Lawmakers, FAA, NASA Urge Continued Public-Private Partnerships in Space Missions, Ahead of FY14 Budget
Congress has many champions of space programs and scientific research, said Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies, which has jurisdiction over the NASA budget. “There are many of us in the House that are doing our best to fund the programs which we believe are necessary.” That includes programs that foster deep space exploration, he said Wednesday at a Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) meeting in Washington. Some companies, including Bigelow Aerospace and Sierra Nevada Corp., are using their own funds to explore “what kinds of commercial activities can be maintained without subsidies from the taxpayer,” he said. Aderholt said he hopes NASA receives sufficient funding to carry out its missions over the next few years.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
Space also is a priority for subcommittee Chairman Frank Wolf, R-Va., said Thomas Culligan, his legislative director. There’s skepticism in Congress about NASA’s proposed budget item involving a plan to capture and redirect an asteroid, he said. “I think it’s a well-intentioned mission, but I think members aren’t yet sold on it.” There is more interest in working with international partners and the commercial space industry, he said.
The partnership that government has with industry plays a significant part in how space exploration has advanced, said Michael Huerta, Federal Aviation Administration administrator. “This cooperation allows us to hear one another’s viewpoints, but also to outline any challenges that we might foresee as an industry.” The growth in space exploration has become more noticeable to the public, he said. SpaceX’s orbital transportation demonstration last year was the first time the private industry resupplied the international space station, he said: It proved “the ability and capability of private industry to support international space station activities.” Commercial and government collaboration efforts and innovations “might further reduce the cost of launches and create new commercial space industry opportunities,” Huerta said.
FAA still has a challenging road ahead due to sequestration cuts, said Huerta. “Congress has given us the ability to move funds around to end furloughs for FAA employees, but we still have to meet significant mandated cuts under sequester.” The agency also cut down on travel and training expenses, and it continues to reduce contract expenses, he said. The agency notified stakeholders “that actions could be delayed due to the events of sequester,” he said. It’s still uncertain as to whether the cuts will continue to be made over nine more years, he said: “We have to understand what fiscal year 2014 is going to look like … We have to plan for the worst and find a way to absorb reductions."
President Barack Obama proposed $17.7 billion for NASA’s FY 2014 budget, but “we are not in a good place, and if we have to live with sequester, all bets are off,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. This budget ensures “that the U.S. remains the world’s leader in space exploration and scientific discovery for years to come, while making critical advances in aerospace and aeronautics to benefit the American people,” he said. It also supports NASA’s developing a first-ever mission to identify, capture and relocate an asteroid, he said. If Congress doesn’t approve the proposed $821 million budget for NASA’s commercial crew program, NASA will be forced to continue launch missions on Russian Soyuz vehicles, Bolden said. “It’s time to end the outsourcing of this work to the Russians.”
FAA and COMSTAC have held teleconferences to get a better understanding of how industry feels about the regulatory challenges ahead, said George Nield, associate administrator for commercial space transportation at FAA. COMSTAC is in the process of preparing guidelines and best practices that may be shared by the end of the year, he said. Other issues facing the agency and the commercial space industry include figuring how to work together to implement orbital debris mitigation practices and avoid collisions on orbit, and whether there is a continuing need for federal grants to support the development of space transportation infrastructure, he added.