What's Happening in Space Policy August 15 – September 2, 2016

Here is our list of space policy events for the next THREE weeks, August 15 – September 2, 2016 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate return for legislative business on September 6.

During the Weeks

As described in our July 31 and August 7 editions, there’s quite a bit going on this month even though it should be vacation time.  In addition to the events mentioned in those earlier issues — including the Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville, AL (August 16-18), the NIAC symposium in Raleigh, NC (August 23-26), and the Maryland Space Business Roundtable luncheon in Greenbelt, MD with Rep. Chris Van Hollen (August 24) — there has been one addition and one deletion over the past week for that time period.  This edition also adds the week of August 29-September 2.

The deletion is the return-to-flight launch of Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket that was scheduled for August 22.   It has been postponed until the second half of September (date to be determined). The company said the delay was due to “a variety of interrelated factors” including continued processing, integration and testing of the re-engined rocket and the busy schedule aboard the International Space Station.

The addition is a NASA media briefing on August 17 to discuss the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission that is scheduled for launch on September 8.   OSIRIS-REx is the entirely robotic science mission that will obtain a sample of asteroid Bennu and return it to Earth in 2023 for scientific studies, not the Asteroid Redirect Mission that uses a robotic spacecraft to move part of an asteroid to lunar orbit where astronauts will obtain a sample and return it to Earth in the mid-2020s as part of NASA’s effort to send people to Mars.  For the curious, OSIRIS-REx’s full name is the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer.

The week added in this version of “What’s Happening” includes meetings of two panels of the ongoing Earth Science and Applications from Space (ESAS) Decadal Survey conducted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.  This is the second ESAS Decadal Survey by the Academies.  The first was released in 2007.  Decadal Surveys are conducted every 10 years (hence “Decadal”) for each of NASA’s space and earth science disciplines (other agencies may be involved, too), so this one is due to be completed next year.  It has a steering committee and five panels on specific aspects of the topic. The two that are meeting within this period of time are solid earth (August 30-31) in Washington, DC, and hydrology (September 1-2) in Irvine CA.  The ESAS steering committee is co-chaired by Waleed Abdalati, University of Colorado-Boulder, and Bill Gail, Global Weather Corporation.  Again for the curious, the full name of the solid earth panel is Earth Surface and Interior: Dynamics and Hazards panel, which is co-chaired by Douglas Burbank, UC Santa Barbara and David Sandwell, Scripps Institution of Oceanography.  Hydrology is formally the Global Hydrological Cycles and Water Resources Panel and is co- chaired by Ana Barros, Duke University, and Jeff Dozier, UC Santa Barbara. 

The full list of upcoming events for the next three weeks is shown below.  Keep checking back to see additions that we learn about later and add to our Events of List interest (or those that get postponed).

Monday, August 15

• NASA Press Conference to Preview Upcoming Spacewalk, Johnson Space Center, TX, 2:00 pm ET (1:00 pm Central), watch on NASA TV

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

Wednesday, August 17

• NASA Media Briefing on OSIRIS-REx Mission, NASA HQ, Washington, DC, 2:00 pm ET (watch on NASA TV)

Thursday, August 18

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

Friday, August 19

• ISS Spacewalk to Install International Docking Adapter, earth orbit, 8:05 am ET (NASA TV coverage begins 6:30 am ET)

Tuesday-Thursday, August 23-25

• NIAC 2016 Symposium, Raleigh, NC

Wednesday, August 24

• MSBR Luncheon Featuring Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Martin’s Crosswinds, Greenbelt, MD, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm ET

Tuesday-Wednesday, August 30-31

• NAS Solid Earth Panel of ESAS Decadal Survey, Keck Center, 500 5th Street, NW, Washington, DC

Thursday-Friday, September 1-2

• NAS Hydrology Panel of ESAS Decadal Survey, Beckman Center, Irvine, CA