Category: Military

What's Happening in Space Policy January 1-6, 2017

What's Happening in Space Policy January 1-6, 2017

By Marcia Smith | Posted: January 1, 2017 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: January 1, 2017 1:33 pm ET

Here is our list of space policy events for the week of January 1-6, 2017 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are in session this week.

During the Week

Happy New Year!  Welcome to 2017 and, on Tuesday, to the 115th Congress.  Under the Constitution, a new session of Congress begins on January 3 of each year.  The second session of the 114th Congress officially will end and the first session of the 115th Congress will begin at 12:00 pm ET that day.

The House will meet at 11:00 am on Tuesday for legislative business to end the 114th Congress (to adjourn “sine die” — without a day for that Congress to reconvene) and then will meet at noon to convene the 115th Congress.  They will begin with a recorded quorum call followed by the election of the Speaker of the House (Rep. Paul Ryan is expected to win that vote) and swearing in of the other members.  The House will be composed of 241 Republicans (a net loss of six seats) and 194 Democrats (a net gain of six seats).  Several pieces of legislation are scheduled for floor action this coming week, but none related to the space program judging by their titles. They can’t be officially introduced and assigned bill numbers until the 115th Congress convenes, but the House Majority Leader’s website lists their titles. 

The Senate will meet on Tuesday in pro forma session at 11:55 am ET to close the 114th Congress.  The Senate website doesn’t say so, but presumably it also will convene for the 115th Congress at noon and swear in its members.  The Senate will be composed of 52 Republicans, 46 Democrats and 2 Independents (Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who remained an Independent throughout his run for the Democratic presidential nomination, and Angus King of Maine). That is a net loss of two seats for Republicans and a net gain of two seats for Democrats. The two Independents caucus with the Democrats so it is essentially a 52-48 split.

The only hearing on either side of the Hill that we’ve seen posted is on foreign cyber threats to the United States.  That’s before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday at 9:30 am ET.  Not really space-related, but certainly of broad interest.  Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Marcel Lettre III, and Commander of U.S. Cyber Command/Director, National Security Agency/Chief, Central Security Services Adm. Michael Rogers are the witnesses.

On Friday, the House and Senate will meet in joint session at 1:00 pm ET to count the Electoral College votes officially, bringing the 2016 presidential election to an end.  On December 19, the electors cast their votes.  Donald Trump received 306, Hillary Clinton 232, making Trump the winner.  Clinton won the popular vote by about 2.9 million, but in the U.S. system, it is the Electoral College vote that determines the outcome.  Trump will be sworn in at noon ET on January 20.  Barack Obama remains President until then.

Outside the Beltway, the American Astronomical Society (AAS) will hold its winter meeting in Grapevine, TX.   This is where the world’s astronomers and astrophysicists get together and discuss recent discoveries and future plans.  Always fascinating, but usually one has to be there to learn about it in real time. The sessions and press conferences are not publicly webcast.  Only a few are webcast for the media (a special password is required; instructions for obtaining it are on the conference’s website).  However, some archived webcasts are made available later.

NASA will hold a press conference at Johnson Space Center on Wednesday to discuss two upcoming spacewalks — the first is on Friday — to upgrade the International Space Station’s electrical power system.  NASA TV will cover the press conference and the spacewalk.

Those and other events we know about as of Sunday morning are shown below.  Check back throughout the week for others that we learn about later and add to our Events of Interest list.

Tuesday, January 3

  • 115th Congress convenes

Tuesday-Saturday, January 3-7

Wednesday, January 4

Friday, January 6

Last Updated: Jan 01, 2017 1:33 pm ET
What's Happening in Space Policy December 11-31, 2016

What's Happening in Space Policy December 11-31, 2016

By Marcia Smith | Posted: December 11, 2016 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: December 11, 2016 12:22 am ET

Here is our list of space policy events for December 11-31, 2016 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are in recess for the rest of the year.

