[Senate Hearing 116-566]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 116-566
THE NEW SPACE RACE: ENSURING U.S. GLOBAL LEADERSHIP ON THE FINAL
FRONTIER
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HEARING
before the
COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE,
SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
MARCH 13, 2019
__________
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
52-568 PDF WASHINGTON : 2023
SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
ROGER WICKER, Mississippi, Chairman
JOHN THUNE, South Dakota MARIA CANTWELL, Washington,
ROY BLUNT, Missouri Ranking
TED CRUZ, Texas AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota
DEB FISCHER, Nebraska RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut
JERRY MORAN, Kansas BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii
DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts
CORY GARDNER, Colorado TOM UDALL, New Mexico
MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee GARY PETERS, Michigan
SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin
MIKE LEE, Utah TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois
RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin JON TESTER, Montana
TODD YOUNG, Indiana KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona
RICK SCOTT, Florida JACKY ROSEN, Nevada
John Keast, Staff Director
Crystal Tully, Deputy Staff Director
Steven Wall, General Counsel
Kim Lipsky, Democratic Staff Director
Chris Day, Democratic Deputy Staff Director
Renae Black, Senior Counsel
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Hearing held on March 13, 2019................................... 1
Statement of Senator Wicker...................................... 1
Statement of Senator Cantwell.................................... 3
Statement of Senator Rosen....................................... 20
Statement of Senator Cruz........................................ 22
Statement of Senator Peters...................................... 24
Statement of Senator Fischer..................................... 26
Statement of Senator Sullivan.................................... 28
Statement of Senator Capito...................................... 31
Statement of Senator Moran....................................... 33
Statement of Senator Blackburn................................... 34
Statement of Senator Klobuchar................................... 36
Statement of Senator Gardner..................................... 39
Statement of Senator Blumenthal.................................. 41
Statement of Senator Sinema...................................... 44
Witnesses
Hon. James F. Bridenstine, Administrator, National Aeronautics
and Space Administration....................................... 4
Prepared statement........................................... 5
Kevin M. O'Connell, Director, Office of Space Commerce, National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of
Commerce....................................................... 11
Prepared statement........................................... 14
Appendix
Response to written questions submitted to Hon. James F.
Bridenstine by:
Hon. Roger Wicker............................................ 49
Hon. John Thune.............................................. 49
Hon. Rick Scott.............................................. 50
Hon. Maria Cantwell.......................................... 51
Hon. Edward Markey........................................... 53
Response to written questions submitted to Kevin M. O'Connell by:
Hon. Roger Wicker............................................ 56
Hon. John Thune.............................................. 57
Hon. Maria Cantwell.......................................... 58
THE NEW SPACE RACE: ENSURING
U.S. GLOBAL LEADERSHIP ON THE
FINAL FRONTIER
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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2019
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m. in room
SD-G50, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Roger Wicker,
Chairman of the Committee, presiding.
Present: Senators Wicker [presiding], Cantwell, Rosen,
Cruz, Peters, Fischer, Sullivan, Capito, Moran, Blackburn,
Klobuchar, Gardner, Blumenthal, and Sinema.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. ROGER WICKER,
U.S. SENATOR FROM MISSISSIPPI
The Chairman. This hearing will come to order.
Thank you all for being here. This morning, we deal with
the New Space Race. In his famous 1962 speech announcing that
the United States would land on the Moon by decade's end,
President John F. Kennedy said, ``No nation which expects to be
the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in the
race for space.'' Those words hold true today.
We are delighted to have two witnesses who are helping to
ensure that the United States maintains global leadership in
space: the Honorable Jim Bridenstine, Administrator of the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and Mr. Kevin
O'Connell, Director of the Office of Space Commerce at the
Department of Commerce.
We are grateful to have you here. Thank you for your
presence, looking forward to your testimony.
2019 is an exciting year for space. July 20 will mark the
50th Anniversary of the NASA Apollo 11 Mission. I was in a
dormitory in Oxford, Mississippi, on that particular date, hard
to believe, which landed humans on the Moon and fulfilled
President Kennedy's bold vision for human space exploration.
By year's end, NASA Commercial Crew Program will be
launching American astronauts from American soil and by
American companies. NASA's flagship Human Exploration Program
launch vehicle, the Space Launch System or SLS, and Orion
Spacecraft will likely achieve a number of milestones this
year, including core stage assembly and integration. That would
be followed by test firing the core stage at Stennis Space
Center, Mississippi.
The dedicated workforce and testing assets at Stennis show
the importance of maintaining national space infrastructure and
programs.
We've entered into a new space race. This race is different
from the one America won 50 years ago. The new space race has
three dimensions. First, the United States must maintain its
position as the international partner of choice for current and
aspiring space-faing nations, strengthening international
partnerships through cooperation on space endeavors and NASA's
operations around the world.
The International Space Station is a key part of the U.S.
global leadership, but NASA's Fiscal Year 2020 budget request
proposes to end the funding for the ISS in 2025. Witnesses
should detail opportunities to enhance space partnerships with
other nations and demonstrate how the budget request supports
those efforts.
Second, America must maintain our position as the focal
point for space commerce. We want space companies to be
established and continue to grow in the United States. The
global space industry is expected to grow from around $400
billion today to nearly $3 trillion over the next two decades.
President Trump has supported the commercial space industry
through policies to streamline regulations for launch, remote
sensing, spectrum usage, and export control. In particular, I
commend the Vice President's leadership of the National Space
Council, which has achieved interagency consensus on critical
issues and provided bold and clear direction on space policy.
Perhaps Mr. O'Connell will address the current state of the
industry and provide the Committee with a progress report on
meeting various space policy directives to promote the
commercial space industry.
Administrator Bridenstine should also address NASA's role
in partnering with commercial providers and growing the
industry.
And third, as competition in commercial space heats up, we
must stay ahead of rising space powers, notably China.
Maintaining America's position as the preeminent space-faring
nation is the final dimension of the new space race.
China's Space Program could represent a significant
challenge to American leadership in space. A recent Defense
Intelligence Agency report noted that China's Space Program
supports both civil and military interests.
In January, China became the first country to explore the
far side of the Moon. By 2025, China plans to complete its
satellite navigation system rival to GPS, launch a rover to
Mars, operationalize a space station and begin building a Moon
base, among other ambitions.
President Trump has provided clear direction for NASA to
lead an innovative and sustainable program of exploration to
enable human expansion across the solar system. He is right.
I hope our witnesses will tell the Committee how America
can maintain an edge over foreign space programs and show how
the budget request will help sustain American leadership in
space.
It is essential that we have consistency in policy, stable
and sufficient funding, and a robust set of international and
commercial partnerships to achieve these goals.
Against a backdrop of international competition and a
burgeoning space industry, the stakes articulated by President
Kennedy more than half a century ago are even higher today.
I look forward to working with my colleagues to help
sustain America's space leadership and chief among those are my
friend and our Ranking Member, Senator Cantwell, and I
recognize her for her comments.
STATEMENT OF HON. MARIA CANTWELL,
U.S. SENATOR FROM WASHINGTON
Senator Cantwell. Thank you, Chairman Wicker, and thank you
for holding today's hearing on maintaining U.S. leadership in
space.
Obviously this year, 2019, astronauts will be returning to
the International Space Station from American soil for the
first time in nearly a decade and just last week, SpaceX
successfully completed an uncrewed demonstration launch to the
International Space Station.
Space tourism is just around the corner and Virgin Galactic
recently completed a piloted mission. We expect to see Blue
Origin flying people in the very near future.
In the Chairman's statement, he talked about Mississippi
and NASA and how they will complete the final tests on the
Space Launch System, the most powerful rocket built, in advance
of the 2020 mission.
As we look at these accomplishments and hear about our
commercial space mission this morning, we also need to look at
the challenges of maintaining our leadership role.
Other nations are maturing their space capabilities and the
United States needs to keep pace. I appreciate the
Administration's focus on maintaining the Nation's focus on
space, but the budget request they've put forward undermines
this goal.
We need to make sure that there are appropriate resources
and the budget seems to cut some of the very programs that we
need to keep this leadership. A prime example is the
International Space Station. It has been successful and other
countries are developing their own space stations.
Then we see the Administration proposing ending funding for
the Space Station by 2025. Maybe the witnesses can speak to the
rationale for that today.
Standing up commercial space capabilities takes a long time
and after years of planning and development within the
Commercial Crew Program, we need to continue these efforts. We
cannot have a gap in capabilities as other nations are looking
to compete in low-Earth orbit.
The Administration's proposed budget cuts are concerning on
a number of fronts. For starters, cutting funding to the
Enhanced Upper Stage, the component of the Space Launch System
that will enable the long-term goals of the program, is
problematic.
Also, the Administration is proposing to cancel Earth
science missions and zero out funding of the Office of STEM
Engagement.
NASA is uniquely positioned to inspire the next generation
of scientists and engineers and canceling relatively low dollar
education programs, I think, is short-sighted.
So all of these cuts, were rejected by Congress last year.
I expect Congress will see the wisdom of rejecting them again,
but nonetheless it's important to bring up that we have to
appropriately prioritize programs if we want to continue these
missions going forward.
So I look forward to discussing these this morning, Mr.
Chairman. Thank you again for calling the hearing and I look
forward to hearing from our witnesses in their leadership role
on these important issues.
The Chairman. Thank you very much, Senator Cantwell.
And we'll begin our testimony this morning with
Administrator Bridenstine. We'll ask each witness to limit
opening statements to 5 minutes. Your entire statement will be
placed in the record by unanimous consent.
Mr. Administrator, welcome.
STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES F. BRIDENSTINE,
ADMINISTRATOR, NATIONAL AERONAUTICS
AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
Mr. Bridenstine. Thank you, Chairman, and it's good to be
here, Chairman, Ranking Member, Members of the Committee.
I just want to share with you, as you mentioned, Chairman,
in your opening statement, this year marks the 50th Anniversary
of Apollo 11 and our landing on the Moon, and from that day to
this day, the United States of America has led the world in
space.
We have been the preeminent space-faring nation and I am
confident with your leadership that we will be able to continue
that position into the future.
A couple of things that I think are important to note to
achieve this objective. We need to have really impressive goals
and stunning achievements that the world can get behind.
I can tell you as the NASA Administrator when I meet with
our international partners, one of the things that they are
most excited about is the idea that we're going to go to the
Moon again. This time, we're going to do it differently. This
time, we're going to go with international partners and we're
going to go with commercial partners, and this time we're going
to go sustainably.
