Here is our list of space policy events for the week of January 12-16, 2015 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are in session this week.

During the Week

The week starts off with the berthing of the SpaceX CRS-5 (SpX-5) Dragon spacecraft with the International Space Station at about 6:00 am ET Monday morning.  It may seem anticlimatic compared with Saturday’s SpX-5 launch — or rather the attempted landing of the Falcon 9 first stage on an autonomous drone ship.   While that didn’t go as planned, as a test it certainly was a success as a step towards reusability.

Congressional committee activities for the 114th Congress get off to a start this week.  Many House committees, including the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), are holding their organizational meetings to adopt rules, lay out majority and minority agendas, and complete administrative tasks.   Rep. MacThornberry (R-TX) takes over the HASC gavel this Congress from Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-CA), who retired.   Over in the Senate, SASC is holding an actual hearing with a single witness — Henry Kissinger — expounding on global challenges and U.S. national security.  Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) will chair SASC in this Congress.   Space topics do not usually arise in hearings like these on broad, top level national security issues, but U.S. dependence on Russia for rocket engines, the overall state of national security space assets, or perceived threats posed by China’s space activities might come up depending on where the conversation goes.

Down at Stennis Space Center, MS, the NASA Advisory Council (NAC) and two of its committees — Science  and Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) — will meet this week.  A joint session Monday afternoon between the Science and HEO committees might be particularly interesting.  Then, on Tuesday morning HEO Associate Administrator Bill Gerstenmaier will provide the HEO committee with an update on HEO activities overall and Michele Gates and Lindley Johnson will present an update on the Asteroid Redirect Mission.  Later in the day, Alan Lindenmoyer will offer NAC-HEO “lessons learned” from the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program.  The meetings are available virtually via WebEx and telecon (click on the links to those meetings below or on the right menu for instructions).

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

Monday, January 12

• SpaceX CRS-5 Arrives at International Space Station, approximately 6:00 am ET (NASA TV coverage begins at 4:30 am ET)

Monday-Tuesday, January 12-13

• NASA Advisory Council (NAC) Science Committee, Stennis Space Center, MS
• NAC Human Exploration and Operations Committee, Stennis Space Center, MS
  • The two committees will meet in joint session on January 12 from 1:00-5:30 pm Central Time (2:00-6:30 pm Eastern)

Tuesday, January 13

• HASC Organizational Meeting, 2118 Rayburn, 11:00 am ET
• SASC Hearing on Global Challenges and U.S. National Security, G-50 Dirksen, 2:30 pm ET

Wednesday-Thursday, January 14-15

• NASA Advisory Council, Stennis Space Center, MS

Thursday, January 15

• AIAA-NCS Luncheon Featuring NOAA Administrator Kathy Sullivan, Army Navy Country Club, Arlington, VA, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm ET
• WSBR Luncheon Featuring Panel on Upcoming Battle Over C-Band at WRC 2015, University Club, Washington, DC, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm ET

Friday, January 16

• European Space Agency Director General Dordain’s Annual Breakfast Press Briefing, Paris, FR, 9:00 am Central European Time (3:00 am Eastern)

Here is our list of space policy related events coming up for the first week-and-a-half of the New Year and any insight we can offer about them.   The 114th Congress convenes at noon on Tuesday, January 6.

During the Weeks

The New Year gets off with a bang in 2015 with three major conferences, a SpaceX launch that could demonstrate the Falcon 9 first stage returning to land on a barge, the beginning of a new Congress, and meetings of three NASA advisory groups.

The three conferences are:

• The American Meteorological Society (AMS) annual meeting in Phoenix (January 4-8)
• The American Astronomical Society (AAS) winter meeting in Seattle (January 4-8), and
• The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) SciTech 2015 conference in Kissimmee, FL (January 5-9)

Special sessions (e.g. Town Halls, lectures, plenaries) will be held at each. The conference organizers have varying policies on webcasting, so check at the links provided to determine if these events can be viewed remotely.

SpaceX’s fifth operational cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS), SpaceX CRS-5 or SpX-5, was postponed from December 19 to January 6 because a Falcon 9 static fire test did not go as planned.  Launch on January 6 is at 6:18 am EST.  While SpaceX cargo resupply missions to the ISS have become somewhat routine, SpaceX founder and chief designer Elon Musk has been using them — with NASA’s concurrence — to test the reusability of the Falcon 9 first stage.  On two missions already, the first stage has returned vertically to “land” on the ocean — tipping over into the water, of course, at the end.   On this flight, SpaceX will attempt to land it on a specially designed barge as the next step towards reusability.