During the Weeks

Congress has completed its legislative business for the year.  Officially the 114th Congress ends at noon on January 3, 2017 when the 115th Congress begins, but no more legislative activity is scheduled between now and then.

With the holidays looming, few other space policy events are scheduled for the rest of the year, so this edition of “What’s Happening” covers through the end of 2016.

This coming week still has a few important events, most notably, perhaps, the annual American Geophysical Union (AGU) fall meeting in San Francisco.   It begins on Monday, but today (Sunday), an associated public lecture is scheduled (it will be livestreamed) about how Mars landing sites are selected.  In this case, it is the Mars 2020 landing site.  The lecture is at noon Pacific Time (3:00 pm ET) and features a NASA astrobiologist (Michael Meyer), a CalTech geologist (Bethany Ehlmann), and a high school student (Alex Longo).

AGU will livestream 75 of its more than 1800 scientific sessions during the week-long meeting and NASA TV will broadcast several press conferences and other events in which the agency is engaged.  Unfortunately, Tuesday’s Town Hall meeting on the status of the National Academies’ Decadal Survey on Earth Science and Applications from Space (ESAS) isn’t on either list.

Speaking of Earth science, on Monday morning, weather permitting (and the forecast isn’t very good), NASA will launch a constellation of eight microsatellites using Orbital ATK’s air-launched Pegasus rocket.  The Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) will measure ocean surface winds in and near the eyes of hurricanes to improve hurricane intensity forecasts.  NASA TV will cover the launch.

The Committee on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine will meet Tuesday-Wednesday at the Academies’ Beckman Center in Irvine, CA.  Sessions on the first day are closed, but almost all day on Wednesday is open and will be available by WebEx.

On a completely different topic, the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance will hold a briefing on Capitol Hill on developing a space-based sensor layer for missile defense on Wednesday. Maj. Gen. Roger Teague, Director of Space Programs for the Air Force Acquisitions Office, and Richard Matlock, Program Executive for Advanced Technology at the Missile Defense Agency, are the speakers.

After that, the calendar is empty till the New Year begins.  Unless some new events emerge, we will not publish a “What’s Happening” article until January 1.  We wish all of you a happy and restful holiday season.  (And we’ll still be here posting news stories as needed.)

The events we know about through December 31 are shown below.  Check back throughout the weeks for additional meetings we learn about later and post to our Events of Interest list.

Sunday, December 11

Monday, December 12

Monday-Friday, December 12-16

  • AGU Fall Meeting, Moscone Center, San Francisco (some sessions and press conferences will be livestreamed by AGU or NASA)

Tuesday, December 13

Tuesday-Wednesday, December 13-14

Wednesday, December 14

Last Updated: Dec 11, 2016 12:22 am ET
Senate Passes CR, No Government Shutdown

Senate Passes CR, No Government Shutdown

By Marcia Smith | Posted: December 9, 2016 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: December 9, 2016 11:35 pm ET

The Senate just passed the second FY2017 continuing resolution that will keep the government funded through April 28, 2017.  Thus there will be no government shutdown.

The House passed the CR yesterday, but the Senate vote was up in the air because two Democratic Senators wanted a longer-term guarantee of health care benefits for retired coal miners.

After intense negotiations, enough votes were secured to move forward with a vote on the measure, which ultimately passed 63-36.

DOD, NASA and NOAA will be funded at their current FY2016 levels during this period, although there are a number of exceptions (“anomalies’) for each of those agencies.  NASA and NOAA, for example, are able to spend money to ensure that the launch dates for NASA’s Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) and NOAA’s first Joint Polar Satellite System weather satellite (JPSS-1) are not delayed.

The Senate is now turning to another bill, the Water Resources Development Act, which is highly contentious because of a provision added in the House, but once a vote is taken, the Senate is expected to end its business for the year, and for this Congress.

Last Updated: Dec 09, 2016 11:35 pm ET
Appropriations Coming Down to the Wire — Will There Be a Shutdown Tomorrow?

