What's Happening in Space Policy October 12-16, 2015

Here is our list of space policy related events coming up this week and any insight we can offer about them.  Congress is in recess this week.

During the Week

Monday is a Federal holiday, Columbus Day.  Congress is using the holiday as a reason to take the entire week off from their Washington duties and work in their districts instead.  Not that there isn’t a lot to do in Washington.  The Highway Trust Fund’s ability to spend money to fix highways and bridges expires on October 29 because three months ago agreement could not be reached on a longer term reauthorization.   The debt limit needs to be raised by November 5.  It actually was reached back in March, but Treasury has been using “extraordinary means” to pay the bills, but even those have a finite lifetime.  But perhaps the week off will give the House Republicans time to figure out what they want to do about electing new leadership before Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) departs Congress on October 30 — though he said last week he would stay till a replacement is elected.

Anyway, the big space policy action this week is way outside of Washington — in Jerusalem, Israel where the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) officially begins tomorrow, though pre-conference activities are already underway. IAC combines meetings of the International Astronautical Federation, International Academy of Astronautics, and International Institute of Space Law (including the finals of the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court).

For those who didn’t make the trip, there’s not a lot going on, though the Space Studies Board’s Committee on Solar and Space Physics will meet at the Keck Center in D.C. on Wednesday and Thursday.   There are open sessions each day and they are available via WebEx.

The first Democratic presidential primary debate is on Tuesday night, but it would be surprising if the space program comes up so we don’t include it on our calendar.   For those who are interested, it is in Las Vegas and will air on CNN at 9:00 pm ET.

Those and other events we know about as of Sunday morning are listed below.   Check back throughout the week for any new events that get posted to our Events of Interest calendar on the right side of our main page.

Monday-Friday, October 12-16, 2015

• International Astronautical Congress (IAC), Jerusalem, Israel

Wednesday, October 14

• NASA Briefing on Small Satellite Launch Contract, Kennedy Space Center, FL, 1:00 pm ET (watch on NASA TV)

Wednesday-Thursday, October 14-15

• National Academies Space Studies Board Committee on Solar and Space Physics (CSSP). the Keck Center, 500 5th Street, NW, Washington, DC (available via WebEx)

Friday-Saturday, October 16-17

• New Worlds 2015, Austin TX