What’s Happening in Space Policy March 4-10, 2018

Here is our list of space policy events for the week of March 4-10, 2018 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are in session this week.

During the Week

Several opportunities to learn more about NASA’s latest plans for human exploration, astrophysics, and technology development are available this week.

Acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot will testify to the Space Subcommittee of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee on Wednesday morning with a broad overview of the FY2019 budget request and the Trump Administration’s plans for NASA.   It will be webcast.

In addition, Bill Gerstenmaier, head of NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate will give a luncheon speech to the Space Transportation Association (STA) tomorrow (Monday); Paul Hertz, head of NASA’s astrophysics division, and Mary Voytek, senior scientist for astrobiology,  are on the agenda of the National Academies’ Committee on Exoplanet Science Strategy on Tuesday morning (note it is a draft agenda dated Feb. 26 and says it is subject to change); and Steve Jurczyk, head of the Space Technology Mission Directorate, will participate in the day-long meeting of the National Academies’ Space Technology Industry, Government, University Roundtable (STIGUR) on Friday.

The STA luncheon tomorrow is by invitation only; contact STA President Rich Coleman for more information (rich@spacetransportation.us).  The Exoplanet Science Strategy meeting has both open and closed sessions; the portion with Hertz and Voytek is open and the agenda suggests remote dial-in will be available although the details are not posted yet.  The STIGUR meeting is open in its entirety, but apparently will not be webcast.  Note that the National Academies has two committees with similar names meeting this week: the Exoplanet Science Strategy committee is meeting March 6-7; the Astrobiology Science Strategy for Search for Life in the Universe committee is March 6-8.

Three broadly scoped congressional hearings on military issues will take place, though it is not clear how much (if any) of the discussion will touch on space activities.  The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) will hold a hearing on Tuesday on Worldwide Threats with DNI Dan Coats and DIA Director Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley, Jr.  The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) has two hearings on Wednesday.  In the morning, it will hear about military service acquisition reform (AF acquisition head William Roper is one of the witnesses) and in the afternoon the Strategic Forces subcommittee will be briefed on U.S. Strategic Posture and the FY2019 Budget Request by Gen. John Hyten (Commander of U.S. Strategic Command) and John Rood (Under Secretary of Defense for Policy).

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.

Sunday, March 4 – Sunday March 11

• IEEE Aerospace Conference, Yellowstone Conference Center, Big Sky, Montana

Monday, March 5

• STA Luncheon with NASA’s Bill Gerstenmaier, 253 Russell Senate Office Building, 11:30 am – 1:00 pm ET (invitation only)

Tuesday, March 6

• SASC Hearing on Worldwide Threats, 216 Hart Senate Office Building, 9:30 am ET (webcast)

Tuesday-Wednesday, March 6-7

• National Academies’ Committee on Exoplanet Science Strategy, National Academy of Sciences building, 2101 Constitution Ave, NW, Washington, DC (some sessions are closed, open sessions MAY have remote access)

Tuesday-Thursday, March 6-8

• National Academies’ Committee on Astrobiology Science Strategy for Search for Life in the Universe, National Academy of Sciences building, 2101 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC (some sessions are closed, open sessions MAY be webcast)

Wednesday, March 7

• House SS&T Space Subcommittee Hearing on NASA’s FY2019 Budget Request, 2318 Rayburn House Office Building, 10:00 am ET (webcast)
• HASC Hearing Assessing Military Service Acquisition Reform, 2118 Rayburn House Office Building, 10:00 am ET (webcast)
• HASC Strategic Forces Subcommittee Hearing on U.S. Strategic Posture and FY2019 Budget Request, 2118 Rayburn House Office Building, 3:30 pm ET (webcast)

Friday, March 9

• National Academies Space Technology Industry, Government, University Roundtable (STIGUR), National Academy of Science building, 2101 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm ET