By Jeff Foust on 2012 November 28 at 8:08 pm ET On Wednesday, NASA administrator Charles Bolden visited the United Launch Alliance (ULA) factory in Decatur, Alabama, where the company assembles Atlas and Delta rockets. During his visit, local media quizzed him on a variety of topics, from the looming threat of sequestration to rumored discoveries by the Mars Science Laboratory Rover to even whether he bought a ticket for the Powerball lottery and its estimated $550-million jackpot. “I did not buy. My wife was supposed to buy one,” he said, as reported by television station WAFF.
Maybe he should have, though. The Orlando Sentinel reports that Bolden’s future as NASA administrator in the Obama Administration’s second term is “uncertain”. The article largely recounts some of the missteps Bolden has made in the last three and a half years, as well as speculation about whether he’ll continue in the post (a spokesman for Sen. Bill Nelson, perhaps Bolden’s biggest supporter in Congress, said that the senator “fully expects Charlie Bolden to continue as administrator” in the next term.)
The most damning comment about Bolden, though, comes from an anonymous “senior administration official.” “The senior White House staff is aware of the [NASA] administrator’s inability to advance their agenda and will have to decide whether they make an adjustment in a second term,” that official, not authorized to speak on the record, told the Sentinel. A second unnamed official said Bolden “was just the kind of leader NASA needed” during the Space Shuttle’s retirement, but suggested that NASA “would benefit from a leader fully committed to implementing the bold policy put forth by the president and his administration.”
Of course, even with those comments, Bolden may remain at NASA for some time to come; an official said replacing Bolden would require replacing a “legend with a legend.” But he could have still bought a Powerball ticket: if he won, the estimated cash payout of $360 million would more than cover the shortfall in NASA’s planetary program in 2013, for example…
By Jeff Foust on 2012 November 28 at 6:20 am ET It must have been the tie.
The House Republican Steering Committee, a group of 34 GOP members of the House that includes the party’s leadership there, selected Tuesday a slate of candidates for committee chairmanships in the next Congress, starting in January. Included in that list is Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) as chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. Smith beat out Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and former committee chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) for the chairmanship. The full House Republican membership is expected to approve the slate of committee chairmanships today.
The selection of Smith was not a surprise, as earlier this month he appeared to be the frontrunner in the three-way race. Smith apparently dressed for the occasion: The Hill notes that Smith was “clad in a tie decorated with planets and spaceships for his presentation” to the steering committee.
By Jeff Foust on 2012 November 22 at 1:23 pm ET The Defense Department, with very little fanfare, issued a new space policy last month. The memo about the space policy, dated October 18, is signed by deputy secretary of defense Ashton Carter. The memo, though, has received little coverage beyond an article Wednesday by the American Forces Press Service, including no formal press releases or other statements from the Pentagon.
The updated policy, Carter said in the AFPS article, “institutionalizes the changes the department has made in an increasingly constrained budget environment to address the complex set of space-related opportunities and challenges.” It builds upon the national space policy issued in June 2010 and the National Security Space Strategy issued in early 2011. As in those policies, there is an emphasis on cooperation with international and commercial entities, such as sharing of space situational awareness data (and asking commercial satellite operators to provide “their spaceflight safety data as well as relevant plans, schedules, and information on operational status.”) Elsewhere, the policy states that the DOD “will seek to expand space-related cooperation with international partners, building and sharing space capabilities with these partners to the extent practicable and leading combined space operations, including space-support operations.”
By Jeff Foust on 2012 November 20 at 6:36 am ET It’s a quiet week for space policy in the US because of the Thanksgiving holiday, but across the Atlantic it’s a very big week for space. Today and tomorrow ministers from ESA’s member states (now 20 with the accession of Poland this week) are meeting in Naples to make decisions on the future of the agency’s major programs. The stakes are high: even ESA calls the meeting “Two days that decide Europe’s space future.”
