What’s Happening in Space Policy November 10-16, 2024

Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of November 10-16, 2024 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate return to work this week.

During the Week

The week begins with a federal holiday tomorrow (Monday), Veterans Day, which honors all who have served honorably in wartime or peacetime. By contrast, Memorial Day honors those who died in the service of their country. The Veterans Administration website says this holiday actually is “largely intended to thank LIVING veterans,” and we do, indeed, thank you all.

Congress returns to work on Tuesday knowing that Republicans will control the White House and the Senate next year. Control of the House is still up in the air, but right now Republicans are in the lead with 212 members versus Democrats with 202. Of the 21 races still to be determined, Republicans only need to win six to hold the majority, while Democrats would have to get 16.

But that’s next year. They still have a lot of work to do in the lame-duck session of this Congress, especially FY2025 appropriations bills. The current schedules show the House adjourning on December 19 and the Senate on December 20. The Continuing Resolution (CR) expires on December 20. We’ll see if they can get appropriations completed by then, if they stay in session a bit longer — the 118th Congress doesn’t have to end until noon on January 3, 2025 — or if they punt into the next Congress.

Leadership elections are the focus this week. The race to watch is in the Senate where long-time Republican leader Mitch McConnell (Kentucky) is stepping aside. He’s remaining in the Senate, but handing over his leadership duties to whoever his Republican colleagues choose. It’s a high stakes three-man race among John Thune (South Dakota), currently the Republican Party Whip, the second highest leadership position; John Cornyn (Texas), who was whip for several years before Thune; and Rick Scott (Florida). A Trump loyalist, Scott was seen as a long shot until now, but his chances seem to have improved over the weekend.

Off the Hill, the Beyond Earth Institute (BEI) has its annual conference Tuesday-Wednesday in DC. It looks really interesting. A bipartisan panel on Tuesday includes four prominent space policy experts who either have held high level positions in previous administrations and/or might in the second Trump Administration: Scott Pace (executive secretary of the National Space Council in the first Trump term and NASA Associate Administrator for Program Analysis and Evaluation in the second George W. Bush term), Lori Garver (NASA Deputy Administrator in the first Obama term), Kevin O’Connell (Director of NOAA’s Office of Space Policy in the first Trump term), and Greg Autry, whose name is surfacing as a potential high level space official in the second Trump term. Autry will also be the closing speaker on Wednesday in a fireside chat with Space News reporter Jeff Foust. Lots of other great sessions in between, including a Zoom talk by Jared Isaacman, and a panel on the ongoing mission authorization debate with Caryn Schenewerk (CS Consulting), Mike Gold (Redwire), Jim Muncy (PoliSpace), and Gabriel Swiney (NOAA Office of Space Commerce).  Unfortunately there’s no virtual option.

NASA’s International Space Station Advisory Committee will hold its first public session in several years on Wednesday. The last one we know about was in 2020. Like the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, this group meets privately and then holds a publicly accessible session to share findings/recommendations. Renowned astronaut Tom Stafford headed it for years building on his long-term relationship with Russia’s human spaceflight community since the committee met with Russian counterparts to discuss safe operation of the ISS.  Stafford passed away in March.

NASA’s advisory committee website provides no information about this committee other than the charter, but our understanding is that Bill Nelson appointed Bob Cabana as the new chair (Nelson said so at Stafford’s memorial service on April 5).  Cabana retired from NASA at the end of last year and is now a senior advisor for Kam Ghaffarian’s IBX. Like Stafford, Cabana had an illustrious career as a NASA astronaut including commanding the space shuttle mission (STS-88) that delivered the first U.S.-built ISS module, with Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev among his crew. Despite the strained U.S.-Russian geopolitical relationship, the committee’s charter, as updated last year, still directs the committee to conduct “independent or joint fact-finding meetings with counterpart international advisory groups, including the State Space Corporation Roscosmos Advisory Expert Council.” It will be interesting to hear if there’s any more details about the air leaks in the Russian segment.

Among the other interesting meetings this week are NASA’s Planetary Science Advisory Committee on Tuesday and Wednesday (public attendance is virtual only); the 7th CONFERS Global Satellite Servicing Forum in Arlington, VA from Wednesday to Thursday (virtual option available); and the Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium (LSIC) fall meeting in Las Vegas from Wednesday to Friday (virtual option was available, but website says one had to register by October 28).

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.

Monday, November 11

• Veterans Day (federal holiday)

Monday-Wednesday, November 11-13

• Reinventing Space 2024 (British Interplanetary Society), London

Tuesday, November 12

• Space Weather and National Security (NSSA), Tower Club, Tysons Corner, VA, 8:00-11:00 am ET
• MSBR Luncheon with CISA’s Chris Cannizzaro, Martin’s Crosswinds, Greenbelt, MD, 11:30 am-1:00 pm ET
• Rocket Lab 3Q2024 Financial Results Telecon, virtual, 5:00 pm ET

Tuesday-Wednesday, November 12-13

• Beyond Earth Symposium, American University, Washington, DC
• Martian Encounters: Imagining Alternate Non-Colonial Futures (ASU et al), virtual
• NASA Planetary Science Advisory Committee, public participation virtual only

Tuesday-Friday, November 12-15 (local time in Japan)

• Hayabusa2024, Sagamihara, Japan/virtual

Wednesday, November 13

• NASA ISS Advisory Committee, virtual, 10:00-11:30 am ET
• Redesigning Space: The Power of Collaboration (Space News), virtual, 11:00 am ET
• House Oversight Cmte Hearing on UAPs, 2154 Rayburn House Office Building, 11:30 am ET (webcast)

Wednesday-Thursday, November 13-14

• 7th Annual Global Satellite Servicing Forum (CONFERS), Arlington, VA

Wednesday-Friday, November 13-15

• Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium Fall Meeting, Las Vegas, NV

Thursday, November 14

• Intuitive Machines 3Q2024 Financial Results Telecon, virtual, 8:30 am ET

Friday, November 15

• NASA Advisory Council STEM Engagement Committee, virtual, 11:00 am-3:00 pm ET

 

This article has been updated.