Policy & Politics
Air Force: SSA is no more; it’s ’Space Domain Awareness’
SDA is the new term replacing Space Situational Awareness, according to an Oct. 4 memo from Air Force Space Command.
HASC Chairman: Legislation to create a Space Force in 2020 ‘still possible but by no means guaranteed’
Chairman Adam Smith said House-Senate divide is deepening over the establishment of a Space Force
NASA warns budget uncertainty could slow exploration programs
A NASA official warned that extended delays in finalizing a fiscal year 2020 budget for the agency could have implications for its ability to stay on schedule for returning humans to the moon in 2024.
White House warns Congress about Artemis funding
The White House warned Congress in a recent letter that without funding increases for its exploration programs, NASA won’t be able to achieve the goal of landing humans on the moon in 2024.
Senators introduce new NASA authorization bill
A bipartisan group of senators introduced a new NASA authorization bill Nov. 6 that would extend the life of the International Space Station and direct NASA to have an upgraded version of the Space Launch System ready by 2024.
Megaconstellation milestones high on U.S. WRC-19 priority list
Finding international consensus on deployment milestones for constellations of non-geosynchronous satellites is a top space-related priority for the U.S. delegation attending the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference, officials said Nov. 1.
Cruz criticizes House for lack of action on commercial space legislation
The chairman of the Senate’s space subcommittee said Oct. 31 that his counterparts in the House seemed uninterested in working on legislation to modernize commercial space regulations.
House lawmakers, with legislation in tow, push for public C-band auction
More than half a dozen House lawmakers said Oct. 29 the FCC, not the satellite industry, should conduct an upcoming auction to transfer C-band spectrum to the 5G wireless industry.
C-Band Alliance ups proposal to 300 megahertz
The increase — to 280 usable megahertz plus a 20 megahertz guard band — follows pressure from a Federal Communications Commission official for more spectrum and a competing spectrum plan that called for 370 megahertz.
Stopgap funding bill could impair NASA’s lunar ambitions
The prospect of another stopgap funding bill, one that could stretch well into next year, is raising concerns in industry it could slow down work on NASA’s Artemis program to return humans to the moon by 2024.
HASC Chairman: Single-contractor bid for new ICBM is ‘troubling’
Smith said he offered to help Boeing but the company wasn't interested.
Woerner optimistic about ESA’s upcoming ministerial meeting
The head of the European Space Agency says he believes that member states will provide most, if not all, of the funding it is seeking for its array of programs at a ministerial meeting in November.
DoD working on Space Force rollout plan pending congressional approval
White House officials have asked DoD to prepare a detailed public communications plan for the new branch.
Former SDA boss Fred Kennedy answers the questions we’ve waited months to ask
Fred Kennedy spoke with SpaceNews about leaving the Space Development Agency, his public clash with Air Force leaders at the 2019 Space Symposium and his future plans.
Senator pushes for FCC, not satellite operators, to run C-band auction
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said the FCC should be able to clear the spectrum just as fast as the C-Band Alliance, if not faster, by holding a public auction.
ESA to request $13.9 billion budget from member states
The European Space Agency will ask its 22 member states to commit to a budget of 12.5 billion euros ($13.9 billion) to fund the next three years of the agency's work.
