Category: Commercial

President Requests $18.5 Billion for NASA, How Will Congress React?

President Requests $18.5 Billion for NASA, How Will Congress React?

By Marcia Smith | Posted: February 2, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: February 4, 2015 9:44 am ET

President Obama submitted his FY2016 budget request to Congress today.  It includes $18.5 billion for NASA, a 2.9 percent increase over the FY2015 appropriated level, which itself was a half-billion increase over the President’s request for FY2015.  In less than 12 months, NASA’s budget fortunes have improved considerably though, predictably, not enough to satisfy everyone.  Also not surprisingly, the President’s request has not been welcomed with open arms by everyone in Congress, though statements today focused more on the overall request, not specifically that for NASA.

Those who see the glass as half empty point to the fact that the President decided to ignore the budget caps put in place by the 2011 Budget Control Act, and requested a 6 percent increase for research and development spending across the federal government.  They see the 2.9 percent increase for NASA as too small.  On the other hand are those who see the glass half full, a decided improvement over what the President requested last year ($17.460 billion) and what the White House projected last year would be the request for FY2016 ($17.635 billion).

SpacePolicyOnline.com has a free fact sheet summarizing NASA’s FY2016 budget request and identifying four of the top issues likely to arise as Congress considers it.  In brief, they are:

  • Earth Science.  The request of $1.947 billion is a $174.8 million increase over FY2016.  Some of that — though NASA officials could not say today how much — is because the Administration is proposing that some NOAA satellite activities be transferred to NASA.  One is the Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor (TSIS-1).  NASA also is requesting funds for a “multi-decadal sustainable land imaging program” that includes money to build the next Landsat satellite (Landsat 9) for launch in 2023; a separate free-flyer for an infrared sensor for launch in 2019; and funds for technology development and system innovations to reduce the costs of Landsat 10 and beyond.  Such an increase for earth science may encounter opposition from Members who are climate change skeptics and see little need for government programs in this area, or who think that NOAA should not shift its responsibilities to NASA.
  • Planetary Science.   The request of $1.361 billion is a decrease of $76.6 million from the FY2015 appropriated level and includes only $30 million for a mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa.  Planetary science is very popular on Capitol Hill and any decrease is likely to be met with opposition.  The new chairman of the House appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA, Rep. John Culberson (R-TX), is an ardent supporter of planetary exploration and Europa in particular.   He has led efforts to add money to NASA’s budget for Europa.  Congress provided $100 million for FY2015, an increase of $85 million above NASA’s request.
  • Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM).  NASA continues to struggle to convince the space community and Congress of the value of ARM.  The NASA Advisory Council is asking pointed questions about the cost of ARM and its relevance to NASA’s long-term goal of sending humans to Mars.  NASA has missed self-imposed deadlines for choosing between two options for implementing ARM:  Option A (move a small asteroid to lunar orbit) or Option B (pluck a boulder from a large asteroid and move that to lunar orbit).  NASA Chief Financial Officer David Radzanowski revealed today that the Mission Concept Review (MCR) for ARM has been delayed by at least a month, from the end of February to the end of March, and he does not know when the Option A versus B decision will be made.  It could be made days from now, at the MCR, or afterwards he said, he simply does not know.  The FY2016 budget request includes $220 million for the “Asteroid Initiative” of which ARM is part, though Radzanowski stresses that most of that money is “leveraged,” meaning that NASA would spend it anyway, even if there was no ARM.   Our FY2016 NASA Budget Request fact sheet includes a table showing where the ARM money is in the NASA budget, which is difficult to track because ARM is not a program with its own line item in the budget; the money is spread across three of NASA’s four mission directorates.  
  • Space Launch System/Orion/Commercial Crew.   Once again, NASA is requesting less for SLS/Orion than Congress appropriated, and more for commercial crew than has been requested in the past.   NASA and Congress have had a tense relationship over these programs since a compromise was reached in the 2010 NASA Authorization Act wherein Congress would fund both the commercial crew program proposed by the Obama Administration to build commercial systems to take astronauts to and from the International Space Station in low Earth orbit (LEO), as well as a new NASA-developed crew transportation system — SLS and Orion — to take crews beyond LEO that Congress preferred.  Congress insists that the Obama Administration favors commercial crew over SLS/Orion and routinely adds money for SLS/Orion and cuts funding for commercial crew.  This year’s request for commercial crew is $1.244 billion, a substantial increase over the $805 million appropriated for FY2015.   NASA explains that full funding is needed to pay for the milestones its two contractors, SpaceX and Boeing, are expected to meet through the end of FY2016 and if Congress does not provide the funds, the fixed-price contracts will have to be renegotiated.  In that event, NASA says, it cannot promise that the systems will be available by the end of 2017 as currently planned.

More information on these issues in available in our fact sheet.

House Science Space and Technology (SS&T) Committee chairman Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) said he was disappointed the NASA request does not adequately support programs to take us to “destinations like Mars” and includes “costly distractions, such as climate funding better suited for other agencies, and an asteroid retrieval mission that the space community does not support.”

