Category: Space Law

FAA Space Office Fares Better in Senate Appropriations Bill for FY2015

FAA Space Office Fares Better in Senate Appropriations Bill for FY2015

By Marcia Smith | Posted: June 6, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: June 6, 2014 5:03 pm ET

The FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) gets its full FY2015 request of $16.605 million in the Senate Appropriations Committee’s version of the FY2015 Transportation-HUD (T-HUD) appropriations bill.   By comparison, the House committee approved a small cut.

The report (S. Rept. 113-182) on the Senate bill (S. 2438) was approved yesterday (June 5) and released today.  The bill itself has not yet been posted by the Government Printing Office (GPO).

AST is responsible for facilitating and regulating the commercial space launch industry.   For the current fiscal year (FY2014), the office received $16.011 million.

The FY2015 request is $16.605 million, but the House Appropriations Committee reduced it to $16.000 million when it approved its version of the T-HUD bill in May.   The House committee’s report (H. Rept. 113-464) did not explain why it reduced the budget and, in fact, cited the importance of the commercial launch industry to the country; asserted its commitment to ensuring a viable, healthy and competitive industry; and noted AST’s heavy workload.  It told the FAA to “meet the modest funding reduction in this account through savings from non-safety related activities.”   The House committee also stated that it supports using heavy lift launch vehicles, including the Space Launch System, for commercial launches to low Earth orbit (LEO) and beyond.  It urges AST to “leverage” its licensing authority to “encourage private sector investment in systems by ensuring that commercial activities can be conducted on a non-interference basis.”

The House is scheduled to begin consideration of the T-HUD bill, H.R. 4745, on Monday (June 9).  The Senate has not announced when it will take up the bill, but Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) said at yesterday’s markup that the Senate leadership has agreed to bring some appropriations bills to the Senate floor for debate during the week of June 16.

Last Updated: Jun 06, 2014 5:03 pm ET
Senate Appropriators Increase NASA Budget, Save SOFIA, Transfer Two Programs from NOAA to NASA – UPDATE

Senate Appropriators Increase NASA Budget, Save SOFIA, Transfer Two Programs from NOAA to NASA – UPDATE

By Marcia Smith | Posted: June 5, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: June 6, 2014 4:17 pm ET

UPDATE, June 6, 2014:   The final version of the report is now posted on GPO’s website, but not the bill.  See link in last paragraph.

ORIGINAL STORY, June 5, 2014: The Senate Appropriations Committee approved its FY2015 Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bill today.  The bill would increase NASA’s FY2015 budget by $439 million to $17.9 billion.  While that figure is very similar to what the House approved, it would be allocated within NASA quite differently in some cases.   Among the differences, the Senate committee would transfer two programs – Jason-3 and DSCOVR – to NASA from NOAA and increase NASA’s earth science budget accordingly.

SpacePolicyOnline.com obtained a copy of the committee’s report on the CJS bill and we’ve updated our fact sheet on NASA’s FY2015 budget request with the Senate committee’s recommendations.

President Obama requested $17.461 billion for NASA in FY2015, a figure rejected by both Senate and House appropriators.   The House approved an increase of $435 million, to $17.896 billion.  The Senate committee recommends an even $17.900 billion.  Here are some of the major changes.