Appropriations Coming Down to the Wire — Will There Be a Shutdown Tomorrow?

By Marcia Smith | Posted: December 8, 2016 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: December 8, 2016 11:57 pm ET

The House today passed the new FY2017 Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the government operating through April 28, 2017, but Senate Democrats are threatening to delay — but not block – a vote in the Senate.  If the bill is not cleared by Congress and signed by the President before midnight tomorrow, December 9, some parts of the government will have to shut down.

Only one of the 12 regular FY2017 appropriations bills has been signed into law — the Military Construction-Veterans Affairs (MilCon-VA) bill.   Funding for all other government operations that are part of discretionary spending — from DOD to NASA to NOAA to a who’s who of other agencies — ends at midnight tomorrow.   The new CR, H.R. 2028, Further Continuing and Security Assistance Appropriations, as amended, passed the House 326-96 this afternoon.

With the clock running out, expectations initially were that the Senate would approve it even if there were concerns about its provisions and the process itself.  Under Senate procedures, there first must be a vote to allow debate to occur (a cloture vote) after which 30 hours of debate are allowed.  That period can be shortened by unanimous consent.

However, Senate Democrats indicated today that they plan to prevent the abbreviated post-cloture debate by objecting to the unanimous consent request.  They are demanding an extension of health care benefits for coal miners that otherwise will expire in January.  The protest is led by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH). 

H.R. 2028, as passed by the House, includes a four-month extension of the benefits, but Manchin and Brown want a year-long extension.  Though narrowly framed, the debate is more broadly over whether President-elect Donald Trump will honor promises to coal miners during his campaign and how Democrats can exert their influence following the election results.

If Democrats hold to their position, the cloture vote would take place on Saturday, and a vote on the bill itself on Sunday.  Assuming it passes, that means a partial shutdown of the government would last for two days or less.

The new CR funds most government discretionary activities at their FY2016 levels until the end of April, although exceptions are made for NASA’s deep space human exploration program (Space Launch System, Exploration Ground Systems, and Orion) and NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) weather satellites.  In both cases, funds may be spent to ensure that the launch dates for Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) and JPSS-1 do not slip.  H.R. 2028, as amended, also provides NASA with $74.7 million to repair damage from Hurricane Matthew.

Last Updated: Dec 08, 2016 11:57 pm ET
DOD IG Exonerates DOD in Assertions Made by Former ULA Official

DOD IG Exonerates DOD in Assertions Made by Former ULA Official

By Marcia Smith | Posted: December 8, 2016 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: December 9, 2016 12:54 am ET

The Department of Defense (DOD) Inspector General (IG) issued his report on the investigation into assertions by a former United Launch Alliance (ULA) executive that, among other things, implied that DOD had tried to slant an acquisition towards ULA.  The IG concluded there was no wrong doing on the part of DOD. 

The IG is appointed by the President of the United States with the advice and consent of the Senate in accordance with the Inspector General Act of 1978.  Glenn Fine is DOD’s Acting IG.

In March 2016, Brett Tobey, then ULA’s Engineering Vice President, spoke to a group of students at the University of Colorado-Boulder.  He made a number of frank statements about ULA’s competition with SpaceX and the competition between Blue Origin and Aerojet Rocketdyne on building an engine for ULA’s new Vulcan rocket.  ULA President Tory Bruno disavowed the statements and Tobey resigned. 

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), however, demanded an investigation into whether Tobey’s statements had substance.

One statement in particular that raised eyebrows was that the Air Force had tilted a launch service solicitation in ULA’s direction and was upset that ULA subsequently decided not to bid on that contract (for a GPS III launch).   The implication was that the government acquisition process was not being followed appropriately.  Other statements concerned the long-running debate over how many Russian RD-180 engines ULA would be allowed to obtain for its Atlas V rockets, a topic on which McCain had strong views.  (It since has been resolved.)

