Category: Space Law

NASA Letters to Culberson Provide Some Information on September Bilateral China Meeting

NASA Letters to Culberson Provide Some Information on September Bilateral China Meeting

By Marcia Smith | Posted: December 10, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: December 10, 2015 9:08 pm ET

In response to a SpacePolicyOnline.com FOIA request, NASA today provided two letters that it sent to Rep. John Culberson prior to a September 28, 2015 bilateral meeting with China to discuss civil space cooperation. Culberson said in October that the information he received did not have sufficient depth and scope to comply with a law limiting NASA’s bilateral interactions with China.

Former Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), who once chaired the House Appropriations Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) subcommittee, which funds NASA, included language in NASA’s appropriations bills sharply limiting NASA’s involvement with China.  They also limit White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) interaction with China on space cooperation.  OSTP is also funded in the CJS bill. 

Wolf was succeeded by Culberson as chair of the subcommittee.  He holds similar views regarding space cooperation with China and has included the same language in recent appropriations legislation.

Section 532 of the FY2015 appropriations law (P.L. 113-235) states that NASA may not spend any funds to “develop, design, plan,
promulgate, implement or execute a bilateral policy, program, order, or
contract of any kind to participate, collaborate, or coordinate
bilaterally in any way with China or any Chinese-owned company unless
such activities are specifically authorized by law enacted after the
date of enactment of this Act.”  Those limitations do not apply if “no
later than 30 days prior to the activity in question,” NASA certifies
that the activity poses no risk of the transfer of “technology, data, or
other information with national security or economic security
implications” and does not “involve knowing interactions with officials
who have been determined by the United States to have direct involvement
with violations of human rights.”   Any such certification “shall
include a description of the purpose of the activity, its agenda, its
major participants, and its location and timing.”

The State Department announced in June that it was initiating a “U.S.-China Civil Space Cooperation Dialogue” and the first meeting would be in September 2015.  The meeting took place on September 28 in Beijing.

Culberson told SpacePolicyOnline.com in October that NASA did not provide his committee with sufficient “details on the depth and scope” of the meeting and he would “vigorously enforce” the law.

NASA initially declined to provide copies of any communications it had with Culberson about the meeting.  SpacePolicyOnline.com filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the agency for “all correspondence between NASA and the House Appropriations Committee
in August or September 2015 in which NASA makes the certifications
required by law regarding bilateral interactions with China with respect
to space cooperation in conjunction with the meeting held in China on
that topic in late September 2015.”

Today NASA provided SpacePolicyOnline.com with two such letters.  The first was sent
by NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden on July 31 notifying Culberson that NASA would participate in the State Department-led meeting and making the required certifications.  The second was signed by NASA Chief Financial Officer David Radzanowski on September 16 restating the certifications and providing an agenda for the meeting in Beijing on September 28, as well as an earlier meeting at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. on September 23.  The Radzanowski letter references a July 22 letter from Bolden to Culberson, but NASA did not provide that in response to SpacePolicyOnline.com’s FOIA request.  It predated the July 31 letter that NASA did provide.  (Our original request for all correspondence between NASA and the committee in August or September 2015 related to the meeting with China was rejected because it was not specific enough, so we resubmitted it asking for letters where the required certifications were made.)

The Bolden letter was well within the 30-day time limit specified in the law and provided the requisite certifications, but little detail.  The Radzanowski letter provided an agenda, list of Chinese participants, location and timing, but was not sent within that time limit.

Rep. Culberson had not responded by press time to a SpacePolicyOnline.com request for any additional comment he might want to make about the information he believes was missing from NASA’s communications prior to the meeting.

Last Updated: Dec 10, 2015 9:08 pm ET
Short Term CR Introduced to Keep Government Open 5 More Days

Short Term CR Introduced to Keep Government Open 5 More Days

By Marcia Smith | Posted: December 9, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: December 9, 2015 11:00 pm ET

House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) today introduced a Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the government operating for 5 more days past the Friday deadline when the current CR expires.  The hope is that work can be completed on a bill that will fund it for the rest of FY2016 by early next week.