  • Astrophysics:  SOFIA and WFIRST. Like the House, the Senate committee rejected the Obama Administration’s plan to mothball the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA).  The 747-based observatory is a joint project between NASA and its German counterpart, DLR.  The Administration proposed cancelling it because NASA could not afford its 80 percent share of the roughly $100 million/year operating costs.   It requested only $12 million for FY2015 as part of a close-out plan, with no funding projected for future years.   The House disapproved that plan and provided $70 million.  The Senate committee also disapproves and provides $87 million.  SOFIA’s FY2014 funding was $84 million.  Like last year, the Senate committee also added money for work on the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), identified by the National Research Council’s astrophysics Decadal Survey as the top priority for the next large space observatory after the James Webb Space Telescope.  The committee provides $56 million.
  • Planetary Exploration:  Europa.  FY2015 is the first year that NASA is requesting funds — $15 million — for planning a mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa.  Congress was way ahead of NASA on this one, adding money in FY2013 ($75 million, which became $69 million after adjusting for rescissions and the sequester) and FY2014 ($80 million).   The Senate committee does not increase funding for Europa (the House added $85 million), but expressed its support and directed NASA to design the mission to use the Space Launch System (SLS) as its launch vehicle.
  • Earth Science.  The Senate committee substantially increased NASA’s earth science budget, in part because it transferred two programs to NASA from NOAA: Jason-3, an ocean altimetry mission, and DSCOVR, a space weather mission.  Both are cooperative programs that involve NOAA, NASA and other domestic and international agencies.  They both have long histories, but NOAA has been managing the programs most recently.  The Senate committee would put NASA in charge and adds money to NASA’s budget resulting in a total of $25.6 million for Jason-3 and $24.8 million for DSCOVR.  (NOAA requested $25.656 million for Jason-3 and $21.1 million for DSCOVR.)  The Senate committee also eschews NASA’s efforts at finding innovative methods for providing continuity of Landsat data.  It directs NASA to proceed with a new Landsat mission for launch no later than 2020 and a cost of no more than $650 million (including launch) that would “maximize the utilization of non-recurring engineering efforts from Landsat 8.”
  • SLS and Orion.  The Senate committee substantially increases funding for SLS:  $1.70 billion compared to the request of $1.38 billion.   The House provided $1.60 billion.  The Senate committee also increases funding for Orion:  $1.200 billion compared to the $1.053 billion request.  The House provided $1.140 billion.   The Senate committee directs NASA to establish a “reliable and realistic” Joint Confidence Level (JCL) for both programs to ensure that the programs do not “incur a higher risk profile than other major missions.”  If the JCL is less than NASA’s standard 70 percent, NASA must justify and document the reasons and nevertheless provide the committee with a funding profile needed to achieve a 70 percent JCL.  (A JCL is an estimate of the probability that a program will meet its budget and cost targets.  The higher the probability, the more money needed in the early stages of the program.)
  • Commercial Crew.  NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden made winning congressional approval of the full $848 million request for commercial crew a top priority to ensure that NASA can support two competitors in the next phase of the program rather than only one.  The Senate committee recommends $805 million (the House approved $785 million).  While not the full request, either the Senate or House figure is more than Congress has approved in the past.  The Senate committee has extensive language on the use of Space Act Agreements versus Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)-based contracts and requires NASA to provide certain information to allow increased transparency.
  • Space Technology.  The Senate committee cuts the request for Space Technology substantially from $705.5 million to $580.0 million although some of that reflects a transfer of funds for satellite servicing from the Space Technology account to Space Operations (the report does not specify how much).  The report language does not explain the rationale for the cut, but says the priority should be Cross-Cutting Space Technology.

At the markup today, committee chairwoman Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) said that she was working with Senate leadership to bring several appropriations bills to the floor for consideration during the week of June 16.  Her committee marked up this CJS bill as well as the Transportation-HUD bill today, so they presumably will be part of that package.

Update, June 6:  The final version of the report, S. Rept. 113-181, is now posted on GPO’s website and accessible via the committee’s site.  The bill is not posted there yet.

Last Updated: Jun 06, 2014 4:17 pm ET
Senate Appropriations Subcommittee Wants $17.9 Billion for NASA in FY2015

Senate Appropriations Subcommittee Wants $17.9 Billion for NASA in FY2015

By Marcia Smith | Posted: June 3, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: June 3, 2014 3:45 pm ET

Two Senate Appropriations subcommittees marked up the FY2015 Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) and Transportation-HUD (T-HUD) appropriations bills today.  The CJS bill includes NASA and NOAA.  T-HUD includes the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST).   Many of the details are not yet available, but for NASA, the subcommittee recommended $17.9 billion, very close to what the House approved last week and a significant increase from the President’s request.

Both markups were quick, as usual.  Major debates typically are deferred to full committee markup, which is scheduled for both bills on Thursday.

The T-HUD subcommittee completed its work first.  The top-level information released by the committee today does not show what was recommended for AST.  The request is $16.605 million and the House Appropriations Committee recommended a reduction to $16.000 million.

