An establishment ceremony was held today at Peterson AFB, CO, the initial home of U.S. Space Command (USSPACECOM).  Gen. Jay Raymond, Commander, and Gen. Joseph Dunford, Jr., Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, outlined the new Command’s purpose and goals.  At the same time, Congress returned from its summer recess to work on finalizing the FY2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and whatever it will say about creating a new Space Corps or Space Force as a sixth military service.

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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of September 8-14, 2019 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are in session this week.

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India’s Chandrayaan-2 lander/rover failed to successfully land on the Moon today (EDT).  Communications were lost 2.1 kilometers before the expected touchdown.  Speaking to the Chandryaaan-2 team hours later, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the mission an “amazing journey” and assured them “the best is yet to come.” [UPDATED September 8, with news about locating it on the surface.]

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The Trump Administration released its list of R&D priorities for the FY2021 budget today.  Space exploration and commercialization make the list of the top five areas of investment needed to maintain American science and technology leadership during what it refers to as the Second Bold Era.  No budget numbers are included, but the document from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) signals what to expect when the budget request is released in February.

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The European Space Agency (ESA) is urging development of automated collision avoidance systems to replace “archaic” email exchanges between satellite operators to prevent satellites from running into each other in Earth orbit.  Yesterday ESA had to maneuver its Aeolus earth science satellite to ensure it did not collide with SpaceX’s Starlink 44.  SpaceX acknowledged today that a “bug” in its on-call paging system prevented its Starlink operator from realizing the risk of collision had increased.

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Here are SpacePolicyOnline.com’s tidbits for September 2, 2019:  KSC at HURCON 1; Trump reveals classified satellite imagery; ESA avoids collision with SpaceX satellite.  Be sure to check our website for feature stories and follow us on Twitter (@SpcPlcyOnline) for more news and live tweeting of events.

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Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of September 1-7, 2019 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are in recess (except for pro forma sessions) until September 9.

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The United States once again has a unified combatant command dedicated to defending the space domain.  President Trump presided over a Rose Garden ceremony today where Secretary of Defense Mark Esper signed papers officially establishing U.S. Space Command (USSPACECOM) while Vice President Pence and Gen. John (Jay) Raymond looked on.  Raymond is now the commander of USSPACECOM as well as Commander of Air Force Space Command.  Meanwhile, Congress continues to work on legislation to create a Space Force as a new military service.

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Paul Martin, NASA’s Inspector General, urged Congress today to remove the requirement in law that NASA launch the Europa Clipper mission on the Space Launch System (SLS).  Congress has included that requirement in NASA’s annual appropriations bills for the past several years. NASA has pushed back for just as long on the basis that a commercial rocket would be much less expensive and SLS is needed for its effort to return humans to the Moon.  NASA must soon decide on a launch vehicle and Congress is working on the final details of the next appropriations bill, so time is of the essence.

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SpaceX’s Starhopper test vehicle executed its planned “hop” today at the company’s test site in Boca Chica, Texas.  An earlier test was just 20 meters, but today it was headed for an altitude of 150 meters. The company has not issued an official statement on what was achieved, but that looked about right on the livestream.  The test is a step, however small, towards the Starship vehicle that SpaceX is developing to send people to the Moon and beyond.  UPDATED WITH SPACEX VIDEO.

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