In other words, this time when we go to the Moon, we're
going to stay, not permanent human presence on the Moon, but
with landers and rovers and robots and humans with more access
to more parts of the Moon than ever before.
The President's Space Policy Directive-1 says to go to the
Moon sustainably with international partners. When I say
sustainably, I want to be clear. That means we're going to stay
there. It doesn't mean we're going to have a 1.0 human presence
on the surface of the Moon but it does mean we will have
continual access whenever we need it on the surface of the Moon
with humans but we'll also have robots, landers, and rovers.
We're going to go with international partners and
commercial partners and this is the unique capability that is
in Space Policy Directive-1. We're going to utilize the
resources of the Moon.
In 1969, when we landed on the Moon, we did so, you know,
six times, from 1969 to 1972, and in those 3 years, we had 12
people walking on the surface of the Moon. From that day until
2008, really in 2009, we made a big discovery.
We believed the Moon was bone dry. A lot of scientists
believed the Moon was bone dry. Now we know that there's
hundreds of millions of tons of water ice on the surface of the
Moon. Water ice represents air to breathe. It represents water
to drink. It's hydrogen and oxygen which is rocket fuel,
abundant in hundreds of millions of tons on the surface of the
Moon.
So the President's Space Policy Directive-1 says go to the
Moon, go sustainably, go with international partners, go with
commercial partners, utilize the resources of the Moon, prove
capability, prove technology, retire risk, and then use those
capabilities and technologies for a mission to Mars. That's the
objective of this Administration.
I can tell you when I meet with my colleagues around the
world, the heads of other agencies, they are all very, very
excited about partnering with us in this endeavor. In fact,
recently, just a couple weeks ago, we announced that we now
have a collaboration with Canada on this next generation
endeavor and that collaboration, according to the Prime
Minister, is for the next 24 years, which is a great
partnership. It's the first one in this next generation.
I think the biggest thing to note, and this is about
American leadership, the biggest thing to note now is that
there are more space agencies on the face of the planet than
ever before and there are more coming online, which means
there's more opportunity for partnership, more opportunity for
shared resources, more opportunity to do more than we've ever
been able to do before, and all of that is very positive, and I
do believe we are the partner of choice in the world.
I also believe it's critically important that we sustain
that position.
So, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member, Members of the Senate,
I'm honored to be here, look forward to answering your
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 Committee, 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. This is a role the Agency has played for over 60 years,
leveraging the talent and hard work of America's skilled Government and
aerospace industry workforce to push the boundaries of science,
exploration, and technology development to achieve bold goals in the
aviation and space arenas. Now, 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.
Since its inception, NASA's historic and enduring purpose has been
aligned to four major strategic thrusts--Discover, Explore, Develop,
and Enable. These correspond to our missions of scientific discovery of
the natural phenomena of the Earth, of other worlds, and of the cosmos
as a whole. We conduct missions of exploration in our solar system with
humans and robotic probes that expand the frontiers of the human
experience, and missions of development that advance new technologies
in aeronautics and space systems. NASA leads these missions in
collaboration with international and commercial partners. Our long
history of international collaboration is a strength that allows us to
go farther and faster, while also strengthening international
relationships and U.S. standing in the world.
NASA has maintained continuity of purpose over time by serving the
American public and supporting a number of national priorities, whose
relative emphasis, specific focus, and context have changed over time:
U.S. Leadership and Inspiration
Global Engagement and Diplomacy
Interactions with the Nation's Security and Industrial Base
Economic Development and Growth
Addressing Societal Challenges
Fostering New Discoveries and Expanding Human Knowledge
Expanding Human Presence in Space
The President's budget request for Fiscal Year 2020 specifically
highlights the criticality of partnerships--commercial, international
and academic--in maintaining U.S. leadership in space exploration.
Partnerships will play a key role in the human exploration of deep
space. While we must maintain American leadership in science,
technology and human exploration, the involvement of international
partners will remain a major part of NASA's exploration plans.
Continued collaboration with partners on ISS will be critical to U.S.
efforts to use ISS to inform exploration strategies and to help enable
lunar exploration and a follow-on presence in low-Earth orbit (LEO).
International collaboration will also be a critical element for the
Lunar Gateway, as well as lunar and Martian system assets
(reconnaissance, human orbital, and human surface). A key part of our
overall National Exploration Campaign strategy is to incentivize better
cost performance in developing space systems, and where appropriate,
share the cost burden of the overall effort through international,
commercial and academic partnerships. A sustainable effort will only be
possible with smart leveraging of resources and an affordable path
forward. NASA will leverage partnerships with the rapidly advancing
commercial sector and international community to lay the foundation for
a future of unlimited opportunity, discovery and growth.
Exploration Campaign
The Exploration Campaign builds on over 18 years of Americans and
our international ISS Partners--Canada, Europe, Japan, and Russia--
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.
The Campaign expands human and robotic exploration in space by: 1)
transitioning LEO capabilities to viable and stable industry partners,
and 2) pursuing a cislunar strategy that establishes U.S. preeminence
to, around, and on the Moon. Beyond this, we will 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. We will expand beyond the ISS partners to lead
a broad effort across the strategic areas that encompass human
spaceflight, science, and technology interests.
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 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.
In carrying out this Campaign, NASA will act as architect, mission
leader, and in several key areas, systems integrator, in defining an
open architecture that meets national objectives while actively seeking
partnerships. The Exploration Campaign will draw upon a variety of
innovative partnerships with U.S. commercial industry, other Government
agencies, academia, and international partners to meet these
objectives. We have designed the Campaign to enable early successes,
relying on seamless collaboration across the Agency, and the rapidly
advancing capabilities of our commercial partners.
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.
Through an innovative combination of missions involving commercial and
international partners, robotic lunar surface missions will begin as
early as 2020, focus on scientific exploration of resources, and
prepare for a sustained human presence. Ultimately, these efforts will
culminate in the safe landing of U.S. astronauts on the Moon in the
late 2020s and establish a sustainable human presence.
Transitioning LEO
NASA will continue its mission in LEO with the ISS to enable
exploration with humans to the Moon and on to Mars, while continuing to
perform research that benefits humanity, supporting National Laboratory
research by private industry and other organizations, and working
towards reducing operations and maintenance costs. NASA will continue
leading the international partnership that forms the basis of human
spaceflight continuity and will leverage and expand beyond the ISS
Partnership for the next steps beyond LEO. The Partnership is also
being leveraged to define exploration standards that will allow
commercial as well as international partnership in the exploration
architecture. NASA will continue to leverage its resources and
capabilities to enable the development of a commercial market in LEO
and alternatives to a Government-directed human spaceflight
infrastructure in LEO.
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 spaceflight activities in LEO to a model where
Government is only one customer for commercial services. The Agency is
increasing the breadth and depth of commercial and international LEO
activities. NASA will expand partnerships in LEO to include new
companies and other nations beyond the ISS Partners, including working
with commercial partners to support visiting crew. Based on inputs from
international, Government and commercial stakeholders, NASA will begin
this year to take steps that will enable the transition from direct
Government funding of ISS to the use of commercial services and
partnerships by 2025. The plan will feature new, independent commercial
platforms or a non-NASA operating model for some form or elements of
the ISS, or both. In addition, NASA will expand public-private
partnerships to develop and demonstrate technologies and capabilities
to enable new commercial space products and services.
SLS, Orion and Exploration Ground Systems
NASA is building a deep space 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 SLS Block 1 will be capable of delivering Orion to cislunar space
by the early 2020s and will play a critical role in delivering crew to
the Lunar Gateway. While upgrading the SLS to the Block 1B
configuration remains an important future capability, recent
performance issues and delays in SLS core stage manufacturing and
design updates related to the Exploration Upper Stage requirements,
require that NASA concentrate in the near term on the successful
completion of Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) and EM-2, and supporting a
reliable annual SLS and Orion flight cadence thereafter. As a result,
SLS Block 1B final development efforts will be deferred to later
exploration missions. The Orion crew vehicle will carry up to four
humans to deep space for up to 21 days, and when combined with
additional habitation can support longer-duration missions.
The first SLS/Orion mission will be the uncrewed EM-1, followed by
the first crewed SLS/Orion mission, EM-2. The EM-1 and EM-2 launch
dates are under review pending completion of independent assessments of
core stage production and the integrated mission schedule. These SLS/
Orion missions will demonstrate the capability to operate safely and
productively around the Moon. SLS, Orion, and EGS are the critical
capabilities for maintaining and extending U.S. human spaceflight
leadership beyond LEO to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
Lunar Gateway
As a key part of the Exploration Campaign, NASA will establish the
Lunar Gateway, a way station that will orbit the Moon and enable human
and robotic missions to the lunar surface. The Lunar Gateway will
support exploration on and around the Moon, and sustainable human lunar
surface exploration missions by supporting reusable human lunar
landers. It will be a temporary home for astronauts and will foster
growing domestic and international economic opportunities for
commercial logistics and refueling services as well as provide robust
communications with spacecraft in cislunar space and on the lunar
surface. The Lunar Gateway will allow for a continuously expanding
knowledge base in the area of deep space maneuvering and solar electric
propulsion (SEP). Through the development of Lunar Gateway, the U.S.
will maintain in leadership in space exploration and discovery as it
pioneers a new era of space travel research, logistics, and economic
developments.
The Lunar Gateway will be assembled in orbit around the Moon where
it will be used immediately as a staging point for missions to the
lunar surface. The initial functionality will support lunar landers and
requires two main functions: A Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) and
habitation. These functions will provide critical abilities for the
Lunar Gateway to support human-class reusable landers, landing a crew
of up to four astronauts on the lunar surface and ultimately developing
sustaining lunar operations on the Moon. Gateway is evolvable and
supports early reusable lunar surface capability and later more complex
lunar science and Mars exploration technology development.
From a strategic perspective, the Lunar Gateway takes advantage of
existing ISS partnerships with private companies and the international
community from LEO to the Moon. The ISS international partnership on 5
March 2019 signed a joint statement that commits the ISS space agencies
to evaluate their potential contributions to the Gateway. It will give
us a strategic presence in cislunar space that will enable sustainable
exploration of the Moon and its resources and leverage that experience
for eventual human missions to Mars. The Lunar Gateway provides access
to a variety of lunar surface destinations that scientific
investigations have found worthy of direct human inspection and
exploration. Opportunities for U.S. commercial and international
partners could range from the supply of utilization payloads and
logistics, to the provision of entire modules of the Lunar Gateway.
