The Aerospace Industries Association held a webinar on March 16, 2023 with three space policy experts discussing the FY2024 budget request for civil and commercial space. The primary topic was NASA’s request, especially for space science.

SpacePolicyOnline.com published a summary of their remarks on March 16, 2023: “Space Policy Experts Caution NASA Increase Merely Keeps Pace with Inflation.”

Speakers were:

• Mike French, Vice President for Space Systems, Aerospace Industries Association (AIA)
• Jean Toal Eisen, Vice President of Corporate Strategy, Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA)
• Casey Dreier, Chief of Space Policy, The Planetary Society

NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel held a public session on October 27, 2022 to report on its third quarter 2022 review of NASA programs.

Among its findings and recommendations was that the International Space Station is operating “at risk” because NASA and the other ISS partners do not have an executable plan to deorbit the space station safely in an emergency. The panel raised this issue previously and was presented with a conceptual plan in 2020 that it thought would be finalized imminently, but technical and operational challenges emerged and they are reopening the recommendation.

ASAP made a number of other findings about the ISS, the commercial crew program, and the Artemis program that are summarized in a SpacePolicyOnline.com article posted that day: NASA SAFETY PANEL WARNS ISS OPERATING “AT RISK” FOR LACK OF DEORBIT PLAN.

Vice President Kamala Harris held her second meeting of the National Space Council on September 9, 2022 at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. No major decisions were made, but several tasks were assigned to Council members.

The three main topics were STEM education (as it was at the first meeting in December 2021), NASA’s human spaceflight program, and creating regulations for novel commercial space activities.

SpacePolicyOnline.com published two articles summarizing the meeting:

• Harris Asks Agencies for Proposals on Novel Commercial Space Regulation
• Space Council Discusses STEM, Human Spaceflight and Commercial Space Regulation

During the meeting, Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves also announced that the Departement of Commerce and DOD just signed a Memorandum of Agreement spelling out their respective responsibilities in Space Situational Awareness/Space Traffic Management. SpacePolicyOnline.com reported on that in a separate article.

Vice President Kamala Harris held the first meeting of the National Space Council under her leadership on December 1, 2021 at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C.

Hours prior to the meeting she released a “Space Priorities Framework” document identifing two priorities and actions to address them.

SpacePolicyOnline.com published a summary of the meeting on December 1, 2021 as well as three related articles in advance.

• Space Council Condemns Russian ASAT Test, DOD CAlls for End To Debris-Creating Tests
• Biden-Harris Space Priorities Framework Calls for Robust Space Enterprise, Space Sustainability
• First Harris-Led National Space Council Meeting Set for Tomorrow
• Senators Urge Biden Administration Action on Space Debris

The 8th and last meeting of the White House National Space Council under the leadership of Vice President Mike Pence took place on December 9, 2020 at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), FL.  The two major announcements were release of a new National Space Policy and naming 18 NASA astronauts who now comprise the Artemis Team or Artemis Cadre of astronauts who will go to the Moon.

Immediately prior to the meeting, Pence stopped at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, adjacent to KSC, and announced its new name is Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and Patrick Air Force Base, which manages CCAFS, is now Patrick Space Force Base.

SpacePolicyOnline.com published three articles summarizing the events:

• Trump Administration Issues New National Space Policy
• New Names for CCAFS and Patrick Air Force Base
• NASA Picks 18 Astronauts for its First Artemis Cadre

NOAA’s Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES) held a three-day meeting in June 2020 (June 23-25).  The main topic of discussion was the new regulations for the commercial satellite remote sensing industry that were published in May 2020.

Among the speakers were three members of Congress (Cruz, Babin and Horn), Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, Acting NOAA Administrator Neil Jacobs, Director of NOAA’s Office of Space Commerce Kevin O’Connell, Executive Secretary of the White House National Space Council Scott Pace, and DOD’s Principle Director of Space Policy John Hill.

SpacePolicyOnline.com published a summary of the meeting on June 25, 2020:  New Remote Sensing Regulations Great Improvement, But Devil is in the Details.

The FAA’s Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) met for the first time is more than a year on June 22, 2020.  The committee has a new charter, an updated membership roster, and a new chair — Charity Weeden of Astroscale.

One of the many topics discussed was the status of modernizing regulations for the commercial space transportation industry.  By White House directive, they were supposed to be released in 2019, but stiff industry opposition to the initial rewrite led to additional discussions.  The Department of Transportation (DOT), of which the FAA and its Office of Commercial Space Transportation are part, now hopes they will be out in September 2020.

SpacePolicyOnline.com published a summary of the COMSTAC meeting on June 22, 2020:  FAA Shooting for September for Updated Commercial Space Launch Regulations.

The Space Studies Board (SSB) and Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board (ASEB) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, held a joint meeting on June 9, 2020.  Among the many topics discussed was the status of the Artemis program to return astronauts to the Moon by 2024.  The acting head of NASA’s human spaceflight program, Ken Bowersox, and the Executive Secretary of the White House National Space Council, Scott Pace, both expressed concern about whether the money would be there to accomplish the goal.

SpacePolicyOnline.com published a summary of those portions of the meeting on June 9, 2020: Pace, Bowersox Worry About Artemis Funding.

The White House National Space Council held its 7th meeting on May 19, 2020 at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC.  It was a brief meeting, just over one hour, and no major announcements were made.  Among the highlights were NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine’s promise that an Orion spacecraft will go around by the Moon by the end of 2021 (another delay) and a ringing endorsement of NASA by the Director of the Office and Management and Budget, Russell Vought.

SpacePolicyOnline.com published a brief summary of the meeting on May 19, 202o: Space Council Hears Good News About Civil, Commercial, National Security Space.

The NASA Advisory Council’s Regulatory and Policy Committee (NAC/RPC) met virtually on May 15, 2020 (amidst the coronavirus pandemic, which precluded an in-person meeting).

The committee discussed several issues, but the highlight was the unveiling of the Artemis Accords by NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. They are a set of 10 principles the United States wants international partners to adopt if they want to participate in the Artemis program to return astronauts to the Moon.  Bridenstine also used the opportunity to criticize China after debris from a Long March 5B rocket stage landed in Africa after an uncontrolled reentry from orbit.

SpacePolicyOnline.com published two articles summarizing those aspects of the meeting:

• NASA Unveils “Artemis Accords”
• Bridenstine Scolds China Over Long March Reentry Debris