What’s Happening in Space Policy March 6-13, 2022

Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week plus a day of March 6-13, 2022 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session for part of this week.

During the Week

The situation in Ukraine and its impact on space cooperation undoubtedly will remain a hot topic in the week ahead. We will stay on top of it as best we can. If we learn of any press conferences or other events specific to that topic, we’ll post them to our Calendar as quickly as possible.

The war in Ukraine is sure to be at the top of the agenda at the Senate Armed Services Committee’s hearing on the FY2023 budget outlook for U.S. Space Command and U.S. Strategic Command on Tuesday. U.S. Space Command Commander Gen. James Dickinson will testify along with Adm. Charles Richard, Commander of U.S. Strategic Command. Dickinson also is scheduled to talk to the Atlantic Council on Wednesday on “Navigating the New Strategic Realities of Space.” Also on Wednesday, the Mitchell Institute will have a webinar with Audrey Schaffer, Space Policy Director at the White House National Security Council.

SASC’s FY2023 budget hearing is taking place even though the FY2023 budget request has not been submitted by President Biden yet. Nor have FY2022 appropriations been settled. Both likely will be impacted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine upending the post-Cold War world order.

Congress has until the end of this week to complete FY2022 appropriations or pass another Continuing Resolution (CR). Negotiations appeared to be on track to get everything done before March 11, but that could change under these circumstances. There’s no indication anyone wants a government shutdown, but the longer agencies are stuck at FY2021 levels, unable to begin new programs or end old ones, the more inefficient the process becomes. The House will not be in session Thursday and Friday, so they will have to do whatever they’re going to do pretty quickly.

The big event for space scientists this week is the annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC). It is being held in a hybrid format, with the in-person portion at its usual venue in The Woodlands, TX. Wesleyan University professor Martha Gilmore will give the Masursky Lecture this year on “To Venus and Back Again.” That’s tomorrow (Monday) at 1:00 pm Central Time. There’s a NASA Headquarters Town Hall on Tuesday, an Artemis Town Hall on Wednesday, and an R&A [Research and Analysis] Town Hall on Thursday.  There are far too many fascinating sessions to summarize here, so check out the LPSC website to see what interests you.

The annual South by Southwest (SxSW) extravaganza begins on Friday, also hybrid this year. The in-person part is in Austin, TX as usual, but some sessions will be online. One of them is on Sunday, March 13, before we publish our next “What’s Happening” so we’re including it here. “Space Force: More than a Meme” features Aerospace Industries Association President and CEO Eric Fanning. We don’t have the list of other panelists yet, but will add them when we do. AIA tells us it will be livestreamed.

Also on Sunday before we publish our next What’s Happening, Daylight Saving Time begins in the United States (except Arizona and Hawaii) at 2:00 am. Don’t forget to set your clocks to “spring ahead” one hour.

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-Saturday, March 6-12 (continued from March 5)

• IEEE Aerospace Conference, Big Sky, MT

Monday-Tuesday, March 7-8

• Future of Space Cooperation Between the U.S. and Japan (RAND Corporation), Santa Monica, CA/virtual

Monday-Friday, March 7-11

• 2022 Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC), The Woodlands, TX/virtual
  • Tuesday, March 8, NASA HQ Town Hall, 1:00 pm Central Time
  • Wednesday, March 9, NASA Artemis Town Hall, 11:45 am Central Time
  • Thursday, March 10, NASA R&A Town Hall, 1:00 pm Central Time

Tuesday, March 8

• SASC Hearing on FY2023 Budget for U.S. Space Command and U.S. Strategic Command, G50 Dirksen Senate Office Building, 9:30 am ET (webcast)
• Start Here for Space: Congressional Authorizations, with Joel Graham (Space Foundation), virtual, 1:00-1:20 pm ET
• Orbital Reef: A Space Station for a New Economy in Space (IEEE-CNSV), virtual, 10:00 pm ET

Tuesday-Wednesday, March 8-9

• Commercial Space Summit (Space Tango), virtual, 11:00 am ET each day

Tuesday-Thursday, March 8-10

• Women’s Air and Space Power Symposium 2022 (Air Force), virtual

Tuesday-Friday, March 8-11

• 3rd IAA Latin American Symposium on Smallsats & 5th IAA Latin American Cubesat Workshop, Quito, Ecuador

Wednesday, March 9

• Schriever Spacepower Forum: Audrey Schaffer (Mitchell Inst.), virtual, 10:00 am ET
• Navigating the New Strategic Realities of Space: Conversation with Gen. James Dickinson (Atlantic Council), virtual, 1:00 pm ET
• Redefining the Digital World Around Us (Space Foundation), virtual, 1:00-2:00 pm ET

Thursday, March 10

• Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics–Roman Space Telescope (National Academies), virtual, 12:30-2:00 pm ET (some sessions may be closed)
• Charting the Risks: NASA for the 21st Century (Aerospace Corp.), virtual, 1:00 pm ET

Friday, March 11

• Cmte on Decadal Survey for Biological and Physical Sciences Research in Space (National Academies), virtual, 11:00 am – 6:00 pm ET (some sessions may be closed)

Friday, March 11 – Sunday, March 20

• SxSW, Austin, TX/virtual

Sunday, March 13

• Daylight Saving Time Begins in the United States (except Arizona and Hawaii)
• SxSW panel on “Space Force: More than a Meme,” 2:15-3:15 pm ET (livestreamed)