The CJS subcommittee is chaired by Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and the top Republican is Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL).  The two also lead the full committee.  In her opening statement, Mikulski said she was “deeply disappointed” in President Obama’s FY2015 request for NASA of $17.461 billion, about $250 million less than the agency received for FY2014.  She said the subcommittee was recommending $17.9 billion, $439 million more than the request and $254 million more than FY2014.  Based on those figures, her subcommittee is recommending exactly $17.9 billion, a tad more than the $17.896 billion approved by the House.  (For more details of the request and House action, see SpacePolicyOnline.com’s fact sheet on the  FY2015 NASA budget request.)

The committee’s press release provides few details about the composition of that $17.9 billion, but Mikulski and Shelby’s opening statements offered these details (note that figures like “$3 billion” or “5.2 billion” might reflect rounding):

  • International Space Station, $3 billion ($3.051 billion was requested; the House approved $3.040 billion)
  • Commercial crew, $805 million ($848 million was requested; the House approved $785 million)
  • Science, $5.2 billion ($4.972 billion was requested; the House approved $5.193 billion)
  • Space Launch System (SLS), $1.7 billion ($1.38 billion was requested; the House approved $1.60 billion)

Mikulski also said the bill contained strong support for NASA’s aeronautics program and NOAA’s weather satellite programs, but did not mention how much.  (For details on NOAA’s request for satellite programs and House action on it, see SpacePolicyOnline.com’s fact sheet on NOAA’s FY2015 request for satellites.)

Shelby noted that the bill includes language to ensure “greater accountability and budgetary transparency” in the commercial crew program and future commercial cargo missions.  He is a long standing skeptic of those programs and said the language would help ensure that taxpayers get the best value for their dollar.

Other language in the bill, he said, would require that NASA follow its own Joint Confidence Level (JCL) policies in requesting future funding for SLS.  Generally, the JCL requires that NASA fund its programs at a 70 percent confidence level that the schedule and cost estimate will be met.  Before the JCL was implemented, NASA used a lower confidence level and many of its programs encountered cost overruns and schedule delays. Using a higher confidence level increases the chance of meeting budget and schedule, but it also means that more money must be provided in the early years of a program.  That can be a problem in budget-constrained circumstances.   NASA’s JCL policy is codified in NPD 1000.5 and actually offers the relevant NASA “decision authority” quite a bit of flexibility with regard to the 70 percent.

Shelby queried NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden about what confidence level would be used for SLS at a May 1 hearing and Bolden made clear that it would not be 70 percent.  “You can’t fund enough to get SLS to a 70 percent [JCL] and I don’t want you to do that, I’m not asking for that, that would be unrealistic,” Bolden said.  He added that he was “comfortable” with using a lower confidence level for SLS because he considers it a mature system since major components like the engines are from past programs, such as the space shuttle, where they flew successfully. 

Shelby and Bolden also had an exchange about the launch date for the first SLS mission.   NASA had been saying it would be in 2017, but at the hearing Bolden hinted at a schedule slip by saying the launch would be in FY2018 (October 1, 2017-September 30, 2018).  While the first three months of FY2017 also are in calendar year 2017, the other nine are in calendar year 2018.   In his opening statement today, Shelby said the increase for SLS from the request of $1.38 billion to $1.7 billion is to keep it on track for launch in 2017.   The House approved $1.6 billion for SLS in its version of the bill.  SLS is being built at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Shelby’s home state of Alabama.

Overall, the CJS bill would provide $51.2 billion for the departments and agencies within its jurisdiction, the same as the House bill.  That amount is $1 billion more than President Obama’s request, but about $400 million less than FY2014.

Last Updated: Jun 03, 2014 3:45 pm ET
What's Happening in Space Policy June 2-6, 2014

What's Happening in Space Policy June 2-6, 2014

By Marcia Smith | Posted: June 1, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: June 1, 2014 6:30 pm ET

Here is our list of upcoming space policy related events for the week of June 2-6, 2014 and any insight we can offer about them.  The Senate is in session this week; the House is in recess.

During the Week

The Senate Appropriations Committee will markup its version of the FY2015 Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bill this week.  Subcommittee markup is on Tuesday and full committee markup is on Thursday.   The House passed its version after two long days of debate last week, though little of it was about NASA or NOAA satellite programs, and only two minor amendments were adopted that affect NASA.  Overall the House bill would give NASA $435 million more than President Obama requested for FY2015, a significant increase especially in these budget constrained times.   We’ll see what the Senate has in mind this week.  NOAA’s satellite programs fare pretty well in the House-passed bill, although it denies funding for the new SIDAR program — a free-flyer that would take three instruments (TSIS, A-DCS, SARSAT) into orbit that cannot fit on the JPSS spacecraft.  Last year this was called the Polar Free Flyer and Congress zeroed funding for it and told NOAA to come up with a new plan.  SIDAR is that plan.

The Senate Appropriations Committee also will begin action on the FY2015 Transportation-HUD (T-HUD) appropriations bill this week.  The T-HUD subcommittee will markup the bill on Tuesday morning and full committee markup is on Thursday (along with the CJS bill).  The T-HUD bill funds the Federal Aviation Administration and its Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST).  The House Appropriations Committee recommended a cut in AST funding in its version of the bill, from $16.605 million to $16.000 million.

Also of particular note this week is Wednesday’s release of the National Research Council’s (NRC’s) report on the future of the U.S. human spaceflight program.  The report was requested by Congress in the 2010 NASA Authorization Act, but Congress directed NASA to contract with the NRC for the study in FY2012, not at the time the bill became law in 2010.   Consequently, the study did not begin until late in FY2012 and the first meeting was in December 2012.   The report is entitled:  Pathways to Exploration:  Rationales and Approaches for a U.S. Program of Human Space Exploration.  The NRC committee was co-chaired by Cornell space scientist Jonathan Lunine and Purdue University President (and former Indiana Governor) Mitch Daniels.

This week’s meeting of the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) Advisory Board might also be interesting.   PNT is the official term for what GPS does.  GPS is one of several space-based PNT systems around the world that collectively are referred to as Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS).  On Tuesday, the State Department’s Ken Hodgkins is slated to give an update on U.S. GNSS International Engagement that hopefully will shed some light on Russian Deputy Prime Minister Rogozin’s recent threat to turn off 11 GPS stations located in Russia on June 1 (today) unless the United States allows GLONASS stations in the United States.  Russia’s ITAR-TASS news service reported today that Russia has, in fact, changed the status of those 11 stations though it is difficult to discern exactly what has changed.   As far as we’ve been able to determine so far, the 11 GPS stations in Russia have nothing to do with the operation of the GPS system but are so-called “differential” stations that improve the accuracy of a received GPS signal in a local area.  In this case they are being used by Russian scientists.  Brad Parkinson, the “father” of GPS, gave an interesting interview to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) on May 14 explaining what those stations do — or don’t do.  They are not related to GPS operations at all.  The only impact of turning them off is on the scientific research.   By comparison, the GLONASS monitoring stations Russia wants to put on U.S. soil would improve the accuracy of the GLONASS system itself, so it seems to be an apples to oranges comparison.  The issue of putting the GLONASS stations here became very controversial last fall and the FY2014 National Defense Authorization Act prohibits placing the GLONASS monitoring stations here unless approved by the Director of National Intelligence and the Secretary of Defense.

Those and the other space policy-related events we know about as of Sunday afternoon are listed below.

Monday, June 2

Monday-Wednesday, June 2-4

Tuesday, June 3

Tuesday-Wednesday, June 3-4

Wednesday, June 4

Thursday, June 5

Last Updated: Jun 01, 2014 6:30 pm ET
House Passes FY2015 CJS Appropriations Bill Funding NASA and NOAA

House Passes FY2015 CJS Appropriations Bill Funding NASA and NOAA

By Marcia Smith | Posted: May 29, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: May 30, 2014 6:40 pm ET

After two days of debate, the House passed the FY2015 Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bill, which funds NASA and NOAA, at 1:15 am EDT this morning (May 30).  The vote was 321-87.  Two amendments were adopted that affect NASA, but not the total amount of money allocated to the agency.  No amendments specifically directed at NOAA’s satellite programs were offered.

The House Appropriations Committee recommended a total of $51.2 billion for all of the agencies covered by the bill (H.R. 4660), one percent less than last year, but two percent more than the President requested.

For NASA, the committee recommended $17.896 billion, an increase of $435 million above the President’s request of $17.461 billion.  For NOAA’s satellite programs, the committee recommended $2.03 billion, compared to the $2.06 billion request.