In its December 8 report, the DOD IG concluded there was no wrongdoing on the part of DOD. 

It investigated four of Tobey’s assertions:

  • that McCain had said ULA was “hiding five RD-180s” to transfer them from national security space (NSS) to commercial launches to influence legislation;
  • that DOD gave an unfair advantage to ULA in awarding launch service contracts;
  • that the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (USA/ATL), and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Lockheed Martin, had a conversation on how to “silence” McCain on the RD-180 issue; and
  • that DOD was “unhappy” that ULA did not bid on the GPS III launch because it had given ULA an advantage over other contractors.

The IG noted that Tobey “recanted” these assertions during its investigation and “characterized [them] as postulation.”   It quotes Tobey as saying “The tone of my presentation was that of more of an op-ed than even a rational argument or article” and that because it was a student audience, he decided to provide “drama” and “got into an excessively casual tone of discussion with them.”  He did not know his remarks were being recorded and would “go viral” and be “quoted in sound bites that make them very damaging to ULA.  And for that, I’m very sorry.”

After a 7-month investigation, the IG said it found no evidence that ULA improperly transferred rocket engines from NSS to commercial launches, that DOD gave an unfair advantage to ULA over competitors, or that the USD/ATL and the Lockheed Martin CEO had a conversation about silencing McCain.  It also found that DOD awarded contracts to ULA “in accordance with DoD and Federal regulations.”

Last Updated: Dec 09, 2016 12:54 am ET
AIA Wants More Aerospace Exports, Ex-Im Bank Solution, End to Sequester Threat

AIA Wants More Aerospace Exports, Ex-Im Bank Solution, End to Sequester Threat

By Marcia Smith | Posted: December 6, 2016 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: December 6, 2016 7:14 pm ET

Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) President David Melcher laid out his organization’s priorities for next year at a luncheon today.  Among his top 10 priorities are clearing the way for aerospace and defense exports, resolving the quorum issue at the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank, and repealing the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA) and its sequester provisions.

Lt. Gen. Melcher (Ret.) took the reins of AIA after a 32-year career in the Army and 7 years in industry.  After leaving the Army in 2008, he joined ITT Corporation and became the first chief executive of Excelis after it was spun off from ITT in 2011.  He remained there through its acquisition by Harris Corporation in May 2015.  A month later he became President and CEO of AIA, succeeding Marion Blakey, who is now head of Rolls Royce North America.  

Melcher said that he met with Donald Trump during the campaign to discuss AIA’s position papers on key issues for the next President (as well as with senior advisers to the Clinton campaign).  He said the President-elect “listened carefully to our views on the need to beef up investments in defense capabilities and to spur high tech innovation.”  Melcher praised Trump’s pick of Gen. James Mattis (Ret.) as his nominee for Secretary of Defense: “I count General Mattis as a friend and I think he’s an outstanding choice.”

The bulk of Melcher’s comments were directed toward the aerospace and defense industries broadly, rather than specific agencies or programs.  Exports were a major theme. 

AIA is seeking a resolution to the stalemate over the Export-Import Bank.  AIA was one of the leaders in getting Congress to reauthorize the bank, but has been unable to convince the Senate to confirm new members of its Board.  The Bank should have five Board members and three are required as a quorum to approve loans of more than $10 million.  There are only two Board members now.  Senators who oppose the Bank are blocking new nominees, hamstringing what it can do.

He also called on the government to ease barriers to exports of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) created by the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).  He asserts that  the United States could lose its leadership “in a potential $80 billion market.”

A “21st Century Commercial Space Competitiveness Strategy” that encourages “commercial space export opportunities” that will “ensure we have a healthy space industrial base” is also needed, he said.

Getting rid of the 2011 BCA and its spending caps is another priority.   “BCA has set a spending level far below what’s required to secure our nation and our allies…. Let’s fund our military based on clear eyed assessments of where power and presence are necessary, and not tie this to arbitrary limits.”

