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

Here is our list of space policy events for the week of October 16-22, 2016 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are in recess until November 14. 

During the Week

At 7:30 pm Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) tonight, China will launch a two-man crew aboard the Shenzhou-11 (SZ-11) spacecraft from the Jiuquan launch site in the Gobi desert (where it will be 7:30 am Monday),  They are headed to the new Tiangong-2 space station with docking expected in two days.  They will remain aboard for 30 days, doubling the duration of China’s longest human spaceflight mission to date. Tiangong-2 is small, 8.6 metric tons (MT), compared to the 400 MT International Space Station (ISS), but it is a precursor to a larger 60 MT space station the Chinese plan to have in place in the early 2020s.

ISS is a partnership among the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan and Europe.  It has been permanently occupied by multinational crews rotating on 4-6 month shifts since the year 2000 and is regularly resupplied via cargo missions launched by two U.S. companies (Orbital ATK and SpaceX) and the Japanese and Russian space agencies.  The next cargo mission, Orbital ATK’s OA-5,  was scheduled for launch tonight from Wallops Island, VA at 8:03 pm EDT.  At press time, however, Orbital ATK announced that the launch of the Cygnus cargo spacecraft is being postponed for 24 hours because of a bad ground support cable.  The new launch time is Monday at 7:40 pm EDT.   Cygnus OA-5 will deliver supplies, equipment and scientific experiments to the three crew members currently aboard (one each from NASA, JAXA and Roscosmos).  Cygnus is being launched with a new version of Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket.  This is the first flight of Antares since an October 28, 2014 failure.  If launched tonight, Cygnus was to arrive at ISS Wednesday morning, but with a Monday launch, arrival at ISS will be delayed a few days.  Three new ISS crew members are being launched to ISS on the Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft early Wednesday morning EDT.  They are taking the 2-day route to ISS arriving on Friday.  NASA and Orbital ATK said at a press conference yesterday that if the OA-5 launch was delayed to Monday, as now has happened, they would have the Cygnus spacecraft loiter in orbit for a few days to allow the Soyuz MS-02 crew to dock first.  The Cygnus arrival is now scheduled for Sunday, October 23.  The Soyuz MS-02 crew (one American, two Russians) will restore the ISS to its usual crew complement of six.

The European Space Agency (ESA)-Roscosmos ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) mission already had an important event today. The spacecraft is carrying a small lander, Schiaparelli, and they made the trip to Mars together.  They are three days away from Mars now and it was time for them to separate.  Separation occurred at approximately 10:30 am EDT, but was followed by a nail-biting period of time when ESA was not receiving telemetry from TGO.  That problem appears to be resolved now and the mission is proceeding as scheduled.  On Wednesday, Schiaparelli will land on Mars and TGO will enter orbit.  ESA will provide live coverage of those events and hold a press conference on Thursday.

To recap only these events (all EDT):

Today (Sunday)

• ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter/Schiaparelli lander separation
• Chinese launch of Shenzhou-11 with two crew members to Tiangong-2 space station at 7:30 pm EDT (usually broadcast on China’s CCTV, available in English on the Internet)

Monday

• New launch date for U.S. Orbital ATK launch of Cygnus OA-5 cargo mission to ISS, 7:40 pm EDT (broadcast on NASA TV)

Tuesday

• Chinese crew arrives at Tiangong-2 (time not announced)

Wednesday

• Russian Soyuz MS-02 launch to ISS from Kazakhstan with three crew members (one American, two Russian) at 4:05 am EDT (watch on NASA TV)
• ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter enters Martian orbit and Schiaparelli lands (watch on ESA’s website, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm EDT)

Thursday

• ESA press conference about ExoMars (watch on ESA’s website, 4:00-5:00 am EDT)

Friday

• Soyuz MS-02 docks at ISS (time not announced)

Sunday

• Orbital ATK Cygnus OA-5 arrival at ISS (if launch is on October 17), grapple at approximately 7:00 am EDT

Many other events are on tap this week in addition to those launches and arrivals.  Among them is the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division on Planetary Sciences (DPS) in Pasadena, CA.  This year it is combined with a meeting of the European Planetary Science Congress.  Exciting discoveries and other results from planetary exploration missions are the staple of this conference.  It starts today and runs through Friday.