Later that day,  back in Washington, the 114th Congress will convene with the House and Senate both in Republican hands.   Will that mean less gridlock?   Post-election vibes suggest that in the Senate, at least, liberal Democrats may take pages from the playbook used by Tea Party Republicans to demonstrate that the minority party wields power, too, so there are no sure bets.

NASA’s advisory bodies — or “analysis groups” (AGs) in some cases — also get off to a fast start.  Two of the AGs are first up:  the ExoPlanet Exploration Analysis Group (ExoPAG) this weekend (January 3-4) and Small Bodies Analysis Group (SBAG) on January 6-7.  AGs are not officially allowed to give advice to NASA because they are not chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).  Only FACA-chartered bodies are supposed to give “advice,” but non-FACA groups can provide input that seems a lot like advice.  ExoPAG provides input to the NASA Advisory Council’s (NAC’s) Astrophysics Subcommittee and SBAG provides input to NAC’s Planetary Science Subcommittee.  Both of those subcommittees report to NAC’s Science Committee.  Another NAC Science subcommittee, Heliophysics, meets on Friday, January 9. 

These and other meetings scheduled for January 1-9, 2015 are listed below.

Saturday-Sunday, January 3-4

• ExoPAG, Seattle, WA

Sunday-Thursday, January 4-8

•  American Meteorological Society (AMS) annual meeting, Phoenix, AZ
•  American Astronomical Society (AAS) winter meeting, Seattle, WA

Monday-Friday, January 5-9

• American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) SciTech 2015, Kissimmee, FL

Monday, January 5

• SpaceX CRS-5 (SpX-5) pre-launch briefings, NASA Kennedy Space Center, FL (watch on NASA TV)
  • 12:00 noon EST, Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) Earth science instrument
  • 1:30 pm EST, science briefing
  • 4:00 pm EST, mission status briefing

Tuesday, January 6

• SpaceX CRS-5 launch, Cape Canaveral, FL, 6:18 am EST (watch on NASA TV beginning at 5:00 am EST); post-launch briefing approximately 90 minutes after launch
• 114th Congress convenes, noon EST, The Capitol, Washington, DC

Tuesday-Wednesday, January 6-7

• SBAG, Phoenix, AZ

Thursday, January 8

• SpaceX CRS-5 arrives at ISS.  NASA TV coverage of grapple begins at 4:30 am EST (grapple is approx. 6:00 am EST) and of berthing at 8:15 am EST.

Thursday-Friday, January 8-9

• 2nd International Space Conference, Noida, India

Friday, January 9

• NAC Heliophysics Subcommittee, NASA HQ, Washington, DC, 2:00-4:00 pm EST

Orbital Sciences Corporation confirmed via Twitter a story published by Aviation Week & Space Technology that it has chosen a different Russian engine, RD-181, for its Antares rocket.  The last Antares launch, powered by Russian NK-33 engines (refurbished by Aerojet Rocketdyne and redesignated AJ26), exploded 15 seconds after liftoff on October 28.

Orbital confirmed after the launch failure that it would use a different engine for future Antares rockets, but as recently as last week, Orbital Chairman, President and CEO David Thompson declined to publicly identify the engine despite rumors that it would be Russian.

Aviation Week’s Frank Morring posted a story yesterday quoting Orbital’s vice president for space launch strategic development Mark Pieczynski as saying the RD-181, built by Energomash,
“is about as close as you could possibly get to replacing the current twin AJ-26 engines in Antares, so it minimizes the redesign of the core.”  The first set of RD-181s is expected in the summer of 2015, Morring reported, with a second set arriving in the fall.

Orbital has announced plans for recovering from the October 28 launch failure, which destroyed the Cygnus spacecraft that was carrying cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of Orbital’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA.  The contract requires Orbital to deliver 20 tons of cargo to ISS by the end of 2016.  To fulfill the contract, Orbital will use another company’s rocket for at least one launch of Cygnus while getting the reconfigured Antares ready for launch in 2016.  That other company is the United Launch Alliance (ULA).  Orbital is buying one ULA Atlas V launch, with an option for one more.

In tweets yesterday and today, Orbital (@OrbitalSciences) said that the RD-181 is the “only propulsion system that enables us to complete cargo commitments to @NASA under #CRS contract by end of 2016.”  It also disputed reports on some media outlets that the value of its order for the engines is $1 billion.  “Total possible value (including options) of #RD181 order significantly below the $1 billion being reported by some media outlets.”