House SS&T Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) did not mention NASA in her statement about the budget, but said she is pleased with the 6 percent increase in funding for R&D across the government.

Senator John Thune, chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, also did not mention NASA or other agencies.  Instead, he criticized the President’s request overall as clinging to the “same old failed top-down economic policies of spending increases and tax hikes…”

On the appropriations side, Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Commerce-Justice-Science subcommittee, and Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, each rejected the request out of hand. Neither mentioned NASA or any other agency, but reacted to the budget proposal overall.  Shelby called it “unserious” and called for a balanced budget.  Rogers called on Congress to “reject this irresponsible budget plan.”   The Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, Nita Lowey (D-NY), praised many aspects of the request, but the only scientific area she mentioned was biomedical research.  

Clarification.  Sen. Shelby chairs the Senate Appropriations CJS subcommittee, not the full committee as earlier wording in this article suggested.

Last Updated: Feb 04, 2015 9:44 am ET
What's Happening in Space Policy February 2-6, 2015

What's Happening in Space Policy February 2-6, 2015

By Marcia Smith | Posted: February 1, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: February 1, 2015 5:18 pm ET

Here is our list of space policy related events for the week of February 2-6, 2015 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate will be in session this week.

During the Week

This is budget week in Washington.  The President will submit his FY2016 budget request to Congress tomorrow (Monday), kicking off debate over how much the government should spend and on what in the “discretionary spending” portion of the federal budget.  FY2016 begins on October 1, 2015.   Discretionary spending is generally broken into two parts — defense and non-defense.   NASA and NOAA are part of non-defense discretionary spending.  Although by law the sequester goes back into effect in FY2016, a senior administration official told reporters last week that the President’s budget request will not adhere to the spending caps set by the law.  The President apparently believes that the deeply unpopular sequester rules will be waived again (as they were for FY2014 and FY2015) or repealed or replaced entirely.  

Most departments and agencies hold budget briefings the day the budget is released, as does the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).  Typically the budget is posted on the Office of Management and Budget’s website in mid-morning, followed by the individual briefings.  Traditionally the NASA Administrator holds a budget briefing in Washington, but this year Administrator Bolden will be at Kennedy Space Center and instead will “address the progress made and the exciting work ahead on the agency’s exploration initiative that secures America’s leadership in space.”  That talk will be broadcast on NASA TV, especially to all the NASA field centers, which are holding “State of NASA” events for the public that include tours, briefings, and listening to Bolden.  For all the budget-watchers and policy wonks, explaining the budget request will be left to NASA Chief Financial Officer (CFO) David Radzanowski, who succeeded Beth Robinson as CFO last year.   He will hold a telecon with the media at 4:00 pm ET that will be broadcast on NASA’s News Audio website.

Another big event this week will be the confirmation hearing for Ash Carter to be the new Secretary of Defense.  That hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee is scheduled for Wednesday at 9:30 am ET.

Also on Wednesday, as well as Thursday, is the annual Commercial Space Transportation conference sponsored by the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation.  It will be held at the National Housing Conference Center in Washington, DC, the same locale as the last several years.

On Thursday, the American Astronomical Society (AAS) will hold its 2nd annual “State of the Universe” briefing on Capitol Hill to highlight new discoveries about the universe in the past year.

Those and other events we know about as of Sunday afternoon are listed below.

Monday, February 2

Monday, February 2 – Friday, February 13

Wednesday, February 4

Wednesday-Thursday, February 4-5

Thursday, February 5

Last Updated: Feb 01, 2015 5:18 pm ET
NASA Safety Panel Criticizes Commercial Crew Program for Lack of Openness

NASA Safety Panel Criticizes Commercial Crew Program for Lack of Openness

By Marcia Smith | Posted: January 28, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: January 28, 2015 10:34 pm ET

NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) released its annual report today.  Among its key points is criticism of NASA’s commercial crew program for its lack of openness, preventing the panel from offering “any informed opinion” on the certification process or “sufficiency of safety.”  The report’s release coincides with NASA’s Day of Remembrance in honor of the astronauts who died as the result of spaceflights.  The first of those accidents, the 1967 Apollo fire, led to Congress creating ASAP to advise NASA on safety.

The panel’s criticism of the commercial crew program was direct and unambiguous and levied at the very beginning of the report so as not to be missed:

“Within NASA, there are outstanding examples of programs that have inculcated a culture of clear and candid communications.  Their approach to accountability, good systems engineering, and respect, both up and down the organization chart, would find strong favor with the authors of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board Report.

“The Commercial Crew Program (CCP) is an exception to the culture of open communications.  Regrettably, the Panel has been denied the necessary timely access to information and is therefore unable to offer any informed opinion regarding the adequacy of the certification process or the sufficiency of safety in the CCP.  The NASA Administrator has committed to making the changes necessary to resolve this situation and to ensuring that these barriers are removed going forward into 2015.”