International partnerships have been a vital component of space
exploration, allowing countries to advance national objectives while
working together to achieve greater and more collaborative goals.
Following the commercial model that NASA pioneered in LEO for space
station resupply, NASA plans to launch Lunar Gateway elements and
resupply it through competitively-procured commercial cargo missions
and internationally-contributed cargo missions. Commercial spacecraft
could also dock to the Lunar Gateway between crewed missions to conduct
other activities. Additional potential exists for future commercial
spacecraft to transport crew to visit the Lunar Gateway. The Lunar
Gateway will be designed with standard interfaces, encouraging all
partners to leverage its capabilities and improve competition for the
benefit of space exploration. These strategies will be essential toward
establishing a sustainable and resilient Exploration Campaign.
Subsequent cost savings will enable NASA to redirect funding towards
in-space and lunar surface activities.
While NASA will remain the overall lead as Lunar Gateway architect,
systems integrator, and operator, the Lunar Gateway team has been
studying various implementation approaches to identify U.S. commercial
and international contributions to the Lunar Gateway architecture. The
U.S. commercial efforts include design concepts initiated under the
Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP)
habitation development activity and international concepts have been
initially identified through architecture studies with the ISS
partners.
Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau formally announced on
February 28, 2019 Canada's intention to join NASA in U.S.-led
exploration at the Lunar Gateway and the lunar surface, the first
international partner to do so. In accordance with a joint statement
signed by all partners on 5 March 2019, additional commitments are
expected by the end of the year, with ultimate participation by all
existing ISS Partners. NASA is currently conducting architecture
studies to evaluate all options for accelerating human lunar return,
including potential international contributions. The results of these
studies may lead to international contributions focused on lunar
surface exploration prior to Gateway expansion beyond an initial few
(2-3) modules.
While additional international contributions to enable sustainable
lunar surface exploration are examined, potential Lunar Gateway
contributions currently include:
Upon approval by its Member States, the European Space
Agency (ESA)'s provision of the European System Providing
Refueling Infrastructure and Telecommunications (ESPRIT) module
with a science airlock including additional propellant storage
and advanced lunar telecommunications capabilities;
European development of a Lunar Gateway habitation module
with significant contributions from the Japan Aerospace
Exploration Agency (JAXA);
Russia's expressed interest in developing and contributing a
multi-purpose module, which would also include airlock
functionality and redundant human transportation capability;
and
Logistics Modules delivered to the Lunar Gateway by both
U.S. and international partners, the cadence of which would be
driven by mission needs.
Lunar Landers and Robotic Missions
Our goal is not just to leave footsteps and plant flags but to
learn how to live away from Earth. Working with our commercial and
international partners, we will establish a foundation for ongoing
human exploration of our nearest celestial neighbor. Following a
buildup of capabilities, our goal is to land astronauts on the Moon
within the next decade. Astronauts will explore the surface for
increasing periods of time while developing the experience and
technology we need for future missions to Mars and other destinations.
NASA will work with American companies through Broad Agency
Announcement (BAA) awards and funded Space Act Agreements (SAAs) to
design and develop new reusable systems for astronauts to land on the
lunar surface. The Agency is asking American companies to study the
best approach to landing astronauts on the Moon and start the
development as quickly as possible with current and future anticipated
technologies. NASA is planning a series of lunar lander demonstration
missions with the first uncrewed mission testing human descent
capabilities on the surface in 2024. Early commercial delivery missions
to the Moon will test technologies, and demonstrate capabilities that
will help improve designs for landers to carry astronauts. These
missions, coupled with early uncrewed descent demonstration missions,
will once again help NASA gain real-world experience to land astronauts
on the Moon.
Science remains critical to the exploration goals of the Agency,
contributing both capabilities and knowledge needed to advance human
and robotic exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The Lunar
Discovery and Exploration program advances an integrated strategy for
exploration, not only through improved collaboration across the Agency
but also by leveraging interagency, international, and commercial
partnerships. In November 2018, NASA selected nine U.S. companies to
bid on delivery services to the lunar surface through Commercial Lunar
Payload Services (CLPS) contracts. Lunar payloads from a variety of
customers, including NASA, will fly on contracted missions starting in
2020, enabling critical technology demonstrations and scientific
observations; most recently, NASA selected 10 proposals for the
Development and Advancement of Lunar Instrumentation (DALI) program,
which will support instruments that will fly on future lunar missions.
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which marks its tenth
anniversary in 2019, continues to help scientists characterize the
lunar surface, providing insights into lunar resource analysis that
could support future human exploration.
NASA's lunar efforts will incorporate results from the following:
The Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown
(CATALYST) initiative, established in 2014, 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 solicitation on February 7, 2019 to seek
proposals from industry for human lander system studies, risk
reduction, development, and spaceflight demonstrations. These
NextSTEP partnerships will enable rapid development and flight
demonstrations of human lunar landers by supporting critical
studies and risk reduction activities, maturing requirements,
tailoring applicable standards, and creating technology
maturation plans.
NASA and its industrial partners are also working on
NextSTEP habitation systems to develop concepts for cislunar
habitats and to conduct ground-based testing of prototype
habitats to evaluate human factors, validate subsystem
integration, and test standard interfaces. The knowledge gained
from testing the NextSTEP habitats will reduce risk in the
design of the Lunar Gateway.
Missions to the Moon and cislunar space 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.
Exploration Technology
NASA's Exploration Technology will accelerate technology
development to enable human and robotic exploration of the Moon and
Mars and foster commercial expansion in LEO and beyond. Technology
drives exploration with investments spanning the Technology Readiness
Level (TRL) spectrum, advancing early-stage concepts and maturing key
technologies and systems that enable demonstrations in relevant
environments.
Within Exploration Technology, NASA will accelerate development of
lunar surface technologies through the Lunar Surface Innovation
Initiative, driving essential technologies required for humans to
successfully operate on the lunar surface:
NASA is developing the technologies to make use of resources
available on the Moon, on Mars, and on other planetary bodies
(in situ resources). This technology holds the potential to
produce consumables, including oxygen, water, and hydrogen on
the Moon, thus drastically reducing mission mass, cost, and
risk for human exploration.
In order to address power requirements for long-duration
human missions on the Moon, NASA is continuing work on its
Kilopower technology project to demonstrate a small,
lightweight fission power system. The Kilopower project will
transition into a demonstration mission in FY 2020 that would
permit long-duration crewed missions on the surface of the
Moon.
The Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative will bring together the
full range of stakeholders, including entrepreneurs, academia, small
businesses, industry, and the NASA workforce to catalyze technology and
systems development.
On to Mars
Ultimately, the Moon will 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;
Appropriately 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.
Working with science and human exploration communities, our
international partners, and U.S. industry, NASA will refine the goals
and objectives for a robust lunar exploration and science program.
Partnerships
In implementing its human exploration plans, NASA will work to make
best use of the tools available for partnership opportunities so the
Agency can leverage the knowledge, skills, and resources of potential
commercial, academic, and international partners. In the public-private
partnership arena, NASA will consider a variety of mechanisms from
university grants, to SAAs (which may be funded or unfunded), to
Federal Acquisition Regulation-based contracts. The use of SAAs and
contracts has played a key role in the operation of ISS, and NASA
anticipates using the flexibility of different types of partnership to
best effect as the Agency proceeds with human missions into deep space.
Similarly, in the international arena, the ISS partnership, for
example, has enabled construction and operation of a space station that
benefits from the support of dedicated aerospace professionals around
the world. Significant international collaboration is also occurring at
the Moon and Mars, bringing benefit to the whole of the exploration
endeavor.
International partnerships have been a vital component of space
exploration. When nations develop indigenous technologies, systems, and
missions to further domestic objectives, they contribute to the
aggregated advancement of capabilities that enable greater and more
collaborative goals. The success of the ISS is a testament to the
viability of a long-term, multi-national technology and exploration
partnership, which will remain a key aspect of human exploration
further into the solar system.
NASA's strategy for leading global collaboration, based on mutually
beneficial international and commercial partnerships, will leverage
successful ISS and other NASA partnerships and build new cooperative
exploration ventures to develop spaceflight capabilities. This strategy
will take into account risks, challenges, and rewards posed by relying
on partners for critical capabilities and technologies.
NASA is also coordinating exploration planning with external
organizations: the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group, Mars Exploration
Program Analysis Group (MEPAG), International Space Exploration
Coordination Group, International Mars Exploration Working Group
(IMEWG), National Academy of Sciences decadal surveys, etc. Through
these partnerships, the expansion of humans beyond LEO can be achieved
faster and in a more cost effective manner.
Similarly, NASA is working with its international partners to
advance human and robotic exploration on and around the Moon. Last
year, I chaired a meeting of senior leaders from space agencies around
the world in conjunction with the International Astronautical Congress
in Bremen, Germany. Following this exchange of ideas, NASA is working
to identify partnership opportunities that widen the pool of resources,
enhance sustainability, and advance our most important exploration
objectives. I look forward to convening similar multilateral
discussions this year.
Conclusion
One of the Agency's key goals is opening the space frontier with
the objective of extending human presence deeper into the solar system
starting with returning humans to the Moon through a sustainable human
and robotic spaceflight program. The Agency has developed a strategic,
pioneering approach to expand the distance and duration of human space
exploration, building off the research happening today on the ISS. As
NASA continues to develop an acquisition strategy for the Exploration
Campaign, we will identify new sources for critical technologies in the
U.S. private sector and Government, and international partners. NASA
will demonstrate and enhance U.S. leadership in space by collaborating
with international counterparts on mutually beneficial goals. The
Agency believes this human exploration infrastructure can be achieved
and sustained with the national funding commitment laid out in the
President's Budget request. Key to our success will be reforming our
programs to be more cost effective and to successfully achieve the
objectives laid out through new business models and partnerships. Space
exploration, at sustainable funding levels and supported with domestic
and international capabilities and collaborations, is a long-term
endeavor. NASA is pushing human presence deeper into space while making
new discoveries and strengthening the Nation's diplomatic posture. We
appreciate the Committee's continued support, and I would be pleased to
respond to your questions.
The Chairman. Thank you very, very much.
Mr. O'Connell, welcome.
