[Senate Hearing 115-894]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 115-894
GLOBAL SPACE RACE: ENSURING THE UNITED STATES REMAINS THE LEADER IN
SPACE
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE, SCIENCE,
AND COMPETITIVENESS
of the
COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE,
SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
SEPTEMBER 26, 2018
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation
GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT
Available online: http://www.govinfo.gov
_______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
58-558 PDF WASHINGTON : 2025
SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
JOHN THUNE, South Dakota, Chairman
ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi BILL NELSON, Florida, Ranking
ROY BLUNT, Missouri MARIA CANTWELL, Washington
TED CRUZ, Texas AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota
DEB FISCHER, Nebraska RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut
JERRY MORAN, Kansas BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii
DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts
DEAN HELLER, Nevada TOM UDALL, New Mexico
JAMES INHOFE, Oklahoma GARY PETERS, Michigan
MIKE LEE, Utah TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin
RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois
SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire
CORY GARDNER, Colorado CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, Nevada
TODD YOUNG, Indiana JON TESTER, Montana
Nick Rossi, Staff Director
Adrian Arnakis, Deputy Staff Director
Jason Van Beek, General Counsel
Kim Lipsky, Democratic Staff Director
Chris Day, Democratic Deputy Staff Director
Renae Black, Senior Counsel
------
SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE, SCIENCE, AND COMPETITIVENESS
TED CRUZ, Texas, Chairman EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts,
JERRY MORAN, Kansas Ranking
DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii
MIKE LEE, Utah TOM UDALL, New Mexico
RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin GARY PETERS, Michigan
SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin
CORY GARDNER, Colorado MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Hearing held on September 26, 2018............................... 1
Statement of Senator Cruz........................................ 1
Statement of Senator Nelson...................................... 2
Statement of Senator Markey...................................... 3
Statement of Senator Inhofe...................................... 4
Statement of Senator Gardner..................................... 26
Witnesses
Hon. James F. Bridenstine, Administrator, National Aeronautics
and Space Administration....................................... 6
Prepared statement........................................... 7
Appendix
Response to written questions submitted to Hon. James F.
Bridenstine by:
Hon. John Thune.............................................. 33
Hon. Shelley Moore Capito.................................... 36
Hon. Bill Nelson............................................. 37
Hon. Edward Markey........................................... 38
Hon. Tom Udall............................................... 38
Hon. Gary Peters............................................. 39
Hon. Maggie Hassan........................................... 40
GLOBAL SPACE RACE: ENSURING
THE UNITED STATES REMAINS
THE LEADER IN SPACE
----------
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2018
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness,
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:28 p.m. in
room SR-253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Ted Cruz,
Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding.
Present: Senators Cruz [presiding], Gardner, Inhofe,
Markey, and Nelson.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. TED CRUZ,
U.S. SENATOR FROM TEXAS
Senator Cruz. This hearing is called to order.
Good afternoon. Welcome, Administrator Bridenstine.
Next week on October 1, NASA will reach a new milestone.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration will turn 60.
I have to say, Mr. Administrator, you do not look a day over
55.
[Laughter.]
Senator Cruz. The 60th anniversary of NASA's founding by
Congress in 1958 provides an opportunity to not just look back
at the past accomplishments but to examine how we can build
upon past glory to push NASA and our national space program
forward to meet new challenges facing our Nation in the 21st
century.
Our country should be proud of our history in space and
recognize everyone who has stepped forward to serve our nation.
The United States won the space race and planted an American
flag on the surface of the Moon that remains standing today.
Many of the names that have made NASA a success like
Armstrong and Aldrin and Glenn have become household names that
are recognizable throughout the world. Others like Katherine
Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and all the women who
served as human computers have been hidden figures in our
history and are just now getting the recognition that they
deserve for their legacy of brilliance and strength.
Looking forward, we have an opportunity to define a new
generation, a generation that could witness American boots
stepping foot on the surface of Mars and once again planting an
American flag.
However, in order to achieve this goal, there are a lot of
key decisions that both Congress and the administration will
have to make. I believe that this begins with extending the
operation and utilization of the International Space Station
beyond 2024 to 2030. American taxpayers have invested over $100
billion in the ISS, and it is important that we maximize the
return on taxpayer investment.
China is expected to have an operational space station in
low earth orbit by 2022. We cannot cede low earth orbit to
China or to any other nation. The United States Government must
consider having a permanent human presence in low earth orbit
which may require a government station after the ISS reaches
the end of its useful operation. This can be accomplished
without directly competing with the private sector and private
space stations. We must also look to extend the presence of
American astronauts beyond low earth orbit into cislunar and
deep space.
The Trump administration is establishing a plan to return
astronauts to the lunar surface by 2029. I share the
administration's goal of returning the United States to the
Moon to establish a human presence and to begin commerce.
However, it is imperative that our national space program
does not get bogged down on the Moon at the expense of reaching
Mars. As I have previously noted, Mars is and I believe should
be the focal point of our national space program. Sending
Americans to the surface of Mars and beyond will define this
next generation.
I would like to thank Administrator Bridenstine for being
here today. We live in interesting times, and we have the
opportunity to ensure together that as the next space race
begins, the United States will once again remain the leader in
space.
Now I will recognize the Ranking Member of the Full
Committee, Senator Nelson, to give his opening statement.
STATEMENT OF HON. BILL NELSON,
U.S. SENATOR FROM FLORIDA
Senator Nelson. Naturally I would defer to the Ranking
Member of the Subcommittee, but he is kind enough. As I have
explained to the Administrator, another Committee commitment--
the Chairman is asking for me to be there. So I will slip on
out after I have made a couple of comments.
Thank you for your continuing commitment to keep NASA
apolitical, and thank you for listening to the very smart and
dedicated professionals. This agency is just amazing, and in
many ways, it thinks of itself as a family. You are now finding
out just how great a family that is.
And there is so much happening, as we just discussed. In
2017, just last year, the U.S. now has led the world in the
number of commercial space launches. It is in stark contrast to
just 6 years ago when the U.S. had no U.S. commercial launches.
And what a difference it has made at the Cape, which hosted
two-thirds of the nearly 30 U.S. launches last year. The jobs
are soaring as a result of the fact that the rockets are
soaring.
Now we need to make sure we have the workforce and the
infrastructure to keep up that growth. I have heard from the
space employees and their employers, and they tell me our
education system is not keeping up with the demand--this is
specifically in Florida--for the highly skilled technicians.
Mr. Chairman, I look forward to working with you to find ways
to help prepare workers for the good, high-tech paying jobs of
the 21st century.
As we just discussed in private, thanks for your attention
to the Indian River Bridge. This is a bridge that goes from the
mainland over to Merritt Island. It is a single point of
failure. If you do not have a bridge, you cannot get some of
the payloads over to NASA and to the Air Force for that matter.
The deterioration of this bridge jeopardizes our access to
space. And so we put in the Defense Authorization Act a
provision to get the Department of Defense's skin in the game.
NASA owns the bridge. So NASA is going to need to continue
to lead the way as the Kennedy Space Director Bob Cabana has
done so ably. And we have talked with our colleagues on
Appropriations to understand the issue. So they will be looking
for your plan, NASA's plan, to replace the bridge.
The 2017 authorization bill required NASA to define and
deliver to Congress a step-by-step plan for reaching Mars,
which was delivered to us last week, but it was supposed to be
delivered in 2017. The road map builds up to a human landing on
the Moon no later than the end of the decade--I am interpreting
that to be 2029--then references a human mission to orbit or to
fly by Mars sometime in the 2030s.
You heard what the Chairman said, and the Chairman and I
are of one accord because where we are going is where we should
be going. What is it going to take us to get to Mars, on the
surface of Mars, in the decade of the 2030s? Flat budgets
certainly are not going to cut it, and we cannot afford to
sacrifice NASA's other critical priorities in so many other
areas, including science and technology and aeronautics.
The Chairman, the Ranking Member, and I are all in accord.
We cannot afford to walk away from the International Space
Station in 2024 when NASA has made it very clear that we are
going to have enduring needs for low earth orbit. And so all of
us are looking forward to continuing to work with you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Cruz. Thank you, Senator Nelson.
Now I will recognize the Ranking Member of the
Subcommittee, Senator Markey.
STATEMENT OF HON. EDWARD MARKEY,
U.S. SENATOR FROM MASSACHUSETTS
Senator Markey. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for
having this very important hearing.
When President Kennedy addressed Rice University in 1962,
he said ``the growth of our science in education will be
enriched by new knowledge of our universe and environment by
new techniques of learning and mapping and observation.'' This
was true then and it is even truer now.
The discoveries from NASA's Science and Technology
Directorate not only inform our understanding of space but also
often improve our lives here on Earth, as we learned during the
recent hearing on the journey to Mars.
That is why I am strongly concerned by some of the
proposals contained in the President's budget request for 2019
which prioritizes lunar exploration at the expense of other
critical programs such as earth science and astrophysics. The
President's request aimed to eliminate the Office of Education,
which develops the next generation of NASA scientists. That to
me is a mistake. It would merge the Science and Technology
Directorate into Exploration Research further putting necessary
technology development below exploration. And within our
exploration missions, the administration is focusing on going
back to the Moon rather than achieving the ambitious goal of
going to Mars and beyond.
I believe that only a balanced portfolio of exploration,
research, and technology will actually guide us boldly into a
promising future, not just keep our eyes in the past.
Mr. Bridenstine, you were asked by me at your last visit
here about the rampant fear amongst government scientists that
they could be punished for speaking publicly about their work
on climate science with so many people working within the
administration who deny basic climate facts. We are relying on
NASA to recruit the brightest of all scientists to produce the
best possible science, including research that looks into our
affect on the globally changing climate. I look forward to
hearing what steps you have taken to protect scientists and
continue to promote climate science. At your testimony before
the Appropriations Committee, I heard very positive comments
that you made on this subject, and I am looking forward to
further exploring it here today.
I hope to continue to see NASA prioritize the earth science
and technology development that could help us all better
understand the threats posed by climate change emission. It is
particularly well suited to carry out with its understanding of
climates on other planets and its unique view of our own. We
will need all the brilliant minds at NASA to continue studying
climate change, researching other worlds, and developing new
technologies that will continue to bring us into the future and
humans to other planets.
So I thank you for testifying today, and I thank you, Mr.
Chairman, for this very, very timely hearing.
STATEMENT OF HON. JIM INHOFE,
U.S. SENATOR FROM OKLAHOMA
Senator Inhofe. Mr. Chairman, just one quick comment.
First of all, I am not on this Subcommittee, but I wanted
to be here because I am so proud of what Administrator
Bridenstine is doing. I know you are going to keep focused on
our mission as opposed to some of the other agendas that are
floating around here.
But I am chairing another hearing. I want to hear your
opening statement. I am proud of you and looking forward to
great things.
Senator Cruz. We welcome Senator Inhofe to the
Subcommittee.
And I would note of our Ranking Member, I am grateful for
his quoting JFK at Rice. I just wish he would fulfill his
potential to this Committee and do the full Boston accent when
you are quoting JFK.
[Laughter.]
Senator Cruz. And if I could be so presumptuous as to speak
on behalf of your constituents as well in encouraging----
Senator Markey. I try when I am speaking about the future
to ensure that the past is properly represented in this hearing
and in all other places that I go to. My mother wanted me to
sound like this.
[Laughter.]
Senator Markey. Unfortunately, down the park, I had to drop
this accent and sound more like the other boys down at Debber
Park in Waltham. We all grew up bilingual in Boston in the
1960s.
[Laughter.]
Senator Markey. And I still have both accents. And I can
speak it because of the impact he had on us, especially the
speech at Rice University. It was something that we almost all
memorized, and we are challenged by him to be here. And that is
why Houston and Boston are linked historically in this mission
that we are trying to advance here today.
Senator Cruz. Indeed, although I still have not forgiven
the Celtics for beating the Rockets in 1986.
Senator Markey. And in 1981.
[Laughter.]
Senator Cruz. Yes. I knew that was coming.
Senator Markey. You know, the past in Boston is never in
the past. The past is always today as well.
So you have the space program, and we have two NBA titles,
which I am not sure is a good division.
[Laughter.]
Senator Cruz. Well, I now have the opportunity to introduce
our witness. Mr. Jim Bridenstine is the current Administrator
of NASA. In his role at NASA, Administrator Bridenstine
provides clarity to the agency's goals and aligns the strategic
and policy direction of NASA with the interests and
requirements of the agency's stakeholders and constituent
groups.
Prior to joining NASA, he was elected and represented
Oklahoma's first congressional district in the United States
House of Representatives----
Senator Inhofe. That is my old seat.
Senator Cruz.--Senator Inhofe's old seat, where he served
on the House Armed Services Committee and the House Science,
Space, and Technology Committee.
Before joining Congress, Administrator Bridenstine served
as the Executive Director of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum and
Planetarium.
Administrator Bridenstine also served honorably in the
United States Navy as a naval fighter pilot where he flew
combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Administrator Bridenstine completed a triple major in Texas
at Rice University and earned his MBA at Cornell University.
The Administrator is a dear friend of mine, and I will say
since he has been confirmed, every time I have the chance to
interact with employees at NASA, with scientists, with
engineers, just my flight from Houston to D.C. on Monday, I sat
next to two NASA engineers. And I ask everyone the same
question, which is how is Jim doing, what kind of job he is
doing. And without exception, every person I have asked has
given glowing reports. He is terrific. He is passionate. He
cares about the agency, and we are moving in the right
direction.
So with that, Administrator Bridenstine, you may give your
opening statement.
STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES F. BRIDENSTINE,
ADMINISTRATOR, NATIONAL AERONAUTICS
AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
Mr. Bridenstine. Thank you, Chairman, and thank you Ranking
Member.
I am going to take a little bit of risk here, but since my
alma mater has been mentioned a number of times, I would like
to bring up another critical point that our President, John F.
