The House and Senate are delaying their return to Washington until May 4 because of the coronavirus pandemic, but Senators and Representatives are still working hard from home. Just today, three letters were sent to the FCC or Administration officials from a diverse array of congressional leaders making their views known on orbital debris, protecting spectrum for GPS, and NASA’s Artemis program.
U.S. Space Command announced this afternoon that it is tracking an ongoing Russian antisatellite (ASAT) test. Gen. Jay Raymond called it further evidence of Russian hypocrisy in publicly advocating for space arms control while conducting its own counterspace activities that threaten space assets. He also said the United States is ready to defend itself and its allies from such attacks.
Houston-based Intuitive Machines revealed plans today for its first lunar landing in support of NASA’s Artemis program. The company is one of three that now have contracts to deliver NASA payloads to the lunar surface. At the same time, NASA is soliciting more ideas for payloads that can fly on these small robotic missions as well as awarding a logistics contract to deliver cargo to the Gateway space station that it plans for lunar orbit.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the next TWO weeks, April 12-25, 2020, and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in recess, except for pro forma sessions, until at least April 20.
A new three-person crew arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) this morning after a flawless launch. Just as the docking clamps were closing, the Democratic leadership of the House committee that oversees NASA released a statement vowing a close review of a just-released independent report on CASIS, the non-profit that manages utilization of the U.S. portion of the ISS for non-NASA users. The report was strongly critical not only of CASIS itself, but NASA’s oversight of the cooperative agreement between the two.
Although 75 percent of its workforce is working from home due to the coronavirus, NASA continues to press forward with awarding contracts for development of new technologies and sending robotic landers to the Moon. Yesterday it selected 23 early-stage technologies for further study and today it awarded Masten Space Systems the next Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) contract to deliver small payloads to the surface of the Moon.
Here are SpacePolicyOnline.com’s tidbits for April 7, 2020: Multi-month Demo-2 mission moves forward; GPS III launch postponed due to COVID-19; ESA satellite operations back on track; Ken Hodgkins retires from State Department. Be sure to check our website for feature stories and follow us on Twitter (@SpcPlcyOnline) for more news and live tweeting of events.
Boeing announced today that it has decided to refly the uncrewed test flight of its CST-100 Starliner commercial crew spacecraft. The December 2019 Orbital Flight Test (OFT) encountered several anomalies that, among other things, prevented it from demonstrating it could dock with the International Space Station. The reflight is expected this fall. …
President Trump signed a new Executive Order today that clarifies the U.S. position on whether a new treaty should be negotiated to grant rights to space resources like water and minerals mined on the Moon. The U.S. stance against new treaties is well known, but the Executive Order formalizes it.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the next TWO weeks, April 5-18, 2020, and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in recess, except for pro forma sessions, at least until April 20.