Policy & Politics
White House withdraws nomination of FCC commissioner O’Rielly
Michael O’Rielly had been nominated in March for a new five-year term as member of the Federal Communications Commission.
House passes spending bill with flat NASA funding
The House of Representatives passed a spending bill July 31 that includes $22.6 billion for NASA, making no major changes to what appropriators had previously approved.
Amazon’s Kuiper constellation gets FCC approval
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on July 30 approved Amazon’s request to operate a constellation of roughly 3,200 internet satellites in low Earth orbit.
Senate pandemic relief bill offers $1.5 billion for NASA
A coronavirus pandemic spending package introduced in the Senate this week would provide $1.5 billion in supplemental funding for NASA, although agency leadership says the exact amount of money the agency needs to cover its costs remains to be determined.
Report proposes actions to strengthen U.S. space industry and military capabilities
One of the narratives in the report is that the United States is at risk of being displaced by China as the world's space superpower.
Democratic platform calls for continuity in NASA programs
A draft of the Democratic Party’s 2020 platform suggests that an administration led by Joe Biden would make few major changes in NASA programs but does not explicitly endorse a 2024 human return to the moon.
UK Parliament to scrutinize OneWeb purchase
“This whole decision making process seems unusual and doesn’t have the transparency that it requires,” Jones said in a video posted to Twitter. “Therefore, my committee will be holding an inquiry to understand the decision making behind this purchase.”
White House report outlines integrated strategy for space exploration and development
A new National Space Council report argues that the exploration and development of space must be an integrated effort that involves not just NASA but other government agencies, as well as international and commercial partners.
White House nominates Autry to be NASA CFO
The White House is nominating Greg Autry, a university professor and commercial space advocate who served on the administration’s NASA transition team, to be the agency’s chief financial officer.
House passes NDAA, White House threatens veto
The July 21 vote marked the 60th consecutive year the House has passed the National Defense Authorization Act.
European Commission agrees to reduced space budget
The European Commission slashed its space budget for the next seven years, agreeing to a maximum of 13.2 billion ($15.2 billion) focused mainly on continuing the Galileo and Copernicus satellite programs.
U.S. government to allow sale of high-resolution commercial satellite images of Israel
The federal government will soon allow U.S. commercial remote sensing companies to sell high-resolution satellite images of Israel, changing resolution limits that have been in place for more than two decades.
House spending bill rejects Office of Space Commerce funding increase
A spending bill approved by the House Appropriations Committee July 14 once again rejects an administration proposal to combine the Office of Space Commerce with another office and increase its budget to perform space traffic management work.
House bill restores funding for five NASA science missions
An appropriations bill to be considered by the full House Appropriations Committee July 14 would restore funding to five NASA science missions and projects that the administration’s budget proposal sought to cancel for fiscal year 2021.
Space Force acquisition management criticized by House appropriators
Defense committee says not having a senior civilian acquisition executive for space is a “fundamental problem."
NASA signs agreement with Japan on lunar exploration
NASA has signed an agreement with the Japanese government that brings the agencies closer to finalizing Japan’s roles in the Artemis program.