Kennedy, asked in that very important address at Rice
University. And it is a question all of us should be asking
when we think about NASA. It is a question that is very
profound. And the question was this. He asked, ``Why does Rice
play Texas?'' And the answer was of course--and the speech was
in 1962, one of the greatest orations in the history of the
United States of America. The answer of course was because in
1965 Rice was going to beat Texas. And of course, again in
1994, when I was a sophomore--actually 1995 when I was a
sophomore, we beat Texas again. So the answer for the President
is we play Texas because we are racking up wins. That is why we
play Texas.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Bridenstine. Well, Mr. Chairman and members of the
Subcommittee, I am very pleased to be before you here today.
NASA is proud to be at the forefront of a global effort to
advance humanity's future in space and scientific discovery,
leading the world while capitalizing on our nation's great
capacity for exploration and innovation.
Pursuant to the National Space Policy Directive 1 and
consistent with the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017,
NASA is pursuing, ``an innovative and sustainable program of
exploration with commercial and international partners to
enable human expansion across the solar system and to bring
back to earth new knowledge and opportunities.''
We will transition the ISS, returning humans to the surface
of the Moon and lunar orbit where we will build the systems,
deep space infrastructure, and operational capabilities to
expand human presence beyond the Earth-Moon system.
The National Space Exploration Campaign builds on 18 years
of Americans and our international partners living and working
continuously on the International Space Station. It leverages
the advances made in commercial launch vehicle capabilities,
robotics, and other technologies and accelerates in the next
few years with the launch of the Orion crew capsule and the
Space Launch System, which will expand human exploration to
cislunar space and to the surface of the Moon.
A key component of establishing the first sustainable
American presence and infrastructure on and around the Moon is
the Gateway, a spacecraft assembled in cislunar space that will
be used as a staging point for missions to the lunar surface
and to deep space destinations. A strong focus on robotic
activities and infrastructure will enable ongoing
investigations and autonomous operations between crew visits to
the Gateway.
NASA will develop an open architecture that meets national
objectives. We will draw upon a variety of innovative
partnerships with U.S. commercial industry, other government
agencies, academia, and international partners. So when I say
open architecture, I am talking about the idea that commercial
companies could build landers or they could build tugs that
would actually integrate with the Gateway in orbit around the
Moon. So the way we do docking, the way we share power is all
going to be part of the open architecture that the United
States of America will lead.
The exploration campaign is designed to enable early
successes, relying on seamless collaboration across the agency,
including deep space exploration systems, exploration
technology, low earth orbit and spaceflight operations, and
elements of science and the rapidly advancing capabilities of
our commercial partners. NASA will expand public-private
partnerships to develop and demonstrate technologies and
capabilities to enable new commercial space products and
services.
NASA's planetary, astrophysics, earth science, and
heliophysics missions will continue to advance our
understanding and make exciting new discoveries to preserve
American leadership in science making civilization-changing
discoveries and improving our understanding of critical issues
such as space weather to preserve American assets in space and
improve our lives here on Earth.
NASA will continue to sustain and develop new partnerships
to explore transformative technologies and approaches. Upcoming
early stage innovation activities will investigate areas such
as breakthrough propulsion, challenges in deep space human
habitation, space-optimized energy systems, radiation
protection, and materials. These areas are part of a
comprehensive approach to efficiently support innovative
discovery, progress toward important goals, and develop
exciting new capabilities.
NASA is leading an innovative and sustainable program of
exploration with commercial and international partners to
enable human expansion across the solar system and bring back
to Earth new knowledge and new opportunities. The agency will
return astronauts to the Moon and encourage the creation of a
thriving commercial space economy in LEO and beyond. We will
monitor the Earth and the Sun, explore the planets of our solar
system, observe the universe beyond, and make aviation safer,
more efficient, and more environmentally friendly.
We appreciate this Subcommittee's continued support, and I
would be pleased to respond to any questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Bridenstine follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. James F. Bridenstine, Administrator,
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, I am very pleased to
appear before you today. NASA is proud to be at the forefront of a
global effort to advance humanity's future in space, leading the world
while expanding on our Nation's great capacity for exploration and
innovation. Pursuant to Space Policy Directive-1 (and consistent with
the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017), NASA is pursuing ``an
innovative and sustainable program of exploration with commercial and
international partners to enable human expansion across the solar
system and to bring back to Earth new knowledge and opportunities.'' We
are working on a sustainable campaign of exploration, transitioning the
International Space Station (ISS), returning humans to the surface of
the Moon and lunar orbit, where we will build the systems, deep space
infrastructure, and operational capabilities to expand human presence
beyond the Earth-Moon system, eventually embarking on human missions to
Mars and other destinations.
Exploration Campaign
The National Space Exploration Campaign builds on 18 years of
Americans and our international partners living and working
continuously on the ISS. It leverages the advances made in commercial
launch vehicle capabilities, robotics, and other technologies, and
accelerates in the next few years with the launch of the Orion capsule
and Space Launch System (SLS) rocket which will expand human
exploration to cislunar space and the surface of the Moon.
A key component of establishing the first permanent, American
presence and infrastructure on and around the Moon is the Gateway, a
spacecraft assembled in cislunar space that will be used as a staging
point for missions to the lunar surface and to deep space destinations.
The Gateway will not be continuously occupied like the ISS. NASA
currently envisions crew visits approximately once per year, so a
strong focus is placed on robotic activities and infrastructure to
foster ongoing investigations and operations that can operate
autonomously between crew visits. Gateway in-space assembly starts with
the launch of the power and propulsion element (PPE) no later than 2022
aboard a commercial rocket. Gateway ground testing, risk reduction, and
development activities are already underway at NASA centers across the
United States, including facilities in Ohio, Texas, Florida, Virginia,
and Alabama, as well as in facilities of private sector partners in
those states as well as in Colorado and Nevada. Following the
successful in-space demonstration of the PPE and the delivery of the
first pressurized Gateway modules, U.S. astronauts will be visiting
before the end of 2024.
As part of the Campaign, we will also begin sending increasingly
capable robotic missions to the lunar surface in the next two years.
Developed by U.S. commercial companies, these spacecraft will conduct
scientific investigations, characterize resources, and provide lunar
landing services to customers from America and around the world.
Ultimately, these efforts will culminate in the safe landing of U.S.
astronauts on the Moon before the end of the 2020s.
We will also continue to execute sophisticated robotic missions to
Mars while we work to develop and demonstrate the deep space
capabilities required to safely send a human crew to the Red Planet.
Activities across these domains are closely related and mutually
supportive; for example, NASA's drive to conduct robotic and human
exploration of the Moon informs the research and technology development
we will conduct on the ISS and potential future orbital platforms, as
well as the development of technologies needed for future Mars
missions. Likewise, current and future robotic missions will provide
vital science, reconnaissance, and technology demonstrations in support
of future human exploration, in addition to their science objectives.
NASA is actively working now to support sustainable exploration and
development over the coming decades in all three domains.
The Exploration Campaign has five strategic goals:
1. Transition U.S. human spaceflight in LEO to commercial operations
that support NASA and the needs of an emerging private sector
market.
2. Lead the emplacement of capabilities that support lunar surface
operations and facilitate missions beyond cislunar space.
3. Foster scientific discovery and characterization of lunar
resources through a series of robotic missions.
4. Return U.S. astronauts to the surface of the Moon for a sustained
campaign of exploration and utilization.
5. Demonstrate the capabilities required for human missions to Mars
and other destinations.
NASA will act as architect, mission leader, and in several key
areas, systems integrator, defining an open architecture that meets
National objectives. The Exploration Campaign will draw upon a variety
of innovative partnerships with U.S. commercial industry, other
Government agencies, academia, and international partners. We have
designed the Exploration Campaign to enable early successes, relying on
seamless collaboration across the Agency, including Deep Space
Exploration Systems, Exploration Technology, LEO and Spaceflight
Operations, and elements of Science, and the rapidly advancing
capabilities of our commercial partners. I'll now describe our plans in
each major domain of the Campaign--Earth Orbit, the Moon, and Mars--in
more detail.
Transitioning LEO
The ISS will continue to serve as a core long-duration human
spaceflight asset through at least 2024--which will mark nearly 25
years of continuous human occupancy. Currently, NASA is leveraging the
ISS to learn how to keep crews healthy and productive on deep space
missions, and as a testbed to develop technologies to support those
missions. The ISS is an experiential testing ground that enables
discovery and development of advanced robotics, communications,
medicine, agriculture, and environmental science. ISS also provides an
example of international collaboration on large space projects. ISS can
also enable the transition to commercial companies' use of LEO. NASA
recently awarded 12 study contracts to industry to investigate the best
way to use the ISS to enable commercial industry to take a lead role in
LEO. The portfolio of selected studies will include specific industry
concepts detailing business plans and the viability of habitable
platforms, using Station or separate free-flying structures.
Maintaining the ISS and future orbital platforms requires a fleet
of vehicles to sustain a constant supply line of both crew and cargo.
Under the original Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contracts, our
two commercial cargo partners, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX)
and Orbital ATK (now Northrop Grumman), are providing cargo deliveries
to the ISS. Under the new CRS-2 contracts, SpaceX, Northrop Grumman,
and Sierra Nevada Corporation will deliver critical science, research,
and technology demonstrations to the ISS over five years from 2020
through 2024. Working with our commercial crew partners, SpaceX and the
Boeing Company, NASA plans to return crew launch capability to American
soil in 2019.
Under the auspices of the ISS National Laboratory, managed by the
Center for the Advancement of Science In Space (CASIS), NASA and CASIS
continue to expand research on the ISS sponsored by pharmaceutical,
technology, consumer product, and other industries, as well as by other
Government agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health and the
National Science Foundation. Through CASIS' efforts, the ISS National
Lab has reached full capacity for allocated crew time and upmass and
downmass. NASA also works with commercial companies, such as NanoRacks,
to support commercial activity on the ISS.
NASA intends to transition from the current Government-dominated
model of human space activities in LEO to a model where Government is
only one customer for commercial services. Starting in 2018, the Agency
will increase the breadth and depth of commercial and international LEO
activities. NASA will expand partnerships in LEO to include new
companies and new nations, including working with commercial partners
to support new international astronaut visits. Based on inputs from
current ISS partners, commercial and other stakeholders, NASA will
shape the plan for the transition of LEO activities from direct
Government funding to commercial services and partnerships, with new,
independent commercial platforms or a non-NASA operating model for some
form or elements of the ISS by 2025. In addition, NASA will expand
public-private partnerships to develop and demonstrate technologies and
capabilities to enable new commercial space products and services.
Lunar Exploration
NASA is building a launch and crew system--the Orion spacecraft,
the heavy-lift SLS launch vehicle, and the supporting Exploration
Ground Systems (EGS)--to support the Exploration Campaign. The Orion
crew vehicle will carry up to four humans to deep space for up to 21
days. The Orion will also be able to transport and dock co-manifested
modules to Gateway, and provide key initial life-support and abort
capabilities. The SLS Block 1 cargo variant will be capable of
delivering Orion to cislunar space in the early 2020s, and the Block 1B
SLS will be capable of delivering 8-10 metric tons co-manifested with
Orion in the mid-to late-2020s. The first SLS/Orion mission will be the
uncrewed Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), to be launched to lunar orbit in
FY 2020, followed by the first crewed SLS/Orion mission, EM-2, no later
than 2023. These SLS/Orion missions will demonstrate the capability to
operate safely and productively around the Moon. These are the early
steps on a journey that leads American astronauts into deep space,
sustainably and permanently.
SLS Core Stage integration and outfitting (including installation
of the four RS-25 main engines developed from the Space Shuttle) has
continued at Michoud Assembly Facility. EM-1 flight hardware is being
delivered to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). SLS has continued a series
of EM-1 Design Certification Reviews, will conduct the Critical Design
Review (CDR) for EM-2, and begin fabrication of components for EM-3 and
beyond. For EM-1, the Orion European Service Module is scheduled to be
delivered soon to the Operations and Checkout Building at KSC for
integration with the Crew Module. NASA is accelerating the Ascent
Abort-2 test (AA-2) into 2019, ahead of EM-1. Structural work is
already underway on Orion EM-2 flight hardware production. Orion has
continued qualification testing of systems for EM-2. This year, EGS
will complete the system verification and validation phase and begin
the operations and integration phase in preparation for multi-element
verification and validation for the Mobile Launcher, Pad, and Vehicle
Assembly Building.
NASA will also begin to build the in-space infrastructure for long-
term exploration and development of the Moon by delivering to lunar
orbit a power and propulsion element (PPE), planned to be launched in
2022 on a commercial rocket, as the foundation of the Gateway. NASA
released the PPE final Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) in September and
proposals are due in November. This BAA is designed to leverage the
commercial communication industry's extensive experience in building
and operating spacecraft. The Gateway is envisioned to be a spacecraft
operating in the vicinity of the Moon that demonstrates crewed and
uncrewed operations in deep space. It will be incrementally built in
place using SLS, the Orion crew vehicle, and commercial launch
vehicles. The Gateway will be assembled in lunar orbit where it can be
used as a staging point for missions to the lunar surface and
destinations in deep space, providing a flexible human exploration
architecture depending on mission needs. Although there are various
concepts for its configuration, current analysis suggests the initial
functionality will include four main capabilities: PPE; habitation;
airlock to enable science and EVA; and logistics for cargo delivery,
science utilization, exploration technology demonstrations, and
potential commercial utilization. With the initial habitation
capabilities delivered to cislunar space, crews of four--launched on
Orion--will visit the Gateway on missions initially lasting 30 days and
up to 90 days as new modules are added to complete Gateway's full
capabilities.
