President Trump gave a shout-out to the new U.S. Space Force in tonight’s State of the Union address as well as calling on Congress to fully fund the Moon-by-2024 Artemis program as a “launching pad” to Mars.
The Air Force has submitted its report to Congress laying out initial plans for standing up the Space Force. The 20-page memo is one of many required by the FY2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to keep Congress apprised of exactly how DOD and the Air Force will structure this new sixth military service and keep it from growing out of bounds.
Here are SpacePolicyOnline.com’s tidbits for February 3, 2020: international ocean science satellite honors Mike Freilich, National Academies releases heliophysics mid-term review, NASA adds SPIDER to Restore-L. Be sure to check our website for feature stories and follow us on Twitter (@SpcPlcyOnline) for more news and live tweeting of events.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of February 2-8, 2020 (plus a bonus of two more for February 9) and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.
The NASA community honored its fallen heroes today in the annual Day of Remembrance. NASA officials presided over a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, while NASA centers around the country held their own observances. NASA sets aside a day each year around this time, which marks the anniversaries of three fatal missions: Apollo 1 on January 27, 1967; Space Shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986; and Space Shuttle Columbia on February 1, 2003.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued its latest review of NASA’s commercial crew program today. As it has in the past, it urged NASA to develop a contingency plan for keeping U.S. astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) if the commercial crew systems are further delayed. Meanwhile, Boeing told investors today it is taking a $410 million pre-tax charge in case NASA requires a second uncrewed Starliner Orbital Flight Test (OFT). …
The theme of today’s markup of a new NASA authorization bill by a House subcommittee can best be described as “calm down.” The bill, introduced just days ago, provoked strong reactions from many quarters including NASA and industry. Key committee members spent the time this afternoon reassuring stakeholders that this is just a first step and there are opportunities to modify it. Only a few non-controversial amendments were adopted today, but bigger changes can be expected in two weeks when the full committee considers it.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released its annual review of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) program today. It reported that according to NASA’s own analysis, the considerably over-budget telescope, already years late, has only a 12 percent chance of meeting its current launch date of March 2021.
NASA selected Axiom Space to build a commercial module for the International Space Station (ISS) today. It is a step towards NASA’s goal of commercializing low Earth orbit (LEO) by facilitating companies like Axiom to build their own space facilities so in the future NASA can lease services rather than own and operate LEO infrastructure.
Space industry groups reacted quite differently to the 2020 NASA authorization bill that will be marked up by a House subcommittee later this week. The Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) rebuked those who crafted the bill and called for it to be withdrawn. By contrast, the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration (CDSE) said the bill’s focus on Mars, not the Moon, should come as no surprise and credited it for sparking a “robust exchange” of views. The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) also was upbeat. The statements from each are reproduced herein.