ASAP’s complaint comes just two days after NASA held a press conference with its commercial crew partners, Boeing and SpaceX, to herald the progress they are making to provide services to take astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS) by the end of 2017.

In a color-coded “traffic signal” chart later in the report, ASAP rated “risk transparency — Insight and communications” as red, meaning an issue of “long-standing concern or an issue that has not been adequately addressed by NASA.”  It is the only one of nine areas designated that way.  In describing its concerns in that area, ASAP includes not only commercial crew, but the Space Launch System and Orion programs.

“Risk communications concerning commercial crew activities by the Director of Commercial Spaceflight Development has been less than forthcoming.  Because Probabilistic Risk Assessment results provide a risk assessment of the design capability at maturity, actual risks for early operations of the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion could be significantly higher than the calculated or ‘advertised’ risk.  Because the perception of external stakeholders is vitally important, NASA’s Office of Communications must be cautious not to create or reinforce inaccurate perceptions of risk.”

A second key concern of the panel is what it calls the need for “constancy of purpose” at NASA.  It reflects the panel’s assessment that there is a “perceived lack of a well-defined mission for NASA’s space program” and a mismatch between NASA’s budget and what it is expected to do.  Reiterating what it said in prior years, ASAP finds that it is “imperative that NASA unambiguously articulate a well-defined purpose, including a path toward the execution of that mission, the technologies that need to be developed and matured, and the resources needed to accomplish that mission.”

ASAP criticizes NASA’s current “capabilities-based approach” which it believes is driven by budgets rather than a “purposeful, schedule-driven, goal-oriented endeavor.” While acknowledging that may be a pragmatic approach that could bridge a transition between presidential administrations, ASAP believes NASA would be better served to “focus on doing fewer things and on doing them better.” 

Without a clear and consistent goal, ASAP worries that schedule will become a “casualty” that could affect SLS and Orion in particular. 

The panel expressed other concerns about Orion and its use for the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM).   The panel assessed ARM itself as “a reasonable approach to a mission that is achievable,” but worries that the lack of an airlock on Orion adds risk because the entire capsule will have to be depressurized to allow the crew to exit and collect samples of the asteroid.  That means the crew will be entirely reliant on their spacesuits.  The spacesuits used for ISS spacewalks are “unworkable” for Orion, ASAP said, and although NASA officials have indicated that they have no plans to develop new spacesuits for ARM, ASAP suggests otherwise: “design and development of new-design suits, while underway, are still preliminary and untested.”   In addition, the panel notes, Orion is small and does not have much room for astronauts to move about or exercise even though the missions may last as long as three weeks:  “This long duration, crew habitability risk remains to be assessed and evaluated in order to develop an objective mission risk estimate.”

ASAP also is concerned about the small number of flights planned for SLS in terms of maintaining ground crew proficiency.   SLS and Orion are part of NASA’s Exploration Systems Development (ESD) program, which ASAP rates as “progressing very well.” but “there is much more work to be done … [in] defining the risks and the road to Mars.  These risks should continue to be communicated openly and transparently.”

The full ASAP report is posted on NASA’s website.   ASAP submits it both to NASA and to Congress.  ASAP chairman Vice Admiral Joseph Dyer (retired) typically is invited to testify to Congress about the panel’s findings each year.

ASAP was created by Congress in the NASA Authorization Act of 1968 (P.L. 90-67)  following the January 27, 1967 Apollo fire that killed Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee during a pre-launch ground test of what was expected to be the first Apollo mission.   Fourteen more astronauts subsequently died in two space shuttle accidents.  The January 28, 1986 space shuttle Challenger tragedy killed NASA astronauts Francis “Dick” Scobee, Mike Smith, Ron McNair, Ellison Onizuka and Judy Resnik; Hughes Aircraft engineer Greg Jarvis; and New Hampshire schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe.  On February 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated during its return to Earth, killing NASA astronauts Rick Husband, William McCool, Michael Anderson, David Brown, Kalpana Chawla, and Laurel Clark, and Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon.

Each year NASA holds a Day of Remembrance honoring all the astronauts who lost their lives in spaceflights.  Today is NASA’s 2015 Day of Remembrance,  NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, members of the Challenger families and others participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington Cemetery.  Several NASA centers held their own remembrance events.

Last Updated: Jan 28, 2015 10:34 pm ET
House SS&T Committee Starts Off 114th Congress on Partisan Footing

House SS&T Committee Starts Off 114th Congress on Partisan Footing

By Marcia Smith | Posted: January 27, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: January 27, 2015 6:34 pm ET

The House Science, Space and Technology (SS&T) Committee held its organizational meeting for the 114th Congress this morning.  The typically routine meeting held at the beginning of each new Congress had a strong partisan flavor to it this year, however.   The committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), issued a sharply worded news release detailing changes Republicans made to committee rules on party-line votes, calling it the “single greatest attack” on the rights of the minority party in the history of the committee.