Gateway will enable system and operational demonstrations,
scientific exploration, biological and biomedical science, and will
serve as an eventual aggregation and departure point for crewed
missions to the lunar surface and other deep space destinations. The
Gateway will serve as a critical platform to conduct biological and
biomedical studies that require a beyond-LEO space environment to study
the response of biology (human and non-human organisms) to this new
environment. A key science-enabling feature of this spacecraft is
exposure of organisms to the deep space radiation environment for
radiation and combined radiation/microgravity studies. The Gateway will
also serve as a platform to mature necessary short-and long-duration
deep space exploration capabilities in the 2020s, including highly
reliable and dormancy-tolerant environmental control and life support
systems; logistics reduction capabilities; advanced in-space
propulsion; automated rendezvous and docking; radiation monitoring and
mitigation capabilities; and integrated human-robotic mission
operations, to name a few.
NASA has established the Lunar Discovery and Exploration Program
(LDEP) in the Science Mission Directorate and is leveraging the
Agency's extensive lunar science experience and data for lunar
exploration. We are jump-starting commercial partnerships, innovative
approaches for building and launching sophisticated next-generation
science instruments, and the development of small rovers that will
reach the Moon's surface via commercial landers. The Agency is
integrating science and human exploration goals, including the eventual
return of humans to the Moon. Just this past year, scientists used data
from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to identify areas in lunar
craters that are cold enough to have frost present on the surface--ice
that could provide crucial resources for exploration while also
containing valuable information about the chemical makeup of the early
solar system.
NASA is supporting the development of commercial lunar exploration
capabilities leading to a human lunar landing. The Advanced Cislunar
and Surface Capabilities (ACSC) program in the Human Exploration and
Operations Mission Directorate will focus on engaging U.S. industry
partners using innovative approaches to combine lunar robotics, a
cislunar presence, and lunar landing capabilities building up to a
human-rated lander. In 2019, ACSC and LDEP will support initial risk
reduction activities by incorporating results from the following.
The Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown
(CATALYST) initiative is encouraging the development of U.S.
private-sector robotic lunar landers capable of successfully
delivering payloads to the lunar surface using U.S. commercial
launch capabilities.
NASA issued a request for proposals (RFP) for Commercial
Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) on September 6, 2018, encouraging
the U.S. commercial space industry to introduce new
technologies to deliver payloads to the Moon. NASA intends to
award multiple contracts for these services through the next
decade, with contract missions to the lunar surface expected to
begin as early as 2019, and with a company's first delivery no
later than Dec. 31, 2021.
NASA is also working on the second phase of the Next Space
Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP), an effort
to stimulate deep-space capability development across the
aerospace industry. Through NextSTEP, the Agency intends to
seek proposals from industry in support of design analysis,
technology maturation, system development and integration, and
spaceflight demonstrations for human-class lunar landers. This
will address the development of medium-to large-scale lunar
lander capabilities that have extensibility to reusable, human-
class landers to a wide range of destinations on the lunar
surface.
Ultimately, the Moon will also serve as a stepping-stone, a
training ground, and a platform to strengthen commercial and
international partnerships and prepare for future human missions to
Mars and other destinations.
NASA will advance robotic access to Mars in preparation for human
exploration. The Agency will:
Continue the search for life with a Mars rover in 2020;
Demonstrate technology to produce oxygen from Mars
resources, critical for future human Mars missions;
Begin planning a first-ever sample-return Mars mission;
Prioritize and guide investments and partnerships in long-
pole technology areas and resource characterization needed for
deep-space exploration; and
Develop standards for human long-duration deep space
transportation vehicles.
Exploration Technology
Critical to the Exploration Campaign, NASA will conduct research
and promote technology development to address needs for human and
robotic space exploration and to foster commercial expansion in LEO,
cislunar space, and beyond. NASA's Technology research drives
exploration by spanning the Technology Readiness Level spectrum,
including investments in early-stage concepts and prototypes.
Exploration Research and Technology key areas of focus will include:
Advanced environmental control and life support systems;
In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU);
Nuclear and solar power and propulsion technologies for
exploration;
Advanced communications, navigation, and avionics;
In-space manufacturing and on-orbit assembly;
Advanced materials;
Entry, Descent, and Landing;
Autonomous operations; and
Research to enable humans to safely and effectively operate
in various space environments.
NASA continues to partner with researchers across academia,
industry, and within the Agency to explore transformative technologies
and approaches. Upcoming early-stage innovation activities will
investigate areas such as breakthrough propulsion, challenges in deep
space human habitation, space-optimized energy systems, radiation
protection, and materials. These areas are part of a comprehensive
approach to efficiently support innovative discovery, progress toward
important goals, and development of exciting new capabilities.
In August, NASA selected 10 proposals from six U.S. companies, with
a combined award value of approximately $44 million, to develop
commercial space capabilities that benefit future NASA exploration
missions in new public-private partnerships, including lunar lander and
deep space rocket engine technologies. While these ``Tipping Point'
partnership selections will enable NASA's future science and human
exploration missions, these awards will also grow the economy and
strengthen the Nation's economic competitiveness.
This past spring, NASA also selected 10 companies to conduct
studies and advance ISRU technologies to collect, process, and use
space-based resources for missions to the Moon and Mars. ISRU could
increase safety and affordability of future human spaceflight missions
by limiting the need to launch supplies such as oxygen and water from
Earth. In the area of Flight Opportunities, suborbital flight providers
are now on the verge of a significant leap forward, and payloads are
beginning to fly from multiple providers. Given this success, NASA will
shift our focus to funding more payload flights. To date, Flight
Opportunities has enabled 122 flights of 93 payloads. There are an
additional 62 payloads awaiting flight. Later this year, we look
forward to the launch of the Green Propellant Infusion Mission and the
Deep Space Atomic Clock on the U.S. Air Force's Space Technology
Mission-2 on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy booster.
Planetary Science
NASA's Planetary Science program develops and operates missions
that explore our solar system and search for life elsewhere, helping to
answer fundamental questions about our place in the universe. NASA's
Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat
Transport (InSight) lander launched on May 5 of this year, and will
land on Mars on November 26, joining a series of NASA rovers, landers,
and orbiters already at the Red Planet. InSight's advanced payload will
provide unique information on the interior structure of Mars, providing
glimpses into the processes that shaped the rocky planets of the inner
solar system. The Agency is also working on the Mars 2020 rover and
planning for a potential Mars Sample Return mission incorporating
commercial and international partnerships--a top priority identified by
the scientific community in the most recent National Academy of
Sciences (NAS) planetary decadal survey. In addition, we received radio
signals indicating that the first-ever CubeSats headed to deep space
are alive and well. Launched along with InSight, Mars Cube One, or
MarCO, is a pair of briefcase-sized spacecraft that will test out
miniature spacecraft technology along the way to Mars.
On December 3, 2018, NASA's Origins, Spectral Interpretation,
Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx)
mission will arrive at the asteroid Bennu, providing unique data that
will shed light on the early history of the solar system. OSIRIS-REx
measurements of the composition of the potentially hazardous Bennu will
also inform the design of future missions to mitigate asteroid impacts
on Earth, an effort aligned with and supporting NASA's new Planetary
Defense program. On January 1, 2019, the New Horizons spacecraft will
fly by a Kuiper Belt Object, returning new information about the
unusual bodies that occupy this distant part of our solar system.
During 2018, NASA has continued development of the cutting-edge Europa
Clipper mission to fly by Jupiter's ocean moon, and will announce the
next scientifically and technologically innovative New Frontiers
mission: either a comet sample return or a drone to explore Saturn's
largest moon, Titan.
Astrophysics
NASA's Astrophysics program investigates the origin and evolution
of the universe and the formation of planetary systems. It examines how
environments hospitable for life develop, and contributes to the search
for the signature of life on other worlds. The program operates the
Hubble, Chandra, Spitzer, Fermi, Kepler, Swift, Nuclear Spectroscopic
Telescope Array (NuSTAR), and the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite
space telescopes, flies the airborne Stratospheric Observatory for
Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), and conducts balloon and suborbital rocket
campaigns.
NASA's impressive observatories will be joined by the James Webb
Space Telescope, which will detect the first stars and galaxies that
formed after the big bang, and will take the next giant leap in
characterizing planets orbiting other stars and searching for Earth-
like planets. Successfully implementing the Webb mission is a high
priority and critical to maintaining national leadership in the space
sciences.
Webb is in the final stages of its development. All of its hardware
has been fabricated, and the flight hardware and software are
undergoing the last major steps of its integration and testing (I&T)
phase. However, early this year, NASA recognized that it would take
longer to complete the Spacecraft element I&T than previously
estimated. NASA formed an Independent Review Board (IRB) chaired by A.
Thomas Young, a distinguished leader of the aerospace community. After
considering the IRB's recommendations, NASA has established March 30,
2021, as Webb's new launch date, and the estimated development cost,
including launch and commissioning, has risen to slightly over $8.8
billion, up from the nearly $8 billion development-cost estimate
established in 2011. We have not yet determined what impacts this cost
overrun will have on other NASA programs and projects, but our plan
will be informed by the priorities established through the National
Academy's decadal surveys. We look forward to providing our funding
plan for successful completion of Webb to this Committee as part of the
FY 2020 budget request.
Two new astrophysics missions were launched to the ISS in 2017--the
Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) in June and the
Cosmic Ray Energetics and Mass (CREAM) experiment in August of that
year. NICER is the first NASA mission dedicated to studying pulsars--
the densest observable objects in the universe, and CREAM monitors the
cosmic rays that constantly shower the Earth. The Transiting Exoplanet
Survey Satellite (TESS), launched on April 18, 2018, is NASA's next
planet-hunting mission, searching for planets orbiting nearby stars. In
August 2017, NASA selected six astrophysics Explorer Program proposals
for concept studies. The proposed missions will collect unprecedented
measurements of gamma-ray and X-ray emissions from galaxy clusters and
neutron star systems, infrared emissions from galaxies in the early
universe, and atmospheres of exoplanets. In January 2019, NASA will
select at least two of these proposals for flight.
Heliophysics
NASA's Heliophysics program studies how the Sun affects the Earth
and objects around it, how it influences other planets in the solar
system, and how our star affects the very nature of space itself.
Improved understanding of the Sun and information about the space
weather phenomena it produces is used to provide warnings and better
protect lives and essential--but vulnerable--systems on Earth, as well
as to safeguard astronauts, satellites, and robotic missions traveling
through the solar system. The program includes operation of, and
analysis of data from, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), the joint
European Space Agency (ESA)-NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
(SOHO), and the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO). These
assets will be joined by future assets such as the ESA-NASA Solar
Orbiter Collaboration (SOC), currently in development. Together, they
constantly monitor the Sun, revealing coronal mass ejections and
releases of solar energetic particles, while also advancing scientific
understanding of our star's fundamental dynamics. Closer to Earth, the
Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission uses four small spacecraft
flying in formation to gather information on Earth's magnetic
environment, changing our understanding of how that environment
protects our planet.
The Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD)
instrument was launched aboard a commercial communications satellite in
January 2018, and the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) spacecraft
is slated for launch later this year. Together, they will provide the
most comprehensive observations of the ionosphere--a region of charged
particles in Earth's upper atmosphere--ever achieved. The Geospace
Dynamics Constellation (GDC) mission, which is currently nearing the
end of its definition phase, will provide key understanding of the
interaction of various regions in geospace where space weather has its
greatest impact on space assets. The Space Environment Testbed 1
mission, a technology demonstration mission developed in partnership
with the United States Air Force, is scheduled for launch in 2018, and
three heliophysics CubeSats are being prepared for launch as part of
NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative. Perhaps most exciting is the recent
launch of the Parker Solar Probe, which began its journey last month,
and will make its first close fly-by of the Sun in November. This
historic mission will be the first to travel through the Sun's
atmosphere, providing humanity with the closest-ever observations of a
star.
In July 2017, NASA selected five heliophysics Explorer Program
proposals and three missions of opportunity for concept studies. The
proposed missions will investigate fundamental space physics
energization and coupling phenomena in the Sun's extended atmosphere
and in Earth's magnetosphere, and develop observation techniques
directly applicable to space weather capabilities. In December, NASA
will select at least one mission of opportunity and in March 2019, will
select at least two explorer proposals for flight.
These assets join other missions in the Heliophysics Great
Observatory, working in concert to provide the Nation with critical
data to protect and improve life on Earth.
Earth Science
NASA's Earth Science program makes revolutionary observations of
our planet's land, oceans, and atmosphere from the vantage point of
space; combines measurements of many different quantities to understand
and accurately model the Earth's complex system of interacting
processes; and provides practical benefits by transforming the
measurements and understanding into focused information products that
are used broadly to improve the quality of life for all humans.
In August and September 2017, data products from NASA Earth-
observing research satellites were used to support real-time decision
making, response, and recovery planning efforts by the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, other operational agencies, and first
responders on the ground in the affected areas during the catastrophic
landfalls of hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria.
NASA's Earth Science program is also pioneering innovative
partnerships and mission strategies to achieve science goals rapidly
and cost-effectively, including pilot data buys and evaluations of data
products from commercial, on-orbit small-satellite constellations. The
low-cost, competitively-selected ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal
Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) instrument to
measure agricultural water use in the United States and vegetation
stress around the globe, and to identify drought warning conditions,
was launched to the ISS on June 29, 2018. Two major competitively
selected payloads--Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution
(TEMPO) to measure North American air quality, and Geostationary Carbon
Cycle Observatory (GeoCarb) to measure natural carbon flux processes in
the western hemisphere--are being developed for flight as hosted
payloads on commercial communications satellites.
Launching in 2018, two important NAS-decadal-survey-recommended
missions will expand the long-term collection of key Earth
observations. Making precise measurements of gravity from two
spacecraft, the GRACE Follow-On mission (a partnership with German
research and space agencies, which launched on May 22, 2018), will
provide global information on ice sheet and oceanic mass balances,
underground water storage changes in aquifers, and regional drought
conditions. The Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2)
was launched on Sept. 15 to map and monitor land ice topography and
glacier flow, sea ice thickness, and the heights of the vegetation
canopy at low-and mid-latitudes across the globe. NASA remains on track
to launch Landsat-9 in December 2020.