FY2016 began on October 1 and Congress should have passed 12 regular appropriations bills by then to pay for defense and non-defense discretionary federal government activities including DOD, NASA and NOAA.  None of those bills cleared Congress and a CR was enacted instead to keep agencies operating at FY2015 levels until agreement could be reached.  That CR expires on Friday, December 11.

A budget deal reached at the end of October between the White House and Congress cleared the way for agreement on spending levels, but policy provisions — “riders” — continue to hold up final action.   It is expected that all 12 bills will be combined into a single consolidated or “omnibus” appropriations bill that provides funding through the end of the fiscal year on September 30, 2016.

The decision to introduce another short-term CR can be viewed as good news in the sense that it indicates all sides may be close to an agreement if given just a few more days, though critics would argue that sufficient time has passed that they should have been able to get the job done by Friday.

The bill, H.J. Res. 75, would fund government operations at their current level though Wednesday, December 16.  Rogers said in a statement that it is his “hope and expectation that a final, full-year bill will be enacted before this new deadline.”

Last Updated: Dec 09, 2015 11:00 pm ET
What's Happening in Space Policy December 7-13, 2015 – UPDATE

What's Happening in Space Policy December 7-13, 2015 – UPDATE

By Marcia Smith | Posted: December 6, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: December 7, 2015 9:34 am ET

Here is our list of space policy related events for the coming week — and weekend, since there’s an interesting symposium on Saturday — of December 7-13, 2015 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week. (Updated to remove reference to OA-4 launch, which went off successfully today, and to add agenda for Wednesday’s Galloway symposium, which is now available.)

During the Week

It’s Groundhog Week!!  Once again Congress must past a budget by the end of the week or the government will face a shut down.  The Continuing Resolution (CR) currently funding the government expires on December 11.  Once again pundits are split as to whether Congress will be able to pull it off or not.  Once again it is less a matter of budget issues than policy riders that various groups want to attach to the funding bill — from preventing Syrian refugees from resettling in the United States to repealing portions of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform act to blocking EPA regulations for clean power and clean water.   Congressional Republicans focused their attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and defund Planned Parenthood in a separate bill that cleared the Senate last week.  Although they know the President will veto it, they succeeded in forcing Senators to go on record with their votes, so perhaps they will not raise these issues again so soon during this week’s appropriations debate.  SpacePolicyOnline.com knows too well the folly of trying to anticipate what Congress will do, but will take a risk and lay odds that something will pass by Friday and the government will not shut down.  Whether it’s a full-year omnibus appropriations bill or another short-term CR — well, we’re not going to venture a guess on THAT.

Apart from that, there’s a bumper crop of really interesting events on tap this week. Only three will be highlighted here in order to keep this relatively brief.

First is the 10th Eilene M. Galloway Symposium on Critical Issues in Space Law on Wednesday at the Cosmos Club in Washington, DC.  As one can see from the agenda, it looks terrific (OK, your faithful SpacePolicyOnline.com editor is on the program, but it’s terrific because of all the OTHER people who will be speaking).  The theme is looking back over what’s happened in the past 10 years in space law and space policy — because it’s the 10th Galloway symposium — and looking forward to what comes next.

Second is a seminar sponsored by the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation on “Asia’s Space Race and the US-Japan Alliance” on Thursday afternoon on Capitol Hill at the Capitol Visitors Center.  Mike Mansfield (1903-2001) was a highly respected Senator (1953-1977) who later was U.S. Ambassador to Japan. The seminar has a great line-up of speakers from the U.S. and Japan, including The Honorable Takeo Kawamura, Member of Japan’s Diet.  The U.S. speakers include Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX), chairman of the Space Subcommittee of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee; Chirag Parikh, Director of Space Policy at the White House National Security Council; and Scott Pace, Director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University.