Johnson is the “ranking minority member” of the committee, meaning the highest ranking member of the party that is not in power.  In the 114th Congress, Republicans are the Majority Party and Democrats are the Minority Party in both the House and Senate.

Historically, the House SS&T committee and many other congressional committees have trumpeted the fact that they work in a bipartisan manner, but party-line votes undermine such claims.

In fact, in his opening statement, committee chairman Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) heralded the fact that in the last Congress the committee approved 20 bills (of which six became law), 18 of them on a bipartisan basis, and said he hoped “we can build on this bipartisan success and do more in this Congress.”

Despite that sanguine note, Republicans then voted down all the Democratic amendments to modify the proposed rules (on one of the eight votes today, one Democrat voted with the Republicans).  Smith said in a statement after the meeting that what the committee adopted “preserves the legitimate rights of the Minority.”  He said during the meeting that the goal was to eliminate duplication and align the committee’s rules with those of the House (which also have been amended in this Congress). 

Johnson, who has served on the committee for 23 years under both Democratic and Republican leadership, clearly disagrees.  She listed the following changes that she believes diminishes the Minority’s rights: 

  • shortened notice requirements for markups and allowing the Majority to waive notice requirements entirely;
  • eliminating review periods for Members to review legislative reports prior to filing;
  • requiring more Members to support a request for a recorded vote;
  • allowing the Majority to hold a hearing without a single Minority member present;
  • providing the committee chair with unilateral subpoena authority;
  • eliminating requirements for consultation with the Minority; and
  • the Committee receiving blanket deposition authority in House Rules “for the first time in the half century history of the committee.”

Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD) contrasted this committee’s stance
with that of another committee on which she serves, House Transportation
and Infrastructure, where the entire organizational meeting, including
adoption of rules, took “five minutes” rather than beginning “a new Congress and a new year fighting about the rules.”

A webcast of the contentious meeting is on the committee’s website.

The rules may seem arcane (read our “What’s a Markup” fact sheet to learn what some of them mean), but they give the Majority power to hold hearings, subpoena witnesses and documents, and to more easily pass legislation out of committee and to the floor of the House on a partisan basis.  Of all the changes, giving the chairman unilateral authority to issue subpoenas could have the greatest impact.  In the last Congress, only the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee (Rep. Darrell Issa, R-CA) had such power.  House SS&T is one of several committees planning to give their chairs such authority in this Congress.  Smith said repeatedly that the authority is necessary because of the Obama Administration’s “dilatory tactics in responding to letters from this committee” and its “lack of transparency.”

How that will play out in the space policy arena remains to be seen, but the sharp differences between the parties on NASA were evident in 2013 when, under the previous rules, the committee approved on party-line votes a new NASA authorization bill that would have prohibited NASA from proceeding with the Asteroid Redirect Mission, dramatically cut funding for NASA overall and especially for Earth Sciences, and established the position of NASA Administrator as an appointed 6-year term.   That bill was never voted on by the House and a bipartisan version was crafted the next year after budget caps were raised, promoting greater agreement.  That bill did pass the House, but was not considered by the Senate and died at the end of the last Congress, so this Congress will be starting over again.  Smith did say today that he hopes a new NASA authorization bill can clear the committee in a bipartisan manner as it did last year.

The number of committee members from each party is roughly proportional to the ratio of Republicans to Democrats in the full House.  For the 114th Congress, Republicans have 22 slots on the House SS&T committee and the Democrats have 17. 

The Republicans announced their membership, including all their subcommittee assignments today.   Democrats are still awaiting appointment of four of their 17 full committee members by the House Democratic leadership and have not announced subcommittee assignments.  The 13 Democrats currently assigned to the full committee are Johnson, Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Daniel Lipinski (D-IL), Donna Edwards (D-MD), Frederica Wilson (D-FL), Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Eric Swalwell (D-CA), Alan Grayson (D-FL), Ami Bera (D-CA), Elizabeth Esty (D-CT), Marc Veasey (D-TX), Katherine Clark (D-MA), and Don Beyer (D-VA).

The Space Subcommittee, which oversees NASA and the FAA’s Office of
Commercial Space Transportation, will have nine Republicans and six
Democrats.  Rep. Steve Palazzo (R-MS) will continue to chair the
subcommittee.  The Subcommittee on Environment, which oversees NOAA’s weather forecasting activities,
will also have nine Republicans and six Democrats and Rep. Jim
Bridenstine (R-OK) will serve as chairman.  The Subcommittee on
Oversight, which has broad jurisdiction, including NOAA’s Satellite Modernization activities, was very active in the last
Congress under the chairmanship of Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA), who lost his
Republican primary last year.  This year the subcommittee will have six Republicans and four Democrats and be
chaired by another Georgian, Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA).

The committee also adopted its oversight plan for the 114th Congress today.  With regard to NASA, NOAA satellite programs, and the FAA’s commercial space activities, the language is virtually identical to the 113th Congress plan.  The only notable difference is that oversight of NASA’s earth science program is now under the Space Subcommittee’s purview; last time it was listed with the Environment Subcommittee.

