Space Politics
Because sometimes the most important orbit is the Beltway…
Archive for February, 2004
February 7, 2004 at 7:00 pm · Filed under Congress
The AP reports Saturday that Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, chairman of the space subcommittee of the House Science Committee, has some competition in next month’s Republican primary in California: former Congressman Bob Dornan, better known as “B-1 Bob”. The article indicates that the two have feuded over the years, primarily on foreign policy issues, notably the Middle East and Israel. Rohrabacher has the support of key Republicans in the state, including Gov. Schwarzenegger, and experts interviewed in the article believe Rohrabacher should easily win the primary.
The article does briefly touch on space policy and NASA, noting that Rohrabacher wants to restructure NASA to support the Bush space initiative in part by cutting funds for “anything designed to prove global warming.” Rohrabacher has also been busy on other things, too: last month he sold a screenplay about “a liberal doctoral student and an Iraq war veteran who take a road trip to Baja California.” He’s also about to become a father: his wife is scheduled to give birth in March—to triplets. Good thing you got that screenplay taken care of last month, Dana.
February 6, 2004 at 8:36 pm · Filed under Other
The first meeting of the President’s Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy (aka the “Aldridge Commission”) has been scheduled for this coming Wednesday, February 11, in Washington, according to a notice published in Thursday’s Federal Register. (See also an HTMLized version at SpaceRef.com.) The meeting is scheduled for between 9am and 5pm at the NTSB’s conference center in L’Enfant Plaza in downtown Washington. The meeting is open to the public. The agenda makes it appear that this meeting will be little more than an introduction, with topics such as “Overview of Commission Charter and Goals” and “Review of accomplishments of previous commissions”.
The timing of this meeting is a little unfortunate. Not only is it scheduled on short notice (as noted in the register notice), it’s taking place the same day as both a major defense conference (AIAA Defense 2004) and a major commercial space transportation conference (FAA/AST Forecast Conference), both also in DC. This will tend to stretch things a little thin in the Washington space community on Wednesday. However, I would be surprised if one would miss out on much by not attending this opening session of the commission.
February 6, 2004 at 1:08 pm · Filed under Other
Reading Wednesday’s issue of the Capitol Hill newspaper The Hill, I noticed an unusual ad in the back, alongside those for apartments and jobs. The “1st Annual Exopolitics Expo – April ’04″, the ad announced. “Perhaps the most important conference you will ever attend.” Exopolitics… hmmm, sounds like it might be related to space. I went to the web site for the event and discovered it is related to space… just in a bad way. The event will, in its own words, “bring together in the Washington metro area the most powerful group of speakers ever assembled to focus on the governmental, political and media aspects of 50+ years of extraterrestrial engagement and societal denial.” That’s right, UFO “experts”, including such notables as Richard “The Face on Mars” Hoagland. The event is apparently being run by Stephen Bassett, who ran a quixotic independent Congressional campaign in 2002 in Maryland’s 8th district “in which a candidate on the November ballot in a federal election openly addressed the matter of an extraterrestrial presence and the government imposed truth embargo,” in his own words. OK, sorry I asked.
February 4, 2004 at 11:54 pm · Filed under White House
In his column in the Capitol Hill newspaper The Hill on Wednesday, Josh Marshall argues that the new Bush space policy is just one example of several new proposals that are designed “for short-term political gain, regardless of the consequences”, ranking alongside a new immigration policy and the prescription drug plan. An excerpt:
The clearest example was the plan to send men to Mars. This wasn’t a real policy proposal.
The whole thing was never even meant to happen. It was supposed to be a campaign sound bite to give a running start to the State of the Union roll-out and a bullet point for the president’s onward-and-upward-with-optimism reelection theme.
Had this been a serious proposal, it would have required a vast national effort costing, in all likelihood, hundreds of billions of dollars. Yet when it didn’t strike a chord with voters or the Sunday shows, it got tossed aside without a second thought. It wasn’t a policy proposal. It was a political ploy.
And the White House cut it loose so unceremoniously that that unlovely reality was impossible to miss.
There are a couple of problems with Marshall’s analysis. First, there is no hard evidence that the space policy has been “tossed aside”. Some people, such as Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), have tried to argue that because Bush didn’t mention the plan in his State of the Union address last month, the plan must be dead or dying already. Given that Bush devoted about 20 minutes to the plan during a speech six days earlier at NASA Headquarters, bringing it up again in the SOTU may have simply seemed redundant. Moreover, the changes required by the policy are already underway at NASA, as illustrated by its FY2005 budget request.