STATEMENT OF KEVIN M. O'CONNELL, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF SPACE
COMMERCE, NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Mr. O'Connell. Good morning, everyone.
My name is Kevin O'Connell, and I'm the Director of the
Office of Space Commerce at the Department of Commerce inside
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
I'm pleased to testify before you today with Administrator
Bridenstine about U.S. leadership on the Final Frontier.
My perspectives are drawn from my early time at the
Commerce Department as well as my many years of work on the
policy market and security issues related to commercial remote
sensing.
I start by saying that one of the most powerful tools we
have in the new competition for space is the ability to harness
the private sector in a rapidly growing space economy.
Mr. Chairman, you have already cited some of the statistics
marching toward a $3 trillion economy over the next two
decades.
American space companies confront an extremely complex and
competitive landscape. As the global space economy grows,
countries are trying to find ways to gain advantage, protect
nascent industries, and capture market share.
Countries with mature regulatory systems are trying to
quickly modernize policy and regulation while newer space-
bearing countries struggle with how to best regulate commercial
space activities.
U.S. companies confront a wide range of unfair practices in
the market, including dumping of space products and other anti-
competitive tactics.
The Trump Administration's emphasis on space, starting with
the re-establishment of the National Space Council, recognizes
the highly competitive nature of the global space environment
and the need for the United States to become more agile in
order to compete and retain preeminence.
Space Policy Directive-2 explicitly recognizes the need to
undertake broad regulatory reform to enable space commerce to
flourish.
One specific mandate of SPD-2 calls for the reorganization
of the Department of Commerce in order to encourage space
commerce. It has been a long-held U.S. Government view that the
department would play a significant role in America's space
commerce pursuits.
How? As an industry advocate, as a source of economic and
commercial information, as a regulator, and sometimes as a
counterbalance to security concerns about space
commercialization.
The position that I currently occupy is one that was empty
for more than a decade. As a personal note, I would say that
this industry is so important to this Nation's future that such
disregard should never be allowed to happen again.
In 2018, the Administration proposed elevating the Office
of Space Commerce to a bureau within the Department of Commerce
so that it can permanently leverage all of the department's
many capabilities on behalf of U.S. space industry.
Presently, many Federal agencies have statutory
responsibilities on space commerce issues, including export
controls, remote sensing, spectrum management, payload review,
and launch.
As the department executes its duty to foster conditions
for the economic growth and technological advancement of the
U.S. commercial space industry, I see great opportunity to work
across agencies to align and simplify regulations in order to
accelerate the growth of space commerce and make the United
States the flag of choice for space operations and innovation.
We have already learned a lot about the value of a revised
regulatory approach. U.S. space regulation must create
incentives for companies to responsibly invest, innovate and
operate in space. Regulations should be performance-based and
advance innovation by allowing for new business models to be
licensed rapidly and to allow companies to bring services to
market. Active consultation and transparency with industry are
key.
In addition, as countries try to gain market share of their
own in the global space economy, there is a risk of dual
regulation that will hinder American business. We need to work
carefully with our international partners to reconcile
regulatory differences among nations.
The department has also taken on considerable new
responsibility under Space Policy Directive-3, the Nation's
first comprehensive policy on space traffic management.
Specifically, in partnership with the Department of Defense
and other Federal agencies, we will assume no later than 2024
the responsibility to provide conjunction analysis and other
basic space flight safety services to civil and commercial
users.
One key aspect of the department's efforts in this area is
to create an open architecture data repository, essentially a
state-of-the-art cloud-based platform for creating highly
accurate warnings for space operators.
As importantly, though, it will also serve as an innovation
platform that draws upon the new sensors, analytic tools, and
visualization capabilities coming out of the commercial market.
Here, too, we see the value of international partnerships
and are considering how allied, civil, and private sector
partners might participate in this architecture as yet another
reflection of American space leadership.
Let me also comment briefly on international activities
within the department.
The mission of the Department of Commerce is global in
nature and is reflected in its many bureaus and organizations,
such as the International Trade Administration. ITA's Advocacy
Center currently has 26 cases supporting the U.S. space
industry with a value of over $3 billion.
NOAA is also no stranger to space partnerships. For more
than two decades, NOAA has recognized that in order to remain a
world leader in earth observation, it would have to shift the
world of only government-owned systems to a world with
significant commercial and international partners.
NOAA continues to affirm partnerships both at home and
abroad, including participation in multinational fora, like the
Group on Earth Observation, World Meteorological Organization,
and others.
Challenges to Space Primacy. A growing U.S. commercial
space industry represents another aspect of protecting U.S.
advantages in space. In this sense, economic growth underpins
national security.
At the department, we are hearing a growing number of U.S.
industry concerns about Chinese behaviors in the market as part
of Beijing's drive for space primacy.
For example, we are aware of Chinese willingness to
undercut prices in the market in order to capture market share
and undercut U.S. companies. China is, through a belt and roads
spatial information corridor, broadening its own international
footprint, although partner countries are starting to recognize
the possible dual use nature of hosting Chinese infrastructure
and researchers.
We cannot allow the undermining of U.S. technology
investments in development. According to one U.S. study, recent
U.S. study, China is using foreign investment as a means for
technology transfer assessed at approximately $300 billion per
year.
Strong protection of U.S. intellectual property rights for
cutting edge space technology is vital. In addition, the United
States and the department will continue to use our routine
industry engagement to identify and address unfair trade
practices.
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, thank you for
your consideration today.
We find ourselves at an unprecedented time, at the nexus of
leadership, technology and finance. From my early time at the
Department of Commerce, I can say that the world is actively
watching our efforts to harness the extraordinary power of the
U.S. commercial space industry.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. O'Connell follows:]
Prepared Statement of Kevin M. O'Connell, Director, Office of Space
Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
U.S. Department of Commerce
Thank you, Chairman Wicker, Ranking Member Cantwell, and members of
the Committee. I am pleased to testify before you today along with
Administrator Bridenstine on how to advance U.S. space leadership in a
complex global environment. The perspective that I offer is drawn from
my time as the Director of the Office of Space Commerce within the
Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), as well as from my 25 years of work on policy,
market, and security issues related to commercial remote sensing.
Creating a Highly Competitive U.S. Policy and Regulatory Framework
American space companies confront an extremely complex and
competitive landscape. As the global space economy grows, countries are
trying to find ways to gain advantage, protect nascent industries, and
capture market share. Countries with mature regulatory systems find
themselves needing to urgently modernize policy and regulatory
environments, while countries with newer systems struggle with
understanding the best ways to regulate commercial space activities.
U.S. companies confront a wide range of unfair practices in the market,
including subsidies, dumping of space products, unfair provision of
space services, and other anti-competitive tactics.
The Trump Administration's emphasis on space, starting with the re-
establishment of the National Space Council, recognizes the highly
competitive nature of the global space environment and the need for the
United States to become more agile in order to compete and retain
preeminence. Space Policy Directive-2 explicitly recognizes the need to
undertake broad regulatory reform to enable space commerce to flourish.
The President made clear that Executive Branch regulations across
agencies must ``promote economic growth; minimize uncertainty for
taxpayers, investors, and private industry; protect national security,
public safety, and foreign policy interests; and encourage American
leadership in space commerce.''
One specific mandate of SPD-2 calls for the reorganization of the
Department of Commerce for the specific purpose of encouraging U.S.
space commerce. It was a long-held U.S. Government vision dating back
over four decades that the Department would play a significant role in
America's space commerce pursuits as an advocate for industry, a source
of economic and commercial information to fuel national, state, local,
and commercial efforts, and sometimes as a counterbalance to security
concerns about space commercialization. Yet the position that I
currently occupy was empty for more than a decade. This industry is so
important to the Nation's economic and national security future that
such disregard should never be allowed to happen again.
In 2018, the Administration proposed elevating the Office of Space
Commerce to the bureau-level within the Department of Commerce so that
it can permanently leverage the entire set of knowledge and skills
within the Department on behalf of the U.S. commercial space industry.
Presently, many agencies have discrete requirements and statutory
responsibilities on key issues to space commerce, including separate
efforts on export controls, remote sensing, spectrum management,
payload review, and launch. As the Department executes its duty to
foster conditions for the economic growth and technological advancement
of the United States space commerce industry, I see great opportunity
to work across agencies to align and simplify these regulations in a
manner that reflects the President's policy to speed U.S. space
commerce growth and make the United States the ``flag of choice'' for
responsible space innovation, investment, and operation.
The Department's efforts have provided some key policy insights on
how to grow U.S. space commerce with a revitalized regulatory approach.
U.S. space regulation must create an incentive for companies to
responsibly invest, innovate, and operate in space. Moreover, any
regulations for space operators must be easily navigated and
consolidated when possible. Regulations for space operations should be
performance-based, allowing flexibility for meeting baseline standards,
to properly accommodate the rapidly-evolving commercial space industry.
Some key elements of a commercial space regulation must include
reasonable timelines, transparency between government and industry, and
collaborative pre-consultation processes. Regulations should be
designed in a manner that advances investment in the commercial space
industry and serves to advance innovation by allowing for previously
unseen business models and technologies to be licensed rapidly and
bring their services to market.
In addition, as countries try to gain market share of their own in
the global space economy, there is a risk of dual regulation that will
hinder American businesses. We will need to work carefully with
international partners to reconcile regulatory differences among
nations.
Beyond its interagency work to shape regulations to reflect
Executive Branch policy on space commerce, the Department has taken on
considerable new responsibility under Space Policy Directive-3, the
Nation's first comprehensive policy on space traffic management (STM).
Specifically, in partnership with the Department of Defense, the
Department of Commerce will assume, no later than 2024,
responsibilities to provide conjunction analysis (that is, two or more
objects coming together at the same or nearly the same point in time
and space) and other basic space flight safety-related data and
services to civil and commercial users. A key aspect of the
Department's efforts is to create an open architecture data repository,
essentially a cloud-based environment for more precise warnings of
safety hazards as well as experimentation with new sensors, analytic
tools, visualization platforms and other emerging capabilities. We see
the value of international partnerships and intend to invite allied and
like-minded civil and private sector partners to participate in this
architecture. This is another reflection of American space leadership
that is consistent with our rich history and our plans for the future
The Department of Commerce cannot perform this task in isolation.