One of those media outlets is Russia’s Sputnik News, formerly RIA Novosti.  It reported today that the order is for 60 RD-181 engines, citing another Russian newspaper, Izvestiya.  According to that account, an official from Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said there is a firm contract for 20 engines with a commitment to deliver a total of 60.  A subsequent story from Sputnik News quotes Orbital’s Barron Beneski as saying the $1 billion figure is incorrect and “The full value if all the options were exercised would be significantly less.” 

Congress recently passed legislation prohibiting the purchase of a different Russian engine, the RD-180, for use in ULA’s Atlas V rocket.  Atlas V is used for many U.S. national security spacecraft and U.S. dependence on Russia for those engines became a significant issue after Russia’s actions in Ukraine.  The final version of the FY2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) prohibits the Secretary of Defense from awarding or renewing a contract to procure rocket engines designed or manufactured in Russia for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program.  Atlas V and Delta IV are the two EELVs, so the language does not affect Antares. 

Morring quotes Orbital’s Ron Grabe, executive vice president and general manager of the company’s Launch Systems Group, as saying the company “coordinated with all relevant congressional staffs” and notes that the ISS program itself is dependent on cooperation with Russia.  ISS is an international partnership among the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan, and 11 European countries.  NASA has been dependent on Russia to launch crews to the ISS since the space shuttle was terminated in 2011.

Here is our list of space policy-related events for the rest of 2014 as the holidays approach.  This edition covers December 15-31, 2014.   The Senate will be in session tomorrow, at least, but the expectation is that the 113th Congress will come to a close very soon.

During the Week

The Senate is scheduled to be in session tomorrow for what may be the last day of the 113th Congress, though even at this late date it is difficult to say that with any certainty.   After a tumultuous few days, the House and Senate have passed and sent to the President the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 — the “CRomnibus” — which funds NASA, NOAA, DOD and most other government departments and agencies through the end of FY2015 (September 30, 2015).  Only the Department of Homeland Security is funded under another Continuing Resolution (CR), through February 27, 2015, because of the immigration debate.   We’ve published many stories about the debate, the angst, the uncertainty, etc. and will not reiterate it here (type “cromnibus” into our search box and you should be able to retrieve them).  Suffice it to say that it was a very nice holiday gift for NASA — a $549 million increase above the President’s request, or $363 million more than FY2014.  The question will be whether Congress will sustain that level of funding in future years.  A one-year plus-up is nice, but it’s the long haul that counts.   NOAA’s satellite programs also did well.  We’ll publish an article summarizing the DOD space program provisions shortly.

Outside the beltway, the highlight of this week certainly will be the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in San Francisco.   AGU is webcasting many of its press conferences and those related to NASA are listed below and on our calendar on the right menu.   Among them — findings from MAVEN, Curiosity, and Rosetta are on tap for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, and a look forward at New Horizons’ arrival at Pluto next year is on Thursday.

And, if all goes well, SpaceX will launch its fifth operational cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday.  Three pre-launch briefings are scheduled for Thursday.   Arrival at the ISS will be on Sunday if the launch goes on Friday.  NASA TV will cover it all.

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

SpacePolicyOnline.com wishes all of you Happy Holidays and a fantastic New Year!

Monday-Friday, December 15-19

• American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA

Monday, December 15

• AGU Press Conferences on NASA Topics (webcast)
  • 9:00 am PST (12:00 noon EST), Early Results from MAVEN
  • 10:30 am PST (1:30 pm EST), X-rays and Gamma Rays in Thunderstorms
  • 1:30 pm PST (4:30 pm EST), Greenland’s Melt Dynamics

Tuesday, December 16

• MSBR Luncheon Featuring Iridium’s Matt Desch, University Club, Washington, DC, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm EST
• AGU Press Conferences on NASA Topics (webcast)
  • 9:00 am PST (12:00 noon EST), California’s Epic Drought as Viewed from Space
  • 10:30 am PST (1:30 pm EST), NASA’s Curiosity Rover Findings About Modern and Ancient Mars
  • 2:30 pm PST (5:30 pm EST), Holidays in Lights:  Tracking Culture from Space

Wednesday, December 17

• AGU Press Conferences on NASA Topics (webcast)
  • 8:00 am PST (11:00 am EST), Rosetta Comet Science Results
  • 11:30 am PST (2:30 pm EST), Arctic Heating:  15 Years of Sea Ice Loss — and Absorbed Solar Radiation Gains
  • 2:30 pm PST (5:30 pm EST), After the Pulse Flow: Greening the Colorado River Delta