Third (and really, it was tough to pick just three, so see the complete list) is a symposium on progress made in astrophysics since the last astrophysics Decadal Survey (DS) was published.  It will be held at the National Academy of Sciences Beckman Center in Irvine, CA, but will be webcast for those elsewhere in the country.  The symposium is all-day Saturday (Pacific Time, so roughly noon-9 pm Eastern), followed by a two-day meeting of the NAS committee created to review how the astrophysics field has progressed since the New Worlds, New Horizons report came out.  The committee meeting is open to the public on Sunday, but closed on Monday.  No indication if the Sunday meeting will be available by WebEx or other electronic means, but the Academy is doing that more often these days.  If we learn about a way to listen in remotely, we’ll add the information to our Events of Interest list.  NAS Decadal Surveys are conducted about every 10 years (hence “decadal”) to lay out scientific priorities in various scientific disciplines and recommend programs to answer key scientific questions within budget envelopes provided by the relevant agenc(ies) — in this case, NASA, NSF and the Department of Energy’s Office of Science.  In 2005, Congress mandated that “performance assessments” be conducted by the NAS half-way through each decadal period to see how things are working out.  This is part of that process.  For a list of all the current space and earth science Decadal Surveys and the last round of performance assessments, see our webpage.

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

Monday, December 7

Tuesday, December 8

Tuesday-Wednesday, December 8-9

Wednesday, December 9

Thursday, December 10

Friday, December 11

 Saturday-Sunday, December 12-13

Last Updated: Dec 07, 2015 9:34 am ET
Export-Import Bank Back in Business, But Needs Additional Board Members

Export-Import Bank Back in Business, But Needs Additional Board Members

By Marcia Smith | Posted: December 5, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: December 5, 2015 1:36 pm ET

President Obama signed legislation yesterday (December 3) that reauthorizes the Export-Import Bank.  The Bank has not been able to issue new loans to foreign customers seeking to buy U.S. goods since Congress allowed its authorization to lapse at the end of June.

Created in 1934, the Bank helps provide
financing for U.S. exports, including those in the aerospace sector such as communications satellites.  The Bank needs to be periodically reauthorized, a step
taken with little notice until recently when it became a major source of contention in Congress.  Some conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats oppose the Bank on
the grounds that it is a government subsidy — corporate welfare for a
few big companies like Boeing and General Electric — while others hail
the Bank as an important jobs creator by facilitating U.S. exports.

Advocates finally won the day by using a rare parliamentary procedure — a discharge petition — to move the issue from the House Financial Services Committee, whose chairman, Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), strongly opposed it, to the floor of the House where all Members could debate and vote on it.  The Bank won reauthorization in that vote, paving the way for final resolution, although it was wrapped into the surface transportation bill (H.R. 22) rather than passing as a standalone piece of legislation.

The Satellite Industry Association (SIA) and the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) have been among the strongest supporters of the bill.  In a statement, AIA said it was “relieved and delighted” that Congress approved a 4-year reauthorization of the Bank.  It pointed out “one last item” that remains, however: additional members of the Board of Directors must be appointed for the Bank to approve loans above $10 million.  Board Directors are appointed by the President and must be confirmed by the Senate.  “We urge President Obama and Senate leadership to nominate and confirm new Members to the Ex-Im Board expeditiously,” AIA said.

EXIM Bank Chairman Eric Hochberg said in a statement yesterday that the Bank is now “ready to receive applications for new transactions,” but asked for patience as it gets its processes back up and running.  He also noted that transactions over $10 million must wait until a quorum of Board members is reestablished.  He and Wanda Felton, Vice Chair, are the only members of the five-member Board at the moment.

Last Updated: Dec 05, 2015 1:36 pm ET
Export-Import Bank Nears Reauthorization – UPDATED

Export-Import Bank Nears Reauthorization – UPDATED

By Marcia Smith | Posted: December 3, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: December 3, 2015 10:45 pm ET

The House and Senate today passed the Surface Transportation Act, which includes a provision that would reopen the Export-Import Bank. The Bank has not been able to issue new loans to foreign customers who want to buy U.S. exports, like communications satellites, since its authorization expired at the end of June.

The Aerospace Industries Association and Satellite Industry Association are among the Bank’s strongest supporters.  Created in 1934, the Bank needs to be periodically reauthorized, a step
taken with little notice until recently.  The Bank helps provide
financing for U.S. exports.  Some conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats oppose the Bank on
the grounds that it is a government subsidy — corporate welfare for a
few big companies like Boeing and General Electric — while others hail
the Bank as an important jobs creator by facilitating U.S. exports.