The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Analysis (CSBA) is having an interesting discussion on Tuesday morning at the Newseum in Washington, DC.  CSBA challenged teams from four prominent Washington think tanks to develop alternative strategies and rebalance DOD’s major capabilities in light of today’s security challenges.  They could choose from over 1200 pre-costed options provided by CSBA to add to or cut from the projected defense program for the next 10 years.  They will present their conclusions at the meeting.  It will be interesting to see if they recommend any changes to the national security space portfolio.  The event will be webcast.

On Friday, the State Department and the Secure World Foundation will hold a day-long seminar at the State Department on International Best Practices for Space Sustainability. It features four panels of top experts from around the world (your SpacePolicyOnline.com editor is lucky enough to moderate the industry panel).  Hopefully you followed the instructions and registered by last Friday as required for this event (for security checks etc.).

And last but not least of our highlighted events for the week, the final 2016 presidential debates is Wednesday night from 9:00-10:30 pm EDT.  It will be nationally televised (check local listings).   The election is on November 8.

All of those events and others we know about as of Sunday morning are shown below.  Check back throughout the week for others that we learn about later and add to our Events of Interest list or for schedule changes.

Sunday, October 16

• ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars Mission, Separation of Orbiter and Lander Prior to Mars Arrival, approximately 10:30 am EDT
• Chinese launch of two-man Shenzhou-11 mission to Tiangong-1 space station, 7:30 pm EDT/7:30 am October 17 local time at launch site (possibly broadcast on China’s CCTV)

Sunday-Friday, October 16-21

• DPS/EPSC annual conference, Pasadena, CA

Monday, October 17

• Univ of Nebraska-Lincoln DC Space Law Conference, National Press Club, Washington, DC, 11:40 am – 6:20 pm EDT
• New Launch Date for Orbital ATK Cygnus OA-5 Cargo Mission to ISS, Wallops Island, VA, 7:40 pm EDT

Tuesday, October 18

• Developing Alternative Defense Strategies (CSBA et al), Newseum, 555 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC, 8:30-11:30 am EDT (webcast)
• MSBR Luncheon Featuring NOAA’s Steve Volz, Martin’s Crosswinds, Greenbelt, MD, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm EDT
• Expected Shenzhou-11 docking with Tiangong-2 space station, time TBA

Wednesday, October 19

• Soyuz MS-02 Crew Launch to ISS, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, 4:05 am EDT/11:05 am Moscow Time (watch on NASA TV)
• ESA Live Coverage of ExoMars TGO and Schiaparelli arrivals at Mars, 9:00 am-4:00 pm EDT/13:00-20:00 GMT/15:00-22:00 CEST (watch on ESA’s website)
• Should Congressional Office of Technology Assessment be Revived (New America, R Street Institute), SVC 203-02 Capitol Visitor Center, Washington, DC, 12:00 pm EDT
• Third Presidential Debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, Univ of Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, 9:00 – 10:30 pm EDT (nationally televised, check local listings)

Thursday, October 20

• ESA Press Conference on ExoMars TGO/Schiaparelli, 4:00-5:00 am EDT/08:00-09:00 GMT/10:00-11:00 CEST (watch on ESA’s website)
• Hosted Payload and Smallsat Summit 2016, Grand Hyatt Washington, Washington, DC, 7:45 am – 5:00 pm EDT

Friday, October 21

• Soyuz MS-02 arrival at ISS, time TBA
• International Best Practices for Space Sustainability (State Dept./SWF), State Department, Washington, DC, 8:15 am – 4:30 pm ET (pre-registration by October 14 was required)