Washington Updates

The following was reported in Russian newspaper, RIA Novosti, on Aug. 18: Despite the current economic crisis, the Russian government has allocated about 80 billion rubles ($2.5 billion) in 2009 for the development of the aerospace industry. According to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, “We are planning to continue investing heavily in these branches of…

Space Foundation’s Mariel John has been selected to present two papers at the 60th International Astronautical Congress (IAC), being held this October 12-16 in Daejeon, South Korea. Hosted by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), the IAC is a well-established and well-respected conference that attracts an average of 1,500 participants each year, including members of the global…

The Space Report 2009: The Authoritative Guide to Global Space Activity produced by the Space Foundation has won a prestigious printing award in a state-wide Florida competition. The glossy report on the state of the $257 billion space industry received an Award of Excellence in the environmentally sound materials category of the Printing Association of…

Jim Maser, president of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR), speaking last month at a Space Foundation Correspondents Group breakfast in Washington, D.C., said that the U.S. needs a long-term vision for space to allow industry to better align human resources and research and development dollars with government plans. He said the unstable and discontinuous nature…

Space “is the bedrock of America’s economic and strategic power,” but the U.S. government needs to improve the acquisition of space systems in order to maximize the benefits of space investment. This was part of the feedback Space Foundation Board member Patti Grace Smith gave to the House Committee on Science and Technology’s Subcommittee on…

The Space Foundation is among 14 organizations signing a July 13 letter to President Barack Obama encouraging U.S. export control modernization to improve the United States’ technological competitiveness. The Coalition for Security and Competitiveness, which was formed in 2007 to draw attention to the need for fundamental export control modernization, asked the president to “adopt…