacecraft.

Senate consideration of the Legislative Branch appropriations bill (H.R. 2918), which includes the Continuing Resolution to keep the government operating after midnight tomorrow, was not taken up today and is expected to be considered on the Senate floor tomorrow.

The Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft is ready to launch in a few hours from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Launch is scheduled for 3:14 am EDT on Wednesday, September 30. The three person crew includes a Russian cosmonaut, Maxim Suraev; an American astronaut, Jeffrey Williams; and a Canadian “spaceflight participant,” Guy Laliberte, founder and CEO of Cirque du Soleil. The three are scheduled to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday. Suraev and Williams will serve as flight engineers on ISS Expedition 21.

Two of the six members of the ISS Expedition 20 crew that is currently on ISS — Commander Gennady Padalka (Russia) and Flight Engineer Michael Garrett (US) — will depart for Earth with Laliberte late on October 10, landing early the next day in Kazakstan. The other four members of Expedition 20 will become part of Expedition 21: Frank de Winne (European Space Agency) who will become the first European commander of the ISS when Expedition 21 begins; Robert Thirsk (Canada), Nicole Stott (US), and Roman Romanenko (Russia).

To keep track of the ever-changing crew complement on ISS, visit NASA’s ISS website.

National Public Radio ran a story this morning about NASA’s need for plutonium-238 for its robotic deep space and some lunar surface missions. As reported earlier on SpacePolicyOnline.com, the Obama Administration requested $30 million in the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) FY2010 budget to restart production of this fuel.

The Senate zeroed the request and the House cut it by $20 million. House and Senate negotiators are scheduled to meet tomorrow (September 29) at 6:15 pm to negotiate a conference agreement on the legislation (H.R. 3183). The National Research Council issued a report on the plutonium-238 situation earlier this year calling for “immediate action” to restart plutonium production.

The Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) science team has decided that the spacecraft should impact a different crater on the Moon. Initially the Cabeus-A crater was selected, but now LCROSS will aim at Cabeus (proper). Additional analysis using data from four past and present lunar probes (LRO, Lunar Prospector, India’s Chandrayaan-1, Japan’s Kaguya) concluded that the new site has, with the greatest level of certainty, the highest hydrogen concentrations at the Moon’s South Pole. Impact is still set for October 9, 2009. For more on LRO and LCROSS, see our 1-pager Fact Sheet.