One amendment that was adopted by voice vote was offered by Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) and shifts $7 million from NASA’s Space Operations account into Space Technology.  Kaptur represents a district near NASA’s Glenn Research Center.   The appropriations committee cut the request for Space Technology from $705.5 million to $620 million.  The addition of $7 million is a modest gain, but a gain is a gain.  What will be impacted in the Space Operations line is another question.  That account funds the International Space Station (including payments to Russia and U.S. companies for crew and cargo transportation services) and Space and Flight Support (such as the TDRSS tracking and data relay satellites and purchasing launch services).

An amendment by Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) was adopted by voice vote that prohibits any spending for NASA’s Advanced Food Technology program, which is developing food for crews traveling to Mars.  Perry argued that there are no plans to go to Mars so this is not a wise use of federal funds.

Four other NASA-related amendments were defeated, three by voice vote and one by recorded vote. 

  • Kildee (D-MI), reduce NASA’s Exploration account by $10 million and shift the funds to the Interagency Trade Enforcement Center: defeated by voice vote.
  • Kildee (D-WA), reduce NASA’s Exploration account by $15 million and shift the funds to Violent Crime Reduction Partnership Program: defeated by voice vote.
  • Cicilline (D-RI), reduce NASA’s Construction account by $8.5 million and shift the funds to Safe Neighborhoods Program (crime prevention): defeated 196-212.
  • Kilmer (D-WA), reduce NASA’s Aeronautics account by $2 million and shift the funds to Economic High Tech and Cyber Crime Prevention Program: defeated by voice vote.

CJS committee chairman Frank Wolf (R-VA) and ranking member Chaka Fattah (D-PA) opposed all of them because they would have cut NASA funding, not because they disagreed with the alternative priorities advocated by the amendments’ sponsors.  On the two amendments that would have reduced funding for NASA’s Exploration account, Rep. Wolf argued strongly that the cuts would impact the commercial crew program and lengthen U.S. reliance on Russia.  The amendments did not, in fact, target the commercial crew program specifically; they were cuts to the Exploration account generally.  Wolf was probably telegraphing where he would take the cuts within that account if he had to.  He is a strong advocate of the Space Launch System and Orion programs that make up the majority of the funding in that account.

Two other amendments would have affected NASA, though they were not directed specifically at the agency.  Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) offered an amendment that would have prohibited spending funds on any program that was not authorized in law.  Fattah pointed out that NASA is not authorized (its authorization bill expired at the end of FY2013 and a new bill has not yet passed) and that would mean that International Space Station operations could not continue, for example.   Hudson then withdrew the amendment.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) offered an amendment that would have imposed a one percent across-the-board cut for all agencies in the bill except the FBI, which was exempted.  The amendment was defeated 148-253.

A roster of all the amendments and their disposition, with links to the texts of the amendments, is on the House Republican Cloakroom website.

Last Updated: May 30, 2014 6:40 pm ET
Rep. Ralph Hall Loses Primary Runoff

Rep. Ralph Hall Loses Primary Runoff

By Marcia Smith | Posted: May 28, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: May 28, 2014 3:50 am ET

Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX), former chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology (SS&T) Committee and ardent NASA supporter, lost his Republican primary runoff election to Tea Party challenger John Ratcliffe yesterday (May 27).  The oldest Member of the House of Representatives at 91, Hall has been in Congress since 1980 and had said that if he won, it would be his last term in office.  Now, he will lose his seat at the end of this year.

Originally a Democrat, Hall switched to the Republican party early in fellow Texas Republican George W. Bush’s presidential term.  Hall won election as a Republican for the first time in 2004.  He served as chairman of the House SS&T committee in the 112th Congress (2011-2012) after four years of serving as the top Republican on the committee when Democrats controlled the House.  He is “chairman emeritus” of the committee today.  (Fellow Texan Lamar Smith is the current chairman.)

Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX)
Photo credit:  Rep. Hall’s website

Ratclliffe is about half Hall’s age and ran a campaign arguing that Hall had been in office long enough and it was time for a change.   He garnered 29 percent of the vote compared to 45 percent for Hall in a six-way primary contest in March.  Since Hall did not receive a majority of the votes, a runoff was required.  That is the election held yesterday where Ratcliffe won 52.8 percent versus 47.2 percent for Hall.