Last Updated: Jan 27, 2015 6:34 pm ET
Commercial Crew To Be Ready by 2017, But NASA Will Keep Flying on Soyuz Too

Commercial Crew To Be Ready by 2017, But NASA Will Keep Flying on Soyuz Too

By Marcia Smith | Posted: January 26, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: January 26, 2015 10:52 pm ET

NASA held a press conference today with its Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCAP) partners Boeing and SpaceX today to highlight progress on developing U.S. systems to take astronauts to space.  Both companies said they will be ready by the end of 2017, but CBS News adds that NASA still plans to use one seat on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft for the duration of the space station program and for Russians to fly on the U.S. systems.

Launching American astronauts on American vehicles from American soil has been a NASA goal since the Obama Administration terminated the space shuttle program in 2011.   NASA currently pays Russia approximately $75 million per seat to launch U.S. astronauts (and those from its Canadian, European and Japanese ISS partners) on Soyuz spacecraft.  Russia is the only ISS partner capable of launching humans into space today.

Last September, NASA picked Boeing and SpaceX to continue to the final phase of developing new U.S. crew space transportation systems in a public private partnership where both the government and the company invest capital in the new systems.  NASA not only pays part of the development cost, but is a guaranteed market for a certain number of flights.

Boeing’s John Elbon and SpaceX’s Gwynne Shotwell briefly laid out their companies’ plans for meeting the 2017 goal today.  Elbon said that Boeing’s CST-100 spacecraft will have its first uncrewed orbital test to the ISS in April 2017, with a crewed test in July 2017 and operational services beginning in December 2017.   Shotwell said SpaceX’s test flight of the crew version of its Dragon spacecraft would be late in 2016 and the first operational mission in early 2017.   Dragon is already used for uncrewed cargo missions to the ISS – one is docked there right now.

NASA’s commercial crew program manager, Kathy Lueders, suggested there is some flexibility about the timing, saying that NASA needs the services in the “late 2017, 2018 time frame.”   NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden also was careful in his wording about the date, saying that he is looking to the companies to deliver as promised by the end 2017 and “if we can make that date, I’m a happy camper.”  Lueders also said that Boeing would be the first to fly crews to the ISS, even though Elbon’s timeline was later than Shotwell’s.

NASA funding is critical to the CCtCAP program and Congress has taken several years to warm up to the idea, initially providing roughly half of the money the Administration requested.   NASA originally hoped commercial crew systems would be ready by 2015, but Bolden often cites congressional underfunding of the program as the reason the date slipped to 2017.

Today, however, Bolden was optimistic that Congress would provide the full amount that the President will request in his FY2016 budget proposal.  The President is expected to submit his FY2016 budget request to Congress on February 2.  Agencies like NASA are not allowed to discuss what is in the budget request until it is released.  For FY2015, the President requested $848 million and Congress appropriated $805 million, the closest Congress has come to appropriating what the Administration wanted for this program.

Lueders said that by the end of the program, NASA will have spent about $5 billion on development and the average cost per seat will be $58 million.  She said that figure is not traceable back to the contracts, however.  It is a “derived” value based on the mission costs over five years for crew and cargo (CST-100 and Dragon can carry both).   She said it is not NASA’s intent to have an exact price, but only to indicate that U.S. industry has “stepped up to provide cost effective solutions to flying crews” to ISS.

Bolden emphasized today his desire to end U.S. dependence on Russia, saying he hopes to never have to write a check to Russia’s Roscosmos after 2017.  That does not mean, however, that American astronauts no longer will fly on Russian Soyuz spacecraft.    CBS News space correspondent Bill Harwood reported today on a January 15 interview with ISS Program Manager Mike Suffredini who said that NASA plans to use one seat on Soyuz for the duration of the ISS program and Russians would fly on the U.S. commercial vehicles.  “We’re assuming two Russian seats a year and we’re assuming two Russians will fly in our seats per year … And it’ll just be a quid pro quo, we won’t ask for compensation,” Suffredini told Harwood.

Bolden also said at the press conference today that he thinks the Russians will be “perfectly happy” with the advent of the U.S. commercial systems because they provide redundancy in crew access to the ISS and the “intent is to fly mixed crews.”

Bolden’s theme throughout the press conference was that NASA needs to focus on space exploration, specifically going to Mars, and that will require participation of international and commercial partners.   Turning transportation to and from low Earth orbit (LEO) over to the commercial sector frees NASA to focus on deep space exploration.  After the ISS has fulfilled its purpose around 2024, it will be taken apart and deorbited, he said, and future LEO infrastructure will be provided by commercial companies:  the “world of LEO belongs to industry, it doesn’t belong to the government, it doesn’t belong to NASA at all.”

Last Updated: Jan 26, 2015 10:52 pm ET
What's Happening in Space Policy January 26-30, 2015

What's Happening in Space Policy January 26-30, 2015

By Marcia Smith | Posted: January 25, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: January 25, 2015 2:42 pm ET

Here is our list of space policy related events for the week of January 26-30, 2015 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are in session this week.