NASA's Joint Agency Satellite Program brings NASA's best practices
to bear to support our interagency customer NOAA in the development of
critical weather satellites for the Nation. The Joint Polar Satellite
System-1 (JPSS-1, now NOAA-20) successfully launched in November 2017,
and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-S (GOES-S, now
GOES-17) successfully launched in March 2018.
Aeronautics Research
NASA's work has always strengthened our security and the economy,
and our ongoing research and testing of new aeronautics technologies is
critical in these areas. This work will help us lead the world in a
global aviation economy with increasing benefits worldwide. X-planes,
Urban Air Mobility, commercial supersonic flight, unmanned aviation
systems, advanced hypersonics technologies, and the next generation of
aircraft are critical focuses of NASA's research. NASA's Aeronautics
Research program advances U.S. global leadership by developing and
transferring key enabling technologies to make aviation safer, more
efficient, and more environmentally friendly. The Agency is working on
critical concepts and technologies required to support continued global
leadership in civil aviation.
NASA recently awarded a competitive contract for detailed aircraft
design, build, and validation of the Low-Boom Flight Demonstrator
(LBFD) X-plane, now designated the X-59 QueSST. The X-59 will
demonstrate quiet overland supersonic flight and enable U.S. industry
to open a new market and is on track for first flight by FY 2021. Data
generated from flights of this demonstrator will feed directly into
national and international regulatory decision-making processes and
timelines, enabling a rule change to allow civil supersonic flight over
land. NASA will also continue to advance new subsonic aircraft
technologies that will dramatically reduce fuel consumption, noise, and
emissions through a combination of numerical analyses, ground tests,
and flight experiments.
NASA's Aeronautics work includes developing revolutionary tools and
technologies such as hybrid and all-electric aircraft, autonomy,
advanced composite materials and structures, data mining, verification
and validation of complex systems, and revolutionary vertical-lift
vehicles. This work enables further advances for transformative vehicle
and propulsion concepts that will address a broad array of our aviation
industry's needs. For example, in partnership with industry, NASA is
delivering a variety of computational tools and guidance that will
significantly reduce the time needed to develop and certify new
composite structures for aerospace applications.
NASA is advancing the state of the art in key technologies needed
to realize practical larger-scale hybrid electric propulsion systems
for the future. We will be flight-testing an advanced configuration of
the X-57 Maxwell aircraft, a general-aviation-scale aircraft to test
highly integrated distributed electric propulsion technology. This
demonstration will address the integration of electrical and power
distribution components critical to development of standards and
certification methodologies required to enable widespread use of
electric and hybrid electric propulsion in civil aviation, and
eventually in commercial airline fleets.
NASA is demonstrating new air traffic management (ATM) tools that
integrate aircraft arrival, departure, and airport surface operations
to reduce flight delays and increase air traffic capacity and safety,
supporting realization of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA's)
full vision for the Next Generation Air Transportation System
(NextGen). Even with limited operational trials at the Charlotte
Douglas International Airport, technologies being developed by the ATM
Technology Demonstration-2 Project are already showing significant
savings in fuel burns and delays during taxi operations.
NASA is advancing the realization of routine access of Unmanned
Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the National Airspace System for civil use
by completing flight testing of detect and avoid (DAA) and
communications technologies, and providing the data to standards
development committees and the FAA to support UAS rule making.
Additionally, NASA will help support safe, low-altitude operations of
small UAS through development and demonstration of the UAS Traffic
Management concept (UTM) in high-density urban areas. This
comprehensive demonstration of the UTM concept in the most challenging
operational environment will set the stage for transition to and
implementation by the FAA and industry.
NASA's hypersonic fundamental research will enable development of
tools and methods to more efficiently design future hypersonic
vehicles.
Today, we stand on the cusp of the next era in aviation. Recent
technology advances are coming together to enable breakthroughs in the
speed and efficiency of the transport aircraft that are the backbone of
the aviation system. Other breakthroughs will enable new markets for
smaller aircraft, from UAS that serve search and rescue, agricultural,
and commercial applications to the potential for new modes of personal
transport. Global competition is fierce in all of these markets. NASA's
development of aircraft, UTM and Urban Air Mobility technologies will
accelerate the U.S. competitive posture in the global race to achieve
leadership in emerging air mobility markets. U.S. companies will build
on these advances and introduce new commercial products ranging from
small UAVs to air taxis to large commercial aircraft. These innovations
will support new jobs, new opportunities, and new ways for the U.S. to
lead the world in technology and innovation.
Conclusion
NASA will lead an innovative and sustainable program of exploration
with commercial and international partners to enable human expansion
across the solar system and to bring back to Earth new knowledge and
opportunities. The Agency will return astronauts to the Moon and
encourage the creation of a thriving commercial space economy in LEO
and beyond; monitor the Sun and Earth, explore the planets of our solar
system, and observe the universe beyond; and make aviation safer, more
efficient, and more environmentally friendly. We appreciate the
Subcommittee's continued support, and I would be pleased to respond to
your questions.
Senator Cruz. Thank you, Administrator. Thank you for your
good work.
In your opinion, what are the top priorities for NASA that
Congress should look to address in a new NASA reauthorization?
Mr. Bridenstine. That is a wonderful question, Senator.
I think the biggest thing on my plate as the NASA
Administrator as we go forward is leading a sustainable return
to the Moon. And I do not even like to use the word ``return.''
To go forward to the Moon sustainably. So we have seen what
happens with reusable rockets. The cost goes down and the
access to space goes up. We want the entire architecture
between the Earth and the Moon to be reusable. We want tugs
that go from Earth orbit to lunar orbit to be reusable. We want
that Gateway in orbit around the Moon to be there for a very
long period of time. Think of a reusable command module. So it
will be there reducing costs because it is, in essence, not
permanent, but it will be there for 15 years. And we want
reusable landers that can go back and forth from the Gateway to
the surface of the Moon. The more the architecture is reusable,
the longer we are going to be able to take advantage of the
resources of the Moon and explore more parts of the Moon than
ever before.
The other thing--and this is Space Policy Directive-1--
commercial partners, international partners, sustainable
architecture to the Moon. Take all of those capabilities--and
this is a key part, and I heard this, of course, from Senator
Nelson. Take all of those capabilities and replicate them at
Mars. The Moon is our proving ground for the ultimate goal
which, sir, you have identified as well, which is we are going
to Mars. The Moon is our path, the best way to get there to
retire risk so we can have mission assurance getting to Mars.
So focusing on those areas, the integration of international
partners and commercial partners into a sustainable
architecture I think is important.
I know, Senator Cruz, you have been very laser focused on
the regulatory environment surrounding space. That is going to
be tremendously helpful because this architecture is going to
take advantage of all of our commercial partners. NASA will be
able to buy services because there is a robust commercial
marketplace where we are one customer of many customers rather
than the purchaser, owner, and operator of certain systems.
That drives down costs, increases access. So reforming the
regulatory regime I think is important as well.
And of course, another area that this Committee I know has
been focused on is the space situational awareness and space
traffic management challenges that our country has. Certainly
we have astronauts. We are the only agency in the Federal
Government that has humans in space threatened by the orbital
debris that exists. So I think it is critical that we focus on
that as well.
The closest alligator to the canoe right now, sir, is
launching American astronauts on American rockets from American
soil for the first time since the retirement of the Space
Shuttle. That is the one thing I am focused on more than
anything else because we need to make that happen by the middle
of next year. We are on track to do that and we are focused on
it.
So those would be my biggest takeaways.
Senator Cruz. Well, and I had the opportunity to join you
at Johnson Space Center for the announcement of the first
commercial crew of astronauts that will be launched on a U.S.
rocket from U.S. soil, and that is a major milestone to return
to for NASA.
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, sir.
Senator Cruz. You talked about, with respect to the Moon,
sustainability. Is it NASA's intention to construct a habitat
that would be sustainable on an ongoing basis on the lunar
surface? Is that part of the plan?
Mr. Bridenstine. The answer is yes. Immediately, no. The
first thing is we have to put what we call the Gateway into
what we call a near rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon. So
that is an orbit where it is balanced between the gravity well
of Earth and the gravity well of the Moon. And because it is
balanced, it can stay there for a long period of time.
But interestingly, it is also going to have propulsion,
solar electric propulsion, which means it can not only stay in
that halo orbit that is going to be equatorial in nature, but
it can also go to the L-1 point and the L-2 point giving
landers more access to more parts of the Moon than we have ever
seen before.
This is an important point. 1969 we landed on the surface
of the Moon. Up until 2008, we did not know if there was water
on the surface of the Moon or not. People argued that maybe
there was, but we had no definitive proof. In 2008, we learned
that there was. 2009, we now know that there are hundreds of
billions of tons of water ice on the surface of the Moon.
So this architecture--in my opinion, sir, the best place to
start is getting more landers and more rovers and more
prospectors to more parts of the Moon than ever before so that
we can discover and learn things that we did not learn from
1969 to 1972 when we were landing in the equatorial regions.
If we go direct to the habitat on the surface of the Moon,
we run the risk of learning a whole lot about one spot on the
Moon. And given the constraints of the budget, it is my
assessment that we need to have more access to more parts of
the Moon. And humans would certainly be part of that, but not
necessarily a permanent human presence. Of course, in the long
term, yes. And the architecture is open, which means commercial
partners--they can build their own habitats. And in fact, a lot
of them right now are raising private capital to do just that,
which we love because then we could, in essence, be a customer
of that habitat for NASA's exploration and research as well.
Senator Cruz. And describe to this Committee and the
American people the importance of water on the Moon for
sustainability and human habitation?
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, sir. A wonderful question.
So water represents, of course, drink. You know, we get to
drink this. It keeps us alive. But it is also hydrogen and
oxygen. Oxygen is air to breathe. And if you think about what
powered the space shuttles, for example, rocket engines. It was
liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen that powered the Space
Shuttle. In fact, our vehicles today that we are building, the
Space Launch System is powered with liquid oxygen and liquid
hydrogen. So water is life support, but it is also rocket fuel.
And if we can figure out a way even commercially where NASA
would be a customer, commercially people could harness the
water ice of the surface on the Moon, put it into orbit in
cryogenic form, you know, highly pressurized, frozen form,
solid form--or I should say liquid form. That liquid hydrogen
and liquid oxygen could be, in essence, a fueling depot in
orbit around the Moon.
The glory of the Moon, unlike the Earth--the Moon has no
atmosphere. So if you look at the things that we launched off
the Moon back in the 1960s-1970s--those items--you would never
see anything like that launch off the surface of the Earth.
Why? Because there is no atmosphere on the Moon. And the
gravity well is one-sixth that of the Earth. It is easy to get
things off the surface of the Moon. It is very difficult to get
things off the surface of the Earth. So when there is an asset,
a natural resource like water that is on the surface of the
Moon--and we know it is there in hundreds of billions of tons--
in my estimation we should utilize it.
Now, again, this is kind of science fiction in the future,
kind of thinking about the future, but if we could, then we
could, in essence, reposition satellites in geostationary orbit
around the Earth using fuel from the Moon, which would be
potentially in the future less expensive than using fuel from
the Earth. And I am not saying that it is. This is something to
think about in the future. But there are natural resources on
the surface of the Moon.
The other thing that is important to note, Space Policy
Directive-1 says for the first time in American history, we are
going to utilize the resources of the Moon. We are going to
utilize that water ice. We now know, because of the research
NASA does, that there is water ice on the Moon, and in fact,
there is new water being created every day from charged
particles coming from the Sun impacting the regolith on the
Moon. Now, we are not creating tons of ice or water on the
Moon. That is not happening, but there is a hydrocycle. There
is a water cycle on the Moon that a number of years ago we did
not even know existed.
What else do we not know about the Moon? And that is why I
think it is so important to go to more parts of the Moon than
ever before.
We know there are rare Earth metals on Earth. Those rare
Earth metals are not Earth metals at all. They are asteroid
impacts from a very long time ago. And we know that the Moon
probably went through the same debris fields that the Earth
went through back in those days, which means could there be
those kinds of metals on the Moon where there is not an active
geology, where there is not an active hydrosphere? Could those
rare Earth metals be there? I do not know. NASA does not know.
In fact, nobody knows. But if there is potentially trillions of
dollars of that activity there, it would make sense. That could
change the balance of power on Earth. And of course, that is
why a lot of private companies are raising money to go to the
Moon. That is why other countries around the world are focused
on the Moon. So I think it is important for us to know and be
the first.
Senator Cruz. One final question. So the report that NASA
submitted to Congress outlines a plan to return to the lunar
surface no later than 2029. Now, I would note President
Kennedy's speech at Rice that has been referenced multiple
times today was given on September 12, 1962 calling for our
country to go to the Moon within a decade. And seven years
later, Neil Armstrong would step foot on the lunar surface on
July 20, 1969.
So help this Committee understand why it took seven years
in the 1960s to get to the Moon, and yet today it is going to
take until the end of the 2020s?
Mr. Bridenstine. A wonderful question. And, Senator, just
so you know, that is the first question when I showed up at
NASA. Why is it taking so long? There are a couple of things
that are colluding here.
Number one, you know, back then, if you look at real
dollars, the budget of NASA was about $50 billion annually.
Right now, we are talking about a $21 billion annual budget. So
it is a lot less of a budget.
The other thing that is important to note is what we are
doing now is entirely different than what we did back then.
Back then, it was a space race. We were trying to defeat the
Soviet Union by getting there first, proving our technological
superiority, proving our economic and political superiority in
conjunction with that, in essence, space race victory.
What we are doing today is entirely different, and we are
the only country on the face of the planet that can lead this
effort and that is this. 1969 to 1972, we had six missions land
on the surface of the Moon with 12 people. And then we came
home and we have not been back since.
