The FAA is requesting an increase in funding and staff resources for the Office of Commercial Space Transportation in FY2024 as the commercial space launch industry continues to grow. The $42 million request is about $5 million more than Congress appropriated in FY2023. Additional funding for commercial space in other parts of the FAA budget raise the total for FAA’s commercial space activities to almost $50 million.
NASA’s FY2024 budget request includes a record-breaking $8.26 billion for science. The largest component is planetary science that includes the NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return mission to bring samples now being collected by the Perseverance rover back to Earth. The request includes almost $1 billion for MSR, but comes with a warning that costs may grow and it may need to be descoped or other science missions cut. NASA also is requesting money to help ESA finish the ExoMars mission after it severed its partnership with Russia.
NASA laid out some of the details of its FY2024 budget request today. The $27.2 billion request, a 7.1 percent increase over FY2023, supports NASA’s full suite of programs in space and earth science, space technology, aeronautics and human spaceflight including the Artemis program to return astronauts to the Moon and continued operations of the International Space Station. One new program is development of a space tug to deorbit the ISS, which could cost as much as $1 billion.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of March 12-18, 2023 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session beginning Tuesday.
Four astronauts on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endurance returned to Earth tonight. NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico. Meanwhile, questions remain about why two Russian spacecraft docked to ISS experienced coolant leaks in December and February and whether a common manufacturing defect may be responsible.
Relativity Space tried and tried and tried again today to launch the 3D printed Terran-1 rocket, but in the end it was another abort. Three attempts within the three-hour launch window got as close as 0.5 seconds from liftoff, but tonight the rocket is still on the launch pad.
The long-awaited announcement of the four crew members who will travel beyond the Moon and back on the Artemis II mission is just a few weeks away. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said today the names of the three Americans and one Canadian will be publicly revealed on April 3. The launch is currently planned for November 2024.
For the third year in a row, President Biden is requesting a significant increase in NASA funding, apparently undeterred by the results in the last two years. Although Congress increased NASA’s budget over prior year funding, it was not as much as requested. This time he is asking for $27.2 billion, a $1.8 billion increase or 7.1 percent more than the $25.4 billion appropriated for FY2023. Among the highlights is a request to develop a new space tug to deorbit the International Space Station at the end of its lifetime instead of relying on Russian spacecraft as currently planned.
A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee unanimously approved five bills today dealing with allocating spectrum for satellite services. One broadly addresses assignment of spectrum for non-government satellites by the Federal Communications Commission, while the others target specific uses like precision agriculture and emergency services.
Relativity Space tried hard to launch its innovative Terran-1 rocket today, but in the end it was a no-go because of thermal problems with the propellant. Late this evening they said they will try again on Saturday to launch the “Good Luck, Have Fun” mission.