During the Week

On the off chance you haven’t been watching the weather forecasts, the week starts off with a major winter storm for the Northeast, so if you’re headed in this direction for meetings, be prepared for delays.  The Washington, DC area is not expected to get much snow (a few inches) but it may as well be the two feet they’re forecasting for New England when it comes to impact. This area just does not do well in snow.

Tomorrow in warmer climes — Houston — NASA and its Commercial
Crew Transportation Program (CCtCAP) partners, Boeing and SpaceX, will
hold a news briefing
at Johnson Space Center to provide an update on their progress in
developing crew transportation systems to service the International
Space Station (ISS) by 2017.  The 11:00 am Central Time (12:00 noon
Eastern) briefing will be broadcast on NASA TV. 

Or head to Cocoa Beach, FL for the three-day (Tuesday-Thursday) NASA Advanced Innovative Concepts (NIAC) 2015 symposium.  If you can’t make it in person, it will be webcast.  

Back here in DC, on Tuesday, when it may still feel like the Arctic, the Secure World Foundation will hold a really interesting seminar on “Space and the Arctic: Why Space Capabilities are Important for Sustainable Arctic Development” from 12:00-2:00 pm ET.  Please RSVP in advance if you plan to attend.

An hour before that, the House Science, Space and Technology Committee will hold its 114th Congress organizational meeting, postponed from last week.  The House Appropriations Committee holds its organizational meeting on Wednesday.  The House and Senate Armed Services Committees (HASC and SASC) have interesting hearings on broad topics this week.  It is not clear whether national security space issues will come up at all, but they may, and the hearings seem interesting nonetheless.   One SASC hearing  is on the impact of sequestration on national security with the military service chiefs (the sequester comes back into effect in FY2016 unless the law is changed) and the other is on global challenges with three former Secretaries of State (Kissinger, Shultz and Albright).  The HASC hearing is on how to improve DOD’s ability to respond to technological change.

If you’re interested in a career in space policy and in the D.C. area on Tuesday, don’t miss the panel discussion on that topic Tuesday evening at George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute.  Five young professionals who are climbing that ladder of success right now will be there to offer their perspectives and advice.

We also want to note that this week begins the anniversaries of the three fatal spaceflight accidents:  Apollo 1 (or Apollo 204) on January 27, 1967; Challenger, January 28, 1986; and Columbia, February 1, 2003.   NASA usually holds a remembrance event around this time, but we have not heard when/where/what it will be this year.

The meetings that we do know about as of Sunday afternoon are listed below.

Monday, January 26

Tuesday, January 27

Tuesday-Thursday, January 27-29

Wednesday, January 28

Wednesday-Thursday, January 28-29

Thursday, January 29

Last Updated: Jan 25, 2015 2:42 pm ET
SpaceX Drops Lawsuit Against Air Force

SpaceX Drops Lawsuit Against Air Force

By Marcia Smith | Posted: January 23, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: January 23, 2015 7:11 pm ET

SpaceX announced today that it reached agreement with the Air Force on a “path forward” and is dropping its lawsuit against a 2013 Air Force contract with the United Launch Alliance (ULA) for a “block-buy” of 36 launch vehicle cores for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. 

SpaceX filed suit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in April 2014 arguing that the 2013 contract should not have been awarded on a sole-source basis, but opened for bid.  The company’s founder and Chief Designer, Elon Musk, said at the time that ULA’s prices for launching the two EELVs — Atlas V and Delta IV — were “four times as expensive” as a SpaceX launch and the award was “not right.”  

SpaceX has been awarded a few Air Force launch contracts (such as the DSCOVR launch now scheduled for February 8), but not for the potentially more lucrative launches of national security satellites by EELV-class rockets.  It is still awaiting certification from the Air Force to be able to compete for those launches.  Air Force officials indicated last year that certification was expected by the end of 2014, but most recently said it may not come until this summer.

The company said in statement today that its agreement with the Air Force “improves the competitive landscape and achieves mission assurance for national security space launches.”   The agreement calls for the Air Force to “work collaboratively” with SpaceX to complete the certification process,   The SpaceX statement also said that the Air Force “has expanded the number of competitive opportunities for launch services under the EELV program while honoring existing contractual obligations.”

“Per the settlement, SpaceX will dismiss its claims relating to the EELV block buy contract pending in the United States Court of Federal Claims,” the SpaceX statement concludes.

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) is a strong supporter of SpaceX’s efforts to win EELV contracts.  At a Senate hearing last summer, he left no doubt about his dissatisfaction with the Air Force’s handling of the EELV block-buy award and its treatment of SpaceX.  He is now the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), which oversees the Air Force.

