Washington Updates

During August, activities in Washington, D.C., focused heavily on space issues commercial. Here are some highlights: NGA Contracts Awarded On Aug. 6, the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) awarded new contracts potentially worth a combined $7.3 billion over the next decade to DigitalGlobe and GeoEye under the EnhancedView program. EnhancedView follows up on previous NGA…

NASA’s Exploration of Near-Earth Objects (NEO) Objectives Workshop, held Aug. 10 in Washington, D.C., was designed to accomplish several objectives: increase the collective understanding of NEOs; solidify what the science community already knows about NEOs; and capture new ideas for future robotic and human missions to NEOs. Several key themes imaged among the many presentations…

During July, Congress was focused heavily on the future of the nation’s space policy as space authorization and space appropriation bills came to vote. Authorization bills detail how the various committees believe funds should be spent and generally play a major role in shaping the final allotment of funds. With the controversy in Washington over…

The United States’ ever-increasing dependence on space and cyber capabilities in a highly “contested environment” was the main topic of discussion when Dr. James Miller, principal deputy under secretary of defense for policy, spoke to industry and government space leaders at a Space Power Lecture Breakfast last month on Capitol Hill. The event was hosted…

“Wow… “There really is a larger universe out there and bigger things than just what we focus on day-to-day. You really sparked my interest and imagination. Thanks for doing this.” That’s a comment from one of the attendees of a Space Foundation breakfast held July 15 in Washington, D.C., where Dr. Ronald Greeley and Dr.…

On July 22, the Space Foundation and the Global Technology Institute held a discussion on the recently released U.S. Space Policy featuring keynote speaker Peter Marquez, director of space policy for the National Security Council. Marquez, who is responsible for development and oversight of the President’s space policies, said the administration is trying to maintain/re-focus…