What's Happening in Space Policy October 24-29, 2016

Here is our list of space policy events for the week of October 24-29, 2016 and any insight we can offer about them.  The House and Senate are in recess until November 14.

During the Week

Commercial space policy is at the top of the list this week. The FAA’s Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) and its working groups meet on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday.  Those will be preceded by two associated meetings of interest — one tomorrow (Monday) afternoon to discuss voluntary industry standards and another Tuesday morning on a Civil Space Traffic Management system. 

Tomorrow’s meeting is of ASTM International, a standards setting body, that will discuss whether it should create a new technical committee to develop voluntary consensus standards for commercial spaceflight.  Last year’s Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act (CSLCA) called for the development of such standards and COMSTAC has had a working group on the topic for some time.  Tuesday morning, the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (FAA/AST), in conjunction with the Commercial Spaceflight Federation and the Satellite Industry Association, will hold an “industry day” (actually half a day) to discuss a Civil Space Traffic Management System.  The meeting is open to the public and has an interesting agenda that includes Doug Loverro, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy.   Space Traffic Management (STM) is a step beyond Space Situational Awareness (SSA).  While definitions vary, generally speaking SSA is knowing where everything is in orbit and where it’s going, thereby enabling “conjunction analyses” to warn satellite operators if a collision is likely.  STM – with an emphasis on “management” —  would empower some entity to require those operators to take action to avoid a collision.  Rep. Jim Bridenstine has proposed that FAA/AST be assigned that role.  CSLCA called for a study by an independent organization on alternative frameworks for STM.  To date, FAA/AST has focused on the SSA portion.  FAA/AST is part of the Department of Transportation, which sent a report to Congress last month concluding it is feasible for them to take over DOD’s role of providing SSA data to commercial and foreign entities (CFEs).  All of this likely will be discussed on Tuesday.

Separately, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is beginning a new Aerospace Security Project and its first meeting (tomorrow afternoon) is also looking at commercial space.  Loverro will be at that one, too, along with Scott Pace of George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute and representatives of DigitalGlobe, Planet, and Boeing.  That discussion will focus on how the military can better leverage commercial space capabilities.

Elsewhere in the country, the American Astronautical Society (AAS) will hold its annual Von Braun Symposium in Huntsville, AL.  This year’s theme is “Exploring the Universe and Maintaining U.S. Leadership in Space.”   Among the sessions is one on Wednesday morning  where Scott Pace (GWU) and Ann Zulkosky (Lockheed Martin) will discuss “After the Election — What’s Next for Space?”  The symposium will be webcast.  Note that all times on the agenda are Central Daylight Time.

There are quite a few space science meetings, too.  The NASA Advisory Council’s Heliophysics Subcommittee meets via telecon on Tuesday from 10:00 am – 4:00 pm ET.  Heliophysics is the study of the Sun and its influence on Earth — space weather — and NASA and the National Air and Space Museum will have a panel discussion on the impact of space weather on human and robotic exploration missions at the same time (1:00-2:30 pm ET).  The full NAC Science Committee meets Wednesday and Thursday (also via telecon).  The NSF-NASA-DOE Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee (AAAC) meets at NSF in Arlington, VA on Thursday and Friday. 

The American Society for Gravitational and Space Research meets in Cleveland from Tuesday-Saturday.  It will hold a pre-conference workshop Tuesday morning entitled “Nanoracks and Blue Origin.”   Some of the conference sessions will be webcast, including a luncheon talk on Wednesday by former Senate staffer Jeff Bingham on evolving U.S. civil space policy and the role of the International Space Station.  NASA’s Julie Robinson and Brian Motil have a session right after that on “15 Years of Microgravity Science on the ISS” that also will be webcast.  Lots of interesting sessions throughout the week.

Those and other events we know about as of Sunday morning are shown below.  Check back throughout the week for others that we learn about later and add to our Events of Interest list.

Monday, October 24

• ASTM International Meeting on Commercial Spaceflight Standards, RTCA Inc, 1150 18th St,, NW Washington, DC, 1:00 pm ET
• CSIS Aerospace Security Project, 1616 Rhode Island Ave, NW, Washington, DC, 2:00-3:30 pm ET (webcast)

Monday-Thursday, October 24-27

• Reinventing Space 2016 (British Interplanetary Society), Royal Society, London, England

Tuesday, October 25

• NASA Advisory Council (NAC) Heliophysics Subcommittee, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm ET, virtual (WebEx/telecon)
• FAA/AST Industry Day on Civil Space Traffic Management System, NTSB Conference Center, 429 L’Enfant Plaza, SW, Washington, DC, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm ET
• FAA COMSTAC Working Group Meetings, NTSB Conference Center, 429 L’Enfant Plaza, SW, Washington, DC, 1:00-5:30 pm ET
• Hazards of Space Weather for Human and Robotic Space Exploration (NASA/NASM), National Air and Space Museum (NASM), 600 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC, 1:00-2:30 pm ET (webcast and broadcast on NASA TV)

Tuesday-Thursday, October 25-27

• 2016 Von Braun Symposium (American Astronautical Society), University of Alabama-Huntsville, Huntsville, AL (webcast)

Wednesday, October 26

• FAA COMSTAC (full committee), NTSB Conference Center, 429 L’Enfant Plaza, SW, Washington, DC, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm ET (webcast)

Wednesday-Thursday, October 26-27

• NASA Advisory Council Science Committee, virtual, 1:00 – 5:45 pm ET each day (WebEx/telecon)

Wednesday-Saturday, October 26-29

• American Society for Gravitational and Space Research, Hilton-Downtown Cleveland, Cleveland, OH (many sessions will be webcast)

Thursday-Friday, October 27-28

• NAS-NASA-DOE Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee (AAAC), NSF, 4201 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA