What’s Happening in Space Policy December 4-11, 2022

What’s Happening in Space Policy December 4-11, 2022

By Marcia Smith | Posted: December 4, 2022 9:37 pm ET | Last Updated: December 5, 2022 9:40 am ET

Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week plus a day of December 4-11, 2022 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are in session this week.

During the Week

This is another BIG WEEK for NASA’s Artemis I mission. The uncrewed Orion spacecraft has already started its journey back home and will splashdown in the Pacific Ocean a week from today (December 11) at 12:40 pm EST so we’re including that as part of this week’s edition.

Artemis I is a test flight of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion. While many tests are taking place throughout the 26-day flight, the two biggest were the SLS launch on November 16 — an “eye watering” performance — and the upcoming reentry into Earth’s atmosphere and splashdown. Orion will use a different technique for reentry than the Apollo missions — a “skip reentry” where it will start down into the atmosphere but then lift up again before the final descent under parachutes. NASA says it offers a more precise landing closer to the West Coast. Lots to learn.

Orion spent six days in a Distant Retrograde Orbit around the Moon and performed the first of two engine burns to depart DRO on Thursday. The second, the “Return Powered Flyby,” is tomorrow (Monday) at 11:43 am ET. NASA TV will provide coverage beginning at 9:00 am ET and NASA will hold a news conference at 5:00 pm ET.

Another briefing is on Thursday to preview Sunday’s reentry and splashdown. On Sunday, NASA TV coverage begins at 11:00 am ET for the 12:40 pm ET splashdown, with a press conference at about 3:30 pm ET. (NASA’s most recent press release says 3:30 although the NASA TV schedule says “2:45 pm (approximately).” We’ll post any updates on our Calendar.

Orion, with its European Service Module, has 16 cameras, and has been sending back truly spectacular images like this one. Some cameras are at the ends of the solar arrays so Orion can take selfies! See more on Orion’s Flickr page. NASA also has a livestream whenever possible.

An Orion selfie on flight day 13, looking back at the Moon and Earth.

It’ll be tough to top all that, but there are some other interesting events this week. In fact, the week began already this morning (Sunday) with the landing of the Shenzhou-14 crew after China’s first-ever space station crew exchange.

Here in D.C., Space News has an intriguing event tomorrow — a fireside chat with Lori Garver, who was NASA Deputy Administrator during the first term of the Obama Administration, and Jim Bridenstine, who was NASA Administrator for most of the Trump Administration. Moderated by Space News reporter Jeff Foust, they will discuss “the dizzying pace of commercial space, how we got here, and where we are going.” Should be interesting!

NASA’s Planetary Science Advisory Committee meets virtually tomorrow and Tuesday. One of the speakers, Tom Young, chaired the Independent Review Board for the Psyche mission and will report on what they found. It wasn’t good news, especially for a completely unrelated mission to Venus, VERITAS, that NASA is postponing for three years because it needs the money to cover Psyche’s cost overrun. Planetary Science Division director Lori Glaze will kick off the meeting tomorrow morning (just before Young speaks). She often shows this chart of the planetary science “fleet.”

It’s impressive, and expensive. And now ESA is hoping NASA can help in getting the Rosalind Franklin rover to Mars in the wake of ESA terminating cooperation with Russia on the ExoMars mission because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. At the same time, key House Republicans are urging NASA to prioritize the Near Earth Object Surveyor space telescope to search for Earth-threatening asteroids. NASA proposed a big cut to NEO Surveyor in FY2023.

So many fascinating things to do in planetary science. Setting priorities is tough and getting tougher. It will be interesting to hear Glaze’s take on all this and perhaps she’ll reveal the results of NEO Surveyor’s KDP-C review last week. If not, perhaps Lindley Johnson and Kelly Fast from NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office will share the news when they speak Tuesday afternoon.

Congress is still working on the FY2023 request for NASA and everyone else. Last we heard Senate Republicans wanted to wait to negotiate over the 12 appropriations bills until the results of the Georgia election are in and they know if they’ll have 50 or 49 in their caucus next year. The runoff between Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) and Herschel Walker (R) is on Tuesday. The government is operating under a Continuing Resolution that expires on December 16. Whether they’ll pass another CR or finish the 12 regular bills is still up in the air. They might pass a one-week extension to give them more breathing room if they decide to try and finish before the 117th Congress ends at noon on January 3, 2023.

Another must-pass bill is the National Defense Authorization Act. The bipartisan leadership of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees are determined to get it done before New Year’s, upholding their record of getting it passed every year since 1961 no matter how dire the circumstances. House Minority Leader (and possibly incoming Speaker) Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is under pressure from some of his members to delay it until Republicans control the House and have more leverage, but at the moment it doesn’t sound like that’s the winning position. As Politico’s Connor O’Brien tweeted yesterday from the Reagan National Defense Forum, HASC Chair Adam Smith (D-WA) is just as determined to get it done this year as the incoming Ranking Member (top Republican) on SASC, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS).

 


Democrats still control the House and the Rules Committee is scheduled to meet and write the rule for floor consideration of the NDAA tomorrow. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has it scheduled for consideration by the full House on Thursday. They’re using H.R. 7776 as the legislative vehicle for the bill.

Two other quick mentions. The Atlantic Council has a webinar on Tuesday with former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. James Cartwright (Ret.), Travis Langster, DOD Principal Director of Space and Missile Defense Policy, and a panel of experts to discuss “the transforming space threat environment and its implications for the future of space security.” Panelists are Mariel Borowitz from Georgia Tech, John Klein from George Washington University, Victoria Samson from the Secure World Foundation, and Daniel Tenney from Lockheed Martin Space. Looks really good.

And there’s an interesting conference in Abu Dhabi tomorrow and Tuesday. The Abu Dhabi Space Debate features an impressive list of speakers including UAE President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Israeli President Isaac Herzog. There’s no indication there’ll be a livestream, but hopefully Sarwat Nasir, the space reporter for The National News in the UAE, will share the key points via Twitter (@SarwatNasir). [UPDATE: the event has its own Twitter account that’s posting news, too, mostly in Arabic but some in English: @ADSpaceDebate.]

We’re keeping an eye out for an announcement of when SpaceX will try again to launch ispace’s Hakuto-R lunar lander with its UAE Rashid rover, too. The launch, also carrying NASA’s Lunar Flashlight, was delayed twice last week due to Falcon 9 technical issues. The U.S. Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron issued an L-3 forecast today showing the weather is 90 percent “go” for a launch on December 7, but we haven’t seen anything from SpaceX saying they’re targeting that date. Stay tuned.

Those and other events we know about as of Sunday morning are shown below. Check back throughout the week for others we learn about later and add to our Calendar or changes to these.

Sunday, December 4

Monday, December 5

Monday-Tuesday, December 5-6

Monday-Wednesday, December 5-7

Tuesday, December 6

Tuesday-Thursday December 6-8

Thursday, December 8

Sunday, December 11

Last Updated: Dec 05, 2022 9:40 am ET

User Comments



SpacePolicyOnline.com has the right (but not the obligation) to monitor the comments and to remove any materials it deems inappropriate.  We do not post comments that include links to other websites since we have no control over that content nor can we verify the security of such links.

SPACEPOLICYONLINE.COM

About | Contact | Privacy