Hall is in his 17th term representing the 4th congressional district of Texas in a northeastern corner of the state and was taken by surprise by Ratcliffe’s popularity in the March contest.  Both men are strong conservatives and Hall worked hard between March and the runoff to raise funds and support from influential conservatives around the country as well as in Texas, but Ratcliffe had the support of groups like the Club for Growth.

Ratcliffe, 48, is a former U.S. attorney and former Mayor of Heath, TX.  During the campaign he criticized Hall’s long service in the House and promised to serve no more than eight years.  Setting term limits for members of the House and Senate was one of his campaign pledges.

Hall’s unwavering support for NASA, especially the human spaceflight program, will certainly be missed by space program advocates.  Ratcliffe’s campaign website does not include space or science among his issues.  NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) is in Texas, but far from the 4th congressional district.  JSC is in the southern part of the state between Houston and Galveston.  The 4th district is northeast of Dallas, where Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana meet.

No Democrats are seeking election to the House in the 4th district, so Ratcliffe’s election in November is assured.

Last Updated: May 28, 2014 3:50 am ET
What's Happening in Space Policy for the Week of May 26-30, 2014

What's Happening in Space Policy for the Week of May 26-30, 2014

By Marcia Smith | Posted: May 25, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: May 25, 2014 3:32 pm ET

Here is our weekly list of what is coming up in space policy this week and any insight we can offer.   Usually the week that includes Memorial Day is pretty quiet as lots of people head to the beach or other vacation spots, but the House decided it would be in session for legislative business Wednesday-Friday and take next week off instead.   The Senate is doing the opposite — off this week and in session next.  

During the Week

The House is scheduled to debate the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bill this week.  It includes FY2015 funding for NASA and NOAA and was reported from the House Appropriations Committee on May 15 (H.R. 4660, H. Rept. 113-448).   As approved by the committee, NASA would get an increase of $435 million over the President’s FY2015 request.  Such a large increase is quite rare and in the zero-sum world of congressional appropriations, other programs and projects in the CJS bill suffered cuts to pay for it.  The floor debate could be quite interesting if some of the advocates of those other programs try to recoup those losses.  House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s floor schedule website isn’t specific about whether the debate will begin on Wednesday or Thursday, but the National Journal’s Daybook says Thursday.

On Friday, the House will debate the FY2014-2015 Intelligence Authorization bill, which was just approved by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) on Thursday (May 22).  It had approved a FY2014 bill last year (H.R. 3381).   The new version (H.R. 4681) adds authorizations for FY2015 and, according to a committee press release, makes other changes.  Most of the bill is classified.  The unclassified version, which is posted on the House Rules Committee’s website and on THOMAS, doesn’t show any provisions specifically related to space activities.

The NASA Advisory Council’s Earth Science Subcommittee also decided to be hard at work rather than on vacation this week.  It meets Wednesday-Thursday at NASA Headquarters.

And holidays never really mean much for launch schedules.   Three new ISS crew members are scheduled for launch on their Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft on Wednesday afternoon EDT (very early Thursday morning local time at the launch site in Kazakhstan) and docking later that evening.

Here’s the list of the events we know about as of Sunday afternoon.

Wednesday, May 28

  • Soyuz TMA-13M launch and docking of three ISS crewmembers.  Launch: 3:57 pm EDT (1:57 am May 29 local time at the launch site in Kazakhstan); docking 9:48 pm EDT.   NASA TV launch coverage begins at 3:00 pm EDT; docking coverage at 9:00 pm EDT.

Wednesday-Thursday, May 28-29

Thursday, May 29

  • House floor debate on FY2015 CJS appropriations bill (time TBD), The Capitol, Washington, DC (watch on C-SPAN) [Debate might begin on Wednesday, see text above]

Friday, May 30

  • House floor debate on FY2014-2015 Intelligence Authorization Bill (time TBD), The Capitol, Washington, DC (watch on C-SPAN)
Last Updated: May 25, 2014 3:32 pm ET
What's Happening in Space Policy May 19-25, 2014

What's Happening in Space Policy May 19-25, 2014

By Marcia Smith | Posted: May 18, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: May 19, 2014 8:26 am ET

Here is our list of upcoming space policy events for the week of May 19-25, 2014 and any insight we can offer about them.   The House and Senate are in the session this week.