What Space Policy Directive-1 says is, we are going to go
to the Moon and we are going to go sustainably. In other words,
we are going to build an architecture where we can go back and
forth. And we are going to have landers and rovers and robots
and humans with access to the Moon, more access to more parts
of the Moon than ever before utilizing, because of the budget
constraints, utilizing international partners and utilizing
commercial partners with an open architecture where the United
States of America is in the lead, and then others can build
parts or pieces and ultimately advance our agenda, which is to
lead in space.
So what we are doing is different, a sustainable
architecture where we can get to more parts of the Moon, going
to the poles, and learning more than we have ever been able to
learn before and, at the same time, doing it with a budget that
is much less.
So when you do the analysis--and we just went through a
process at NASA where we did the analysis--the question is how
is it that given the advances in technology, the
miniaturization of electronics, how is it that we are not able
to do more than we did in the 1960s? And the answer is, we are
doing a lot more than we ever did in the 1960s, and we are
doing it with a budget that is a lot smaller.
Senator Cruz. Thank you.
Senator Markey.
Senator Markey. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
By the way, that was a very interesting discussion. I think
that everyone who heard it was given a lot of information that
helps them understand the perspective of where we are today.
But as we strive to reach faraway planets and see beyond
the stars, we cannot neglect our understanding of our own tiny,
little blue dot that we live on. The President's Fiscal Year
2019 Budget Request attacked several decadal recommended Earth
science missions, cutting funding entirely for some key climate
science projects.
Mr. Bridenstine, do you agree with the recommended cuts to
climate science in the Fiscal Year 2019 budget request?
Mr. Bridenstine. So a couple of things to note. The Earth
Science Budget of NASA in the President's Budget Request for
Fiscal Year 2019 was higher than 3 years of President Obama's
budget request. So I want to be clear that we are committed to
studying planet Earth at NASA, as we always have been. It goes
back to 1958. NASA has been involved in studying the Earth as
required by law since 1958.
Some of those programs that you mentioned, Senator,
CLARREO, I think PACE was one of them, OCO-3--OCO-3 is being
launched in January. It is funded. It is done. CLARREO and PACE
are, because of the laws passed by this body --they are being
built as we speak. It is my goal as the Administrator of NASA
to follow the decadal surveys that we get from the National
Academy of Sciences, and that is my objective, to make sure
that what we are doing is apolitical and nonpartisan.
Senator Markey. So you are not going to reject the decadal
recommendations?
Mr. Bridenstine. No, sir.
Senator Markey. But the administration's budget in essence
does. So how do you square that?
Mr. Bridenstine. So I do not think that it does reject the
decadal survey. What we are trying to do is follow the guidance
of the decadal survey that says what Earth science information
we need to collect. And that is ultimately what we are doing.
Senator Markey. So the second ever decadal survey for the
Earth Science Directorate was released in January of 2018. As
it notes, earth science provides an essential information
infrastructure element for our society. This work is used in
everything from land use planning to the data in your weather
app.
Mr. Bridenstine, how are you working to implement the
recommendations of the Earth Science Decadal Survey, including
innovative new missions to study how our planet is changing
from the vantage point of space?
Mr. Bridenstine. That is a wonderful question. And the only
way we can understand our changing planet--and our planet is
changing--is to study it from space. So we have satellites that
can look at the hydrosphere and the atmosphere, even the
ionosphere, the lithosphere. All the different spheres within
the Earth's system are being evaluated by satellites built by
NASA. And because we have made these investments and we
continue to make these investments, we are getting a better
understanding of planet Earth than ever before.
I think there is broad bipartisan agreement that we need to
understand what is happening to our planet. And it is my
objective, as the NASA Administrator, not to delve into how to
deal with what we find, but to deliver dispassionate science so
that policymakers can make decisions on it.
Senator Markey. So, Mr. Bridenstine, do you support the
recommendation that NASA create new competitive mission
categories that would fly lower cost Earth science missions and
help scientists continue critical earth science observations
over a longer period of time?
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, I do. I think we need a balanced
portfolio, Senator. So we need flagship missions, big missions
that are capable of doing very exquisite science. We need
medium class missions and smaller missions. There is risk in
big missions, a lot of dollars involved, and if they are not
successful, then it is a failure and it costs a lot. So we need
a balanced portfolio. But the answer is, yes, sir, I do. I do
appreciate the question and we will continue to invest in those
smaller missions.
Senator Markey. So with Earth sciences, NASA does not have
to choose between the inspirational and the practical. And in a
twist on the old saying, we can keep our eyes on the ground
while our feet are in the stars--and that is something that it
is good to hear you comment on.
In my opening statement, I talked a little bit about your
views on climate science. I would like for this Committee
hearing, if you could, to talk about that subject as you did
before the Appropriations Committee so that we can have that on
record here as well.
Mr. Bridenstine. You bet.
So carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. I do not know
anybody--no scientist for sure--that would reject the notion
that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. It is prevalent in our
atmosphere and now it is more prevalent than ever before
because of human activities. And so it is without question that
human activities are contributing to the global warming that we
are seeing.
Senator Markey. NASA scientists have concluded that it is
the dominant cause of the warming. Do you agree with that
finding?
Mr. Bridenstine. I have no reason to reject that analysis.
Senator Markey. Well, that is important to hear.
And you committed to protecting scientific integrity at
NASA?
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, sir.
Senator Markey. Can you give us some examples of how you
have worked at NASA to counteract the reported fear that
scientists feel across our Federal agencies at this time when
it comes to the subject of climate science?
Mr. Bridenstine. So NASA scientists have permission from me
and, of course, they did before and they still do, and I have
not done anything to change that. They have permission to speak
at symposia. They have permission to write op-eds. They have
permission to put what they learn--you know, make it public,
and we support that. If there are other scientists within NASA
that want to disagree with the assessment, they have the
freedom to disagree with whatever that assessment is. I believe
in transparency and openness. So I am 100 percent in support of
giving people the ability to speak their mind as it relates to
science.
Senator Markey. And they are super, super talented people.
Just to go to the Chairman's comment, my grandmother died
when my mother was a junior in high school. And as a result,
although she was going to be Class President and top girl in
her class, she had to stay home to be the mother to the three
younger girls, and then one older sister went off to work.
So when I was growing up, the younger sisters all had
children before my mother because she is still at home. And one
of the sisters had a son, seven years older than me, who was
such a brilliant student in physics that when President Kennedy
gave that speech at Rice University, he went off to NASA.
And the oldest child of one of the other sisters--she was a
brilliant math student, and in this movie, ``Hidden Figures,''
they talk about the Fortran program at IBM. And so she was one
of the first five women in the Fortran program at IBM that was
documented in this movie, ``Hidden Figures.''
Then I come along with no scientific ability at all, which
was a disappointment to my mother. However, I hear President
Kennedy's statement, and so my goal was to ensure that we fund
the scientists, the mathematicians, the computer geniuses who
can accomplish these goals, which is what this Committee is all
about. It is to evaluate the programs, to ensure that the money
that the Federal Government is appropriating is being used in a
way that helps to advance our goals as a nation and as a
planet.
And so I am very interested, Mr. Administrator, just in
ensuring that there is no discouragement to these brilliant
people. I was related to them. I was told that I should be like
one of them. I cannot be. They have a gift and they give that
gift to the United States when they go to work at NASA. It is
an incredible gift, and we do not want any of them to feel, at
any time, that they are threatened because they have done work
that just reached a correct scientific conclusion.
Mr. Bridenstine. I agree.
Senator Markey. Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, thank you.
Senator Cruz. Thank you, Senator Markey.
Administrator Bridenstine, China has announced their
intention to have an operational space station in low earth
orbit by 2022. Do you have concerns that if the administration
were to de-orbit the ISS in 2024 that China could have the only
operational platform in low earth orbit?
Mr. Bridenstine. It is a big concern. But to be perfectly
clear, there is no plan to de-orbit the International Space
Station. So if that was the case, the answer would be very
concerned.
What we want to do is transition to commercialization of
low earth orbit. Again, if NASA can be one customer of many
customers, it drives down our costs. And if we have multiple
providers that are competing on both cost and innovation, we
see what happens. When we had launch providers competing on
cost and innovation, for the first time we are seeing these
rockets launch and then come back and land, and then we use
them again. And because they are proven, insurance rates are
actually lower than they would have been for a new rocket,
which is an amazing kind of--you know, I did not predict, a lot
of people did not predict that we are building certainty and at
the same time saving money.
Imagine, Senator, when you flew to Washington, D.C. from
Houston, Texas, when you got here, you had to throw the 737 in
the trash. That would be a very expensive plane ticket. But
because we can reuse airplanes over and over again, it drives
down the cost. It increases access. Now the whole world can
fly.
We are trying to do the same thing in space. And we are
doing it right now with launch, and we are seeing a lot of
success but it is because, quite frankly, we heard Senator
Nelson talk about how the United States of America is now the
largest exporter of commercial launch. And in fact, we are not
just the largest, we are larger than the rest of the world
combined at 57 percent predicted. This year it would be 65
percent. So that is a wonderful thing.
The question is, why did that happen? It is because NASA
said we want to buy launch as a service, and we want you
providers to compete on how you are going to compete on how you
are going to sell us your service. Instead of purchasing,
owning, and operating our rockets, we want to pay you for the
service, and we are going to be one customer of many and we
want you guys to compete on price. All of a sudden, we are
seeing reusable rockets. Now launch is an export for the United
States of America at a time when we have right now in this
country a massive trade deficit. So that is a positive thing,
and NASA is a big piece of why that is.
The question is, can we replicate that in low earth orbit?
And there are companies that are interested internationally
building consortia that could maybe operate the International
Space Station commercially. Is that possible? I do not know.
But what we have done--and I think this is an important
point--we have forced the conversation to take it very
seriously. There was a time at the end of the Apollo program
and before the Space Shuttle program where we had 6 years where
we were not launching into space. And of course, now that the
retirement of the Shuttle is complete and we do not have a
commercial crew yet, we have got an eight-year gap. What we
want to do is avoid any gap in low earth orbit. We know that
there is a definitive life for the International Space Station.
We do not know specifically when that is, but what we want to
do is make sure that we are prepared to avoid any gap in low
earth orbit. So, sir, your point is very well made, and we are
thinking about it all of the time at NASA and within the
administration.
Senator Cruz. I want to clarify two points on your answer.
Number one, you agree that it would be completely
unacceptable for the only operational platform in low earth
orbit to be China's.
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, 100 percent.
Senator Cruz. At any point in time, we cannot cede low
earth orbit to China.
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes.
Senator Cruz. We have also heard testimony from multiple
witnesses before this Subcommittee that as a matter of the
science, as a matter of the structural integrity, that the ISS
is usable at least until 2030. Do you agree with that
assessment from a scientific and technical perspective?
Mr. Bridenstine. It is probably possible, yes. The question
is, how much risk are we assuming and what is the cost of
making that happen? And so it is technically feasible to keep
it alive to 2030 and maybe even beyond that. Technically it can
be done, yes.
Senator Cruz. We talked earlier about the impact--about the
objective is going to the Moon and a lot of exciting things
about there. But as I said in my opening statement, I want to
make sure the Moon does not distract from the ultimate
objective of Mars.
Can you describe how going to the Moon is useful for the
mission of going to Mars and how we will keep the focus on Mars
and not get distracted by the intermediate step?
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, sir. That is a wonderful question.
The intent is to get to Mars. And how do you get to Mars?
Well, we have this proving ground. And I think probably the
best way to characterize it--we are all familiar with Apollo
13. It was a NASA failure but also at the same time an amazing
NASA success. Why was Apollo 13 a success even though it was a
failure? It was because there was a technical problem that
would have been catastrophic on the way to Mars, but because
they were on their way to the Moon, they were able to get home.
The glory of the Moon is that it is only a three-day
journey home. So we can prove all of the technologies. We can
reduce all of the risks. We can try all of the different
maturations that are necessary to live and work on another
world, and we can do it all at the Moon where, if there is a
problem, if there is an emergency, we know that we can get
people home.
The challenge with Mars is that if we go there for the
first time--and there is the other challenge, not just the
technology and the retirement of risk technologically. The
other challenge is human physiology. We know, based on what we
have learned on the International Space Station, that our
astronauts--they lose 1 to 3 percent of their bone mass every
month on the International Space Station. Their cardiovascular
system becomes deconditioned. Their neurovestibular system, of
course, gets thrown out of whack to the point where sometimes
it takes weeks if not months when they get back before they can
even drive a car again in some cases, not in all cases, in some
cases. We know that their immune system is very challenged and
stressed in a microgravity environment to the point where it is
very easy to get sick in a microgravity environment. And we
know, of course, when you go beyond low earth orbit, there is
this radiation environment that can have effects on the human
body that we are still learning about. Of course, we do not
want to use humans as the test case for that. So all of these
physiological changes and understandings we have learned from
the International Space Station while we have humans there for
a period of 6 months and in at least one case up to a year in
low earth orbit.
Now, imagine a seven to nine month journey to Mars with all
of those physiological challenges happening, and then when you
get to Mars, you have to live and work. You have to be perfect.
You cannot make a mistake because if you do, you will not live.
And all those physiological changes and challenges--and then
when you get there, you cannot come home for at least two and a
half years because Mars has to be in line with the Earth before
you can make that journey home. So it is about a two-year, 26-
month evolution before you can come home, and of course, then
you have got a six-month journey home. So this presents a
challenge where do you really want to test all of this out for
the first time at Mars? Or can we prove it and test it out on
the Moon and that in fact would accelerate our path to get to
Mars?
So it is technology. It is physiology. The Moon is the
proving ground and Mars is the goal. So I think that is the
reason we go to the Moon.
Senator Cruz. So in my device it says please do not leave
Matt Damon behind when you get to Mars.
[Laughter.]
Senator Cruz. Three more questions. One, can you just
confirm, as Senator Nelson made reference to in his opening
remarks, that the objective is not simply to orbit Mars, but it
is to land and have an American boot on Mars and plant an
American flag on Mars and begin exploring Mars?
