Category Archives: Space Policy

Space Policy, Space Science

Congressional hearings on the asteroid impact threat

Jeff Foust reports on the House hearing on Tuesday about the threat of asteroid impacts on earth: NASA to Congress: don’t “pour money” into NEO programs – Space Politics.

And here are a couple of items about a Senate hearing on Wednesday about the same issue:

Update: Stephen C. Smith (Space KSC blog) has posted videos of both hearings:

* March 20, 2013 – the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Science and Space held a hearing titled, “Assessing the Risks, Impacts, and Solutions for Space Threats.” The invited witnesses were:

  • Dr. James Green, Director, Planetary Science Division, Science Mission Directorate, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
  • Dr. Ed Lu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer B612 Foundation
  • Mr. Richard DalBello, Vice President, Legal and Government Affairs, Intelsat General
  • Dr. Joan Johnson-Freese, Professor, National Security Affairs, U.S. Naval War College

* March 19, 2013, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology held a hearing titled, “Threats from Space: A Review of U.S. Government Efforts to Track and Mitigate Asteroids and Meteors, Part 1.”

Invited witnesses were:

  • John P. Holdren, Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President
  • Gen. William L. Shelton, Commander, U.S. Air Force Space Command
  • Charles F. Bolden, Jr., Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration

 

 

Astronomy, Space Policy, Space Science

House hearing on the NEO threat + John S. Lewis on the Year of the Comets

1 Comment

A Congressional hearing on the threat of asteroid impacts was held on Tuesday. Alan Boyle reports:

Congress got the word from NASA on Tuesday about its options for dealing with the threats posed by asteroids and comets: Lawmakers can either provide adequate funding for detecting and characterizing near-Earth objects, and diverting them if necessary — or they can pray.

===
John S Lewis writes about comets and about their possible impact threat to earth: The Year of the Comets .

Space Policy

Space policy: Fed budget update + Space Review this week + Space law roundup

Jeff Foust reports on the latest news regarding the passage of a federal budget for 2013: FY2013 budget endgame in sight – Space Politics.

—

The new issue of The Space Review has these policy related items:

—

Res Communis post the latest collection of space and aviation law, regulation and policy links: Library: A Round-up of Reading.

Space Policy

Congressional hearings on asteroid threat + Budget resolution update

There will be House and Senate committee hearings next week on the issue of asteroid and comet impacts: Space threats double feature in Congress next week – Space Politics

===

Update on budget making in Congress: Status Check on the FY2013 CR and FY2014 Budget Resolutions – spacepolicyonline.com

Space Policy

Space Policy: Closing unused NASA facilities, NASA travel cutbacks, Plutonium production

NASA could save money if it could close unused or under-utilized facilities: NASA official says closing unused facilities could help save money – Texas on the Potomac/Houston Chronicle.

—

Travel limits and other cutbacks are in store for NASA as it deals with the sequestration cuts: NASA Releases New Policy Guidance to Respond to Sequestration–UPDATE – spacepolicyonline.com

Bob Zimmerman comments: NASA has clamped down on travel expenses, reducing it by 30 percent in the past year. – Behind The Black.

—

Irene Klotz reports on the restart of production of plutonium, which NASA needs for its unmanned space probes: U.S. Starts Making Plutonium – Discovery News