SpaceX’s complaint against the ULA contract came at the same time U.S.-Russian geopolitical relationships soured because of Russia’s actions in Ukraine.  It highlighted ULA’s  utilization of Russian RD-180 rocket engines for the Atlas V rocket and catalyzed a debate about U.S. dependence on Russian rocket engines.  The FY2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) essentially prohibits DOD from entering into a new contract or renewing a current contract for purchasing Russian rocket engines for national security space launches.  The law authorizes $220 million in FY2015 for the Air Force to develop a “next generation”  rocket propulsion system by 2019.   Meanwhile, ULA and Blue Origin announced last fall that they are teaming to develop a new U.S.-produced engine for the Atlas V that is already completely funded (i.e., no government funds are required).

Last Updated: Jan 23, 2015 7:11 pm ET
Bolden: Keep Moving the Ball Forward, Don't Get Discouraged

Bolden: Keep Moving the Ball Forward, Don't Get Discouraged

By Marcia Smith | Posted: January 20, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: January 20, 2015 4:28 pm ET

NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden conveyed optimism today in a speech to the space business community in Maryland, urging them to not get discouraged and to “move the ball forward.”  Without promising that President Obama would mention space in tonight’s State of the Union address, Bolden offered suggestions on what the President could say if he chose to.

Bolden avoided specifics in his first major public speech of the year.  The President’s FY2016 budget request will not be released until February, so he could not talk about what the President has in mind for the agency other than commenting that he expects it to reflect a “vote of confidence” that the agency is on the right track.  “If you want to know what the future holds in our field, I think ‘more of the same’ is not too hard of a prediction to make.”

The key is “we’re moving the ball forward … bit by bit,” he said early in the speech to the Maryland Space Business Roundtable (MSBR) in Greenbelt, MD, a theme he repeated to the end.

The “absolute worst thing” would be “to interrupt that progress and go back to the beginning” he said, acknowledging “we did it in this Administration, almost, we didn’t quite go back and reset, there was an attempt made to do that, and we chose not to do that” but instead we “took the work that had been done prior to this Administration .. and adopted and adapted some of it so we are where we are today.”

Stressing that he was not suggesting President Obama would say anything about space exploration in tonight’s State of the Union address, Bolden said the President could say “for the first time in human history we may be going inside the 20-years-to-Mars.”   Sending humans to Mars still is “without a doubt” at least 20 years away, he clarified, but “we’re about to slip under that 20-year threshold.”

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly will sit with First Lady Michelle Obama during tonight’s speech.  Kelly is about to embark on a year-long mission to the International Space Station (ISS) to learn more about human adaptation to living in space in preparation for eventual human trips to Mars.

Other nations are counting on the United States to continue to lead in space exploration, Bolden said, and when he meets with other ISS partners about what they want to do next, they say “we’re going where you go.”  They have an expectation “that we know what the heck we’re doing,” and “we’ve got to be able to deliver on that promise.”

“We’re on a journey to Mars,” he proclaimed, adding that he realizes that people in the audience have heard that for so long they may not be as convinced as he is, but “I mean that…..I’m dedicated to that.”

“You’re moving the ball forward,” he told the audience.  “Do not get discouraged.  Do not let people tell you what you’re doing is not of great value to this nation…. Hang in there. … We’re gonna get there.”

Last Updated: Jan 20, 2015 4:28 pm ET
GAO Releases Text of Its Denial of Sierra Nevada's CCtCAP Protest

GAO Releases Text of Its Denial of Sierra Nevada's CCtCAP Protest

By Marcia Smith | Posted: January 20, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: January 20, 2015 6:11 pm ET

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) today released the text of its decision denying Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC’s) protest of NASA’s decision to award the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCAP) awards to SpaceX and Boeing.  The public release of the redacted document follows NASA’s release of its Source Selection Statement late last Friday.

GAO denied SNC’s protest on January 5, but the text of its decision had to be reviewed and some information redacted because it was subject to a GAO Protective Order.  The public version released today is 21 pages long and has a fair number of [DELETED] notations including detailed price information for all three bidders although the total price bid by each is presented:  Boeing, $3,099,016,464; SpaceX, $1,753,698,691; and SNC, $2,552,271,681.

Price was not the only factor in NASA’s decision, as evidenced by
NASA’s Source Selection Statement, signed by Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations.  The other two were Mission Suitability and Past Performance.  Price was more important than Mission Suitability, which was more important than Past Performance.   The combination of Mission Suitability and Past Performance was approximately equal to Price.  NASA determined that SpaceX “had the best price and also Very Good mission suitability and a High level of confidence in past performance.”  Boeing “is the strongest of all three proposals in both Mission Suitability and Past Performance” even though it is higher in price.  SNC “has a strong management approach” and its “performance on other very relevant work has been very good,” but Gerstenmaier said he agreed with the Source Evaluation Board’s “evaluation that SNC has the lowest rating for the technical subfactor” and SNC’s design is “at the lowest level of maturity.”

GAO agreed with NASA’s determinations.  It denied SNC’s four protests —

  • that NASA improperly elevated the importance of a solicitation goal to a de facto requirement;
  • that NASA’s determination that the awardee’s fixed price was realistic;
  • of NASA’s technical evaluation; and
  • of NASA’s past performance evaluation.

