Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of July 29-August 4, 2018 and any insight we can offer about them. The House is on a 5-week summer recess except for pro forma sessions and will return for legislative business on September 4. The Senate is in session this week.
A two-day House hearing left no doubt that committee members are eager to reauthorize NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) despite a new round of cost overruns and schedule delays. NASA escaped serious criticism perhaps in deference to its new Administrator who has been on the job for only three months (and is a former member of the committee). The strongest rebukes were directed at the telescope’s prime contractor, Northrop Grumman (NG) and its Chairman and CEO agreed to set aside the profits the company was expected to earn on the project until JWST is operating.
A new Senate bill, the Space Frontier Act, would put the Department of Transportation (DOT) rather than the Department of Commerce (DOC) in charge of authorizing non-governmental space activities not already regulated under other federal law. It is at odds with legislation in the House and space policy directives signed by President Trump. The legislation would also keep the International Space Station (ISS) operating until 2030 instead of 2025 as the Trump Administration proposed.
Republican and Democrats on the Senate space subcommittee insisted that the goal for NASA’s human spaceflight program is Mars, not the Moon, at a hearing yesterday. President Trump formally restored the Moon to NASA’s plans in December and NASA’s FY2019 budget request reflects that change. The Senators raised no objections as long as it does not distract from what they consider the primary goal — landing humans on Mars in the 2030s.
Here are SpacePolicyOnline.com’s tidbits for July 25, 2018: House committee begins JWST hearings; evidence of subsurface lake on Mars; Parker Solar Probe launch delay. Be sure to check our website for feature stories and follow us on Twitter (@SpcPlcyOnline) for more news and live tweeting of events.
The House Science, Space, and Technology (SS&T) Committee approved a new version of space weather legislation yesterday. It is significantly different from the bill that passed the Senate last year and another that was introduced in the House. The goal of codifying government agency roles and responsibilities for space weather research and forecasting remains the same, but the new bill designates the National Space Council as the coordinating entity and establishes a pilot program for obtaining space weather data from the commercial sector.
The House and Senate Armed Services Committees (HASC and SASC) finished work on the FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) today. The conference report reconciling differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill does not explicitly address creation of a Space Force as advocated by President Trump and others. The House is expected to pass the conference report later this week.
Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of July 22-28, 2018 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in session this week.
Here are SpacePolicyOnline.com’s tidbits for July 18, 2018: Blue Origin notches another successful test; Pence reportedly to make announcement at KSC in August; House SS&T schedules JWST hearings; Girl Scouts creates new space science badge. Be sure to check our website for feature stories and follow us on Twitter (@SpcPlcyOnline) for more news and live tweeting of events.
Here are SpacePolicyOnline.com’s tidbits for July 16, 2018: VP Pence expects big things from O’Connell at DOC; Bridenstine visits Israel, Farnborough; UK, Lockheed Martin, Orbex team for spaceport in Scotland. Be sure to check our website for feature stories and follow us on Twitter (@SpcPlcyOnline) for more news and live tweeting of events.