What’s Happening in Space Policy February 12-16, 2018

Here is our list of space policy events for the week of February 12-16, 2018 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are in session for all or part of this week.

During the Week

All that budget drama last week was about the FY2018 budget.  Tomorrow, a new drama begins with President Trump’s submission of his FY2019 budget request to Congress. (Not that we’re done with FY2018 yet, of course.  What was approved last week funds most government agencies only through March 23.  Now that the budget caps have been lifted, however, finalizing FY2018 should be comparatively straightforward.)

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) will release the budget request at 11:30 am ET (www.whitehouse.gov/omb).  The OMB information is very top-level. Details are in the requests for each individual department or agency.

NASA’s FY2019 budget request will be posted on the NASA website (www.nasa.gov/budget) at 12:00 pm ET.  At 1:00 pm ET, Acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot will address the NASA workforce from Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville.  At 5:00 pm ET, Acting NASA CFO Andrew Hunter will brief the media via teleconference.  Both will be broadcast on www.nasa.gov/NASALive.  NASA field centers will be holding “State of NASA” events at various times throughout the day.   Information has leaked out about what the budget request will propose for the International Space Station and congressional reaction so far is not positive, so it will be another interesting year.

DOD Comptroller David Norquist and Lt. Gen. Anthony Ierardi, Director, Force Structure, Resources and Assessment, will conduct a briefing on the budget request for DOD at 12:00 pm ET.  Each service will hold its own briefing later in the day.  The Air Force’s will be at 2:30 pm ET.   We don’t know what will be livestreamed, but DOD’s livestream website is www.defense.gov/live/.

We do not have any information about budget briefings that either the Department of Commerce or NOAA plan to conduct.

Women in Aerospace is holding a “Senior Leaders Budget Discussion” on Tuesday morning.  NASA’s Lightfoot is the keynote speaker, followed by a panel with two DOD representatives.  It is at Lockheed Martin’s Global Vision Center in Crystal City (part of Arlington), VA at 8:30 am ET.

Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson will talk about Space as a Warfighting Domain on Friday morning at a Mitchell Institute Space Breakfast at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington, DC beginning at 9:30 am ET.

Over in Kazakhstan, Roscosmos may try again to launch Progress MS-08 on Tuesday, although it is still investigating what went wrong this morning.  On the surface, it looks similar to the problem encountered last October with the launch of Progress MS-07 when an umbilical did not detach from the Soyuz 2.1a rocket seconds before launch.  If it is the same problem, launch on Tuesday is probably a good bet.  Progress MS-07 was delayed by only two days.  When they officially announce a new date and time, we will add it to our calendar.

Those and other events we know about as of Sunday afternoon are shown below.  Check back throughout the week for others we learn about later and add to our calendar.

Monday, February 12

• Release of President Trump’s FY2019 Budget Request
  • 12:00 pm ET:  NASA budget request posted on its website
  • 12:00 pm ET:  DOD Comptroller briefs the media
  • 1:00 pm ET:  Acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot briefs NASA employees (livestreamed)
  • 2:30 pm ET:  Air Force Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget, Maj. Gen. John Pletcher, briefs the media
  • 5:00 pm:  Acting NASA CFO Andrew Hunter briefs the media (livestreamed)
• WSBR Luncheon Panel on On-Orbit Servicing, City Club of Washington, 555 13th Street, NW, Washington, DC, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm ET

Tuesday, February 13

• Possible Launch of Russia’s Progress MS-08 (date and time to be confirmed)
• WIA Senior Leaders Budget Discussion, Lockheed Martin Global Vision Center, Arlington, VA, 8:30 am ET
• Open Space: The Global Effort for Open Access to Environmental Satellite Data, 1957 E Street, NW, Washington, DC, 12:00-1:30 pm ET (RSVP required)

Tuesday-Thursday, February 13-15

• CSCA Canadian SmallSat Symposium, Toronto

Wednesday, February 14

• NASA Briefing with Upcoming ISS Crew, Johnson Space Center, TX, 2:00 pm ET (1:00 pm local time), webcast

Wednesday-Thursday, February 14-15

• SLS-Orion-EGS Suppliers Conference, Washington, DC (invitation only)

Thursday, February 15

• NASA Spacewalk from ISS, NASA TV coverage begins 5:30 am ET, spacewalk begins 7:10 am ET
• SASC Hearing on U.S. Northern Command and U.S. Southern Command, G50 Dirksen Senate Office Building, 9:30 am ET (webcast)

Thursday-Saturday, February 15-17

• ORF Kalpana Chawla Space Policy Dialogue, New Delhi, India

Friday, February 16

• SecAF Heather Wilson Speaks on Space as a Warfighting Domain (Mitchell Institute), Capitol Hill Club, 300 First St. , SE, Washington, DC, 9:30 am ET (RSVP required)