CCtCAP is the final phase of NASA’s efforts to facilitate commercial development of crew space transportation systems to service the International Space Station (ISS) through what are essentially public-private partnerships.  NASA supported all three companies in the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCAP) phase, but had to choose only two of the three to proceed to this phase, which is intended to result in systems capable of entering service by the end of 2017. 

SNC has vowed to continue with its vehicle, Dream Chaser, despite losing the protest.  Dream Chaser is a winged vehicle that resembles a small space shuttle.  The Boeing CST-100 and SpaceX Dragon vehicles are capsules reminiscent of an Apollo spacecraft.   SpaceX is already launching an uncrewed version of Dragon as a cargo carrying spacecraft.  SpaceX’s most recent “commercial cargo” launch to the ISS was on January 10.  That Dragon spacecraft is still attached to the ISS and expected to return to Earth in February.

Last Updated: Jan 20, 2015 6:11 pm ET
NASA Gets Two Shout Outs in State of the Union Address

NASA Gets Two Shout Outs in State of the Union Address

By Marcia Smith | Posted: January 20, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: January 20, 2015 11:44 pm ET

President Obama mentioned NASA twice (and NOAA once) in his State of the Union (SOTU) address tonight.  First he talked about the Orion EFT-1 flight last year and Scott Kelly’s upcoming year-long mission to the International Space Station (ISS) as steppingstones to Mars.  Later he turned to climate change and lauded NASA and NOAA scientists among those warning that humans are affecting the climate.

Part of the coveted currency of Washington politics is getting mentioned in the SOTU.  Agencies and interest groups jockey to get a single sentence in the typically hour-long speech to raise awareness of their issues. The actual value of that currency is questionable, but seems no less desirable as the years pass.  This is not the first time Obama has mentioned NASA or the space program in an SOTU address (he did so in 2011 and 2013), but his one major space policy speech was a separate event at Kennedy Space Center in April 2010.

Thinking back over the history of when being singled out in the SOTU resulted in a significant policy change for NASA, the only one that comes to mind is President Ronald Reagan’s 1984 address where he directed NASA to build a space station “within a decade” and invite other countries to join. That eventually became the ISS program, though it took two-and-a-half decades instead of one.   In 1986, Reagan called for development of an “Orient Express” — a single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) vehicle that could not only put payloads into orbit but be used as a commercial hypersonic plane to take passengers from Washington to Tokyo in two hours.  The resulting National Aero-Space Plane (NASP) program did not succeed.  (John F. Kennedy’s May 1961 speech to Congress that began the Apollo program was not a State of the Union address, but a separate speech on Urgent National Needs.)

Nonetheless, NASA undoubtedly is delighted to get two mentions tonight.   First was human spaceflight.  Obama does not identify the Orion spacecraft or the EFT-1 mission by name, but refers to a spaceflight “last month” as part of a program to send people to Mars that can only mean that flight.  He also introduced astronaut Scott Kelly, who was sitting in First Lady Michelle Obama’s box.  Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will begin a year-long mission aboard ISS in March.   Here is the text of that portion of the speech as published on the White House website. 

“I want Americans to win the race for the kinds of discoveries that unleash new jobs – converting sunlight into liquid fuel; creating revolutionary prosthetics, so that a veteran who gave his arms for his country can play catch with his kid; pushing out into the Solar System not just to visit, but to stay.  Last month, we launched a new spacecraft as part of a re-energized space program that will send American astronauts to Mars.  In two months, to prepare us for those missions, Scott Kelly will begin a year-long stay in space.  Good luck, Captain – and make sure to Instagram it.”

 

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly (in blue flight suit) at January 20, 2015 State of the Union address.  Photo tweeted by NASA
(@nasahqphoto). First lady Michelle Obama is in front at the far left in grey dress; Dr. Jill Biden is third from left in green dress.

Later the President spoke about climate change and mentioned both NASA and NOAA.

“2014 was the planet’s warmest year on record.  Now, one year doesn’t make a trend, but this does – 14 of the 15 warmest years on record have all fallen in the first 15 years of this century.


“I’ve heard some folks try to dodge the evidence by saying they’re not scientists; that we don’t have enough information to act.  Well, I’m not a scientist, either.  But you know what – I know a lot of really good scientists at NASA, and NOAA, and at our major universities.  The best scientists in the world are all telling us that our activities are changing the climate, and if we do not act forcefully, we’ll continue to see rising oceans, longer, hotter heat waves, dangerous droughts and floods, and massive disruptions that can trigger greater migration, conflict, and hunger around the globe.  The Pentagon says that climate change poses immediate risks to our national security.  We should act like it.”

Whether his words will lead to action in the form of more funding for Mars missions or climate change science should become evident on February 2 when his FY2016 budget request is submitted to Congress.

No mention was made of NASA, the space program or climate change in the much briefer Republican response to the SOTU by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA).

 

Last Updated: Jan 20, 2015 11:44 pm ET

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