We are finalizing a Request for Information to address:
1) specific capabilities which commercial and other private sector
entities might provide to enhance the space situational
awareness (SSA) data and the space traffic management services
the U.S. Government currently provides through an open
architecture data repository to the public;
2) SSA, STM, and orbital debris mitigation best practices; and
3) perspectives on the appropriate regulatory structures which the
Department should adopt to drive the development and
responsible use of such SSA and STM enhancements to protect
national interests and further encourage U.S. commercial space
investment.
Private sector input on these key questions will help guide our
path on the SSA/STM open architecture.
International Space Efforts within the Department of Commerce
Just as Administrator Bridenstine has commented on NASA's
international partnerships, please allow me to comment on some closer
to home. The mission of the Department of Commerce is global in nature
and is reflected in the strong international presence of the
International Trade Administration (ITA), including ITA's Foreign
Commercial Service, the Bureau of Industry and Security, and the
National Telecommunications and Information Administration. NOAA is
also no stranger to space partnerships. For more than two decades, NOAA
has acknowledged that, to remain a leader in operational Earth
Observation, it needed to evolve from an era where it only operated
government-owned systems to a world where the commercial sector and
international partnerships offer significant contributions. NOAA
recognizes that successful partnerships allow us to meet our mission
cost-effectively, increase overall system resiliency, and to be more
responsive to the needs of our users and stakeholders. Nations can no
longer afford to launch and operate the full suite of satellites and
instruments necessary to support evolving applications. NOAA continues
to uphold its commitment to act as a good partner seeking to improve
services to operational users worldwide. Our domestic partnerships with
NASA, the Department of State, the Department of Defense, and the U.S.
Geological Survey (USGS) have been re-affirmed, while our international
partnerships continue to be strengthened to include Europe, Japan,
Canada, and Taiwan.
Further, the United States continues to provide invaluable
leadership in a number of multilateral fora in which NOAA, NASA, and
USGS participate. NOAA continues to strengthen our role as a global
leader, promoting an integrated global Earth observing system by
maintaining leadership roles in multilateral coordinating groups and
advocating for data sharing and harmonization across platforms and
partners. These international groups include strategic engagement in
the Group on Earth Observations, the Committee on Earth Observation
Satellites, the Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites, and
the World Meteorological Organization.
Challenges to Space Primacy
Leadership in commercial space requires both strong partnerships
and a commitment to protecting U.S. opportunities in space. In addition
to the domestic challenges involved with maintaining American
competitiveness in space, foreign competitors, in particular China, are
making concerted efforts to become space powers. The Department is
aware of China's initiatives that should merit our careful attention,
and we welcome China's support for an international regime that is
favorable to commercial space activity. However, we are also concerned
that China is trying to create unfair advantage by undercutting prices
in order to capture market share. China also has a track record of
making space commitments to developing nations in order to gain access
to those nations' geography and technology. For example, China is
working to build a ``Belt and Road Spatial Information Corridor'' that
aspires to boost the space capabilities of developing nations while
also enhancing Beijing's global space reach and broadening its own
international footprint. There is a mounting body of evidence that
partner countries are recognizing possible dual-use concerns of hosting
Chinese infrastructure and researchers.
China is also attempting to stifle U.S. space commerce access to
spectrum in international forums such as the International
Telecommunication Union's World Radio Conference (WRC). Given this
threat, the Administration's efforts to establish the United States as
first in 5G also must support its concurrent efforts to ensure U.S.
leadership in space. Satellite systems need a stable and predictable
spectrum environment given their long-lasting nature, mission-critical
uses, and far-reaching scientific and economic benefits. The United
States leadership at the 2019 WRC and beyond will seek to achieve these
policy objectives.
We cannot allow the undermining of U.S. technology investments and
development. According to one recent U.S. study \1\, China is using
foreign investment as a means for licit and illicit technology transfer
assessed at approximately $300 billion per year. Strong protection of
U.S. intellectual property rights for cutting edge space technology is
vital. In addition, the United States will continue to use its trade
laws to identify and address unfair trade practices. In order for the
U.S. to be a strong partner to its allies, it must also establish
healthy boundaries that allow U.S. commercial space to flourish.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Michael Brown and Pavneet Singh, ``China's Technology Transfer
Strategy: How Chinese Investment in Emerging Technology Enable a
Strategic Competitor to Access the Crown Jewels of U.S. Innovation.''
Defense Innovation Unit Experimental. January 2018.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Conclusion
Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, thank you for your
consideration of my ideas. From my early time at the Department of
Commerce, I can say that the world is actively watching with interest
our new-found interest in harnessing the power of the U.S. commercial
space industry. But here, America first does not mean America alone:
U.S. space leadership will depend vitally on both traditional and new
space partners across government and commercial sectors. Thank you.
The Chairman. Thank you very much to both of our witnesses.
We'll begin a five-minute round of questioning. Mr.
Administrator, the Exploration Mission-1's goal is to assure a
safe crew module entry, descent, splash down, and recovery, an
unscrewed Orion capsule, 1.3 million miles, over 25 days,
around the Moon before returning to Earth.
It has been delayed. Last week, NASA informed Congress of
yet another delay in EM-1. NASA had planned to launch no later
than June 2020. However, NASA now says that further delays are
anticipated.
What about that? What are your plans to address this
situation, and have you considered alternatives?
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, sir. We have considered alternatives.
I will say this.
Before I answer this question, I want to start with a point
of emphasis, which is, the Space Launch System, SLS, the
largest rocket that's ever been built in American history is a
critical piece of what the United States of America needs to
build.
We're talking about a rocket that has a throw weight larger
than anything we've ever been able to throw before. We're
talking about a rocket that's taller than the Statue of
Liberty, with a faring size that can put really big objects
into space, and in fact into deep space, in orbit around the
Moon even. It is a critical capability.
Now here's the challenge that we have with EM-1. SLS is
struggling to meet its schedule. It was originally intended to
launch in December 2019 with, as you mentioned, sir, no later
than June 2020. We are now understanding better how difficult
this project is and that it is going to take some additional
time.
I want to be really clear. I think we as an agency need to
stick to our commitments. Sir, if we tell you and others that
we're going to launch in June 2020 around the Moon, which is
what EM-1 is, I think we should launch around the Moon in June
2020 and I think it can be done.
We need to consider as an agency all options to accomplish
that objective. Some of those options would include launching
the Orion crew capsule and the European service module on a
commercial rocket. It's been done before, actually not with the
European service module, but certainly there are opportunities
to utilize commercial capabilities to put the Orion crew
capsule and the European service module in orbit around the
Moon by June 2020, which was our originally stated objective.
I've tasked the agency to look into how we might accomplish
that objective. So, yes, sir, this is a challenge, but I think
we can rise up to meeting it, but the key is we want to test
fully the Orion crew capsule and the European service module
around the Moon and then ultimately maintain the SLS Program so
that by the time we do EM-2, it will have done a full green run
test.
By the way, that would be done at the Stennis Space Center
in Mississippi, Mr. Chairman, and then after the green run
test, we will have tested the SLS. We will have tested the
Orion crew capsule and the European service module around the
Moon, and then we can get back on track for EM-2. The goal is
to get back on track.
The Chairman. OK. Now as far as I know, this is the first
forum in which you've made a statement like this, is that
correct?
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. OK.
Mr. Bridenstine. Last week, it came to our attention that
we're not going to be able to maintain the schedule.
The Chairman. OK. Now let me parse your words a little.
Consider options. We're looking at the possibility of using a
commercial rocket. Whose rocket would that be, and how far
along are you in making a decision to go this route in an
effort to stick to the mid-2020 schedule?
Mr. Bridenstine. All important questions, sir. The
challenge is we don't have a rocket right now that can launch
Orion and the European service module around the Moon. That
rocket doesn't exist.
The Chairman. There isn't such a rocket?
Mr. Bridenstine. It doesn't--that's what the SLS is all
about.
Now here's what we can do potentially. Again, we're
starting the process now. We could use two heavy-lift rockets
to put the European service module into orbit around the--the
Orion crew capsule and the European service module in orbit
around the Earth, launch a second heavy-lift rocket to put an
upper stage in orbit around the Earth, and then dock those two
together to throw around the Moon, the Orion crew capsule with
the European service module.
Now that is--I want to be clear. We do not have right now
an ability to dock the Orion crew capsule with anything in
orbit. So between now and June 2020, we'd have to make that a
reality.
The Chairman. This is 2019.
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, sir. Here's the glory of the United
States of America. We have amazing capability that exists right
now that we can use off the shelf in order to accomplish this
objective.
Just a few years ago, we launched an Orion crew capsule
into deep space on a commercially procured rocket. That has
already happened. What's different now is we have this European
service module, which is how we have propulsion and life
support and all those capabilities that we need to last for a
period of time with humans in deep space.
We can use off-the-shelf capability, sir, to accomplish
this objective for EM-1 but not change the direction of the SLS
and EM-2.
The Chairman. OK. Well, I'm not setting a real good example
on the time.
This has really been my only question. How close are we to
being able to make a decision about whether to do this or not?
Mr. Bridenstine. I think it can be done, sir, in the next
couple of weeks and every moment counts because I want to be
clear. NASA has a history of not meeting launch dates and I'm
trying to change that.
The Chairman. And what are the expense considerations in
making this decision?
Mr. Bridenstine. That's another discussion. I think there
are options to achieve the objective, but it might require some
help from the Congress.
The Chairman. Well, I'd sure like to keep us on schedule.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. Senator Cantwell.
Senator Cantwell. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and again thank
you to the witnesses.
Mr. O'Connell, I'm going to focus a little bit more on you
this morning because the state of Washington now has over 6,000
employees, over 1,400 different space companies, and it's
remarkable to me how much the commercial space industry has
flourished in the last several years.
I remember the late Paul Allen and his early days of trying
to challenge everyone in this area and you can see how much
it's become, as some people call it, a little Silicon Valley
for space in the Pacific Northwest.
So your comments about an open architecture to keep that
dynamic going are interesting and I want to understand how
novel you think that is in generating more--I don't know if
you'd call them applications--but more interest.
I can see that becoming a critical point to our national
strategy because it is an open architecture. Secondly, I just
feel like we constantly are underestimating the applications of
commercial space activities. For example, you mentioned NOAA
and the increasing importance of the commercial space industry
to that agency and I couldn't agree with you more.
When I think about the Earth information that we could get
as it relates to weather alone, every particle in a storm now
can be an algorithm, and if we just get the information and use
the supercomputing time, the United States could assess all
sorts of information and data that would be so helpful to us.
