The Government Accountability Office’s (GAO’s) testimony to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on Aviation is available from GAO. Testimony from all the witnesses and a webcast of the hearing is available on the committee’s website.

Op-eds in today’s issue of Space News (subscription required) offer insight into the debate that will be the subject of competing congressional hearings this week over the safety of human space flight.

A key element of both hearings is the safety of launching astronauts on spacecraft and launch vehicles built and operated by commercial companies (“commercial crew”) compared to those built and operated by NASA. The two hearings will be held at exactly the same time on Wednesday at 10:00 am. One is being held by the Space and Aeronautics subcommittee of the House Science and Technology (House S&T) committee; the other by the Aviation subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure committee.

Representative Ralph Hall (R-TX), an ardent spokesman on safety issues associated with human spaceflight and ranking member of the House S&T committee, writes in Space News that “A commercial crew capability simply could not be properly evaluated and ready in time to safely fly out astronauts during the gap” between the end of the space shuttle program and the availability of NASA’s new Ares 1/Orion system, part of the Constellation Program. “As I said, astronaut safety must be the top priority. After the space shuttle is retired, NASA will still be required to provide crew rescue capabilities for ourselves and our international partners from the ISS. The Ares 1 launch vehicle and the Orion capsule are being designed with these goals in mind.”

Patti Grace Smith, former Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation at the Federal Aviation Administration, offers a contrasting viewpoint. “Several policymakers seem to make the unwarranted leap of logic that if commercial space travel costs less than a government program, it is inherently less safe. … As a matter of fact, the goal of companies purusing human space transportation in the civil space world via the Atlas 5 and Falcon 9 is to field systems that are much safer than either the shuttle or Soyuz, and as safe if not safer than Constellation.”

The National Research Council (NRC) has selected Dr. Michael Moloney as the new Director of the Space Studies Board (SSB) and the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board (ASEB). Dr. Moloney is a veteran NRC staff member and is currently serving as the Associate Director of the NRC’s Board on Physics and Astronomy. He is the lead staff member on the Astro2010 Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics. The NRC said that Dr. Moloney would phase into his new position as Director of SSB and ASEB as Astro2010 winds down over the next several months. An official starting date will be announced later.

Dr. Moloney also has worked for the NRC’s National Materials Advisory Board (NMAB) and other NRC units. He received his Ph.D. in experimental physics from Trinity College Dublin and has served in the Irish Foreign Service.

On a personal note, I want to add my hearty congratulations to Michael as he takes over my former positions at the NRC. He is an excellent choice and I know will be a strong leader for the two Boards both inside the NRC and with the Board’s customers in NASA, NOAA, NSF, DOE, USGS and other agencies. Congratulations, Michael!

NASA’s latest prize competition, to improve the design of the gloves that are part of the pressure suits worn by astronauts on spacewalks, was held November 18-19, 2009 at the Astronaut Hall of Fame at Kennedy Space Center, FL. According to media reports, $350,000 of the available $400,000 was awarded to first and second place finishers: Peter Homer won $250,000 and Ted Southern won $100,000. Homer also won in 2007 and started his own company to produce spacesuit gloves according to NASA’s Centennial Challenges website.

This is the fourth set of prizes NASA has awarded in the past several weeks. Masten Space Systems won $1,000,000 and Armadillo Aerospace won $350,000 in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge; LaserMotive won $900,000 in the Power Beaming Challenge; and three companies shared a $750,000 purse in the Regolith Excavation Challenge. The goal of the glove challenge is to promote the development of a highly dexterous and flexible glove that can be worn comfortably for extended periods. The glove challenge was conducted for NASA by Volanz Aerospace/Spaceflight America.

NASA awarded $900,000 on November 9 to LaserMotive of Seattle, Washington for winning Level 1 of the Power Beaming Challenge — often called the “Space Elevator Games.”

Three teams competed to develop a wireless power transmission system and a robotic device to climb to the top of a 1 kilometer cable suspended from a hovering helicopter. The total prize purse is $2 million, with winners determined on how fast the climber reaches the top of the cable and the mass of its payload. LaserMotive was the only team to reach the top and qualified for the Level 1 prize with an average speed of 3.9 meters per second. Level 1 required an average speed of at least 2 meters per second. Level 2 requires an average speed of at least 5 meters per second. The remaining $1.1 million for one or more Level 1 winners will be available for next year’s competition. This prize competition is administered for NASA by the Spaceward Foundation.

Last week, NASA awarded $1.65 million in prize money to winners of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. The prize competitions are part of NASA’s Innovative Partnership Program.

Masten Space Systems was declared the official winner of First Place in Level 2 of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge today. Masten’s landing accuracy of 19 cm beat out Armadillo Aerospace’s 87 cm. First place carries a $1 million prize. Armadillo Aerospace wins $500,000 for Second Place. The prizes will be presented on Thursday, November 5, at noon in room 2325 Rayburn House Office Building.