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, sir. That is why we go to the surface
of the Moon. The Moon is very different than Mars in the sense
that Mars has an atmosphere. So landing on Mars is far more
difficult than on the Moon. I know that sounds weird. They have
an atmosphere. Why would that be harder? Well, when you have to
reenter into an atmosphere and the velocities at which you are
traveling, it becomes a very complicated scenario.
Now, here is the good thing. The United States of America
is the only country that has successfully landed on Mars. We
have done it seven times, and we are doing it again November
26, the Monday after Thanksgiving at 11:00 a.m. So that is
going to be another big day for the United States of America.
So all of that being said, there are differences between
the Moon and Mars, but we do want to get to the surface of
Mars. And so we want to replicate as much as we can from the
Moon. We want to prove and test as much as we can at the Moon.
And then where we need to make changes, while we are doing that
at the Moon, we are going to be developing the technologies and
capabilities for Mars.
You know, we talked about the Gateway, which would be in
orbit around the Moon. Think of a reusable command module that
our landers can go back and forth from to the surface of the
Moon. We think about the tugs from Earth orbit to lunar orbit.
That Gateway--you know, the first one is a technology
demonstrator. It is about proving capability. It is about NASA
learning how to do this again.
The second one--and there is no decision that has been made
on this. I am just thinking visually like what is the second
one. Well, the second one could very well be a deep space
transport. That is our path to get to Mars.
So what we do at the Moon is critically important for going
to Mars, and a lot of the experts that you talk to at NASA
would say we cannot get to Mars without going to the Moon.
Senator Cruz. Last month, I was joined by Senator Cornyn
and Representatives Babin, Culberson, and Smith in sending you
a letter requesting that NASA's Johnson Space Center serve as
the lead center for NASA's lunar lander program. In my opinion,
JSC is a natural fit for the program given that JSC has
historically served as the lead center for human space flight
for more than half a century.
Has NASA made any decisions pertaining to how it intends to
set up the lunar lander program?
Mr. Bridenstine. You are really trying to make me make
news. Are you not, Senator?
Senator Cruz. I am doing my best.
Mr. Bridenstine. First of all, Johnson Space Center, a
critical part of all of our lunar activities, will be part of
the Gateway, part of landers as well. As far as what centers
are going to have what responsibilities, we are going through a
process right now to evaluate all of that. Just know that
Johnson Space Center is going to be a critical piece of that,
but I am not ready to announce what their particular position
will be.
Senator Cruz. Final question. Last month, I introduced
legislation and was joined by Senator Markey, Senator Nelson,
Senator Thune. The legislation was called the ``Hidden Figures
Way Designation Act.'' And it was legislation to rename the
street in front of NASA's headquarters here in Washington,
``Hidden Figures Way'' after the incredible pioneers, the
African American mathematicians who blazed the way for our
going to the Moon.
The D.C. City Council Chairman Mendelson introduced a
companion bill last week that was joined by all 12 other
council members, so a unanimous companion bill to rename the
street in a strong show of support for every woman who has
worked for NASA as a human computer.
It is likely that the street in front of NASA headquarters
will be designated as ``Hidden Figures Way'' before the end of
the year.
In your judgment, what will the new street name mean for
the culture and for the employees at NASA?
Mr. Bridenstine. It is a wonderful question, and it is an
important part of who we are as an agency. As you are aware,
NASA is probably the single most inspirational Federal agency
that we have, and if you walk around the headquarters building
and you ask people that are old enough where were you when Neil
Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon, they will tell
you right where they were and they will tell you how it changed
their lives, the education that they got because of it, and
ultimately how they ended up at NASA. It was transformative.
And yet, we know the names, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
Katherine Johnson was responsible for calculating the orbital
trajectory for John Glenn, which of course was another
critically important mission. But there are so many--I think
when we landed on the Moon, the number of people that were
involved in that project at the time was around 400,000. I
mean, that is a lot of people, and they are all critically
important to what NASA is and what NASA does in the
accomplishments of our country.
And as you have rightly said, so many of them were hidden,
and the more we can give them credit and show them how they
contributed--show the next generation how they contributed,
that is what it is all about. We want to inspire that next
generation. We want to attract the absolute best and the
brightest that America has to offer, and so many of those
people that were at that time hidden are now going to be those
moments of inspiration for the next generation.
The summer between my fifth grade and sixth grade year, for
the first time my mom put me in a summer camp where we got to
play with a wind tunnel, and I got to play with the camber of a
wing. I learned about Bernoulli's theory, and it changed the
direction of my life. I knew from that week forward I was going
to be a pilot. It did not matter what I did for the rest of my
life. I knew I was going to be a pilot. And so that had a
transformational kind of impact on me. And then as I eventually
ran the Tulsa Air and Space Museum, I saw children have their
lives transformed because of experiences they had with the
volunteers and others at the Tulsa Air and Space Museum.
So those kind of impactful things I think are important for
developing the next generation of STEM in this country. And the
reason that is so important, the country that controls the
technology, controls the balance of power on earth. And that is
true going back to the beginning of time. Whoever controls
technology controls the balance of power. That means our people
here in the United States--we have to be preeminent in
technology. So the more we can inspire that next generation
into STEM, we need to do so. I think it is a great idea.
Senator Cruz. You sound like you were a precocious fifth
grader.
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, right.
Senator Cruz. You and that Bernoulli fellow.
Senator Gardner.
STATEMENT OF HON. CORY GARDNER,
U.S. SENATOR FROM COLORADO
Senator Gardner. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I am like the guy who shows up right when everybody wants
to go to bed and wants to have a long conversation. So I will
keep this quick and short. I apologize for being late.
We have talked about dates and where were you, and I
remember where I was on I think it was the 8th of July in 2011.
And I was in the House caucus room, the Republican caucus room
off the floor of the House of Representatives, and there were
probably 30 or so, 40 Members of Congress. And we were watching
TV and we were watching the last launch of the Space Shuttle.
And I remember watching that thinking this is great. We are all
watching this. This is bringing America together to celebrate
the last human space flight from this country. We did not know
when it was going to start again. We did not know what was
going to happen.
And so I appreciate the work you have done on the Orion
project and others and Mars to help us retain that vision so
that when I looked around that room in that cloak room, not
caucus room--I am sorry--cloak room and I wondered was somebody
not going to do something about this, thank you for doing
something about this. Thank you for working with Congress to do
something about this.
And when you said that your mom had taken you to a wind
tunnel, I did not realize she was the one that forced you to
run for Congress.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Bridenstine. That happened later.
Senator Gardner. It was summer camp. I am sorry.
So with that, Mr. Chairman, thank you very much.
Administrator Bridenstine, thank you for your leadership.
Mr. Bridenstine. Thank you.
Senator Cruz. Thank you.
Senator Markey.
Senator Markey. Thank you.
This is the third hearing that Senator Gardner and I have
been at together mostly asking questions at the end of those
hearings. That has been our day. Thank you.
I just have another couple of questions.
The President's budget request proposed to merge the Space
Technology Mission Directorate into the Human Exploration
Directorate. Merging these functions can force us to abandon or
choose between key functions that NASA currently performs.
Do you agree that the Technology Directorate does
invaluable basic research in advancement areas other than human
space exploration?
Mr. Bridenstine. Absolutely yes, sir.
Senator Markey. I have heard reports that there are other
arrangements up for consideration that would keep the
Technology Directorate largely intact.
Mr. Bridenstine, are you considering any organizational
options that would preserve the Technology Directorate?
Mr. Bridenstine. The answer is what we are doing right now
is we are going through a process, and there are a lot of
pieces to this process that would include--we had direction
from the administration to look at how FFRDCs play into NASA's
mission, you know, the federally funded research and
development centers. We have direction to look at some other
things to include independent assessments and those kind of
things. So what I am doing right now, we are going through a
process.
Senator Markey. Are you considering any options that would
preserve the Technology Directorate?
Mr. Bridenstine. We are looking at all options, yes, sir.
Senator Markey. That is good.
In a hearing earlier this year, Dr. Dava Newman talked
about the importance of promoting synergies between science,
technology, and human exploration. The need to promote these
synergies is obviously important so that they are not
suppressed. So I would hope that you would consider preserving
that Technology Directorate.
And finally, we did not understand how much James Webb's
Space Telescope would cost until halfway through its mission
development, and we were recently told it would be more
expensive still. This uncertainty makes it hard for scientists
to make informed decisions about how to prioritize different
missions in the decadal surveys.
How is NASA working to improve mission concept development
to ensure that we have a better idea at the outset of what
these projects are going to cost?
Mr. Bridenstine. It is a wonderful question, sir.
You know, James Webb Space Telescope is, of course, a big
challenge for us right now because we have had this cost
overrun and this delay. We are putting in place--we called for
an independent review team I guess it was at this point
probably about a year ago. That independent review team has
done its work. We are now implementing all of their
recommendations. There were 32 recommendations--30 of them we
have already implemented. We are working through a couple more.
But the key thing to remember I think that is important is
what NASA does is we do things that have never been done before
that are technologically very difficult and really, in some
cases, very difficult to even define ahead of time.
So with James Webb, we are looking back to the very
beginning of time. We are looking back to the very beginning of
the universe, the very first light that existed in the
universe. And it is being done in infrared, which means it has
to be an extremely, extremely, almost zero Kelvin kind of
infrared telescope. So there are a lot of technologies that had
to be invented along the way, many of which we did not know
what the cost would be at the time. So we have had this
overrun.
Going forward, to your question, sir, we have to look at
the portfolio that we have and have a balanced portfolio. You
mentioned smaller missions earlier. If we can look at a
balanced portfolio where we want to have that flagship mission
that is critically important, technologically superior and puts
the United States number one in the world in physics.
Senator Markey. Exactly. And that is kind of what the goal
is here. Right?
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, sir.
Senator Markey. Small investments in a timely fashion would
make it possible for NASA to work smarter not harder. And when
a budget doubles, it is coming out of something else, and
something else in many instances is the vision that we would
have had to accomplish bigger things, you know, challenge our
country to what is possible from NASA.
So I would just recommend to you, that you as the
Administrator, just go back and just start examining more
closely each of the premises that people have because
ultimately we are budget constrained. We can, obviously, afford
some increases in NASA's budget, but we are largely willing to
fund consistent with the vision. But when a previous vision
just gets bigger and bigger in terms of its budget allocation,
it just makes it harder here. So we want to be as helpful as we
can. So I just make that recommendation to you.
Mr. Bridenstine. Thank you.
Senator Markey. Thank you.
Senator Cruz. Administrator Bridenstine, a couple of
questions.
We spent a lot of time in this hearing talking about the
objectives for NASA and the need for expenditures. I want to
talk a little bit about the objectives for NASA and the need
for expenditures. I want to talk a little bit about the revenue
side and increasing the resources NASA has available to do
this.
The Washington Post has reported that requests from
individuals and companies to use NASA's logo on T-shirts and
other commercial items is getting a lot of interest. For
example, there is NASA-themed apparel made for Target, Old
Navy, Lands End, Coach, and H&M. The designer, Heron Preston
even sells a NASA T-shirt for $270.
Despite this commercial interest, NASA right now does not
make anything on the sales of products using its logo. Do you
agree with this policy, and has NASA taken any steps to receive
compensation off the sale of the agency's logo?
Mr. Bridenstine. That is an important question.
So the answer is we have a logo. We have a right to that
logo, and because we have the rights to that logo and somebody
else finds value in it, they should pay for the rights to use
that logo. I get that.
And I will be honest. I do not know if anybody has bought
the rights to use that logo or not. I do not know. I have not
looked into this issue. I have noticed, as you have, I am
seeing a lot of NASA T-shirts on the streets. I will tell you I
have found that personally, as a source of pride, that people
are so interested in it. And I have not made any effort to try
to quell it or squash it. That does not mean that we should
not. And I will be honest. I do not know what the right answer
here is. If you have any ideas, I would be more than thrilled
to listen to them. But in my view, I love the fact that I see
so many NASA logos on the streets.
Senator Cruz. Well, for what it is worth, I agree with you
that it is a great thing that people are excited about NASA,
that they are wanting to wear NASA clothing, but I also think
that NASA should be compensated for it. And I am a believer in
commercializing and seeking revenue streams. Look, I can tell
you I have never owned any T-shirt that cost $270, and by the
way, having seen your wardrobe, I am pretty confident you have
not either.
[Laughter.]
Senator Cruz. But if somebody is paying $270 for a T-shirt,
a chunk of that ought to go to NASA and actually help fund
getting to the Moon and getting to Mars.
A related point in terms of commercialization, earlier this
year CASIS testified before our Subcommittee that more than 55
percent of payloads to the national lab are private sector
customers, which includes projects from iconic Fortune 500
companies and innovation startups.
Now, I want to be clear that I support having vast amounts
of research conducted on ISS, but given that the American
taxpayers are subsidizing the transportation cost to and from
station, astronaut crew time to conduct the experiments, and
the operational and maintenance costs of the national lab, it
is worth a close examination of how research is being conducted
right now and if there is a need to alter current research
agreements.
A few specific examples. Goodyear is using microgravity to
better understand silica morphology for manufacturing new tires
with low rolling resistance that are more fuel efficient and
safer. CASIS's material states that, quote, research could give
Goodyear a competitive advantage in the tire industry by
developing superior rubber materials.
Another example. Merck is using microgravity to grow a
crystalline suspension of millions of tiny uniform crystals to
improve the formulation of the company's cancer immunotherapy
drug Keytruda. Keytruda is the drug that made former President
Jimmy Carter's cancer go into remission, and Forbes has
reported that some analysts predict that Keytruda may be
Merck's next $10 billion drug.
Administrator Bridenstine, do you believe that NASA and
Congress should reexamine these agreements to ensure that the
American taxpayers are receiving fair compensation for the
research that is being conducted by iconic Fortune 500
companies and that may result in giving these companies a
competitive advantage in their respective industries?