After months of fractious debate, Republican Steve Fincher (R-TN) defied House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) and obtained sufficient signatures on a discharge petition — a rarely used parliamentary procedure to move legislation out of committee so the entire House can consider the issue against the wishes of a committee — to bring the matter to a vote in the House.  A bill dedicated to reauthorizing the Bank passed 313-118.

The issue ended up as a section of an unrelated bill to fund highways, railroads and other surface transportation infrastructure.  The House and Senate reached agreement on that bill, H.R. 22, earlier this week.  Some Senators sought to add a requirement that the Bank consider whether a loan applicant
opposes new European Union labeling requirements for goods made in what
the EU considers to be Israeli-occupied territories like the West Bank, but in the end, the Senate did not include that language.  What is in the final bill is the same as what the House passed, which in turn is the same as what the Senate passed in June.

The Senate passed the bill this evening,  just hours after it cleared the House.  It now goes to the President for signature. 

Note:  This article was updated Thursday evening to reflect the Senate action.

Last Updated: Dec 03, 2015 10:45 pm ET
House Passes Updated FY2016 Intelligence Authorization Bill

House Passes Updated FY2016 Intelligence Authorization Bill

By Marcia Smith | Posted: December 2, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: December 2, 2015 11:55 pm ET

The House passed an updated version of the FY2016 Intelligence Authorization bill yesterday (December 1).  The revised bill, H.R. 4127, reflects a compromise between the bill that passed the House in June (H.R. 2596) and one that was reported from the Senate Intelligence Committee in July (S. 1705).   Most of the bill is classified, but unclassified portions hint at space-related actions.

A press release from the House Intelligence Committee says the bill “invests in the resiliency of our national security space architecture.”  Committee ranking member Adam Schiff (D-CA) said in the press release that the bill “strikes the right balance” for countering wide-ranging threats “particularly in cyberspace, outer space, and the undersea environment.” 

Schiff and committee chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) were the only two Members to speak about the bill during floor debate.  Nunes did not mention space programs, but Schiff remarked that the bill invests in “space protection and resiliency, preserving investments in cutting-edge technologies, and enhancing oversight of contracting and procurement practices.  I am particularly pleased with where the revised bill ends up with respect to our space programs.”  (He also noted that he did not support the earlier version of the bill, and still objected to language in this version regarding Guantanamo, but was willing to accept it because it conforms with what is in the recently enacted National Defense Authorization Act.)

The bill passed 364-58.

The unclassified text of the bill includes Sec. 312, which requires the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), in collaboration with the Secretary of Defense (SecDef) and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS), to develop a strategy “to ensure there is a comprehensive interagency review of policies and practices for planning and acquiring national security satellite systems and architectures, including the capabilities of commercial systems and partner countries, consistent with the National Space Policy issued on June 28, 2010.” 

The bill language delineates nine elements that must be included in the strategy with the goal of ensuring the U.S. national security overhead satellite architecture is, for example, capable of meeting U.S. needs “in peace time and is resilient in wartime,” is “fiscally responsible,” “aims to produce in less than 5 years innovative satellite systems that are able to leverage common, standardized design elements and commercially available technologies,” and “emphasizes deterrence and recognizes the importance of offensive and defensive space control capabilities.”

No deadline is set for the strategy to be completed, but the DNI, SecDef and CJCS must report on it to Congress by February 28, 2016.

 

Last Updated: Dec 02, 2015 11:55 pm ET
White House, Commercial Space Companies Praise New Space Law

White House, Commercial Space Companies Praise New Space Law

By Marcia Smith | Posted: December 2, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: December 2, 2015 12:20 am ET

A White House official and representatives of three entrepreneurial space companies praised last week’s enactment of a new law that provides property rights to U.S. companies that mine resources from asteroids during an online discussion today (December 1).

Tom Kalil, Deputy Director, Technology and Innovation at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) said that President Obama was “delighted” to sign the bill into law because promoting the commercial space industry is a high priority for the Obama Administration.   He pointed out that the President’s vision is that the United States will go to space not just to visit, but to stay.  Kalil enthused that using energy and matter that is already in space, rather than launching it from Earth, will lead eventually to a “solar system civilization” and the law creates an environment conducive to private sector efforts to further that goal.