During the Week

As the country gets ready to celebrate Memorial Day and honor those who gave their lives defending our country, Congress will be acting on the authorization bill for the Department of Defense (DOD).   The FY2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) will go before the House Rules Committee on Monday and Tuesday, with floor action expected later in the week.  Meanwhile the Senate Armed Services Committee (and its subcommittees) will be busy marking up its version of the bill. The DOD authorization bill is the only authorization bill that reliably gets passed year after year despite the many controversies therein.  A big issue this year, of course, is what to do about Russia’s threat to stop providing RD-180 engines for the Atlas V rocket.  The House wants to add about $200 million to start a U.S. program to build a new liquid rocket engine to replace it.  The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) will be debating it during markups this week.

Also on tap in the House this week is the FY2015 Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bill, which cleared committee on May 8.  It includes funding for NASA and NOAA.  NASA is slated to get a significant increase ($435 million) compared to the President’s request.   Appropriations being a zero sum game, that means other agencies in the CJS bill got less than the President requested.   Time will tell whether champions of the activities that were cut offer amendments to take money from what is recommended for NASA and restore it to the other programs.  NOAA’s satellite programs did comparatively well, though not its strategy for launching three sensors that do not fit on the JPSS spacecraft.  Last year Congress zeroed the “Polar Free Flyer” program and told NOAA to try again.  This year, it is the SIDAR program and House Appropriations zeroed it, too.

Other big events are — in the United States — the Space Foundation’s annual Space Symposium (formerly the National Space Symposium) in Colorado Springs, CO, and — In Europe — the Berlin Air Show in Berlin, Germany.

Lots of other interesting activities as well.  Here is the list of what we know about as of Sunday afternoon.

Monday, May 19

Monday-Tuesday, May 19-20

Monday-Thursday, May 19-22

Tuesday-Wednesday, May 20-21

Tuesday-Sunday, May 20-25

Wednesday, May 21

Wednesday-Friday, May 21-23

Last Updated: May 19, 2014 8:26 am ET
Nelson: SASC Will Deal with RD-180 Issue Next Week

Nelson: SASC Will Deal with RD-180 Issue Next Week

By Marcia Smith | Posted: May 15, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: May 15, 2014 6:35 am ET

In a speech on the Senate floor yesterday (May 14), Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) said that the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) will take up the issue of how to respond to Russia’s declaration that its RD-180 rocket engines cannot be used for launching U.S. military spacecraft when it marks up the FY2015 defense authorization bill next week.

SASC’s Strategic Forces subcommittee will markup its portion of the FY2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on May 20 and the full committee will markup the bill over the subsequent three days (May 21-23).  All sessions of the markup are closed to the public.

Nelson took to the floor to provide a brief history of cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union/Russia in response to what he said were multiple questions by colleagues and the media.  Nelson has considerable expertise on space matters as chair of the Science and Space subcommittee of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.  He also flew into space on a 1985 space shuttle mission when he was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. 

What action SASC is contemplating was not mentioned.  Nelson laid out the issues and rued the fact that U.S.-Russian space cooperation is being impacted by geopolitical events since even during the Cold War the two countries managed to work together in space.  Citing the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) in particular, he noted that the leaders of the American and Russian crews, Gen. Tom Stafford (Ret.) and Gen. Alexei Leonov (Ret.), remain close friends today and are representative of the close ties between other American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts.  

Emphasizing the complexity of the issues posed if Russia bans sales of the RD-180 engines, he went on to explain that two of NASA’s commercial crew contenders, Boeing and Sierra Nevada, plan to use the Atlas V rocket for their CST-100 and Dream Chaser spacecraft. It is that rocket that uses Russia’s RD-180 engines and would be affected if Russia goes through with a threat issued by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin earlier this week to prohibit use of Russian rocket engines to launch U.S. military satellites.  While those are not military satellites, Nelson is worried that the ban could affect civilian launches, too. 

Rogozin’s threat was not only about the RD-180 engines for the Atlas V, but also Russia’s NK-33 engines used by Orbital Sciences Corporation for its Antares rockets.   Orbital has a large supply of those engines already in the United States that are refurbished by Aerojet Rocketdyne and redesignated AJ-26.  Antares currently is used only for NASA missions and since Orbital already has the engines here, it is not clear that Rozogin’s threats would disrupt those activities.

