Events of Interest: Week of March 5-9, 2012

The following events may be of interest in the week ahead.  The House and Senate both are in session.

During the Week

This week is chock full of congressional hearings on space activities at NASA, DOD, NOAA, and USGS (which operates the Landsat satellites), not to mention a number of NASA Advisory Council (NAC) committee meetings leading up to the full NAC meeting on Thursday and Friday.   Not sure how much the hearings on NOAA and USGS will focus on space activities since their responsibilities are quite varied, but something of interest may be said.   Separately, NASA is sponsoring a day-long seminar on Thursday at George Washington University in connection with Women’s History Month on “Woman, Innovation and Aerospace.”  

Rather than listing these events day-by-day as we usually do, this week they are grouped into categories for those of you interested primarily in the NAC meetings, the congressional hearings, or the other events.  A day-by-day listing is available on our “Events of Interest” list and on the calendar on our website as always.  

NASA Advisory Council (NAC) meetings, all at NASA Headquarters, Washington DC

• Education and Public Outreach Committee, Monday
• Technology & Innovation Committee, Tuesday
• Science Committee, Tuesday-Wednesday
• Human Exploration & Operations Committee, Tuesday-Wednesday
• Information Technology & Infrastructure Committee, Wednesday
• Audit, Finance & Analysis Committee, Wednesday
• full NAC, Thursday-Friday

Congressional Hearings (all times EST)  Many congressional hearings are webcast and can be viewed on the relevant committee’s website, although most hearings held in rooms in the U.S. Capitol are not.

• Civil Space Activities – NASA
  • Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Keeping America Competitive Through Investments in R&D, Tuesday, 2:30 pm, 253 Russell (witnesses from OSTP, NIST, NSF and NASA)
  • Senate Commerce Cmte, Priorities, Plans and Progress of the Nation’s Space Program, Wednesday, 10:00 am, 253 Russell (witnesses: NASA Administrator Bolden, astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson)
  • House Science, Space and Technology (SS&T) Commttee, NASA FY2013 Budget Request, Wednesday, 2:00 pm, 2318 Rayburn (witness: NASA Administrator Bolden)
• Civil Space Activities — NOAA (weather satellites) and USGS (Landsat land remote sensing satellites)
  • House Appropriations Interior and Environment subcommittee on FY2013 USGS budget request, Tuesday, 1:00 pm, B-308 Rayburn (witness: USGS Director McNutt)
  • House SS&T Cmte on FY2013 NOAA budget request, Tuesday, 2:00 pm, 2318 Rayburn (witness: NOAA Administrator Lubchenco)
  • Senate Commerce Cmte on FY2013 NOAA budget request, Wednesday, 2:30 pm, 253 Russell (witness:  NOAA Administrator Lubchenco)
• National Security Space Activities
  • House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee on FY2013 Air Force budget request, Tuesday, 10:00 am, H-140 Capitol (witnesses:  AF Secretary Donley and AF Chief of Staff Schwartz)
  • Senate Budget Committee on Perspectives on DOD FY2013 budget request, Tuesday, 10:30 am, 608 Dirksen (outside witnesses) 
  • House Armed Services Committee Strategic Forces Subcommittee on national security space activities, Thursday, 1:00 pm, 2212 Rayburn (witnesses:  DOD officials — Gen. Shelton, Gil Klinger, Greg Schulte, Betty Sapp)

Other

• NASA event on Women, Innovation and Aerospace, Thursday, 9:00 am -3:00 pm Jack Morton Auditorium at George Washington University, 805 21st St., NW, Washington DC (speakers include: NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, NOAA Deputy Administrator Kathy Sullivan, National Academy of Engineering Fellow Catherine Didion, Office of Personnel Management official Veronica Villalobos, and SpacePolicyOnline.com editor Marcia Smith)
• Secure World Foundation (SWF) Round Table on International Code of Conduct-International Perspectives, Thursday,  Brussels, Belgium (speakers include representatives to the European Union from the United States, Japan, and Australia; Gerard Brachet from the International Astronautical Federation; Pierre-Louis Lempereur from the European External Action Service; and Agnieszka Lukaszczyk from SWF)