Melcher laid out four “megatrends” identified by senior representatives of AIA member companies — a veritable who’s who of the U.S. aerospace industry ranging from Aerojet Rocketdyne to Virgin Galactic (but with notable exceptions like SpaceX and Blue Origin).   These megatrends are “strong headwinds that affect policy making in Washington” and need attention:  the state of deficit politics, smart regulations, U.S. leadership in a global economy, and transition to a digital global economy.

The United States needs to “make a conscious decision to invest in national security, civil space, aeronautics and 21st century air transportation systems” if it wants to be innovative, job-creating, and inspirational.

Last Updated: Dec 06, 2016 7:14 pm ET
What's Happening in Space Policy December 5-9, 2016

What's Happening in Space Policy December 5-9, 2016

By Marcia Smith | Posted: December 4, 2016 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: December 4, 2016 11:35 am ET

Here is our list of space policy events for the week of December 5-9, 2016 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are in session this week.

During the Week

This is make or break time for Congress to pass an appropriations bill or bills to keep the government operating past Friday.  The existing Continuing Resolution (CR), which funds agencies at their current (FY2016) levels, expires at midnight December 9. The House has no votes scheduled for Friday, so it apparently expects to complete action earlier in the week. The Senate schedule has not been announced.

The election put Republicans in control of both chambers of Congress and the White House so congressional leaders have decided to wait until the Trump Administration is in place to make final FY2017 appropriations decisions.  However, some key Republicans are insisting that Congress pass a
full-year appropriations bill for DOD to match the funding levels
recommended in the FY2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).  That bill just passed the House on Friday and is expected to pass the Senate early this coming week. Congress can pass a full-year FY2017 appropriations bill for DOD and an extension of the CR for other agencies or any other combination it chooses, but it must do something by Friday or some parts of the government will have to close down. The existing CR provided full-year funding for activities in the Military Construction-Veterans Affairs (MilCon-VA) bill, so perhaps Congress will do the same for defense.  It really is up in the air at this moment.   All the other agencies, including NASA and NOAA, likely will end up with another CR.  There is some debate as to whether to extend it through either March or April, with the later date advocated by the Senate which expects to be busy holding hearings and votes on Trump cabinet nominees in the early months of next year.

Congress might also pass a new authorization bill for NASA this week. The 2016 NASA Transition Authorization Act was approved by the Senate Commerce Committee in September and negotiations are ongoing with the House on a final bill.  The latest rumors are that it could reach the Senate floor for consideration early this week, but it still would have to pass the House and time is getting short.  Nonetheless, it is quite common for Congress to pass a flurry of legislation in its closing days.  Congresses last for 2 years and at the end all pending legislation is dead.  The next Congress must begin again, with its new set of Members, so there is an advantage to completing work before the 114th Congress ends and the 115th begins.

One bill that made it through the Senate last week and might be voted on in the House this week — although it is not on the schedule yet — is the Weather Forecasting and Research Innovation Act.  The version that passed the Senate is a compromise with the House and incorporates provisions of H.R. 1561, which passed the House in 2015, S. 1331, which cleared the Senate Commerce Committee in 2015, and two other bills (S. 1573 and H.R. 34).  Among many other things, it reforms NOAA’s satellite procurement efforts.

The House is scheduled to consider the Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Commemorative Coin Act (H.R. 2726, as amended) tomorrow under suspension of the rules. The Apollo 1 Memorial Act is not on the list as of today, but the schedule notes that additional bills will be added to the suspension calendar (which is used for relatively non-controversial bills that are expected to easily win two-thirds of the votes and therefore get expedited consideration). 

