Washington Updates

The following is an edited excerpt from the Space Foundation’s The Space Report: The Authoritative Guide to Global Space Activity. Often, space-based capabilities are combined to create new capabilities, many of which are changing our lives here on solid ground. For example, “geoinformatics” converges position, navigation, and timing (PNT) systems with remote sensing and position…

The Space Foundation, in partnership with the National Defense Industry Association (NDIA), held the last Space Power Lecture Breakfast of 2009 on Dec. 8 in Washington, D.C. Featured speaker Norm Augustine, chairman of the Future of U.S. Human Spaceflight Plans Committee and former Lockheed Martin chairman and chief executive officer, talked about the challenges facing…

At a Dec. 2 hearing convened by the Aviation Subcommittee of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the House of Representatives tackled the issue of safety in space transportation. Rep. Jerry Costello (D-IL), chairman of the subcommittee, made it clear in his opening remarks that Congress needed an update on the rapidly growing industry. Members…

The House Committee on Science and Technology’s Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics focused their attention on safety in human space flight systems, considering both NASA’s Constellation Program architecture and potential commercial crew services to and from the International Space Station, during a Dec. 2 hearing. Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX), a long time proponent of NASA…

At the beginning of November, NASA held a televised award ceremony on Capitol Hill for the two winners of the X Prize Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. NASA administrator Charles Bolden awarded $1.65 million in prize money to Masten Space Systems and Armadillo Aerospace for their successful simulations of landing a spacecraft on the moon…

Marty Hauser, Space Foundation vice president for Washington operations, research and analysis (pictured), represented the organization at a Congressional hearing Nov. 19, hosted by the House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics. Hauser provided members of Congress with insight into the growing trend of international space capabilities, the important impact…