Thursday, December 18

• Press Conference on Upcoming One-Year ISS Mission, UNESCO HQ, Paris, FR, 10:00 am EST (watch on NASA TV)
• NOAA Media Telecon on Upcoming DSCOVR Launch, virtual, 11:00 am EST
• SpaceX CRS-5 Pre-Launch Briefings, Kennedy Space Center, FL (watch on NASA TV)
  • 12:00 noon EST, Status Briefing
  • 1:30 pm EST, Science Briefing
  • 3:00 pm EST, CATS Briefing
• AGU Press Conferences on NASA Topics (webcast)
     
• 9:00 am EST (12:00 noon EST), Early Results from Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) Mission
• 11:30 pm PST (2:30 pm EST), New Horizons on Pluto’s Doorstep

Friday, December 19

• SpaceX CRS-5 (SpX-5) Launch, Cape Canaveral, FL, 1:20 pm EST (NASA TV coverage begins 12:15 pm EST)

Sunday, December 21

• SpX-5 Arrival at ISS (if launched on Friday), grapple approximately 6:00 am EST (NASA TV coverage begins 4:15 am EST)

The House approved the FY2015 “cromnibus” spending package tonight by a vote of 219-206.  The Senate still must act on the measure so the House also passed another Continuing Resolution (CR) to extend government funding for two more days, through midnight Saturday.  The Senate quickly passed the two-day CR, averting a government shutdown tonight.

The cromnibus is a mix of a CR and an omnibus appropriations bill.  A CR provides funding for a short period of time at the previous year’s level.  An omnibus consolidates several regular full-year appropriations bills into a single legislative package.  This bill combines full year appropriations for departments and agencies in 11 of the 12 regular appropriations bills (including NASA, NOAA and DOD) with a short term CR for the 12th (the Department of Homeland Security-DHS).  Funding DHS only through February 27, 2015, is intended to signal Republican dissatisfaction with President Obama’s executive order on immigration.  Immigration is part of DHS.

The battle over the cromnibus was intense and at times its passage seemed in jeopardy.  The final vote was 219-206.   Voting in favor were 162 Republicans and 57 Democrats.  Voting against were 67 Republicans and 139 Democrats.  Five members from each party did not vote.

The rancor was over provisions agreed to by House and Senate negotiators endeavoring to reach a compromise.  The end result clearly does not please everyone.  Conservative Republicans reportedly want a stronger reaction against the President’s immigration executive order, liberal Democrats and some Republicans object to a provision weakening the Dodd-Frank financial regulations, and liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans object to changes to the campaign finance law. 

The White House supported passage, but House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said the House was being “blackmailed” into voting for it.

The battle now moves to the Senate.  With passage of the new two-day CR, it has until midnight Saturday to act.

The bill contains a significant budget boost for NASA — an increase of $549 million above the President’s request for a total of $18.010 billion.  NOAA’s satellite programs also fare well.

The House is expected to vote tomorrow (Thursday) on the FY2015 appropriations bill dubbed the “CRomnibus.”  It combines an omnibus appropriations providing full-year funding for agencies covered by 11 of the 12 regular appropriations bills (including NASA, NOAA and DOD) and a Continuing Resolution (CR) for the 12th (the Department of Homeland Security).  The vote is expected to be close because of dissatisfaction on both sides of the aisle with policy provisions (“riders”) that were added during negotiations.  Congress must pass this bill or some other funding measure before midnight tomorrow to avoid a government shutdown.

Objections to the CRomnibus reportedly range from conservative Republicans who feel it does not send a strong enough message to the President protesting his executive order on immigration to liberal Democrats and some Republicans who object to changes in the Dodd-Frank financial services regulations to liberal Democrats who object to changes in campaign finance laws.  (The Department of Homeland Security includes immigration.  The proposal to provide it only with a CR and not a full-year appropriation like everyone else is to signal Republican ire at the Obama immigration executive order, but some Republicans want to go further.)

Although appropriations bills are not supposed to include policy provisions, only funding, they often do.  That is especially true at the end of a Congress where members are trying one last time to get favored legislation passed and the only bill likely to clear Congress and be signed by the President is an appropriations bill.  

It is still possible that no agreement on funding will be reached and the government will shut down at midnight tomorrow, but that still is considered very unlikely.  If the CRomnibus does not pass the House tomorrow, House Speaker John Boehner reportedly plans to bring a three-month CR for the entire government to the floor for a vote, pushing funding decisions over into the Republican-controlled 114th Congress.  If the CRomnibus does pass the House, a very short term CR may be needed to give the Senate time to act, but that presumably would be only for a couple of days.

None of the concerns appear to be directed at provisions regarding NASA, NOAA or DOD.

We’ll provide updates as they are available.