So it will be a very busy week just with congressional activity, but there are many other interesting events, too.  For brevity’s sake, we will mention only one — Wednesday’s Eilene M. Galloway Symposium on Critical Issues in Space Law in Washington, DC.   This is the 11th Galloway symposium and they just keep getting better every year.  It’s free, but seating is limited so pre-registration is REQUIRED.   Bob Walker, a former congressman who was a space policy adviser to the Trump campaign and presumably is still advising the transition effort (though not officially part of the “landing party” at NASA), and Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK), are both on the agenda, plus panels on topical space law issues and a luncheon speech on the “Next 50 Years of the Outer Space Treaty,” which turns 50 next year.

Those and other events we know about as of Sunday morning are shown below.  Check back throughout the week for additions that we learn about later and add to our Events of Interest list.

Monday-Tuesday, December 5-6

Tuesday, December 6

Tuesday-Wednesday, December 6-7

Wednesday, December 7

Wednesday-Thursday, December 7-8

Wednesday-Friday, December 7-9

Friday, December 9

Last Updated: Dec 04, 2016 11:35 am ET
NASA Gets First "Landing Party" Member — Chris Shank

NASA Gets First "Landing Party" Member — Chris Shank

By Marcia Smith | Posted: November 29, 2016 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: November 29, 2016 2:04 pm ET

The Trump transition team named the first member of its “landing party” for NASA today — Chris Shank. Shank was part of the leadership team at NASA while Mike Griffin was Administrator and is currently on the staff of the House Science, Space, and Technology (SS&T) Committee.   Mark Albrecht, who had been rumored as a candidate for the NASA landing party, instead has been assigned to DOD’s transition team.

Transition teams or “landing parties” typically are named for each federal department and agency by incoming presidential administrations to do an initial review of an agency’s portfolio and identify pressing issues that the new administration will have to address quickly. 

Shank is an experienced space policy professional.  From 2001-2005, he served on what was then the House Science Committee staff specializing in human spaceflight and Earth science issues.  After joining NASA as a special assistant to Griffin in 2005, he was appointed NASA’s chief of strategic communications in 2008.  He left NASA in January 2009 at the end of the Bush Administration and worked first at the Applied Physics Lab and later Honeywell Aerospace.  He returned to Capitol Hill in 2011 as Deputy Chief of Staff to Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), who is now chairman of House SS&T, and in 2013 was appointed policy and coalitions director for the full committee.


Chris Shank.  Photo Credit:  NASA/Bill Ingalls

He has a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado and a bachelor’s in mathematics from the University of Notre Dame.  Before his first stint on the committee, he served in the Air Force for 11 years, working at the Pentagon, National Reconnaissance Office and Air Force Space Command.

Landing teams usually have several  members, so additional appointments are expected.  Transition teams exist only until the inauguration, but it is not
uncommon for many of their members to join the respective agency’s staff
thereafter.

Albrecht is another veteran member of the space policy community.  He was Executive Director of the White House National Space Council during the George H.W. Bush Administration and later was President of Lockheed Martin’s International Launch Services (ILS), which at the time (1999-2006) marketed launch services on Lockheed Martin’s Atlas and Russia’s Proton rockets.  He currently is Chairman of the Board of U.S. Space LLC.  Prior to his tenure in the George H.W. Bush White House, he was a legislative assistant for national security affairs for then-Senator Pete Wilson (R-CA).  He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UCLA and a doctorate in public policy analysis from the Rand Graduate School.  Albrecht wrote a book, Falling Back to Earth, about his experiences on the National Space Council and at ILS, including relationships with Russia.


Mark Albrecht.  Photo Credit:  U.S. Space, LLC

He was appointed to the DOD transition team, which already has quite a few members.  Albrecht appears to be the only one so far with a space background, although another member, Trae Stephens, is a principal at Founders Fund which has investments in SpaceX according to Space News.

Last Updated: Nov 29, 2016 2:04 pm ET
What's Happening in Space Policy November 28-December 2, 2016

What's Happening in Space Policy November 28-December 2, 2016

By Marcia Smith | Posted: November 27, 2016 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: November 27, 2016 3:49 pm ET

Here is our list of space policy events for the week of November 28 – December 2, 2016 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are in session this week.