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, I do believe those kind of programs
and opportunities on the International Space Station--we need
to reexamine those. And I intend to do that as the new
Administrator. In fact, we are. We are looking at it right now.
It is also important to note--and I think this is an
important point to make--we want those kind of activities
happening inside the United States of America. There is no
shortage right now of enthusiasm on the part of our largest
peer competitor China to have these activities going on on
their space station that they are building for the future.
So the answer is yes, we need to examine it. What we do not
want to do is we do not want to damage the commercialization of
low earth orbit because we are charging for something that they
can get for free in a different country. And so we have to be
really careful about how we balance that, but certainly it is
something to take a look at.
Senator Cruz. And I think that is a fair point and concern
you raise and something that I look forward to continuing to
work with you on. It seems to me we have many research
universities in the United States that have very successful
commercialization programs where there is innovation and
research being conducted in the universities, and the
universities in turn receive a portion of the profits. And that
helps fund even more innovation, even more research. And that
is a model, it seems to me, NASA should look at given the
enormous potential. But you are right. We certainly need to
look at it within a framework of a competitive environment in
China and other nations potentially as competitors.
Mr. Bridenstine. I would also add both of these items that
you brought up, whether it is activities happening on the
International Space Station that could potentially result in
big profits for corporations terrestrially, I think that is an
important thing for the United States to be leading in, and
even something as simple as the NASA logo. These are ideas I
think that we need to be considering.
It is also important--and I would love to work with you on
this. As you are aware, appropriators guard very jealously
appropriation dollars, and to the extent that we were to
receive some kind of proceeds from those activities--and maybe
there is an opportunity to do that and we should be doing it.
My concern would be NASA would be doing all the work, and then
those proceeds could end up going to the general Treasury. And
look, I want to retire the deficit as much anybody else. But I
would love to see us utilize those proceeds for the advancement
of human spaceflight, for the advancement of our science, for
the advancement of understanding our planet. These are the
activities that I would love to see those proceeds going toward
and not necessarily just going into the general coffers.
Senator Cruz. Well, unsurprisingly, you and I are on the
same page on that, and indeed, much of my interest here is to
generate a revenue stream that can be dedicated directly to
space exploration to ensure that we have the resources to
continue America's leadership going back to the Moon and
ultimately going back to Mars and ensuring that we have
sufficient investment and that we are also in a position where
we are leveraging billions more in private investment as well.
And so I look forward to continuing to work with you on that.
Administrator Bridenstine, thank you for your testimony.
Thank you for being here. I think this was a productive
hearing.
The hearing record will remain open for two weeks. During
that time, Senators are asked to submit any questions for the
record. Upon receipt, the witness is requested to submit your
written answers to the Committee as soon as possible.
And with that, this hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 3:40 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. John Thune to
Hon. James F. Bridenstine
Question 1. What specific steps is NASA taking in partnership with
other Federal agencies to improve space cybersecurity within the
agency's domain as called for in the National Cyber Strategy issued
September 2018?
Answer. NASA supports the National Cyber Strategy to protect
National space assets and support infrastructure from evolving cyber
threats by working with other Federal Agencies to strengthen the cyber
resilience of existing and future space systems. These efforts include
strategic leadership engagement, such as NASA's participation in the
National Security Council's (NSC) Space Cybersecurity Working Group.
Through this group, NASA actively collaborates with other Agencies and
provides input to the National Space Cybersecurity Implementation Plan.
NASA serves as the leader of the `Cyber Resiliency of Space
Systems' goal for the National Space Science and Technology Partnership
Forum. In 2015, this interagency forum was established by the USAF
Space Command Chief Scientist and the NASA Chief Technologist to
identify synergistic efforts and technologies between multiple
government organizations with space equities, explore ways to
collaborate on investments, and facilitate cross-agency engagement. The
Forum has 18 Federal agencies participating and sharing best practices
and standards for space cybersecurity. The cyber goal is to strengthen
space system cybersecurity across the U.S. Government through
activities including cybersecurity analysis and metrics, red teaming,
work with cyber test ranges, and government-commercial information
sharing. The fourth Technical Exchange Meeting is scheduled at Buckley
Air Force Base, Colorado, in March 2019.
NASA collaborates daily with other Federal agencies through its
normal processes and agreements as it works to build and operate
spacecraft and execute NASA missions. Many of NASA's missions (e.g.,
Landsat 9) are developed through partnerships with other Federal
agencies, and require constant inter-Agency cybersecurity cooperation
to ensure the safe, secure and successful achievement of mission
objectives.
Question 2. The NASA Office of Inspector General in May 2018
identified that the acquisition of certain IT products from a Chinese
technology company was conducted without a supply chain risk assessment
and potentially violated the Anti-Deficiency Act (ADA). What is the
current state of NASA's review into whether such acquisition violated
the ADA? If NASA has determined it did not violate the ADA, why not?
Answer. NASA Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) concluded
its preliminary review of potential Anti-Deficiency Act (ADA)
violations for all seven transactions referenced in Recommendation
Number 5 of NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG) Audit Report IG-18-
019. The OCFO's final Preliminary Review report, issued on September
27, 2018, concluded that no Anti-Deficiency Act violations occurred.
The NASA Office of General Counsel (OGC) reviewed and concurred with
OCFO's report.
Because the OIG Audit report focused on the NASA Office of the
Chief Information Officer (NASA OCIO) Risk Assessment process and
cyber-security concerns, the OCFO worked closely with the NASA OCIO in
analyzing each of the transactions cited by the OIG that were the focus
of potential ADA violations. OCIO and OCFO researched each transaction,
obtained and reviewed both technical, procurement, and other Risk
Assessment database information, and had OCIO contact the FBI when
required. OCIO and OCFO executed all protocols/risk assessments and
other analysis required pursuant to OCIO and OCFO policies. This
technical information was vital to the determination of whether or not
a potential ADA violation occurred because the OIG Audit Report based
its conclusions of such potential violations on the absence of
``undergoing the required supply chain risk review and approval
process.''
Of specific concern was the noted purchase of one item, an IT
product from a Chinese technology company. Further, the report
indicated this purchase violated the ``intent'' of the 2013 law and,
according to the OIG, constituted an ADA violation.
During the Preliminary Review, OCFO found that the purchase of
concern to the OIG, the one IT product from a Chinese technology
company, occurred after FY2013. OCFO consulted with NASA's OGC, which
advised OCFO that the 2013 law was not applicable and instead, the
later and narrower appropriations restrictions applied. Accordingly,
only high-and moderate-risk systems were required to undergo the
required supply chain risk review and approval process.
As such, OCFO determined the IT product from the Chinese technology
company was part of a NASA moderate-impact system, but the required
risk assessment was conducted for this purchase back in 2016. The
requisite RFI (Request for Investigation) dated June 15, 2016, was
approved in July 2016. Additionally, because of the expressed concerns
of OIG regarding potential involvement of Chinese companies, OCIO
conducted additional research and reconfirmed in August 2018 that this
particular item was manufactured in the United States. As such, the
purchase of the IT product from the Chinese technology company complied
with both the narrower appropriations restrictions and the necessary
OCIO Risk Assessment and acquisition protocols. Thus, OCFO concluded
there was no ADA violation related to the IT product from the Chinese
technology company.
Finally, OCFO's Preliminary Review concluded the criteria cited by
the Auditors for a required Risk Assessment did not apply for the other
six IT and communication transactions cited in the OIG report. These
purchases questioned by the OIG were not made or incorporated into a
``high-impact'' or ``moderate-impact'' system as defined by Federal
Information Processing Standards Publication 199, and pursuant to
Public Law No. 113-6 and subsequent appropriations, a risk assessment
was not a requirement for these purchases. OCFO and OCIO also confirmed
the IT assets were either not connected to the NASA system and/or
purchased solely for use in Low-Risk systems. Thus, no ADA violations
occurred related to these transactions.
Question 3. In 2016, the Government Accountability Office (GAO)
called for NASA to improve its security over high-impact systems--
systems that could have a severe or catastrophic effect if compromised.
GAO deemed these recommendations to be ``priority'' recommendations for
the agency, yet some of the recommendations still have not been
implemented by NASA. At the direction of Congress, GAO followed up with
a broader looked at cybersecurity weaknesses with a report entitled
``Urgent Action Needed to Address Significant Management and
Cybersecurity Weaknesses.'' Is the agency working in an urgent manner
to address these cybersecurity concerns?
Answer. NASA is working diligently to address cybersecurity
concerns identified in the GAO's audits on improving security for high-
impact systems (GAO-16-501) and taking deliberate actions to address
significant management and cybersecurity weaknesses (GAO-18-337). In
addition to addressing the recommendations of this report, NASA
recently achieved its first ``Managing Risk'' rating on the OMB
Cybersecurity Risk Management Assessment based on the Agency's FY2018
Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) metrics. Key
metrics improvements include credentialing and authorization protecting
user accounts using PIV cards and intrusion detection and prevention
capabilities, achieving 99.8 percent on DHS BOD 18-01.
For GAO-16-501, NASA successfully completed the requirements to
close three of five recommendations, as of September 2018. NASA is
working to close the remaining two recommendations, which are nearly
complete. These two recommendations pertain to: (1) updating security
assessment plans to ensure that controls are comprehensively tested;
and, (2) updating NASA's continuous monitoring strategy to include
performance metrics. Both of NASA's selected high-impact systems have
mitigated GAO's technical findings and updated their security
assessment plans for future assessments; NASA is working with GAO to
provide necessary documentation to validate closure of these
recommendations. NASA is updating its continuous monitoring strategy to
align with performance measures from the National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST) and are targeting completion and
publication of these measures by the end of January, 2019.
For GAO-18-337, NASA has three cybersecurity management
recommendations that are currently in progress. These pertain to: (1)
establishing a cybersecurity strategy; (2) establish an information
security program plan (ISPP); and, (3) establishing clearly defined
security policies and procedures. Enabling all three recommendations,
NASA recently hired a Chief Cyber Risk Officer to establish and oversee
agency-wide cybersecurity risk management initiatives. Activities
currently underway include leading a NASA Cybersecurity Integration
Team (CIT) to address key cybersecurity management challenges,
clarifying security policies to reflect current practices, and maturing
risk management operations. NASA has also completed the ISPP. The ISPP,
after review by the NASA Administrator and OMB, was signed by the NASA
CIO on November 1st, 2018. It is now in the publication and
Congressional notification cycle. Lastly, NASA's review of its security
policy management framework to facilitate consistent reviews is
projected to complete by March 2019.
Question 4. Multiple audits issued by the NASA Office of Inspector
General, including in February 2012 and more recently May 2018,
provided several recommendations to improve the Security Operations
Center which have not been implemented by NASA. The OIG found ``since
its inception a decade ago, the SOC has fallen short of its original
intent to serve as NASA's cybersecurity nerve center.'' What steps has
NASA taken to improve the detection and mitigation of cyber incidents
across NASA, including strengthening the Security Operations Center?
Answer. NASA has taken multiple steps to address and improve the
NASA Security Operations Center (SOC) capabilities, governance and
responsiveness. The OIG audit recommendations, including those in OIG-
18-020, Audit of NASA's Security Operations Center, are key
considerations in these on-going improvement efforts. The improvement
actions include establishing a SOC continuity of operations/high
availability (COOP/HA) capability that include essential functions,
critical services and components, performing an Agency-wide assessment
of storage solutions to support Agency incident detection and response
capabilities to identify data logging, data analytics and data
correlation needs, and developing a charter for the NASA SOC that
addresses the SOC's organizational placement, purpose, authority, and
responsibilities. Among other governance improvements are the greater
direct involvement in SOC operations by the Agency CIO and the Agency
Senior Agency Information Security Officer (SAISO). Examples of this
include multiple visits by these senior Agency officials to the SOC to
assess their operations and work with the Ames Research Center
leadership to institute organizational improvements.
The NASA SOC implemented enhancements and improvements in the
operations of its three key core cybersecurity services: Monitoring and
Detection; Incident Mitigation and Prevention; and Reporting and
Communications. Network monitoring was enhanced by implementing and
monitoring intrusion detection capabilities, between NASA's mission
networks and the Internet, in order to assess the risk of the Agency's
high value assets. Endpoint monitoring capability was implemented
directly on NASA computers allowing for the detection of compromised
NASA systems within encrypted network environments and outside on NASA
networks. Leveraging external threat information, the NASA SOC
successfully reduced the number of phishing compromises at the Agency
through enhanced e-mail protection. NASA SOC implemented an Agency-wide
intrusion prevention system that blocks numerous attacks against the
Agency's infrastructure daily. These efforts resulted a measured
decrease in malicious code infection across NASA, as evidenced by the
chart below, showing the incident information for FY17 and FY18.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of Number of
Category Name Description FY17 FY18
Incidents Incidents
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CAT 1 Unauthoriz In this category, an 745 214
ed individual gains
Access logical or physical
access without
permission to a
Federal agency
network, system,
application, data,
or other resource,
including lost
hardware.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CAT 2 Denial of An attack that 21 7
Service successfully
(DoS) prevents or impairs
the normal
authorized
functionality of
networks, systems,
or applications by
exhausting
resources. This
activity includes
being the victim or
participating in
the DoS.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CAT 3 Malicious Successful 344 76
Code installation of
malicious software
(e.g., virus, worm,
Trojan horse, or
other code-based
malicious entity)
that infects an
operating system or
application.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CAT 4 Improper A person violates 173 8
Use acceptable
computing use
policies.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 1,283 305
------------------------------------------------------------------------
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Shelley Moore Capito to
Hon. James F. Bridenstine
Question 1. NASA's satellites and in-space telescopes are among the
agency's most important assets. As we have discussed, I believe it is
vital that we develop the technology to repair, refuel, and refurbish
them, so that we can enhance their capabilities and operational
lifetime. I am proud that the West Virginia Robotic Technology Center
is advancing this technology through NASA's Restore-L program. Thank
you for your support of this important work. How does NASA plan to
ensure that Restore-L is able to conduct a flight demonstration in a
timely fashion?
