Here are SpacePolicyOnline.com’s tidbits for February 25, 2019: Fred Kennedy to lead SDA; Musk wants a Moon base; and Hayabusa2’s shadow image. Be sure to check our website for feature stories and follow us on Twitter (@SpcPlcyOnline) for more news and live tweeting of events.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of February 24-March 2, 2019 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.
NASA and SpaceX held a joint press conference this evening to announce that SpaceX’s Demo-1 uncrewed test flight of its Crew Dragon/Falcon 9 commercial crew system is go for launch on March 2. Docking with the International Space Station (ISS) is March 3. The announcement came after a day-long Flight Readiness Review (FRR) that left at least one question unanswered for Russia, one of the ISS partners, but NASA officials are confident they can resolve it before launch.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA’s) Hayabusa2 spacecraft successfully touched down on the asteroid Ryugu this evening Eastern Standard Time (February 22 in Japan). The goal was to collect a sample of the asteroid for return to Earth. JAXA is awaiting data to determine if a sample was indeed obtained, but it already knows the sequence of events went as planned.
A robotic lunar lander built by an Israeli non-profit, SpaceIL, is on its way to the Moon tonight. Launched as a rideshare on a SpaceX launch of an Indonesian communications satellite, Beresheet will take about two months to reach lunar orbit and then descend to a soft landing on the Moon. It is Israel’s first attempt at lunar exploration and carries a NASA laser retroreflector as part of its payload. NASA also announced today 12 experiments it has ready to fly on U.S. private sector spacecraft as part of its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.
President Trump signed Space Policy Directive-4 (SPD-4) today formalizing his intent to ask Congress to agree to create a Space Force as part of the Air Force. He backed away from his initial demand that a Department of the Space Force be established as a “separate but equal” military department, but that remains a longer term goal. For now he is asking only for the Air Force to be reorganized to better manage and execute space activities, a proposal that originated in Congress and is more likely to win congressional approval. Senior Administration Officials also said the Space Force budget will be “lean,” which may also appeal to Congress. The details will be critical to the proposal’s fate.
On February 19, 2019, President Trump signed Space Policy Directive-4 (SPD-4) regarding establishment of a U.S. Space Force as a sixth military department, subordinate to the Air Force. In essence it would analagous to the Marine Corps, which is part of the Department of the Navy.
President Trump will sign Space Policy Directive-4 (SPD-4) tomorrow at 2:00 pm ET along with Vice President Mike Pence, who chairs the White House National Space Council. The directive’s focus is creation of the Space Force as part of the U.S. Air Force as a first step towards creating a separate military department. Congress must approve the proposal.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of February 17-23, 2019 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in recess this week except for pro forma sessions.
NASA released a presolicitation announcement on February 13 that reveals it is considering purchasing two more seats on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to take astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS) and serve as “lifeboats” while they are aboard. The action comes as NASA’s existing contract with Russia for such services expires and new U.S. systems are getting close to conducting test launches, but their operational dates are uncertain.