A wide range of issues are expected to be up for consideration during the ministerial meeting. They include whether to cooperate with NASA on development of the Orion spacecraft by developing the vehicle’s service module. The future of the workhorse Ariane 5 launch vehicle will also be up for debate: should ESA support upgrades to the vehicle, or start work on a next-generation Ariane 6? (Elon Musk offered his thoughts on the debate to the BBC recently, claiming that the “Ariane 5 has no chance” to compete against his Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, and that ESA should instead focus on Ariane 6.) Earth and space science programs will also be up for discussion, including perhaps the future of the ExoMars program. Off the table, though, is a proposed lunar lander mission: German media reported this weekend that the project, supported by the German space agency, was unable to win promises of funding from other major ESA member states.
By Jeff Foust on 2012 November 16 at 5:01 pm ET It’s been just over a week since the race for the chairmanship of the House Science Committee got into gear, but a frontrunner has already emerged. Earlier this week Space News reported that Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) is the “odds-on favorite,” in the words of one source, to lead the committee in the next Congress. Yesterday, Science magazine’s ScienceInsider column also indicated that Smith was the most likely member to succeed Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX), who is stepping down from the committee chairmanship because of term limits.
Science interviewed both Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and James Sensenbrenner (R-YI), the other two candidates, about their interest in the committee chairmanship. (Smith declined an interview, providing instead a brief statement.) In his interview, Sensenbrenner brought up space policy, stressing the need for cooperation between NASA and the private sector. “I don’t think that either NASA or the private sector will have enough money to restore America’s preeminence in space if they do it separately,” he said. “But if they do it together, I think they’ve got a shot at it.”
Rohrabacher, in his interview, only briefly mentions space, noting that a new authorization bill for NASA would be a priority, and emphasizing the importance of international cooperation: “If we are going to have major scientific initiatives, like [on] space debris clearing—which we need to do—or asteroid defense, there needs to be international cooperation. I would go out of my way to enlist other countries in cooperative space efforts.” He also tries to contrast himself versus Sensenbrenner and Smith as a potential chairman, but adds that if he’s not selected, “I plan to be an activist one way or another. I love science.”
By Jeff Foust on 2012 November 15 at 8:14 pm ET The Senate was scheduled to start debate this week on its version of a defense authorization bill, several months after the House passed its version of the legislation. However, it looks like that won’t happen, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) blaming Republicans for slowing the process, even after agreeing to an “open” amendment process. It’s also being delayed by a filibuster by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who wants a vote on an amendment he’s proposing, which makes it likely consideration of the bill will be delayed until after the Senate returns from its Thanksgiving recess on November 26.
The bill is being closely watched by some in the space industry since it is a potential vehicle for export control reform. The current Senate version contains no language regarding such reform (there is a separate, standalone bill introduced in May by Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO)), but the House version does contain a provision returning to the President the ability to remove commercial satellites and related components off the US Munitions List. There are debates between the administration and Congress about the language in the House bill, but those arguments are moot if the Senate does not pass its version of the legislation.
By Jeff Foust on 2012 November 15 at 9:00 am ET In its continued quest to restore $300 million to NASA’s planetary science program, The Planetary Society described in a blog post this week what that restored funding could provide. According to “newly-formed internal budget numbers” provide to the organization from unnamed “sources within the planetary science community,” that additional funding could, in the long term, fund a 2018 Mars lander mission to cache samples for later return to Earth, a mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa, and could also move up the next Discovery mission selection one year, to 2015.
Of course, all of that is not possible with just an additional $300 million. While details (including the specific “budget numbers”) are not included in the post, the implication is that not only would the $300-million cut proposed in fiscal year 2012 be restored, but also the overall funding level of $1.5 billion would be retained for the indefinite future. For example, the reformulated Europa mission included in that calculation has a cost of at least $2 billion (down from the $4.8 billion estimated during development of the planetary science decadal survey); that’s about seven years’ worth of $300-million funding wedges alone. An Mars Science Laboratory-based caching rover would cost $1.3–1.7 billion, according to the Mars Program Planning Group, significantly more than what’s likely available in projected budgets for a 2018 mission.
So not only would that $300 million need to be restored in FY2013, that overall budget would have to be maintained through the end of the decade and into the 2020s to afford the Mars and Europa missions. (A separate issue is whether it’s better to spend that money on two flagship-class missions, versus one flagship and increased frequency of smaller Discovery and New Frontiers missions.) That kind of long-term planning is a challenge in the current uncertain fiscal environment.
By Jeff Foust on 2012 November 14 at 6:54 am ET As expected, the House of Representatives approved Wednesday HR 6586, legislation to extend the commercial launch indemnification system by two years, to the end of 2014. The legislation, considered under suspension of the rules, passed by a voice vote after a brief debate, during which no one rose in opposition to the bill. Among those speaking in favor of the bill were the primary sponsor, Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-MS), current House Science Committee chairman Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX), and two of the members seeking to succeed him, Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Lamar Smith (R-TX). (Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), the third candidate for the chairmanship, did not speak.)
While those speakers discussed the need for indemnification to continue, another speaker suggested the current system should be revised over the next two years. “Congress has not updated the program since its inception in 1988. This has resulted in an increased liability exposure for the US taxpayer, and that exposure grows every year,” said Rep. Jerry Costello (D-IL). He was referring to the provision that adjusts the original $1.5-billion cap on government liabilities at the rate of inflation; it’s now approximately $2.7 billion. “I am concerned that taxpayer liability is exposure is growing at the same time the industry and its associated insurance market is maturing.” Costello said he didn’t oppose the bill, but hopes that issue will be addressed before the latest extension expires in 2014.
Costello won’t be around to work on the issue he identified: he is retiring this year. However, in a statement issued after the House passed the legislation, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), the ranking member of the House Science Committee, did mention the need to perhaps modify the indemnification system in the next Congress. “There are important issues that need to be considered as we move forward, relative to the future character of the liability regime,” she said, without specifying them. “We don’t really have time to address these issues in what remains of this Congress, but I hope we’ll give them thoughtful and comprehensive attention before the next extension is necessary in 2014.”
By Jeff Foust on 2012 November 13 at 7:06 am ET The House of Representatives will vote today on a bill that provides a two-year extension to the existing commercial launch indemnification system. HR 6586 was introduced last Friday by Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-MS), chairman of the space subcommittee of the House Science Committee, with six co-sponsors, including full committee chairman Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX) and the three men seeking to succeed him: Reps. Dana Rohrbacher (R-CA), James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), and Lamar Smith (R-TX). The bill is one of several the House will consider later today under suspension of the rules, an expedited process for non-controversial legislation.
The bill is a “clean” extension of the indemnification regime: the text of the legislation does nothing more than extend the period indemnification is in place from the end of 2012 to the end of 2014. Some past bills have included additional provisions, typically studies about the utility of the indemnification regime, which protects commercial launch operators from third-party damage claims in excess of “maximum probable loss” companies must insure against. The Senate has yet to act on an indemnification extension; last month, a House staffer warned that the Senate may seek to incorporate additional, unspecified provisions to an extension.
By Jeff Foust on 2012 November 9 at 6:30 am ET A day after Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) formally declared his interest in becoming the next chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, another candidate threw his hat into the ring. On Thursday, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) declared his interest in the position, as expected, joining Sensenbrenner and Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX).
Rohrabacher, whose experience on the committee includes eight years as chairman of the space subcommittee, said space would be a priority for him if selected as chairman, specifically, “making certain NASA has a real, achievable plan for near-term human space exploration.” Rohrabacher is best known as a staunch advocate of commercial space and critical of big government programs, including the Space Launch System (SLS). In past statements, such as a press release about the administration’s fiscal year 2013 budget request, he likened the SLS to the Titanic and said that “continuing to shovel resources into the SLS money pit is a travesty.”
Rohrabacher also makes the case in his statement for the chairmanship by noting his experience on the committee: “Going into the 113th Congress, Rep. Rohrabacher will have the most years of active experience on the Committee, excluding those who have already been Chairman.” Of course, one of the other members seeking the chairmanship, Sensenbrenner, served as chairman of the committee from 1997 until 2001.
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