Answer. NASA agrees on the criticality of developing satellite
servicing capabilities, but also recognizes that a transition is
happening in the satellite business. Fast-moving technology and
evolving customer demands are driving operators to rethink major
investments in new satellites and consider other options such as
obtaining a few more years of service out of their current platforms.
As a result, satellite refueling and other in-orbit services market are
estimated to possibly reach $3B over the next decade. While NASA sees
substantial value in satellite servicing capabilities, there are
already significant investments from industry and another government
agency to develop commercial satellite servicing capabilities.
Therefore, the Agency has proposed an alternative approach to enable a
flight demonstration of satellite servicing technologies by leveraging
commercial interests and developing capabilities in a cost-effective
manner. In this proposal, NASA would continue development of the
critical satellite servicing technologies to TRL 6, while pursuing
public-private partnerships with industry where commercial partners
would propose which technologies in development they would demonstrate
on their spacecraft based on their business plans.
Given the FY 2018 Omnibus Appropriations provided $130M for a
Restore-L mission, the Restore-L project worked on detailed system and
subsystem design in FY 2018. The Restore-L team has completed mission,
payload and spacecraft preliminary design reviews. The Restore-L Life
Cycle Cost (LCC) range at KDP-B was $629M to $756M. However, current
estimates put the budget profile for a full flight demonstration at
approximately $1B. This LCC would be 3-8 times the cost of any other
NASA Technology Demonstration Mission project with LCCs that typically
range from $100-$300M, and is not executable within the Exploration
Technology budget without significant impact to technology priorities
needed for the National Exploration Campaign. n lieu of a flight
demonstration, it would be more cost effective to conduct ground
development of the satellite servicing technologies that are of most
interest to industry partners and leverage Technology Transfer
mechanisms and pursue partnerships with interested U.S. companies as
well as could potentially support lunar exploration efforts
NASA believes the most cost effective approach is to utilize our
technical expertise to develop these key technologies, while leveraging
the strong commercial interest to enable a flight demonstration. This
will provide a clear path to transferring the technologies to industry
for multiple applications. As such, under the FY 2019 Budget request,
NASA is proposing to refocus the Restore-L project toward technology
development to TRL 6 with industry partners proposing which robotics
systems and tools they would flight demonstrate on their spacecraft
based on their industry business plans. Goddard Space Flight Center's
Restore-L team, including their robotics partner West Virginia
University, would continue to play a critical role in developing these
capabilities. This approach is sustainable within the budget profile,
and enables a broader technology demonstration portfolio aligned with
exploration priorities. Servicing capabilities will also be
demonstrated through DARPA's Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous
Satellites, using a public private partnership approach. The FY 2019
President's Budget Request recommends the advancement of satellite
servicing technologies at $45.3M.
Question 2. You mention in your testimony that the International
Space Station (ISS) can help enable the transition the use of low-earth
orbit (LEO) to commercial companies. What should Congress keep in mind
in order to spur competition in LEO (low earth orbit)?
Answer. NASA intends to transition from the current Government-
dominated model of human space activities in LEO to a model where
Government is only one customer for commercial services. Based on
inputs from current ISS partners, commercial and other stakeholders,
NASA will shape the plan for the transition of LEO activities from
direct Government funding to commercial services and partnerships, with
new, independent commercial platforms or a non-NASA operating model for
some form or elements of the ISS by 2025. In addition, NASA will expand
public-private partnerships to develop and demonstrate technologies and
capabilities to enable new commercial space products and services. NASA
recently awarded study contracts to industry to investigate the best
way to use the ISS to enable commercial industry to take a lead role in
LEO, and twelve companies are providing studies. The portfolio of
selected studies will include specific industry concepts detailing
business plans and the viability of habitable platforms, using Station
or separate free-flying structures.
NASA looks forward to working with Congressional stakeholders along
with researchers, private industry, and our ISS International Partners
on the future of the ISS and LEO, to ensure that the U.S. maintains our
human spaceflight leadership in LEO while shifting Government resources
and focus towards expanding human presence into the solar system and
returning benefits to U.S. taxpayers. As an example of NASA's efforts
in this area, the Agency has repeatedly submitted a legislative
proposal regarding the retention of intellectual property rights by
users of the ISS National Laboratory. The language clarifies the
ownership of intellectual property resulting from commercial research
projects on the ISS that are conducted under the auspices of the
501(c)(3) entity managing this research.
Question 3. In your testimony, you mention the numerous and
important partnerships with researchers across academia, industry and
within the Agency. What number, or percentage, of your partnerships are
with Universities? Are there any hindrances--you have experienced--in
partnering with Universities?
Answer. NASA considers its history of partnering with U.S.
universities for transformative research and innovations in support of
science, exploration and technology to be consistently successful. We
would be challenged to identify any significant hindrance that could be
applied comprehensively to this family of partnerships.
NASA partnerships with U.S. academic entities, which include
universities, represent approximately 8 percent of the Agency's total
portfolio of partnership agreements, or approximately 240 agreements.
This data, tracked and maintained by NASA's Partnerships Office,
includes NASA agreements with domestic entities executed under a number
of partnering authorities available to the Agency, such as the National
Aeronautics and Space Act Authority (51 U.S.C. Sec. 20101) and the
Federal Technology Transfer Act (15 U.S.C., Sec. 3710a).
It is important to note that this response represents domestic
``partnership agreements'' as designated by NASA for the purpose of
ongoing data collection. It does not include the broader categories of
agreement instruments that NASA may enter into with universities,
including contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, and those with
international academic entities.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Bill Nelson to
Hon. James F. Bridenstine
Question 1. NASA's inspector general confirmed at a recent
committee hearing that it's unlikely NASA will save much, if any, money
if the agency transitions the International Space Station (ISS) to a
commercial operator. Given the ongoing cost of research and
transportation, the near-term contributions proposed by the
administration to help fund development of commercial platforms and the
enormous cost of disassembling and deorbiting the ISS, it appears that
ending government funding for the ISS in 2024 as the administration has
proposed could be the most expensive possible option. How much money
does NASA actually plan to free up under the administration's plan and
when would we see any savings?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
Human Exploration Plan: NASA recently delivered the Human
Exploration Roadmap. The plan, delivered nine months later than
required by the NASA Transition Reauthorization Act of 2017, is lacking
in any new details, including those on how proposed lunar missions will
advance the ultimate goal of missions to Mars. In fact, the report
calls for a human lunar landing by 2029 and only mentions in passing
the expectation of a landing on Mars sometime beyond the 2030s.
Question 1. What does NASA need to get to Mars in the 2030s?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
Question 2. We can't afford to sacrifice NASA's other critical
priorities in science in technology, but given the budget increases the
agency has gotten in the past couple years, what can NASA do to speed
up human exploration plans?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Edward Markey to
Hon. James F. Bridenstine
Question 1. A consortium of non-profit foundations and
organizations recently announced a $4 billion initiative to harness
technologies to enhance sustainability and mitigate the effects of
climate change. How can NASA work with non-profits and commercial
companies to coordinate research on climate change in areas such as
hazardous weather events, food security and agriculture, and ocean
health?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
Question 2. The planetary science community made Mars Sample Return
its highest-priority large initiative in the last decadal survey, but
progress on achieving returned samples has been relatively slow, due to
the perceived cost of such a landed mission or series of missions. What
steps is NASA taking to realize the goal of returned Martian samples?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
Question 3. The NASA Engineering & Safety Center (NESC) recently
released a report about the potential hazards of Martian dust to human
explorers and even robotic missions. How is NASA working to preempt and
address some of the scientific and safety issues that Martian dust
poses to mission success?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
Question 4. When external factors or scientific discoveries prompt
a reassessment of decadal survey priorities, how can NASA work with the
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to allow and
vet input from the scientific community on potential changes?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
Question 5. Is NASA planning on adopting sexual misconduct
reporting guidelines for its awardees that mirror the National Science
Foundation guidelines, including a requirement that grantees receiving
funding from NASA submit to the agency any findings or determinations
of sexual harassment and/or misconduct? If not, why not?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
Question 6. How is NASA working to improve its policies,
procedures, and practices surrounding the travel approval process for
Center employees to attend scientific and professional conferences,
meetings, and workshops, in order to ensure that the current approval
process does not cause undue delay and uncertainty when developing
travel arrangements?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Tom Udall to
Hon. James F. Bridenstine
Climate Change. In early October, the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change released a shocking and concerning report revealing that
both human society and our planet will experience the serious
consequences of climate change as soon as 2040--in just 12 short years.
Question 1. What is your interpretation of the current IPCC Report
on ``Global Warming of 1.5 degrees C'', and the call for an all hands
on deck approach to address climate change?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
Question 2. What is NASA's role in helping the U.S. reduce the
dangerous impacts of climate change?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
Question 3. How would you address the arguments of outside
entities--and those serving in the current Administration--who refute
scientific research on climate change, including NASA's own research
findings?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
Severe Weather Forecasting. You have previously stated that:
spending 30 times as much money on global warming research as on
weather forecasting and warning is a gross misallocation of funds.
Question 1. In your opinion, do you believe that more funding is
needed to improve the technologies required for severe weather
forecasts?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
Question 2. What role does climate change research play in
advancing our ability to better prepare for severe weather in the
future?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
NASA Workforce and Activities in New Mexico. I am interested in
working with you to support NASA's workforce and activities in New
Mexico. NASA has a presence at White Sands Missile Range and we want to
increase activity at that site. Many commercial companies are preparing
to offer spaceflight services not only for tourism, but also for
science and technology development. New Mexico's Spaceport America is
one of the best places for this kind of activity.
Question 1. How do you see these platforms, many of which have
already manifested payloads, fitting into NASA's overall mission? And,
could these vehicles offer a viable opportunity to expand the agency's
science and human spaceflight opportunities?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
Question 2. What is NASA's position on vertical launch and point-
to-point launch?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
Private Space Companies. In light of private investors, like
SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, and Virgin Orbit investing in
space technologies and pushing for space exploration:
Question 1. Where do you see NASA's role in space exploration?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
Question 2. Will commercial suborbital human flights either benefit
or conflict with NASA's work? Does NASA have plans to leverage the work
of these private companies in human space exploration?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
Question 3. Does NASA have current plans to get back into the
business of human space exploration? Is there a desire to travel to
Mars, and what do those research goals entail?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
2017 NASA Authorization. Congress passed the last NASA
Authorization in 2017. This law continues to guide NASA as a multi-
mission agency with a, ``balanced and robust set of core missions in
space science, space technology, aeronautics, human space flight and
exploration, and education.''
Question. What specific strategies are you going to use to execute
NASA's multiple missions, which encompass not just human space flight
but also initiatives such as space-based observations of the Earth?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
NASA Technology and Safety Regulations. In light of the recent
booster malfunction during the launch of the Soyuz MS-10 space craft
set for the International Space Station:
Question 1. What is your confidence in joint space programs?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
Question 2. The DOD is making a concerted effort to replace the RD-
180 engine in space launch. Does NASA have plans to do the same? If so,
what are the options NASA is exploring?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Gary Peters to
Hon. James F. Bridenstine
Budget Constraints. During the hearing, Senator Cruz asked why we
were able to get to the Moon in seven years in the 1960s, whereas now,
we are not expected to return to the Moon for another twelve years. In
your response, you stressed that our current mission is fundamentally
different than that of the space race in the 1960s, but also explained
that budget constraints on NASA are to blame for the slower pace.
Question 1. In your estimation, can NASA achieve its goal of
returning to the Moon in twelve years with its current budget?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
Question 2. To what extent would Congress need to increase NASA's
budget in order to expedite its return to the Moon?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
Question 3. How large of a budget increase would NASA need to match
the overall level of productivity that NASA achieved during the space
race?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
Question 4. What does the United States stand to lose by delaying
our return to the Moon?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
Protecting Astronauts from Radiation. During the hearing, you
testified that NASA is committed to sending humans to the Moon and to
Mars and to developing cislunar space. In these pursuits, United States
astronauts will be removed from the Earth's protective magnetic field
and will be exposed to harmful levels of radiation. Additionally, these
missions will expose them to potential extreme space weather events,
such as a coronal mass ejections, and other hazards.
Question 1. What is NASA doing to protect astronauts from radiation
on these missions?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
Question 2. How will NASA protect astronauts, both in deep space
and in low earth orbit, from an extreme space weather event?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Maggie Hassan to
Hon. James F. Bridenstine
Question. As the discussion around ensuring American leadership in
the space race continues, I'd like to ask you about one of the projects
NASA is developing known as the Space Launch System. Designed to
support deep space missions, the Space Launch System project was
originally scheduled to have its first test launch last year, but that
test was delayed and now is scheduled for the end of 2019. The Space
Launch System project seems very promising, and it is a prime example
of American ingenuity and engineering expertise. Some very talented
people at companies in my own state of New Hampshire are part of this
project. What will you to do make sure that the Space Launch System
meets the December 2019 test launch goal?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
STEM Education and Outreach. At a recent hearing, I had the
opportunity to ask Dr. Kelvin Droegemeier, the nominee for Director of
the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, about science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in the United
States. The United States is not producing enough qualified STEM
graduates to meet our needs. This is a well-known fact, and part of the
problem is that women and people of color are not joining these fields
at equitable rates--leaving behind a large portion of our talent and
impacting our future workforce pipeline. I asked Dr. Droegemeier about
how the Office of Science and Technology Policy would meet those
challenges, and he gave me a thoughtful answer. But I'm also interested
in how NASA is approaching this problem, especially given that the
President has proposed eliminating NASA's Office of Education.
Question 1. What have you done to encourage STEM education in the
face of an Administration that does not seem to treat that as a
priority?
Answer. Witness did not respond.
Question 2. Should Dr. Droegemeier be confirmed, will you commit to
working with the Office of Science and Technology Policy to build our
STEM workforce and improve outreach to women and people of color?
Answer. Witness did not respond.