What's Happening in Space Policy August 1-19, 2016

Here is our list of space policy events for the next THREE weeks, August 1-19, 2016 and any insight we can offer about them.   The House and Senate are in recess until September 6.

During the Weeks

Whew!  The conventions are over.  Congress is in recess.  It’s vacation time!  For one week, at least.

There is nothing on our space policy events calendar for this week, though we are keeping an eye on NASA to see if they issue an announcement about the results of the July 15 Key Decision Point-B (KDP-B) review of the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM).   NASA Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations Bill Gerstenmaier said at a NASA Advisory Council meeting last week that the decision memorandum would be out this week or next. He said that cost growth in the program was forcing NASA to decide whether to accept the increased cost estimate or reduce program content to keep it at the originally promised $1.25 billion level.

Apart from that, one has to look all the way to Saturday for the next event of interest — the annual Small Satellite Conference at Utah State University.  This is USU’s 30th conference on a topic that is all the rage today, but three decades ago was of only modest interest.  It is aptly entitled “Pioneering an Industry.”

Also of special interest during this time period is a presentation by the European Union’s (EU’s) Jean-Luc Bald, First Secretary for Space for the EU’s delegation to the United States.  He will speak at an International Space University-DC alumni chapter “space cafe” on August 9.  (Note the new location for these ISU-DC space cafes — Brixton, 901 U Street, NW — instead of The Science Club on 19th Street, which closed in March.)  Inquiring minds want to know what if any aerospace-related impact will result from the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the EU, including future UK participation in EU space programs (Galileo and Copernicus).  Should be an interesting conversation.

Personally we’re feeling a little overdosed with NASA advisory committee meetings after last week, but for those who can’t get enough, the NAC Heliophysics Committee meets August 8-9 at NASA HQ in Washington and the Outer Planets Assessment Group will get together in Flagstaff August 11-12.  The heliophysics meeting will be available remotely through WebEx/telecom; the OPAG website doesn’t say one way or the other.  Also on the planetary science side of things, the National Academies study committee that’s reviewing NASA’s Planetary Science Division’s new Research & Analysis (R&A) structure holds its second meeting on August 16-18.  It will be at the Keck Center in Washington, DC.

On a completely different front, the annual Space & Missile Defense Conference in Huntsville is coming up August 16-18.  There is a resurgence of interest (in Congress, at least) in using space-based weapons platforms as part of a layered ballistic missile defense (BMD) system.  Last year’s National Defense Authorization Act (P.L. 114-92, Sec. 1685)) required the Director of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) to begin concept definition of a “space-based ballistic missile intercept layer” providing a “boost-phase layer for missile defense” or “additional defensive options against direct ascent anti-satellite weapons, hypersonic glide vehicles, and maneuvering reentry vehicles.”  The House and Senate Armed Services Committees (HASC and SASC) doubled down on that in this year’s bill (H.R. 4909/S. 2943). The House version, for example, requires the MDA Director to begin planning “for concept definition, design, research, development, engineering evaluation and test of a space-based ballistic missile intercept and defeat layer” and “for the research, development, test and evaluation activities with respect to a space test bed for a missile interceptor capability.”   The idea of space-based BMD weapons platforms was studied extensively during the Reagan Administration’s “Star Wars” era, but cost and technical feasibility issues moved them to the back burner. The Obama Administration is not persuaded that much has changed.  It issued a veto threat against H.R. 4909 and that provision was cited as one of the reasons.  In any case, the Huntsville conference could be particularly interesting this year.  MDA Director VADM James Syring will speak on Wednesday morning (August 17).   There’s no indication if it will be livestreamed.

Those and other events we know about as of Sunday morning, July 31, are shown below.   Check back throughout the weeks for other events we learn about later and add to the Events of Interest list.

Saturday-Thursday, August 6-11

• 30th Small Satellite Conference (USU/AIAA), Utah State University, Logan, Utah

Monday-Tuesday, August 8-9

• NASA Advisory Council Heliophysics Subcommittee, NASA HQ, Washington, DC (WebEx/telecon)

Tuesday, August 9

• ISU-DC Space Cafe Featuring the European Union’s Jean-Luc Bald, Brixton, 901 U Street, NW, Washington, DC, 7:00 pm ET

Thursday-Friday, August 11-12

• NASA Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG), Little America-FLAGSTAFF, Flagstaff, AZ

Tuesday-Wednesday, August 16-17

• Space Technology & Investment Forum, JW Marriott, San Francisco, CA

Tuesday-Thursday, August 16-18

• National Academies Cmte to Review NASA’s Planetary Science Division’s Restructured R&A Program, Keck Center, 500 5th Street, NW, Washington, DC
• Space and Missile Defense Symposium, Von Braun Center, Huntsville, AL

Thursday, August 18

• Satellite Financing Conference, JW Marriott, San Francisco, CA, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm Pacific Daylight Time