So, one, is the open architecture a key strategic play by
us and, two, what would be the next steps for us to breathe
more life into these applications? They're here. I just don't
know if we're actually putting the dollars behind them to allow
them to flourish or empowering the agencies that could use them
to do so. I'm thinking of all sorts of natural resource issues
that would be so useful to solve, like doing a better job as
stewards of our lands and waters.
Mr. O'Connell. Ranking Member, thank you for the question.
I'd start just with a general comment. There is not a part
of this great country that today is not affected deeply by the
commercial space industry and so that's a wonderful saying. We
see it all the time from different places.
In fact, we're trying to understand better what the size
and shape is of the space economy in all of the states in order
to help government leaders as well as others, entrepreneurs, in
those states achieve pieces of that global space economy we
talked about.
On the open architecture data repository, those remarks
from me were confined to our responsibilities under SPD-3 on
space traffic management.
If you study the space debris problem, it has become a very
urgent problem. Space debris essentially potentially harms
anything that flies in space, starting with the Space Station,
the economic value and scientific value of all the satellites
that are up there.
Because the problem is so urgent, General Hyten and the
Department of Defense turned to us and said, Number 1, we think
it's natural that the Commerce Department actually take over
notification for commercial and civil entities.
The way we want to approach that is to take a problem that
was traditionally behind closed doors and put it into a state-
of-the-art modern cloud-computing capability and what we get
there, in addition to our responsibilities to warn owner-
operators, we will get a place within which folks coming
forward in the commercial market and academia will be able to
experiment, to vet, to validate both sensors, new analytic
tools, etcetera, in what we hope and sometimes playfully refer
to as disruption of the space debris problem because it's a
very serious problem and we need to make rapid progress in
understanding it better and mitigating it.
Senator Cantwell. And on the applications, like those most
useful to NOAA, what do we need to do to better take advantage
of those current technologies?
Mr. O'Connell. So we see--there's a uniquely American
phenomenon in the market here, which is the role of private
capital.
About the third week I was on the job, the Secretary sent
me to a meeting in New York with about 50 people, which
essentially represented $2 trillion of private investment in
the market, and we see that as really a driving source behind
the development of all new applications, resource management,
decisionmaking of all kinds, and so some of that's going to
come from within the market.
The government will also have unique needs, as well, that
it can develop those applications through.
Senator Cantwell. Well, thank you. I don't know if it's
living in the shadow of the Space Needle that furthered all of
this, but I'm just telling you that the industry, the private
side of the industry is definitely alive and well.
Administrator Bridenstine, my time has expired, but I'm
going to submit for the record a question for you about the
NEOWISE Program and just as Mr. O'Connell's talking about
accuracy in information, I think there are some concerns about
NEOCam and large synoptic survey telescope.
So I want to get a question for the record for you from
that and will follow up.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, ma'am.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Cantwell.
I have Senator Rosen, then Cruz, and then Peters.
Senator Rosen.
STATEMENT OF HON. JACKY ROSEN,
U.S. SENATOR FROM NEVADA
Senator Rosen. Thank you, and thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you for being here and for your testimony today.
And what I'd like to do is shift a little bit and to
address the issue of satellites. You're talking about space
debris. There's a lot orbiting the Earth and the increasing
role that they're going to play, both militarily and
commercially. So with that, that's also going to increase the
vulnerabilities that must be addressed.
You know, in 2017, China launched three new satellites. I'm
sure that those numbers will be increasing by them and by
others.
So, Administrator Bridenstine, with the rise in the
international competition in space, I'm really concerned
particularly about not just the data that we store, what we
transmit, how we communicate with our military complex and
allies and partners around the world and what vulnerabilities
that creates.
So what are you doing with the satellites that connect us
all to intervene in this area?
Mr. Bridenstine. So that's an important question when you
think about space-based communications. When you think about
what a satellite is, Senator, it is a node and a communication
network. That's all it is.
So we're collecting data. It could be imagery. It could be,
you know, any part of imaging the Earth with the
electromagnetic spectrum for science, discovery, those kind of
things, looking into deep space, but it's just--it's data and
that data then gets transmitted and, of course, those are all,
you know, using the electromagnetic spectrum.
So one of the challenges is, and we've seen this in the
past, especially as it relates to NOAA, one of the challenges
is we have competitors in the world that would love to, you
know, shut down our capabilities when and if they like.
Senator Rosen. Not even shut down. What about modify the
data that's returned to us so we make an inaccurate--changes
the outcome of an algorithm for something in our military
perhaps?
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, so that is definitely a concern. I
will tell you what the DoD does and what NASA does. We're kind
of different. We intentionally try to make sure that our data
is available to the world. We give it away for free. We want to
make sure that we are doing science, discovery, exploration,
all of those things that are soft power things.
On the DoD side, their communication networks, of course,
they need to be frequency hopping for anti-jam. They need to
have a lot of encryption and, of course, we have encryption,
too. I want to be clear.
Our goals are very different than their goals. Our
architectures are different, but I would say the key is
cybersecurity which we are focused on, you know, like a laser
as an agency.
When I was in the House of Representatives, we had to shut
down some weather satellites for a period of 3 days and that
was, of course, because we had an international actor hack into
the National Weather Service and my state of Oklahoma for a
period of 3 days didn't get any data.
Senator Rosen. It's not going to change the weather but it
can change what we do about it.
Mr. Bridenstine. That's exactly right. So the key is why is
an international actor interested in disrupting weather
prediction? Well, they're proving capabilities. They're proving
technology and so if the weather enterprise is at risk, you can
imagine----
Senator Rosen. Right.
Mr. Bridenstine.--NASA is at risk and so we understand this
critical, you know, challenge and we're making adjustments
every day to be on top of it.
Senator Rosen. Thank you.
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, ma'am.
Senator Rosen. Mr. O'Connell, we're talking about this. I'd
like if you could address something the private/public
partnerships or private sector.
How do you think they're addressing it, and are they on top
of what they need to be?
Mr. O'Connell. Absolutely, Senator, and again thank you for
the question.
We're actively working with the industry to do two things.
One, to understand the kind of threats that they are seeing to
their systems. You know, what are they experiencing in their
data flows, but also to share information out in the other
direction on security practices, etcetera.
The office has just been invited to a National Security
Council Working Group on Space Cyber Integration that will deal
with a lot of the issues that Administrator Bridenstine has
raised.
Senator Rosen. And I see this is an easy way for bad actors
to infiltrate our systems. So it's something we need to be
hyper-vigilant about.
Thank you for being here.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Rosen.
The Senator from the Houston Space Center.
STATEMENT OF HON. TED CRUZ,
U.S. SENATOR FROM TEXAS
Senator Cruz. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Gentlemen, thank you
for your testimony, your leadership.
Administrator Bridenstine, let's talk a little bit about
the ISS. As you are aware, last year's budget from the
Administration proposed ending all Federal Government funding
for the ISS by the year 2025.
The Space Subcommittee of this committee held a series of
hearings on whether that was wise, whether that was prudent.
The testimony we received consistently was that it was not. The
Space Station, as a matter of scientific and technical
capability, can continue to be utilized at least until 2030, if
not later, and given that the taxpayers have invested over a
$100 billion in it, the testimony we received is that it was
prudent to get the maximum return for that investment and that
it would be nothing short of catastrophic to cede low Earth
orbit to the Chinese.
In light of that testimony, I introduced legislation that
explicitly extended funding for the Space Station until 2030.
This committee passed that legislation unanimously. It went on
to pass the Senate unanimously.
I was very pleased to see this year's President's budget
that did not have that language zeroing out the funding but
instead talked about transitioning to more commercial
opportunities which all of us would like to see but no longer
suggested a threat to the funding for the Space Station in
2025.
I think that is beneficial to the American taxpayer. I
think it's also beneficial to our partners in the Space Station
making clear that our commitment to the station is to get the
maximum reasonable life and use out of it.
Do you agree with that sentiment?
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, sir. I have been watching your
leadership on this issue with great interest, as you can
imagine, and I would say we are starting even right now today
to put together all of the tools so that we can commercialize
low earth orbit as rapidly as possible.
It is true the language ending direct funding is not the
language we're using anymore in 2025, but instead we're
transitioning and that's starting today, transitioning to new
funding models that would be enabling of commercial activities.
What you'll find in this budget request is a $150 million
specifically for commercialization activities in low earth
orbit, but that $150 million does not include the great
investment that is the ISS that helps us transition. We need to
utilize the ISS for the transition to commercialization. It is
a tool to get to commercialization.
So know this. I believe a day is coming when we will have
commercial activities in low Earth orbit. The goal here,
Senator, and you know this, NASA wants to be one customer of
many customers in a robust commercial marketplace for human
activities in low earth orbit.
At the same time, we want to have numerous providers that
are competing on cost and innovation to drive down costs and
increase access to space.
We just recently saw what happens when we can dock a
commercial Crew Dragon to the International Space Station with
a reusable rocket provided by the private sector. Costs are
going to go down, access is going to increase. We don't want to
just do it with commercial resupply to the International Space
Station, not just with commercial crew to the International
Space Station, but actually with habitation in low earth orbit.
The purpose for this ultimately is so we can save resources
and use the precious dollars that this committee and the Senate
and the House give us, use those precious dollars to go to the
Moon where there is not yet a commercial marketplace but for
which we believe there will be a commercial marketplace.
Our goal is to retire risk, commercialize, and go further
and do more, and I do believe the date very well could be 2025
and that's my goal and I'm going to be very clear. My goal is
to move us to a day where in 2025 we are completely
commercialized, but it's important to note that what we're
talking about now is the development of a new funding model.
Senator Cruz. Well, and I want to commend the
Administration for listening to Congress, that we had long had
bipartisan agreement that we will continue America's leadership
in space and listening to Congress is an important part of
maintaining that consensus.
Another avenue to potentially ensure that we have the
funding both for the ISS and for exploration is having our
partners and allies pay their fair share.
Can you give your thoughts in terms of how much does the
United States currently contribute to the fund to operate the
ISS and how does that compare to the contributions of our
international partners?
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, sir. So right now, when you think
about the International Space Station, the United States of
America is a partner at about a--well, talking about the United
States segment of the International Space Station.
There's the U.S. segment and then there's the Russian
segment. The United States segment, we have international
partners on there, Japan, the European Space Agency, Canada,
and, of course, the European Space Agency includes 11 different
nations right there.
