Space Policy Events for the Week of April 14-19, 2013
The following events may be of interest in the coming week. The House and Senate both are in session.
During the Week
The big event this week is the scheduled first launch of Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Antares rocket from Wallops Island, VA. Orbital is the competitor to SpaceX for commercial cargo launches to the International Space Station (ISS). It was chosen for NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program a year and a half after SpaceX (replacing RocketPlane-Kistler, which failed to meet its milestones) so is just now getting to the flight test stage. NASA continues to hope that Orbital’s services will begin this year. It has signed a contract for eight Orbital launches in addition to the 12 with SpaceX.
The launch of Antares, with a mass simulator of Orbital’s Cygnus spacecraft, is scheduled for Wednesday between 5:00 pm and 8:00 pm ET. Launch delays, especially with new rockets, are not uncommon. Additional launch opportunities exist through April 21. Orbital is launching from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at NASA’s Wallops Flight Faclity on the coast of Virginia near the southern tip of the Delmarva (Delaware-Maryland-Virginia) peninsula, about 3-4 hours driving time east of Washington, D.C. If the weather conditions are just right, and especially if the launch takes place in the latter part of the launch window when the skies are darker, it may be visible from the DC area.
Sunday, April 14
- Special session of the Planetary Defense Conference focused on the Chelyabinsk meteor, Flagstaff, AZ, 7:00-9:30 pm MT (9:00-11:30 pm ET)
Monday-Friday, April 15-19
- IAA Planetary Defense Conference, Flagstaff, AZ
Monday-Tuesday, April 15-16
- NASA Advisory Council (NAC) Heliophysics Subcommittee, NASA HQ, Washington, DC
Tuesday, April 16
- House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee on FY2014 DOD budget request, 2359 Rayburn, 10:00 am ET
- FAA Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) Systems Working Group, telecon, 1:00 pm ET
Tuesday-Wednesday, April 16-17
- NAC Astrophysics Subcommittee, Holiday Inn Capitol, 550 C Street, NW, Washington, DC
Wednesday, April 17
- Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Hearing on FY2014 DOD budget request, 216 Hart, 9:30 am ET
- House Science, Space and Technology (HSS&T) Committee Hearing on FY2014 Budget Request for Science Agencies, 2318 Rayburn, 10:00 am ET
- NAC Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) Research Subcommittee, telecon, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm ET
- Scheduled first launch of Orbital’s Antares rocket, Wallops Island, VA, launch window is 5:00-8:00 pm ET
Thursday, April 18
- NAC Technology and Innovation Committee, NASA HQ, Washington, DC, 8:00 am – 3:15 pm ET
- NAC HEO committee, NASA HQ, Washington, DC, 9:30 am – 12:00 pm and 1:15 pm – 6:00 pm ET
- Session from 9:30-11:00 am is joint with the NAC Science Committee
Thursday-Friday, April 18-19
- NAC Science Committee, NASA HQ, Washington, DC
- Session on April 18, 9:30-11:00 am ET, is joint with NAC Human Exploration and Operations Committee
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