The Air Force has a study underway to examine options in case the RD-180s no longer are available. The United Launch Alliance (ULA), which produces and launches Atlas V, says that it has a two-year supply of those engines and could, if necessary, shift satellites to the more expensive Delta IV, which has American-made engines.  Nelson said that the topic “will be an issue” when SASC marks up the NDAA next week and if Rogozin follows through with the threat “we’re going to have to swing into action pretty quick.”

The House Armed Services Committee added about $200 million to the FY2015 Air Force budget to begin development of a new U.S. liquid rocket engine to replace the RD-180 when it marked up its version of the bill.   (The HASC Strategic Forces subcommittee added $220 million, which the full committee approved, but it also reduced that subaccount, Aerospace Propulsion, by $23 million for “liquid rocket engine combustion technologies and advanced liquid engine technologies.”)

Rogozin made his comments in response to sanctions imposed on him and other Russian government officials because of Russia’s actions in Ukraine.  He also said that Russia will have to think about whether to agree with NASA’s plans to extend operations of the International Space Station (ISS) beyond 2020.  He did say, however, that Russia needs the ISS until 2020, suggesting that there are no plans to impact ISS operations before then.   Indeed, three ISS crew members returned to Earth on Tuesday and three more are scheduled for launch on May 28.  Russia is the only country currently capable of transporting crews to and from the ISS since the United States terminated the space shuttle program in 2011.

Last Updated: May 15, 2014 6:35 am ET
Revisions to Satellite Export Regulations Released

Revisions to Satellite Export Regulations Released

By Marcia Smith | Posted: May 13, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: May 14, 2014 6:52 am ET

The State Department and Commerce Department issued interim final rules revising satellite export controls yesterday (May 13, 2014).   The long-awaited revisions to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) will allow easier export of commercial satellites to most countries.

The reforms are part of a broader Obama Administration-led Export Control Reform Initiative intended to make American companies more competitive in international markets.

Draft rules were released last year, allowing interested parties to comment on the planned changes.  The rules released yesterday reflect the input that was received and will remain “interim final rules” for the next six months to allow additional comments.  The State Department’s interim final rule and the Commerce Department’s companion revisions are published in the May 13, 2014 Federal Register.   The two departments share responsibility for export controls. The State Department oversees exports of ITAR-controlled items on the U.S. Munitions List (USML).  The Commerce Department regulates “dual-use” items under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR).   Items on the USML are much more closely guarded than those on the EAR because of their greater potential military applications.

The Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) praised the export control reforms, but expressed concern that “almost all commercial human spacecraft” remain on the USML.  CSF President Michael Lopez-Alegria said that while yesterday’s actions should be applauded, “there is still much progress to be made on commercial spacecraft. … We thank the Administration for their work on this critical issue and look forward to continued revisions to ensure the U.S. remains a leader in spaceflight.”  CSF advocates for commercial human spaceflight.

The Satellite Industry Association (SIA), a trade association of commercial satellite operators, service providers, manufacturers, launch service providers, and ground equipment suppliers, hailed the reforms.  SIA President Patricia Cooper said that “With a more modern regulatory environment for exports in place, we look forward to unleashing the full force of American ingenuity and innovation at work in the international market.”

Similarly, the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) congratulated the government for the reforms.  AIA, which represents the U.S. aerospace industry, estimated in 2012 that U.S. manufacturers lost $21 billion in revenue between 1999 and 2009 because of the strict limits placed on exports of commercial satellites in 1999.

Congress imposed the limits in 1999 after a congressional investigation (the Cox Committee) determined that China had gained militarily-important information by launching U.S.-manufactured commercial communications satellites.  Such satellites had been moved from State Department to Commerce Department control under the George H.W. Bush and Clinton Administrations.  In 1999, Congress moved them back to the State Department’s Munitions List and removed the presidential authority to determine which department had control over them — only Congress could make that determination.   The satellite industry immediately began its attempts to return the satellites to Commerce Department control, which now have finally reached fruition after Congress changed the law in 2012.  Exports to China, however, remain prohibited.

Last Updated: May 14, 2014 6:52 am ET

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