So on that partnership, the United States of America
contributes about 77 percent. The balance is provided by the
rest of those partners. The highest, I think, is around, you
know, 10 percent and then 8 percent, and Canada is around 3
percent.
I don't want to suggest that this is a bad deal because
what we get for our commitment, there's rights and
responsibilities. Our responsibility is at the 77 percent
level. Our rights are at the 77 percent level. That includes
astronauts. It includes experiments on the ISS. So while we
are, you know, paying a bigger percentage, we are also
receiving a bigger benefit from it.
That being said, for the future, when we think about the
entire architecture between low Earth orbit and the Moon and
eventually Mars, we have to change that paradigm.
If the United States of America is going to be a 77 percent
contributor that in my view is not the right approach and it
won't be sustainable. My charge is to create the sustainable
return to the Moon which means we need more partnership from
more nations. At the same time, we need to take our partners
that we currently have and have them increase funding, as well,
as the United States of America already has done and will
continue to do with your leadership, of course.
Senator Cruz. Thank you.
Mr. Bridenstine. Thank you.
The Chairman. Administrator, if China were looking for
partners in an international space station, they might be
willing to kick in 87 percent, might they?
Mr. Bridenstine. I would argue that they might be willing
to kick in a hundred percent in order to have the influence.
Yes, sir.
The Chairman. There would be a pretty unreliable partner,
but to some countries out there, it might seem to be worth it.
Mr. Bridenstine. In fact, sir, it is already happening. Our
European partners right now, there are Europeans in China
training to become Taikonauts for the upcoming, you know,
Chinese Space Station. So China is moving very rapidly to
entice the world to join them in their efforts in low Earth
orbit.
The Chairman. And I want to thank Senator Cruz for his
leadership in this regard.
Senator Peters, and then Senator Fischer.
STATEMENT OF HON. GARY PETERS,
U.S. SENATOR FROM MICHIGAN
Senator Peters. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank
Senator Cruz, as well, for the leadership on the Space Station.
I'm a backer of it, as well, working with Senator Cornyn on
legislation, with you to make sure that we keep the station
operating to 2030. We've made a substantial investment in that
station. It's critical to maintain our partnership, all the
things that we have heard.
But what I hear from you, Administrator is that you have
set a goal and believe that it's possible that commercial
activities will be able to pick up that cost by 2025, which
certainly seems very ambitious, and so my question is for Mr.
O'Connell.
Do you believe the commercial space industry would actually
start making that all up in 2025? Is that even realistic or
should we be thinking about something else?
Mr. O'Connell. Senator, thank you.
We are seeing a number of industry partners come forward,
partly to understand the roles that they can play on the Space
Station, the extent to which they can access it.
So far we're seeing relatively small applications for the
Space Station, but we're hoping to encourage others for larger
applications, as well. We also see companies coming in the
market that believe they can create a wholly commercial space
station, as well, but the transition period is going to be
critical.
Senator Peters. And five or six years is ambitious to say
the least?
Mr. O'Connell. It would be ambitious.
Senator Peters. The other question for you, Mr. O'Connell.
You've talked about orbital debris and as a critical problem
that I know Mr. Bridenstine believes, as well, NASA is very
concerned about. The Department of Defense, and pretty much
across agencies and as we get more constellations of
satellites, it's going to be a bigger and bigger problem,
probably growing exponentially in the years ahead.
You talked about some of the efforts being made in the
Department of Commerce to attract this. I know there's a debate
going on among agencies as to who should be in charge and I
think whenever you have a big problem, you've got to have
somebody who's actually in charge. You can't have everybody
pointing fingers at each other and it's a complex web from the
Department of Transportation, FAA, Commerce, DoD.
Who do you--now I know where you work, but give me the
argument as to why Commerce is best to do this job and why not
the Department of Transportation and the FAA, which has quite a
history of tracking objects in the air?
Mr. O'Connell. So let me focus on what we've been doing and
the extent to which it relates to what the problem has been
described here.
General Hyten came to us last year, Secretary Ross,
Administrator Bridenstine testified about the nature of the
space debris problem and its urgency. Part of the logic for us
was that General Hyten thought that it was proper that because
we were going to be interacting with a whole range of
commercial actors in space that it was logical for the Commerce
Department to actually take on that responsibility.
So let's talk about what we've done since that time.
Senator Peters. Please. The FAA obviously deals with a lot
of commercial actors in the air, as well.
Mr. O'Connell. Absolutely, Senator. What we have done since
that time, though, when people say why Commerce, I would give a
couple of answers.
Number 1, we have technical organizations, like NOAA, the
organization that I sit in, as well as NIST, very much self-
interested. There's a group at NOAA that pays very careful
attention to the space debris impact on NOAA weather satellites
and others, as well as NIST.
Secretary Ross would talk about the fact that 40 percent of
the data that the U.S. Government shares with the American
people actually comes out of the Commerce Department. So a wide
range of organizations internally actually have models for
sharing information of the kind we'll need with the space
debris problem.
Most importantly, I talk about our interactions with the
supply and demand aspects of space debris. On the supply side,
we are routinely interacting with a wide range of new companies
that are coming into the market--I mentioned this in my
remarks--new sensors and a very diverse set of sensors, new
analytic tools that will increase the accuracy of the data
that's shared with operators and new visualization platforms.
That's the supply side.
But we're also routinely interacting with the companies
that will effectively change what information is required in
space. So when we consider CubeSat constellations, mega
constellations, they will need new kinds of information from an
SSA perspective. So we're seeing both dimensions of that.
And then obviously the open architecture data repository
that we talked about. We're interacting with a wide range of
industries, I'll call them adjacent industries, not necessarily
space industries, artificial intelligence, cloud computing,
that can greatly affect how this changes and again by all
sense, it's got to change very quickly.
Senator Peters. Well, thank you. I have one final question,
Mr. O'Connell.
The commercial space industry, as it's growing, there's
also expanding interest in launch capabilities in other places
around the country. In my home state of Michigan, for instance,
the Michigan Launch Initiative is working to develop a space
port for the potential launch of low orbit polar satellites and
our geographic position is well suited for that.
The question is, what is the Department of Commerce doing
to work with organizations, like the Michigan Launch
Initiative, to develop private space ports and increase our
national capacity to support commercial space as a result of
that?
Mr. O'Connell. So we're routinely asked to meet with space
port leaders, organizations that relate to building new space
ports.
One of the questions that the Secretary likes to ask is how
many space ports is the right number of space ports in the
country. That will absolutely relate, Senator, to the extent to
which the vision that we've laid out for space, that the
Administration has laid out for space comes true.
The extent to which we can manage the air space integration
piece that is very much an FAA, Department of Transportation
responsibility, but the vision beyond that that we can actually
achieve.
We're more than happy to meet with everyone who is in the
process of building a space port.
Senator Peters. Great. Thank you so much.
Mr. O'Connell. Yes, Senator.
The Chairman. Thank you very much, Senator Peters.
Senator Fischer.
STATEMENT OF HON. DEB FISCHER,
U.S. SENATOR FROM NEBRASKA
Senator Fischer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Administrator and Mr. O'Connell, both of you spoke in your
testimony about the need for the United States to be
competitive in commercial space.
Does NASA and/or the Department of Commerce have a
definition or a standard by which they consider the United
States to be competitive? In other words, what are some of the
factors that each of you would view as being an indication that
the United States is competitive?
Mr. Bridenstine. I would start, Senator, with the--I think
the question for me is, what nation on the planet is the
preferred partner of choice and right now, the United States of
America is that preferred partner.
We talk to our international partners and they are keenly
interested in partnering with us on a whole host of missions
and while they are willing to partner with other nations,
they're generally more interested in us because we bring more
capability, we are more open and transparent with the
discoveries, and it gives them prestige in the world in fact to
partner with the United States of America.
So I think that's a key metric, but I think also just
achievement in general. In the last year, we have landed
InSight on Mars. We are the only nation on the planet that has
ever landed a robot on another world and we've now done it on
Mars eight times successfully. This time when we landed
Insight, we did it with international partners that brought
technology to the table. So that's a very good thing.
And then, of course, over the holiday, we had a flyby of
Ultima Thule which was the same spacecraft that flew--it was
with New Horizons, which is the same spacecraft that flew by
Pluto back in 2014.
We're talking about four billion miles from Earth, a
mission that has been going on for years and it's just
delivering stunning images and science and, of course, now over
the same holiday, we entered orbit around Bennu, which is an
asteroid in deep space, and OSIRIS-REx, which is the robot, the
satellite, if you will, that is currently in orbit around
Bennu, it will be bringing samples home from that asteroid.
Our capabilities as a nation are stunning. People want to
partner with us. It is important for us to stay at the cutting
edge of this. I will tell you----
Senator Fischer. What specifically do our industries do to
provide for that? You know, as a government, we're not
necessarily the ones that are achieving it. It's businesses.
It's industries. What makes them so unique? What makes it the
cutting edge?
Mr. Bridenstine. Well, I think there are a couple of
things. Number 1, we have the best university system in the
world and when we want to do a mission to OSIRIS-REx is run by
the University of Arizona. We've got another mission that's
coming up where we're going to go to an asteroid in the
Asteroid Belt. It's not even an asteroid. It's a huge steel
ball that might be the core of a planet that got destroyed or
maybe the core of a planet that's currently being developed. I
don't know. Nobody else knows either, but that's a mission
that's being run by Arizona State University.
In Oklahoma, they're doing a mission called GeoCarb to
study the Earth. So we have amazing scientists and engineers
and technicians and students even that get involved because we
have such an amazing university system and then those
universities partner with industry to help develop the
technology and capability.
Senator Fischer. I'm going to stop because I'm running out
of time.
Mr. O'Connell, you can feel free to jump in here, as well.
When we look at programs, like the Space Grant, the NASA Space
Grant that supports future scientists, future engineers, how is
NASA ensuring its educational programs are going to support the
future needs that we see in commercial space programs that are
coming up? I have just a short period.
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, ma'am. So the key is Space Grant is a
good program that NASA takes advantage of right now and what
we're looking toward doing is engaging students in our
activities.
So we partner with universities. We partner even now--I was
just at an event where we were--it was a robotics competition
called First Robotics, thousands of students that are in high
school that are building robots. This is the next generation of
the engineers, the technicians that will build our robots that
go to Mars and on to other destinations.
So we are keenly aware of developing that talent, the
necessity to develop that talent, and we're committed to it.
