What's Happening In Space Policy December 15-31, 2014

What's Happening In Space Policy December 15-31, 2014

By Marcia Smith | Posted: December 14, 2014 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: December 14, 2014 6:03 pm ET

Here is our list of space policy-related events for the rest of 2014 as the holidays approach.  This edition covers December 15-31, 2014.   The Senate will be in session tomorrow, at least, but the expectation is that the 113th Congress will come to a close very soon.

During the Week

The Senate is scheduled to be in session tomorrow for what may be the last day of the 113th Congress, though even at this late date it is difficult to say that with any certainty.   After a tumultuous few days, the House and Senate have passed and sent to the President the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 — the “CRomnibus” — which funds NASA, NOAA, DOD and most other government departments and agencies through the end of FY2015 (September 30, 2015).  Only the Department of Homeland Security is funded under another Continuing Resolution (CR), through February 27, 2015, because of the immigration debate.   We’ve published many stories about the debate, the angst, the uncertainty, etc. and will not reiterate it here (type “cromnibus” into our search box and you should be able to retrieve them).  Suffice it to say that it was a very nice holiday gift for NASA — a $549 million increase above the President’s request, or $363 million more than FY2014.  The question will be whether Congress will sustain that level of funding in future years.  A one-year plus-up is nice, but it’s the long haul that counts.   NOAA’s satellite programs also did well.  We’ll publish an article summarizing the DOD space program provisions shortly.

Outside the beltway, the highlight of this week certainly will be the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in San Francisco.   AGU is webcasting many of its press conferences and those related to NASA are listed below and on our calendar on the right menu.   Among them — findings from MAVEN, Curiosity, and Rosetta are on tap for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, and a look forward at New Horizons’ arrival at Pluto next year is on Thursday.

And, if all goes well, SpaceX will launch its fifth operational cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday.  Three pre-launch briefings are scheduled for Thursday.   Arrival at the ISS will be on Sunday if the launch goes on Friday.  NASA TV will cover it all.

Those and other events we know about as of Sunday afternoon are listed below.

SpacePolicyOnline.com wishes all of you Happy Holidays and a fantastic New Year!

Monday-Friday, December 15-19

Monday, December 15

  • AGU Press Conferences on NASA Topics (webcast)
    • 9:00 am PST (12:00 noon EST), Early Results from MAVEN
    • 10:30 am PST (1:30 pm EST), X-rays and Gamma Rays in Thunderstorms
    • 1:30 pm PST (4:30 pm EST), Greenland’s Melt Dynamics

Tuesday, December 16

Wednesday, December 17

  • AGU Press Conferences on NASA Topics (webcast)
    • 8:00 am PST (11:00 am EST), Rosetta Comet Science Results
    • 11:30 am PST (2:30 pm EST), Arctic Heating:  15 Years of Sea Ice Loss — and Absorbed Solar Radiation Gains
    • 2:30 pm PST (5:30 pm EST), After the Pulse Flow: Greening the Colorado River Delta

Thursday, December 18

Friday, December 19

Sunday, December 21

  • SpX-5 Arrival at ISS (if launched on Friday), grapple approximately 6:00 am EST (NASA TV coverage begins 4:15 am EST)
Last Updated: Dec 14, 2014 6:03 pm ET

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