During the Week

The House and Senate return to work this week.  They must pass an appropriations measure by December 9 to keep the government operating and there is a strong desire to complete action on the FY2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), but apart from that, it appears that the plan is to wait until next year to deal with most issues.   Appropriations likely will be handled by extending the existing Continuing Resolution (CR) through March 31 and agreement on the NDAA seemed close just before Thanksgiving.  The 114th Congress could adjourn “sine die”  (“without a day” for recovening, meaning it is the end of the session) as soon as those are passed.  A slim chance remains for getting the NASA Transition Authorization Act passed, but time is running out.

The Presidential election is over — sort of.  Officially it is not final until after the Electoral College votes on December 19 and Congress certifies that vote on January 6, 2017 (CRS has a very useful report about the Electoral College for those who are interested).  At the moment, Donald Trump is
expected to win the Electoral College decisively with at least 290 votes
(270 are needed to win) versus 232 for Hillary Clinton.  Clinton has decisively won the popular
vote by more than 2 million (64,637,503 for Clinton versus 62,409,389 for Trump according to Cook Political Report ).  Under the Constitution, it is the Electoral
College vote that determines the winner.  The race in Michigan still has not been called for either candidate, but its 16
electoral votes are not enough to change the outcome.

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has demanded a recount in Wisconsin and plans to ask for recounts in Pennsylvania and Michigan.  Stein says she is doing it to ensure the “integrity” of the election process and it “is not intended to help Hillary Clinton.”  Indeed, few (if any) expect the outcome of the election to change, including Clinton herself.  Her spokesman made that clear, saying they are “fully aware” that the vote margin in the closest of the states (Michigan) is much larger than any margin ever overcome in a recount.  Any recounts must be completed before the Electoral College meets.

The Trump transition team continues its work, announcing a number of
White House appointments and three Cabinet nominees (Attorney General, Secretary of Education and
Ambassador to the U.N.).  
While there are strong rumors about who will be nominated for Secretary
of Defense (national security space programs) and Secretary of Commerce
(NOAA satellite programs), Trump has not made any official
pronouncements.  Nothing has been said about NASA so far. 

The NASA Advisory Council (NAC) meets in public session on Wednesday in Palmdale, CA, near NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Facility (available by WebEx/telecon). The agenda has not been posted yet, so there is no way to know what they plan to discuss, but any news about a “landing team” being assigned to NASA and the impact of operating under a FY2017 CR for 6 months instead of just 3 months are possible topics.  This is the last NAC meeting under the Obama Administration and, presumably, Charlie Bolden’s tenure as Administrator.  The NASA Administrator appoints the members of NAC, so its composition could change before the next meeting.

The Ministerial Council of the European Space Agency (ESA) will meet in Switzerland on December 1-2.  The ministers responsible for space activities in each of ESA’s 22 member countries get together every 2-3 years to make policy and funding decisions.  ESA says this meeting will “further the vision of a United Space in Europe in the era of Space 4.0.”   A press conference is scheduled for the end of the meeting on December 2 at approximately 13:00 CET (7:00 am ET).  One of the topics they will consider is whether to provide an increase of approximately 400 million Euros  to complete the ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars program. The first two ExoMars spacecraft — the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and Schiaparelli lander — were launched together in March and arrived at Mars last month.  TGO successfully entered orbit, but Schiaparelli crashed.  Schiaparelli was a technology demonstrator for a Russian lander and ESA rover scheduled for launch in 2020 (delayed from 2018).  Costs for the 2020 mission have grown, necessitating a decision by the Council on whether to proceed.   ESA’s portion of the total program cost was estimated in 2008 at 1.3 billion Euros.  ExoMars originally was an ESA-NASA program, but the Obama Administration declined to fund the U.S. portion, so ESA turned to Russia instead.