Masten and Armadillo also won Level 1 of the competition, but in that case their positions were reversed. Armadillo won the $350,000 First Place prize, while Masten won $150,000.

Masten Space Systems qualified for the Level Two prize of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Landing Challenge. The prize is administered for NASA by the X-prize Foundation. There are prizes for Level One (First Place, $350,00; Second Place, $150,000), and Level Two (First Place, $1 million; Second Place, $500,000).

Masten’s successful flight on the third try overcame problems on two previous days that included a small fire. Masten qualified for the $150,000 Level One Second Place prize earlier in the month. The First Place Level One prize was won by Armadillo Aerospace last year.

Judges allowed Masten a third day instead of the two that are normally permitted, a decision that prompted a protest from Armadillo Aerospace. Armadillo qualified for the Level Two prize in September. The decision on who will be awarded first or second place is based on landing accuracy and apparently Masten did better on that score. Thus, Masten could win the first place $1 million prize and Armadillo would be awarded $500,000 for second place, a half million dollar difference.

In a press release posted on SpaceRef but not yet on Armadillo’s website, Armadillo Founder John Carmack challenged the decision to allow Masten a third attempt, but also admitted that he should have insisted on improving the accuracy of his own rocket: “I have been kicking myself for not taking the competition more seriously and working on a better landing accuracy.” But he stressed that “the current situation, where Masten was allowed a third active day of competition, after trying and failing on both scheduled days, is different. … The rules have given the judges the discretion to do just about anything up to and including awarding prize money for best effort if they felt it necessary, so there may not be any grounds to challenge this, but I do feel that we have been robbed.”

Another team, Unreasonable Rocket, did not qualify. A fourth team, BonNovA, withdrew.

Representatives Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL) and Bill Posey (R-FL) introduced H.R. 3853 to establish “a competitive Commercial Space Transportaton R&D ‘Centers of Excellence’ (COE) program within NASA” according to a Kosmas press release. The bill was referred to the House Science and Technology Committee.

The statement from Rep. Kosmas’ office explains that the idea is based on the Federal Aviation Administration’s Air Transportation COE program. “The Centers of Excellence program will create university-based public-private partnerships to support commercial spaceflight research and development with stakeholders in industry and government. Aimed at improving U.S. space transportation competitiveness and safety, they would focus on topics such as spaceflight passenger and crew training and qualification, space transportation policy analysis, spaceport safety and range system development, biomedical countermeasures, aerospace workforce training and certification, space vehicle design, including materials and engineering R&D, and space weather.”

You can track the status of this and other pending space-related legislation with our legislative checklist, Major Space-Related Legislation in the 111th Congress: A Checklist, under “Our Fact Sheets and Reports” on the left menu. The checklist is updated following major congressional actions, most recently today.

NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden told the National Association of Investment Companies yesterday that NASA needs to “leverage the power and innovation of American industry and the American entrepreneur.” The full speech is available here.

“By the end of this week, we expect to receive the final report of the Augustine committee and I will join with the President’s science advisor, Dr. John Holdren and other principals from the Executive Office of the President in developing a recommendation for the President to assist him in determining his vision for the future of human space flight and space exploration in America. Whatever the President’s decision, America needs NASA and private industry to work to achieve our national goals in space. This means that NASA must determine efficient and effective ways to leverage the power, and innovation of American industry and the American entrepreneur.”

Source: NASA

Today, the House passed H.R. 3819 that would extend for three years government indemnification for third party liability claims against commercial space launch companies. The existing indemnificaton expires on December 31 of this year.

The 1988 Commercial Space Launch Act Amendments first provided this indemnification, which means
the government will pay third party claims against commercial launch companies between $500 million and $2 billion. The companies must purchase insurance for amounts below $500 million and above $2 billion. Third party claims would arise, for example, if a launch vehicle exploded over Florida and killed or injured people on the ground. At the beginning of the commercial space launch era, requiring companies to purchase insurance against the full range of potential claims was considered a roadblock to facilitating the emergence of a commercial space launch industry. A parallel was drawn to government indemnification of nuclear power plants.

The commercial space launch indemnification usually is granted in 5-year intervals. The last time it was renewed was in the 2004 Commercial Space Launch Act Amendments (P.L. 108-492). That year the House initially voted to extend it for only three years, as it did today. The five-year extension was reached as a compromise with the Senate. Each time the issue is revisited, the question is raised as to whether commercial space launch companies are sufficiently healthy that they can now afford to buy insurance instead of getting government indemnification.

H.R. 3819 was introduced by Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN) five days ago. There were no hearings. It was approved today by voice vote. The entire text of the bill is:

SECTION 1. COMMERCIAL SPACE TRANSPORTATION LIABILITY REGIME EXTENSION.

Section 70113(f) of title 49, United States Code, is amended by striking `December 31, 2009.’ and inserting `December 31, 2012.’.

The House Science and Technology Committee issued a press release after the vote.