Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of May 26-June 1, 2019 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in recess, except for pro forma sessions.
Mark Sirangelo is leaving NASA after less than two months. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced the news in a memo to employees. Sirangelo was hired as a special assistant to Bridenstine to work on the Artemis Moon program with the expectation he would head a new Moon to Mars Mission Directorate. Congress nixed the reorganization plan, so Sirangelo is leaving.
Maxar Technologies will build the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) for NASA’s lunar Gateway, the agency announced today. The $375 million fixed price contract is another example of NASA transitioning to a commercial procurement strategy for its human exploration program. Maxar will deliver the spacecraft to NASA in orbit. In fact, it does not become NASA property until after an in-orbit demonstration phase that will last up to one year after launch.
The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) approved the establishment of a U.S. Space Force (USSF) as a new military service within the Air Force in its version of the FY2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), released today. SASC has been much less enthusiastic than the House in the past, so its endorsement is an important marker. SASC also agreed to reestablish a U.S. Space Command (USSPACECOM) as a unified combatant command.
The House Appropriations Committee approved its version of the FY2020 Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) bill that funds NASA today. Instead of allocating more money for sending astronauts back to the Moon as requested by the Trump Administration, it added funds for NASA’s science and education programs. The committee did not address the supplemental request, delivered just last week, for another $1.6 billion for the Artemis Moon program. Its action was only on the original request submitted on March 11.
The House Appropriations Committee is adding a little extra money for NOAA’s Space Weather Follow-on program in the FY2020 appropriations bill, $38.6 million compared to the $25.6 million requested. NOAA’s other satellite programs generally are funded as requested, a total of $1.2 billion for procurement, acquisition and construction (PAC). NOAA is transitioning into a new way of looking at its future satellite observing system architecture with an associated makeover of its budget accounts creating challenges in tracing the budget from year to year.
The House Appropriations Committee (HAC) said no to the Trump Administration’s proposal to elevate the Office of Space Commerce from NOAA to the Office of the Secretary of Commerce and merge it with NOAA’s Office of Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs (CRSRA). That keeps Trump Administration plans to make the Department of Commerce (DOC) the “one-stop shop” for commercial space in limbo.
Barbara McConnell Barrett, a lawyer and former chairman of the Aerospace Corporation’s Board of Trustees, is being nominated to succeed Heather Wilson as Secretary of the Air Force. President Trump tweeted the news today.
NASA officials briefed a NASA Advisory Council committee today on the latest plans for returning humans to the surface of the Moon. Until March 26, NASA planned to do that in 2028, but new direction from the White House accelerated that to 2024. NASA continues to insist they still have the same plan, just with the landing moved forward four years. It named the program Artemis earlier this month. Today it made public slides that show what they must get done by 2024, just 5 years from now, and then the plan for 2025-2028. It involves a significant number of launches, hardware that is not yet under contract, and with an unknown pricetag.
Here are SpacePolicyOnline.com’s tidbits for May 20, 2019: SecAF Wilson bids farewell; NASA picks 11 companies for lunar lander studies; LRO images of Beresheet impact point. Be sure to check our website for feature stories and follow us on Twitter (@SpcPlcyOnline) for more news and live tweeting of events.