Space Policy Events for the Week of March 18-22, 2013
The following events may be of interest in the coming week. The House and Senate are in session.
During the Week
The House and Senate are hoping to complete action on the FY2013 Continuing Resolution (CR) by Friday when both chambers are scheduled to begin a two week Easter/Passover recess. They each also hope to pass their respective FY2014 budget resolutions. (For an explanation of the difference between the CR and the budget resolutions, see the article we published Friday.) Congress has until March 27 to pass something to keep the government operating — that is when the current CR expires. If they do not pass a new one, they could pass a short-term extension of the current law.
This is a very busy week for the space community as a whole, with two major conferences in Washington, DC (Satellite 2013 and the AAS Goddard Memorial Symposium) and one in Houston (LPSC 2013). There are four hearings of particular interest: the House SS&T Committee’s rescheduled hearing on the threat posed by meteors and comets on Tuesday; the Senate Commerce subcommittee’s hearing on “threats from space” that apparently includes not just meteors and comets, but judging from the witness list, space debris and perhaps others threats on Wednesday; and the House Appropriations Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) subcommittee hearing on Wednesday afternoon with NASA Administrator Bolden and a separate CJS hearing on Thursday with “outside witnesses” who may talk about space issues among the broad array of other topics under the subcommittee’s jurisdiction.
Monday-Thursday, March 18-21
- Satellite 2013, Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington, DC
- Monday is a series of pre-conference meetings, the conference itself is March 19-21
Monday-Friday, March 18-22
- Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 2013 (LPSC 2013), The Woodlands, TX (near Houston)
Tuesday, March 19
- House SS&T Committee hearing on Threats from Space: Meteors and Comets, 2318 Rayburn, 10:00 am ET
- Marshall Inst/Heritage Foundation Commemoration of 30th Ann of Strategic Defense Initiative, 214 Massachusetts Ave., S.E., Washington, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm ET
- NASA News Conference on Upcoming ISS Mission, NASA Johnson Space Center, 1:00 pm CT (2:00 pm ET), watch on NASA TV
Tuesday-Thursday, March 19-21
- AAS Goddard Memorial Symposium Greenbelt, MD
Wednesday, March 20
- Senate Commerce Sbcmte Hrg on Space Threats, 253 Russell, 10:00 am ET
- House Appropriations CJS Sbmcte Hearing on NASA with Charlie Bolden, 2359 Rayburn, 2:00 pm ET
- Women in Aerospace Women’s History Month Reception with Astronaut Suni Williams, 116 Dirksen, 5:00-7:00 pm ET
Thursday, March 21
- House Appropriations CJS Sbcmte Hearing with Outside Witnesses, H-309 Capitol, 9:30 am ET
- NASA News Conf on Results from Planck Spacecraft re Cosmology, NASA HQ, Washington, DC, 11:00 am ET
Friday, March 22
- National Space Club Goddard Dinner, Hilton Washington Hotel, 1919 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, DC, 6:30 pm ET
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