The final version of the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act, H.R. 2262, passed the House and Senate in November and the President signed it on November 25.  It covers a broad range of commercial space issues, but today’s Google+ Hangout, sponsored by the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF), focused on the asteroid mining provision.

Peter Marquez from Planetary Resources Inc., Bob Richards from Moon Express, and Mike Gold from Bigelow Aerospace joined Kalil on the panel, which was moderated by CSF President Eric Stallmer.  Planetary Resources plans to mine asteroids, while Moon Express is focused on lunar resources.  Bigelow Aerospace is building inflatable modules that can be used in space or on the surface of the Moon or other planetary bodies.

The issue of who can own space resources is controversial because of provisions in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty that prohibit nations from asserting sovereignty in space and require governments to authorize and continually supervise activities of non-government entities, like companies.

Richards said today that the “brilliant” aspect of the law is that there is “’no assertion of territory.”  The law gives rights to resources mined from asteroids, but not to the asteroid itself.  He likened it to operators of fishing vessels in international waters who own the fish they catch, but not the oceans.  He added the law codifies what governments have already done by returning samples of the Moon to Earth and that “these are also rights of the private sector.”

The United States and Soviet Union both brought back lunar samples which remain in their possession (the U.S. samples were obtained by six Apollo astronaut crews; the Soviet Union returned samples using robotic spacecraft).  The United States also returned a sample from a comet and of solar wind.   Japan has returned material from an asteroid and the United States will launch its own robotic asteroid sample return mission next year.

The overall message from the companies was that the law provides security and predictability for investors and allows the companies to focus on developing the technology to achieve these goals, rather than spending their time in court arguing over resource ownership issues.  Gold joked that more time can be spent on launches and less on lawyers “which is unfortunate for me as an attorney.”

Gold cautioned, though, that the law is just the beginning of the process and it is not yet time for “popping the champagne.”  He said the law is “rife with the opportunity for misunderstanding and misconception” and expects that at the first meeting of the U.N. Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPOUS) next year, there will be “outcries from many nations about the U.S. flaunting the Outer Space Treaty.”

Getting other nations to understand and agree with the law is the responsibility of the State Department, Marquez said.  That may be a challenging assignment.   Even NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden expressed skepticism at an unrelated event today.  In response to a question at the NASA Advisory Council meeting at Johnson Space Center, Bolden said he was “not sure the U.S. Congress can pass a law that authorizes American citizens” to own space resources, noting that NASA has been involved in these issues for many years.  Nevertheless, he said he was encouraged by all the entrepreneurs who want to do it.

Last Updated: Dec 02, 2015 12:20 am ET
What's Happening in Space Policy November 30-December 4, 2015

What's Happening in Space Policy November 30-December 4, 2015

By Marcia Smith | Posted: November 29, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: November 29, 2015 3:25 pm ET

Here is our list of space policy events for the week of November 30-December 4, 2015 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are in session this week.

During the Week

Congress returns to work tomorrow (Monday) after a week off for Thanksgiving.   They have this week and next to reach agreement on a funding bill for the government.  The current Continuing Resolution (CR) expires on December 11.   Optimism abounds that all sides can work out their differences on funding issues, but policy riders are something else entirely.   Several issues could derail an agreement — from resettlement plans for Syrian refugees to funding for Planned Parenthood.  Stay tuned.

The conference report on the surface transportation bill, H.R. 22, which includes reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank, could come up this week. Reopening the Bank has most recently become enmeshed in Middle East politics according to Politico. The prevailing wisdom is that the Bank will be reauthorized even if Congress does include language requiring the Bank to consider whether a loan applicant opposes new European Union labeling requirements for goods made in what the EU considers to be Israeli-occupied territories like the West Bank.

Down at Cape Canaveral, a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket is scheduled to launch an Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday.  This is the first flight of a Cygnus, and an upgraded version at that, since the Antares launch failure in October 2014.   That launch was by Orbital Sciences Corporation and designated Orb-3.  Orbital merged with ATK in February and this one is OA-4.  The company names its spacecraft after prominent individuals.  Orb-3 was the S.S. Deke Slayton after the late NASA astronaut and space launch entrepreneur (one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, he did not get his chance to fly until 1975 because of a health issue and later founded Space Services Inc., which built the Conestoga rocket).  This one also is named after him — the S.S. Deke Slayton II.  (S.S. is for spaceship).  Orbital ATK is still working on returning Antares to flight, outfitted with different Russian engines (RD-181s instead of NK-33/AJ26s).  There will be one more Atlas V/Cygnus launch in the spring, and then an Antares/Cygnus launch from Wallops Island, VA in the May time frame.

Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James will speak at the National Press Club on Wednesday.   No way to know in advance how much she will address space activities, but with all the tumult on Capitol Hill about Russian RD-180s for ULA’s Atlas V, it would be surprising if no one at least asked a question about it.  The Air Force and powerful members of the Senate Appropriations Committees, including Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), want ULA to be able to obtain more RD-180s for national security launches than are permitted under the FY2016 National Defense Authorization Act that President Obama signed into law a couple of days ago.  That language was championed by Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) chairman John McCain (R-AZ) who wants to limit how much money the United States pays Russian President Vladimir Putin and his “cronies” and move forward expeditiously with building an American replacement for the RD-180 by 2019.  The Air Force and Shelby et al are convinced that more time is needed for that transition to occur and thus more RD-180s are required (ULA builds its rockets in Alabama, Shelby’s state). Strictly speaking, it is authorization bills that are supposed to set policy.  Legislating in an appropriations bill is not permitted, but that prohibition is rarely enforced.  A point of order can be raised against a bill that transgresses the official boundaries, but it is all very complicated politically. 

(Why, you may ask, is it all right for Orbital ATK to use Russian RD-181 engines for Antares when ULA is limited in how many Russian RD-180s it can use on Atlas V?   Because the limitation is on using Russian engines for national security launches.  Orbital ATK is not offering Antares for national security launches, just civil and commercial.)

RD-180 and other space issues could also come up as a SASC hearing on Tuesday where aerospace industry icon and former Lockheed Martin executive Norm Augustine will testify on the perennial issue of defense acquisition reform.

The NASA Advisory Council meets over three days (Tuesday-Thursday) at Johnson Space Center, TX.  NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden is scheduled to speak on Tuesday afternoon from 1:30-2:30 pm Central Time (2:30-3:30 pm Eastern) followed by Bill Gerstenmaier and Sam Scimemi on human spaceflight.  The public may listen in on the meeting via WebEx and telecon.

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

Monday, November 30

Tuesday, December 1

Tuesday-Thursday, December 1-3

Wednesday, December 2

Thursday, December 3

Friday, December 4

Last Updated: Nov 29, 2015 3:25 pm ET
What's Happening in Space Policy November 23-December 4, 2015

What's Happening in Space Policy November 23-December 4, 2015

By Marcia Smith | Posted: November 22, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: November 22, 2015 12:11 pm ET

Here is our list of upcoming space policy events.  This edition covers two weeks instead of one since the coming week includes the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday and not much is scheduled.   The House and Senate are in recess for the holiday week.  The Senate returns on November 30; the House on December 1.

During the Weeks

As of Sunday morning, we are not aware of any space policy events on tap for Thanksgiving week, but President Obama has two space-related bills on his desk that could be signed into law once he returns to the States:  the FY2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act.

The following week, Congress gets back to work on, among other things, finalizing a FY2016 budget.  The Continuing Resolution (CR) currently funding the government expires on December 11.   Despite the budget deal agreed to earlier this month, there are enough controversial policy issues at stake that laying odds on getting full-year appropriations passed by then remains risky.

Apart from that, the NASA Advisory Council meets at Johnson Space Center on December 1-3, Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James will speak at the National Press Club on December 2, and Orbital ATK will return its Cygnus capsule (though not its Antares rocket) to flight on December 3.  Cygnus will launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V from Cape Canaveral, FL.  Orbital ATK hopes to resume Antares launches from Wallops Island, VA in May 2016.

Also on December 1, NASA’s Mars Exploration Program Scientist, Michael Meyer, will give an update on NASA’s Mars program at the next Space Policy & History Forum.  This one is being held at the Applied Physics Lab (APL) in Laurel, MD, rather than at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in D.C.   APL and NASM co-sponsor this quarterly lecture series. 

