Space Policy Events for February 17-21, 2014
The following events may be of interest in the week ahead. The House and Senate are in recess this week: Monday is a federal holiday — Presidents’ Day — commemorating the birthdays of Presidents Abraham Lincoln (Feb. 12) and George Washington (Feb. 22).
During the Week
It’s a quiet week from a space policy perspective, but the departure of Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Cygnus spacecraft from the International Space Station (ISS) early Tuesday morning Eastern Standard Time (EST) and the launch of an Air Force GPS satellite from Cape Canaveral on Thursday should be of interest more generally. Cygnus will be unberthed on Tuesday, ending the Orb-1 mission, Orbital’s first operational Commercial Resupply Services mission for NASA. The spacecraft is being loaded with trash and will burn up on reentry Wednesday. The launch of the 5th GPS Block IIF satellite (GPSIIF5) aboard an Atlas V is scheduled for Thursday at 8:40 pm EST with a 19 minute launch window. Weather is 80% go at the moment.
While not directly space-related, CSIS is having a meeting on Tuesday morning about National Security and Economic Issues in Spectrum Allocation that also could prove interesting. Government (DOD, FCC, NTIA) and industry (AT&T, T-Mobile) will discuss the thorny issues of how to allocate spectrum to satisfy the insatiable demand for this limited natural resource.
Here’s a list of the events we know about as of Sunday afternoon.
Tuesday, February 18
- Departure of Cygnus Orb-1 spacecraft from ISS, NASA TV coverage begins at 6:00 am EST
- National Security and Economic Issues in Spectrum Allocation, CSIS (note that CSIS recently moved to 1616 Rhode Island Ave., NW), 9:00-11:00 am EST
- MSBR Luncheon Featuring NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Director Chris Scolese, Martin’s Crosswinds, Greenbelt, MD, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm EST
Wednesday, February 19
- NASA News Teleconference on New Findings from NuSTAR re Supernovas, virtual, 1:00 pm EST
Thursday, February 20
- WSBR Luncheon Featuring Fred Hochberg, Export-Import Bank, University Club, Washington, DC, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm EST
- Launch of GPSIIF5, Cape Canaveral, FL, 8:40 pm EST (19 minute launch window)
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