Mars is but one planet in our beautiful solar system.  NASA’s Venus Exploration Analysis Group (VEXAG) meets Tuesday-Thursday at NASA Headquarters to discuss future exploration of that planet.  The meeting will be available remotely via WebEx and telecon.

And then there’s Earth itself!  The American Astronautical Society and the American Meteorological Society will hold an event to highlight Space-Based Environmental Intelligence on Thursday evening at the Naval Heritage Center in Washington, DC.  Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) is the speaker.  He chairs the Environment Subcommittee of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee and crafted provisions in law to create commercial weather data pilot programs at NOAA and DOD (NOAA’s is underway; the DOD provision is in the FY2017 NDAA).

Those and other events we know about as of Sunday morning are shown below.  Check back throughout the week for others we learn of later and add to our Events of Interest list.

Tuesday-Thursday, November 29-December 1

  • VEXAG, NASA HQ, Washington, DC

Wednesday, November 30

Thursday, December 1

Thursday-Friday, December 1-2

 

Last Updated: Nov 27, 2016 3:49 pm ET
What's Happening in Space Policy November 21-25, 2016

What's Happening in Space Policy November 21-25, 2016

By Marcia Smith | Posted: November 20, 2016 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: November 20, 2016 2:50 pm ET

Here is our list of space policy events for the week of November 21-25, 2016 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are not in session this week.

During the Week

The United States celebrates Thanksgiving on Thursday.  Across the nation, people are focused on shopping, cooking and traveling to celebrate with friends and family more than attending meetings on space policy or anything else.  We do not have a single space policy event on our list for this week in the United States and only one that will be held abroad (see below).

This is, indeed, a good time to take a breath after a fractious election season.  Melanie Kirkpatrick, acting editorial features writer for the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), published a commentary on Thursday noting that “healing” is the watchword of post-election America.  Author of “Thanksgiving: The Holiday at the Heart of the American Experience,” she shared the story of how Thanksgiving became a national holiday at a time of national strife and urged that this year it serve as “a moment to focus on our blessings as Americans, on what unites us, not on what divides us.”  

The tale of the First Thanksgiving with Pilgrims and Native Americans in 1621 is fairly well known, but how the holiday evolved over the centuries less so.  Presidents had occasionally designated national days of thanks since the time of George Washington, but the holiday did not achieve permanence at the national level until it was proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863.  Yes, 1863, in the middle of the Civil  War and just months after the horrific Battle of Gettysburg with its approximately 50,000 casualties (killed, wounded or missing).  Poet, novelist and magazine editor Sarah Josepha Hale (a very interesting woman) had made it her mission to establish a single national day of Thanksgiving.  Over three decades, she convinced many states to declare a day of thanks, but they were on various dates.  Her goal was a single national day every year.   Lincoln agreed as part of an effort to unite Americans on both sides of the conflict by reminding them of all that is good about our country even in such a painful time.  He issued a Proclamation on October 3, 1863 designating the last Thursday of November (the date originally chosen by George Washington) as a day of thanksgiving.  Kirkpatrick’s commentary is behind the WSJ paywall unfortunately, but her bottom line is “Lincoln’s Thanksgiving proclamation was profoundly hopeful, reminding the American people of the nation’s capacity for renewal.  It’s a message that resonates today.”

On that note, SpacePolicyOnline.com wishes everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Meanwhile, there is one space policy-related conference that we know about this week — in Dubai.  Sponsored by the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), this “High Level Forum” focuses on space as an economic driver for socio-economic sustainable development.  Among the co-sponsors are the Secure World Foundation, Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Space Systems Division and the International Committee on Global Navigation Systems.   It is part of the lead-up to UNOOSA’s UNISPACE+50 conference that will take place in 2018, the 50th anniversary of the first UNISPACE conference (two others were held in 1982 and 1999).   The website does not indicate if any of this week’s conference will be webcast.

Last Updated: Nov 20, 2016 2:50 pm ET

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