What's Happening in Space Policy May 16-22, 2016

Here is our list of space policy events for the week of May 16-22, 2016 and any insight we can offer about them (yes, the 22nd, not the 20th, since ISDC 2016 runs through next Sunday).  The House and Senate are in session this week.

During the Week

It’s another one of those busy, busy, weeks for space policy aficionados not just in Washington, DC, but in many other places around the world.

On Capitol Hill, House floor debate on the defense authorization bill begins mid-week. The FY2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), H.R. 4909, was approved by the House Armed Services Committee on April 28.  One of the big space-related items was, of course, the RD-180 issue.  HASC went along with the Air Force/United Launch Alliance (ULA) position that ULA needs 18 additional RD-180s to ensure Atlas V rockets are available through the early 2020s, instead of 9 engines to keep it available through 2019 as preferred by its Senate counterpart, SASC.  (SASC marked up its version of the NDAA last week and stuck to its guns about only 9 more.)  Another part of the debate is whether the money Congress is providing for developing a U.S. alternative to the RD-180 may be spent only on the engine or on other elements of an entirely new space launch system.  HASC had insisted in previous NDAAs that it be spent only on the engine, but, this year, an amendment was adopted at committee level allowing the funds to be spent on a launch vehicle, upper stage, strap-on motor or related infrastructure.  HASC’s action on the NDAA is just one step in the defense authorization process.  Next, the House Rules Committee will meet Monday and Tuesday to craft the rule that will govern the floor debate.  It will decide, for example, which of the 372 submitted amendments may be offered on the floor.   Several concern the RD-180/U.S. replacement issues.  All of the submitted amendments are posted on the Rules Committee’s website.

DOD appropriations also will be tackled this week. The full House Appropriations Committee will mark up the FY2017 defense bill on Tuesday morning (subcommittee markup was completed on May 11).  Two other FY2017 appropriations measures also will be considered this week, but at subcommittee level.  On Wednesday, the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) subcommittee will mark up the CJS bill, which includes NASA and NOAA, at 10:00 am ET and the Transportation-HUD (T-HUD) subcommittee will mark up the T-HUD bill, which includes FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation, at 11:30 am ET.

The Humans to Mars (H2M) 2016 summit, sponsored by Explore Mars, will take place at George Washington University Tuesday-Thursday and will be webcast.  Among the speakers is Andy Weir, author of The Martian.  Not only will he speak there on Wednesday morning, but that afternoon he is scheduled to testify to the Space Subcommittee of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee at a hearing on Deep Space Habitats.  NASA no doubt wishes it had the habitats of Weir’s fictional characters, both on the surface of Mars and the nifty Earth-Mars transit vehicle, complete with centrifuge.  Perhaps he will set an aspirational mood for the subcommittee members and the other witnesses, who hail from NASA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Orbital ATK.  The hearing also will be webcast.

Many interesting conferences (in addition to H2M) will take place this week around the globe:  GEOINT 2016 in Orlando, FL;  ISDC 2016 in San Juan, Puerto Rico; the European Lunar Symposium in Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Astro2016 in Ottawa, Canada; and SpaceOps 2016 in Daejeon, Korea.

Those and other events we know about as of Sunday morning are shown below.  Check back throughout the week for additions to our Events of Interest list that are announced later.

Sunday-Wednesday, May 15-18

• GEOINT 2016, Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center, Orlando, FL

Monday-Tuesday, May 16-17

• House Rules Cmte Meets on FY2017 NDAA, H-313 Capitol (May 16, 5:00 pm ET; May 17, 2:00 pm ET)
• Forum for New Leaders in Space Science (National Academy of Sciences Space Studies Board), Beckman Center, Irvine, CA

Monday-Friday, May 16-20

• 14th International Conference on Space Operations (SpaceOps 2016), Daejeon, Korea

Tuesday, May 17

• House Appropriations Full Committee Mark Up FY2017 Defense Appropriations, 2359 Rayburn, 10:30 am ET (usually webcast)
• MSBR Luncheon Featuring  Bill Ochs (James Webb Space Telescope Project Manager at NASA/GSFC), Martin’s Crosswinds, Greenbelt, MD, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm ET

Tuesday-Thursday, May 17-19

• Humans to Mars Summit 2016 (Explore Mars) George Washington University, Washington, DC (webcast)
• Astro2016 (CASI), Delta Ottawa City Hotel, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Wednesday, May 18

• House Appropriations CJS Subcommittee Markup, 2358-A Rayburn, 10:00 am ET
• House Appropriations T-HUD Subcommittee Markup, 2358-A Rayburn, 11:30 am ET
• STA Luncheon Featuring NASA Langley Research Center Director David Bowles, B-339 Rayburn, 11:30 am – 1:00 pm ET (by invitation)
• House SS&T Space Subcommittee Hearing on Deep Space Habitats, 2318 Rayburn, 2:00 pm ET (webcast)

Wednesday-Thursday, May 18-19

• European Lunar Symposium, Trippenhuis (Dutch Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences), Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• National Space-Based PNT Advisory Board, Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, National Harbor, MD (outside Washington, DC)

Wednesday-Sunday, May 18-22

•  International Space Development Conference 2016 (ISDC 2016), Sheraton Puerto Rico Hotel and Casino, San Juan, Puerto Rico