What's Happening in Space Policy September 19-25, 2016 – UPDATE

Here is our list of space policy events for the week of September 19-25, 2016 (through next Sunday) and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.

During the Week

On Friday, Resources for the Future (RFF) will hold a memorial service for Molly Macauley at the Metropolitan Club in Washington, D.C., from 3:30-5:30 pm ET.  All of Molly’s friends and colleagues are welcome to attend, but RFF would appreciate an RSVP so they know how many people to expect.   Please RSVP to specialevents@rff.org.   Molly, a renowned space economist and integral part of the space policy community for three decades, spent almost all of her career at RFF before her tragic death on July 8.

It will be a busy week before that.

The Senate plans to bring a Continuing Resolution (CR) to the floor
tomorrow (Monday) for a cloture vote.  If it gets 60 votes, the Senate
can proceed to debate, and, hopefully, pass it.  Word is that it will
keep the government funded through December 9. The bill reportedly has
controversial policy provisions (“poison pills”) that could delay its
approval, but rumors are that once it passes, the Senate will adjourn
until after the elections instead of remaining in session through the
end of the month.  That would put the House in the position of either
agreeing to the Senate bill or allowing the government to shut down on
October 1, which would not play well in the upcoming elections.  A budget deal was crafted last fall
by then-House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell, and President Obama that set the spending limit for FY2017. 
The draft CR reportedly sticks to that agreement, but very conservative
House Republicans disapproved of the deal and are not happy at the
prospect of passing a CR that adheres to it (because it spends too much
on non-defense programs), so there is indeed a chance that a government
shutdown could occur. We think it is only a very small chance in an
election year, but as we’ve said many times, trying to predict what
Congress will do is risky.

The Air Force Association is holding its Air, Space, Cyber conference at National Harbor, MD (outside Washington, DC) Monday-Wednesday. Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James kicks it off tomorrow morning. There is no indication on the conference’s website as to which sessions might be livestreamed, but James tweeted an invitation yesterday for everyone to listen to her talk, so presumably hers will be, at least.  Hopefully AFA will make iivestreaming information available soon. [UPDATE: the link to watch James, from 10:20-11:15 am ET, is http://www.afa.org/airspacecyber/streaming.  Two other sessions Monday afternoon also will be livestreamed as noted at that site.  The list of livestreamed sessions for the rest of the conference are not posted yet.]

While that’s underway, on Tuesday, the Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a nomination hearing for Gen. John Hyten to become Commander of U.S. Strategic Command.  He currently is Commander of Air Force Space Command.  He seems to be well liked and respected on the Hill, so apart from the usual Senate challenges on getting any nomination approved (usually for reasons completely unrelated to the nominee), it should go smoothly.

On the civil space side, it’s Mars, Mars, Mars this week.  Explore Mars holds a seminar on Capitol Hill on Tuesday morning on “Humans to Mars: Why, How, and When.”  On Wednesday afternoon, Lou Friedman, former executive director of the Planetary Society, will discuss his new book “Human Spaceflight From Mars to the Stars” at George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute. From Thursday-Sunday, the Mars Society holds its annual conference at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. 

The Senate Commerce Committee will markup its “NASA Transition Authorization Act” on Wednesday that, among other things, seeks to protect NASA’s human spaceflight program — which is aimed at sending humans to Mars in the 2030s — from any major changes as the result of the upcoming presidential transition. Congress directed NASA to build a new, big rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), and a crew spacecraft to go with it (Orion) in the last NASA authorization act that became law (in 2010).  It has diligently ensured that the Obama Administration (through NASA) implements those programs, often providing more funding than the President requested.  They want to make sure a new President doesn’t disrupt that effort the way President Obama did when he came into office and cancelled President Bush’s Constellation program. The NASA authorization bill is one of several bills the committee will markup that day, including the STEM education-related INSPIRE Women bill that the House passed earlier this year.

SLS is managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and its Director, Todd May, will address the Space Transportation Association on Capitol Hill on Thursday.  Also speaking to STA on Thursday is the President of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Naoki Okumura.

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

Monday-Wednesday, September 19-21

• AFA’s Air, Space, Cyber Conference, Gaylord National Harbor Resort and Convention Center, National Harbor, MD

Tuesday, September 20

• SASC Hrg on Nomination of Gen. John Hyten to be Commander, USSTRATCOM, 216 Hart, 9:30 am ET (usually webcast)
• Humans to Mars — Why, How, When (Explore Mars), 2325 Rayburn, 10:00-11:30 am ET

Tuesday-Friday, September 20-23

• AMOS conference, Maui, Hawaii

Wednesday, September 21

• Senate Commerce Committee Markup NASA Authorization Act and INSPIRE Women Act, 253 Russell, 10:00 am ET (usually webcast)
• NOAA Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES), the Aerospace Corporation, Chantilly, VA, open session 9:00 am – 12:00 pm ET; closed session 1:00-4:00 pm ET
• Human Spaceflight From Mars to the Stars book discussion with author Lou Friedman, GWU Space Policy Institute, Washington, DC, 4:00 pm ET

Wednesday-Thursday, September 21-22

• Dent:Space, Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA

Wednesday-Friday, September 21-23

• NAS Committee to Review NASA’s Planetary Science Research & Analysis Program, Woods Hole, MA

Thursday, September 22

• Transforming Space Enterprise Ground Systems (AFA Mitchell Institute), Capitol Hill Club, Washington, DC, 8:00 am ET
• STA Luncheon Featuring NASA’s Todd May and JAXA’s Naoki Okumura, 562 Dirksen, 11:30 am – 1:15 pm ET
• Stimson Center Forum with Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), Ranking Member of HASC, 1211 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, DC, 12:30-1:30 pm ET

Thursday-Saturday, September 22-24

• Space Generation Congress, Guadalajara, Mexico

Thursday-Sunday, September 22-25

• Mars Society Convention 2016, Catholic University, Washington, DC

Friday, September 23

• RFF Memorial Service for Molly Macauley, Metropolitan Club, Washington, DC, 3:30-5:30 pm ET (please RSVP to RFF at specialevents@rff.org)