HASC to Focus on Assuring Assured Access to Space
The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) will hold a hearing next week on “Assuring Assured Access to Space” with industry and government witnesses. Building an American alternative to Russia’s RD-180 rocket engine and certifying “new entrants” like SpaceX likely will be the key topics.
The committee’s official announcement today does not list the industry witnesses, saying only that the panel is “TBA” — to be announced. Space News ran a story this afternoon stating that SpaceX founder and chief designer Elon Musk and United Launch Alliance (ULA) President Tory Bruno would testify, but HASC would not confirm that to SpacePolicyOnline.com and Space News reporter Mike Gruss later tweeted (@Gruss_SN) that “Musk has only been invited to testily. Not yet confirmed.”
If the two did appear together, it undoubtedly would be a lively exchange. Musk and Bruno’s predecessor, Michael Gass, sat next to each other as witnesses at a Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee hearing just about exactly a year ago. The hearing took place just after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and the U.S.-Russian relationship began its downward spiral. Musk used the opportunity to highlight U.S. dependence on Russia to supply RD-180 engines for ULA’s Atlas V rocket, one of the two U.S. launch vehicles used to launch most national security satellites. He agreed with U.S. policy that two independent launch systems are needed in order to assure U.S. access to space — today they are ULA’s Atlas V and Delta IV — but that his Falcon rocket should replace Atlas as the second since it is not dependent on foreign sources. Thus began a year of hearings and congressional action aimed at reducing or eliminating U.S. dependence on Russia for space launch.
Government witnesses at the March 17 hearing will represent the DOD and Air Force acquisition offices, Air Force Space Command, and the Aerospace Corporation. A committee spokesman said early this evening that they hope to have the industry panel nailed down very soon.
The hearing is at 3:30 pm ET on March 17, 2015 in 2118 Rayburn House Office Building.
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