What's Happening in Space Policy January 10-15, 2016

Here is our list of space policy related events for the week of January 10-15, 2016.  The House and Senate are in session this week.

During the Week

President Obama’s final State of the Union Address will take place on Tuesday night at 9:00 pm Eastern.   No idea whether space will be mentioned, though Obama has done so in the past,  Last year astronaut Scott Kelly was in attendance just prior to launching to ISS on his “year in space” mission and got a shout-out from the President along with NASA and NOAA climate scientists.

Also in the political realm, another Republican presidential primary debate is on tap this week, on Thursday in North Charleston, South Carolina.   The national media who run these debates have not asked questions about the space program so far, although the topic has arisen during campaign events for some of the candidates, notably in New Hampshire (most recently for Jeb Bush).   With the 30th anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger tragedy coming up in less than three weeks (on January 28), it is possible the national media could use it as an opportunity to query the candidates about their positions on space exploration.  Not to mention the next Democratic debate on January 17 in Charleston, SC.  Or the subsequent Republican debate on January 28 itself in Iowa.

Apart from that, a number of interesting meetings are scheduled this week, including the annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society (AMS).   Unfortunately the sessions will not be livestreamed.   A panel discussion of particular note to readers of this website will take place on Wednesday concerning “The Weather Value Chain of the Future” that will discuss “innovative data sources” — commercial and crowdsourced data including commercial weather satellites.   Rob Kursinski of PlanetIQ will be there and the company’s Dan Stillman tells SpacePolicyOnline.com that a video of the panel will be posted “in the days after.”   Other panelists are from IBM, Weathernews, Panasonic, Weather Analytics, and Ignatia.  AMS past president and the Weather Channel’s WeatherGeeks host Marshall Shepard is the moderator.

Those and other events we know about as of Sunday morning are listed below.  Check back throughout the week for additional events we learn about later and add to our Events of Interest list.

Sunday-Thursday, January 10-14

• American Meteorological Society (AMS) annual conference, New Orleans, LA

Monday-Wednesday, January 11-13

• National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NAS) Committee on NASA Technology Roadmaps, Beckman Center, Irvine, CA (open sessions on Monday only)
• NAS Committee  on Astrophysics Decadal Survey Progress, Keck Center, 500 Fifth St., NW, Washington, DC (open sessions on Monday and Tuesday)

Tuesday, January 12

• WSBR Luncheon Featuring Aerojet Rocketdyne President Eileen Drake, University Club, Washington, DC, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm ET
• NASA News Conference on Upcoming Spacewalk, Johnson Space Center, 2:00 pm ET (watch on NASA TV)
• MIT Washington Seminar Series (4th Seminar), Maggiano’s Little Italy, Washington, DC
• President Obama’s State of the Union address, The Capitol, Washington, DC, 9:00 pm ET

Thursday, January 14

• Republican Presidential Primary Debate, Fox Business Network, 6:00 pm ET (“undercard”), 9:00 pm EST (main group)

Friday, January 15

• ESA Director General Annual Briefing, ESA HQ, Paris, France, 09:00 Central European Time (3:00 am Eastern Standard Time), followed at 11:30 CET (5:30 am EST) by briefing on European Data Relay System (webcast)
• Jason-3 Pre-Launch Briefings, Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA, 1:00 pm and 1:45 pm Pacific Standard Time (4:00 pm and 4:45 pm EST) (watch on NASA TV)