The second problem is that space is a fringe issue to most Americans. The number of people who care passionately about space is very small, much smaller than people who care about prescription drug plans or immigration policies. Thus, the presence—or absence—of a new space policy is unlikely to sway the minds of more than a few voters. There are a lot of other topics that Bush could promote that could provide more short- or long-term gain than a new space policy, which he and/or his advisors are doubtlessly aware. It seems unlikely Bush would have put much more effort into this plan initially regardless of the public reaction. The absence of a concerted effort to promote the plan doesn’t necessarily mean the plan has been dropped.
February 4, 2004 at 11:33 pm · Filed under Congress
The House Science Committee approved two space-related bills during a markup session Wednesday afternoon. On a voice vote the committee approved the Charles ‘Pete’ Conrad Astronomy Awards Act (HR 912), which provides awards for amateur astronomers who discover near Earth objects; and the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004 (HR 3752), which amends existing law to improve the regulatory environment primarily to benefit commercial suborbital vehicles. HR 3752 was introduced just before the hearing, replacing HR 3245, a similar bill introduced last year that passed through the committee’s space subcommittee last fall.
Another provision of HR 3752 that may be of interest to the wider commercial space community is that it extends the liability indemnification regime for commercial launches (in the event of catastrophic accidents that exceed the mandated level of insurance) for three years, but requires a study on how to sunset the indemnification provision in 2008 or shortly thereafter. This has been a sticking point for commercial launch vehicle providers in the US, who claim they would be at a disadvantage to foreign competitors (who have similar protection) if the indemnification protection was lost, even though it has never been used. Stay tuned on this one.
February 3, 2004 at 11:11 am · Filed under Congress
Congress is holding two hearings this week on space issues, and both will take place at roughly the same time. Wednesday at 1 pm the full House Science Committee is holding a markup session on several bills. Included in the list is the Charles ‘Pete’ Conrad Astronomy Awards Act (HR 912), which would establish an awards program for amateur astronomers who discover near Earth objects. Also on the schedule is the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004 (no bill number yet), which is the revised version of the Commercial Space Act of 2003 (HR 3245) introduced last year, and discussed here last week. Both bills are sponsored by Rep. Dana Rohrbacher (R-CA), chairman of the space subcommittee.
Meanwhile, the Science, Technology, and Space Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee has scheduled a hearing Wednesday at 3 pm on “Mars Exploration”. The only witness for that hearing identified to date is Ed Weiler, NASA’s AA for space science. There is a chance that hearing could be delayed because all three Senate office buildings are closed today after ricin was discovered in the mailroom of Majority Leader Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN).
UPDATE Wednesday 10:30 am: Although the Commerce Committee’s web site still lists the hearing as scheduled for today, the building it is scheduled to take place in is still closed, so in all likelihood the hearing will be postponed.
February 2, 2004 at 12:43 pm · Filed under Congress
Some members of the US Senate are turning to some well-known people to assist them on space issues. The Houston Chronicle reported Sunday that sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) has hired Neal Lane, former NSF director and White House science advisor, to advise her on space issues. Lane is currently with Rice University, with positions in both the space physics and astronomy department and the James A. Baker III Institute of Public Policy. Lane testified before the Senate Commerce Committee (of which Hutchison is a member) last week, and during the hearing Hutchison acknowledged the assistance he had provided her, but there was no sign of any former relationship between the two. (It also raises the question of whether Congressional aides, regardless of their pedigree, should be testifying before committees without full disclosure of any links with committee members.)
In addition to Hutchison, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), chairman of the space subcommittee of the Commerce Committee, plans to hire Air Force Brig. General Simon “Pete” Worden in the very near future. Worden is retiring (and may have already retired) from the Air Force; he had most recently served as director of the Air Force’s development and transformation office at the Space and Missile Systems Center in LA. Worden has a PhD in astronomy and has been an advocate of “planetary defense”, notably endorsing programs to look for and characterize near Earth objects that could pose a risk to the Earth.
February 2, 2004 at 12:28 pm · Filed under NASA
The Bush Administration released its FY2005 budget proposal today, which includes $16.2 billion for NASA. The announcement doesn’t contain many surprises, since most of the basic details were already publicized last month when the new space initiative was announced. See SPACE.com and SpaceRef for more details, including what programs will contribute to the $11.6 billion being reassigned from other programs to pay for the initiative. The good news is that most space and earth science programs will avoid cancellation, although several, including the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter, will be delayed by several years. The budget plan would also phase out the Next Generation Launch Technology program as well as cut ISS research not related to the exploration initiative’s goals.
« Previous entries