Those and other events we know about as of Sunday morning are listed below.   Check back to see any additions to our Events of Interest list that we learn about later.

Thursday, November 26

  • HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL OF OUR U.S. READERS

Tuesday, December 1

Tuesday-Thursday, December 1-3

Wednesday, December 2

Thursday, December 3

Friday, December 4

 

Last Updated: Nov 22, 2015 12:11 pm ET
Compromise Commercial Space Bill Passes House — Next Stop, the President

Compromise Commercial Space Bill Passes House — Next Stop, the President

By Marcia Smith | Posted: November 16, 2015 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: November 25, 2015 9:53 pm ET

UPDATE, November 25, 2015:  The President signed the bill into law today.

ORIGINAL STORY, November 16, 2015: The compromise version of new commercial space legislation passed the House this evening, clearing the measure for the President.  The bill, H.R. 2262, covers a broad range of commercial space policy issues from third party indemnification to asteroid mining.

The compromise bill, which retains the House number following negotiations on House- and Senate-passed versions of the bill, includes the following provisions:

  • Formally extends operation of the International Space Station from 2020 through 2024.  President Obama announced last year that
    he was extending it until then, but this will make it law.  Canada and
    Russia have agreed with the extension; Japan and Europe have not
    publicly endorsed the extension yet.
  • Extends the “learning period” for commercial human spaceflight
    through September 30, 2023.  Under current law, the prohibition on the
    FAA promulgating new regulations for the commercial human spaceflight
    business expires on March 31, 2016.
  • Extends third party indemnification for launch services
    companies through September 30, 2025.  Under current law, the authority
    for the FAA to indemnify commercial space launch companies from certain
    amounts of claims from the uninvolved public in the event of a launch
    accident expires on December 31, 2016.
  • Directs the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
    (OSTP) to assess and recommend approaches for oversight of commercial
    non-governmental activities in space.  The 1967 Outer Space Treaty
    requires governments to authorize and continually supervise the
    activities of their non-governmental entities.
  • Establishes a legal right to resources U.S. citizens obtain from
    asteroids consistent with current law and international obligations. 
    Directs the President to facilitate and promote space resource
    exploration and recovery.
  • Provides a use policy for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS).  SLS
    may be used for missions to extend human presence beyond low Earth
    orbit (LEO), for other payloads that can benefit from its unique
    capabilities, for government or educational payloads consistent with
    NASA’s mission to explore beyond LEO, and for “compelling circumstances”
    as determined by the NASA Administrator.

The original version of HR. 2262 passed the House in May.  The Senate version, which was quite different, passed in August.  The two chambers have been working out their differences ever since.  This final version passed the Senate last week.

The House version combined four separate pieces of legislation that cleared the House Science, Space and Technology (SS&T) Committee in May.  It was collectively named the Spurring Private Aerospace Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship (SPACE) Act when it passed the House.  The Senate bill, S. 1297, was more narrowly cast in some respects, although it included a provision extending operations of the International Space Station until at least 2024.

The bill passed the House today by voice vote under suspension of the rules and now goes to the President for signature.

The lead sponsor of the House version is House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) whose district includes the Mojave Air & Space Port.  He said the bill “ensures America remains the leader in space exploration and innovation in the 21st century.”   House Science, Space and Technology (SS&T) Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Space Subcommittee chairman Brian Babin (R-TX) echoed those sentiments.

Among the organizations applauding passage of the bill are the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) and Deep Space Industries (DSI).  CSF called the bill “one of the most significant modernizations of commercial space policy and regulatory legislation” since the 1984 Commercial Space Launch Act (CSLA).  DSI, one of two entrepreneurial companies seeking to clarify rights to resources mined from asteroids, also praised passage of the bill.  DSI Chair Rick Tumlinson said it “builds on our national space legacy and will help enable the rapid and sustainable growth of America’s space economy.”

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), who led efforts to obtain Senate approval of the compromise last week, today called it “a new era for our commercial ventures in space, which will likely include the development of new drugs, the possibility of mining asteroids and an explosion of new technology as we advance our outreach in space.”

Last Updated: Nov 25, 2015 9:53 pm ET

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