NASA situation “as bad as it’s been in the last 10 to 15 years”

While members of the Texas Congressional delegation are gearing up to defend NASA against budget threats, real or perceived, supporters of NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia are planning similar action. The Daily Press newspaper reports that the president of Hampton University is planning a luncheon to “get the community’s leadership re-engaged in the process […]

Griffin: what makes an effective prize?

An addendum to yesterday’s post about NASA administrator Mike Griffin’s speech Friday on the space agency’s commercialization efforts. Since the speech was part of a ceremony recognizing Armadillo Aerospace for winning the largest prize awarded to date in NASA’s Centennial Challenges to date, one would expect Griffin to talk about prizes in general, and that […]

The White House as a “bully pulpit” for science

A snippet from President-elect Obama’s interview this morning on NBC’s “Meet the Press”, talking about the “incredible bully pulpit” of the White House and hosting events there:

Part of what we want to do is open up the White House and remind people that this is the people’s house… When it comes to science, […]

Griffin on parabolic, suborbital, and other commercialization

On Friday NASA hosted a ceremony recognizing Armadillo Aerospace for winning Level One of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, one of the agency’s Centennial Challenges prizes. There were congratulatory speeches, the presentation of an oversized check, and photo opportunities. Mixed in with all this were some new announcements about commercialization efforts by NASA by […]

False alarm?

In an editorial in Saturday’s edition, the Houston Chronicle sounds the alarm: NASA’s budget in under attack. “There is talk in Washington that those mind-boggling outlays for the nation’s economic recovery could come at NASA’s expense – significant cuts in the space agency’s budget,” the editorial claims. Later: “But one wonders: Why is such a […]

Richardson’s in, but what about the transportation job?

As expected, President-Elect Obama named Bill Richardson as his pick for Commerce Secretary on Wednesday. The only real surprise to come out of yesterday is that Richardson is once again clean-shaven. Richardson’s interest in commercial space in particular has previously been noted here.

Another Cabinet pick yet to be announced, though, is Transportation Secretary. Last […]

Losing another Congressional advocate

An article in today’s Houston Chronicle reports that the Texas congressional delegation “is launching a campaign to combat potentially deep budget cuts for NASA” that some fear will be necessary to cover the costs of government bailouts and stimulus packages. The specific of the campaign seem vague, other than “building alliances” with other members of […]

Limited hope for ITAR reform?

With a change of administrations coming to Washington, there has been some hope in the space community that this might lead to some reform of export control policies that have hampered the ability of US space companies to do business with foreign customers. In the space policy his campaign released in August, Barack Obama proposed […]

Canadian and European policy updates

In Monday’s issue of The Space Review, the same group of Canadians who published a detailed discussion of Canada’s future in space provide a condensed version. This version has the same theme: despite relatively small budgets compared to the US or Europe, Canada can take advantage of opportunities available now, provided the right goals and […]