Mr. O'Connell. May I just make a brief comment? I would
echo everything that Administrator Bridenstine said.
We have been talking a lot about the trillion dollar space
economy and what the building blocks are to get there. Part of
it is continued innovation in things that are already
commercialized space while other capabilities come to market.
I mentioned the role of the private sector and private
capital very, very important, but even inside the Commerce
Department, we actually have two grant-making organizations,
the Economic Development Administration and the Minority
Business Development Agency, which just celebrated its 50th
Anniversary.
Both of those organizations have space commerce grants and
in fact the first space commerce grant out of MBDA is actually
a grant to travel around the country and attract traditional
and new entrepreneurs to the space business. People, in short,
Senator, are still very excited about going to space.
Senator Fischer. Thank you both very much.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Fischer.
Senator Sullivan.
STATEMENT OF HON. DAN SULLIVAN,
U.S. SENATOR FROM ALASKA
Senator Sullivan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you
for holding this hearing.
I want to thank the witnesses for your leadership on this
important issue.
What I want to actually talk to both of you about is an
issue that you haven't really raised that much but it's the
power of inspiration for the next generation of Americans with
regard to all that NASA and others are doing with regard to
space exploration.
Now I've asked this before in other hearings relating to
space exploration but since I have you here, Administrator,
have you seen the movie The Martian?
Mr. Bridenstine. I have.
Senator Sullivan. OK. How about First Man? I saw that just
the other day.
Mr. Bridenstine. I have.
Senator Sullivan. And so how about you, Mr. O'Connell?
Mr. O'Connell. No.
Senator Sullivan. So here's my question. These are great
movies and I don't normally plug Hollywood, but I think these
are really inspirational and I have three daughters and they've
seen them and they love these movies because they inspire us,
right, and what they do is they inspire us, particularly young
people who can do great things.
You talked about the universities in America. I actually
agree that that's a huge strategic advantage, but what is NASA
doing to kind of bring that can-do inspirational culture but
also inspiration to the next generation of Americans? It's not
just the scientists but it's also the--you know, like the movie
The Right Stuff. There's courage. There's adventure. There's
sacrifice, you know. The First Man, that movie, highlights
that.
What are you doing to help us regenerate that as a country
because I think we can do better than anyone else but there's
an intangible that relates to NASA and space exploration is so
much more important than competing with the Chinese or
commercial technology. It's really the inspiration of a nation
and the next generation of Americans and you guys can do that.
I think NASA, to be honest, has lost that a little bit, but
I think you can redo it. Hollywood's being helpful in this
regard with some of their movies, but can you talk to that
issue because I think it's probably one of the most important
things you can do for our Nation.
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, Senator. So I would argue that the
key thing we need to do as a nation is do stunning things. We
need to do things that capture the imagination of the American
public and in fact capture the imagination of the world.
I tell people frequently, you know, I wasn't around during
Apollo 11. We're celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Apollo 11.
Senator Sullivan. You weren't born?
Mr. Bridenstine. I was not yet born.
Senator Sullivan. All right.
Mr. Bridenstine. But I will tell you this. I remember
exactly where I was in fifth grade, Ms. Powers' English class,
when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded. I remember her
walking into the room. I remember tears coming down her face. I
remember the students being like what's wrong with Mrs. Powers?
I remember her gathering up all of the other teachers and
bringing in the TVs and turning them on. Those are the moments
that are emblazoned in the memories of my generation.
We need to change that, Senator.
Senator Sullivan. Yes.
Mr. Bridenstine. We need to have those moments where this
generation sees people walking on the Moon. This generation
sees people making the advancements necessary to get to Mars
and in fact this generation could see people walking on Mars.
Senator Sullivan. Let me give you just a quick example. We
have a program in Alaska called ANSEP, which is Alaska Native
Engineering Program for young high school kids going into
college. Then they do it into college.
I was at their annual dinner the other night and we had an
astronaut speaking at the dinner back in Anchorage. It was
very, very inspirational.
One of the young kids came up to me and he had been hired
recently by NASA to work on the rocket that's going to go to
Mars.
Mr. Bridenstine. Nice.
Senator Sullivan. And, I mean, it was just incredible. This
inspiration of this young kid who worked really hard, gotta
earn it, right, but we want to be able to help you do this in a
way that I think changes the culture.
As you mentioned, the idea of the Challenger exploding,
which was a horrible tragedy, is not the image we want. It's
Neil Armstrong. I think it's your greatest asset. We want to be
able to help you with that, but we really do need to inspire
the next generation of Americans.
Mr. O'Connell, do you have any thoughts on how Congress can
help you with that or what you can do? I think partnering with
media, like I said, Hollywood, on some really, really good
movies lately just to bring that inspiration is something that
we should look at taking advantage of. What do you think?
Mr. O'Connell. Absolutely, Senator, and I would not
underestimate the power of private enterprise here where you
can do cool things and also make money in the process.
There's sometimes it's viewed that science and commerce are
incongruous.
Senator Sullivan. So I'm assuming you're kind of endorsing
capitalism? Oh, that's a whole other issue.
Mr. O'Connell. Indeed, I am. I am from the Commerce
Department.
Senator Sullivan. We're debating that now, believe it or
not, but I endorse capitalism, as well. But as part of
exploring the cosmos, you think that's a powerful thing that
NASA can be doing for this generation of Americans?
Mr. O'Connell. Not just NASA but also at Commerce, we're
talking to a number of universities around the country who want
to develop a space commerce curriculum in the business schools,
for example. So we have our own role in the education area, as
well.
I've mentioned the MBDA Grant and again their Space
Foundation under that grant is actually traveling around the
country to attract not just the traditional entrepreneurs to
the business but people of other walks of life who are
interested in space, may not have the technical skills, but
saying, boy, I'm interested, maybe this is something I can do
here.
So we want to attract a wider audience. What I like to say
sometimes is that we'll never get to the trillion dollar space
economy if space is left only in the heads of the technical
people. We need a much wider community of people to participate
in that.
Mr. Bridenstine. I know we're over time,----
The Chairman. Go ahead.
Mr. Bridenstine.--but I'd like to make two quick points
that are critical here because Kevin is working on the
commercial stuff. We are helping with commercial stuff, as
well.
We just saw a commercial vehicle, the Dragon, dock to the
International Space Station. Everybody in the world saw that. I
was on the phone yesterday with our international partners.
They're all congratulating me. They're thrilled about it. It's
going to drive down costs, increase access, enable us to go to
the International Space Station with more capability, more
people to do more experiments, and drive down costs. So all of
that's very positive. So that's a good thing.
The other thing is when we landed InSight on Mars, an
important point here, we were on the cover of every newspaper
worldwide. Children in Tehran were basically reading good
stories about the United States of America landing on Mars.
That's the kind of influence that NASA brings to the table, the
inspiration, the idea that we can reshape or transform the
image of the United States for people all around the world.
When we talk about the instruments of national power,
diplomatic, information, military, economic, that information
piece is what NASA brings to the table, and, by the way, that's
our history and tradition going back to Apollo 8 and Apollo 11.
The whole world sees our stunning achievements and it
inspires everybody.
Senator Sullivan. Great. Thank you very much. We want to
help you with that mission, too.
The Chairman. Senator Sullivan endorses capitalism and
Hollywood.
[Laughter.]
The Chairman. Senator Capito.
STATEMENT OF HON. SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO,
U.S. SENATOR FROM WEST VIRGINIA
Senator Capito. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank both of
you for being here today, and I appreciate what you're doing
and certainly have learned a lot.
Europe, China, and Russia are all developing a wide array
of space-based robotics and satellite systems, and we haven't
really gotten into this discussion on the question, but, Mr.
Administrator, we've talked about this before.
I believe it's vital that we develop the technology to
repair, refuel, and refurbish those satellites and systems so
that we can enhance their capability, their lifetime, their
operational lifetime. You?ve talked about space debris. I think
this leads into that.
In the West Virginia Robotic Technology Center, our state
is making a significant contribution to ensure that the U.S.
does not fall behind in our global competition in an area that
is critical to science, commerce, and our national security on
the repair, refurbish, and refueling of our existing
satellites.
Could both of you talk about what you're doing in NASA and
then also at the Department of Commerce to ensure that we're
leading the way in this and give us an update on where you see
this going?
Mr. Bridenstine. So right now, NASA is developing Restore-
L, which is a mission that is going to basically refuel a
LandSat satellite operated by USGS, which is, it's a great
mission for NASA. Robotic servicing of satellites is a
capability and a technology that I think will have an effect
that drives down costs.
Satellites are extremely expensive and if we can extend
their life, use them longer, it drives down costs and increases
our ability to do things. So I think robotics is a key piece of
that.
I think as we move forward, what we have to be focused on
are technologies, going to the commercial piece, technologies
that can be commercialized. NASA does not want to operate a
fleet of satellites running around the globe servicing, whether
it's----
Senator Capito. Right.
Mr. Bridenstine.--doing maintenance or refueling
satellites. What we want to do is develop the technologies,
develop the capabilities, license or transfer those
technologies to commercial industry and let them operate the
fleets, so that NASA can continue doing the things that NASA is
good at, which robotics is one of those things. So we're happy
to be a partner in this effort.
Senator Capito. Thank you.
Mr. O'Connell. Senator, thank you for the question.
The satellite servicing and the robotics industries are
critical to changing, as the Administrator said, the entire
economics of space and so we're routinely talking to this.
I think your question, though, pushes me toward the
question of how we're going to regulate companies that come
forward in the market. We're familiar with how to regulate
remote-sensing communications navigation companies. I'm very
interested in how we're going to take on new companies that
come forward with brand-new capabilities that we have no
experience with before.
When I talked about this in my remarks, the need for, if
you will, regulatory efficiency, especially given that other
countries around the world already have lighter regulatory
regimes and will attract--are trying to attract new talent, new
companies to their spaces, as well. So it's very important that
we pay attention to those capabilities early as they come
forward in the market.
Senator Capito. That leads me to my next question. I know
West Virginia University's been participating with NASA on
these issues and I'm so glad somebody brought up the university
partnerships that you both have because I think that's critical
not just for the next generation. It's an economic driver for
many states, mine certainly is one of those.
I'm wondering. Do you have any--are there any roadblocks or
have you experienced any difficulties in forming these
partnerships with universities? Is there something that we can
do to increase those capabilities?
Mr. Bridenstine. NASA has really amazing partnerships with
a lot of universities. I don't know of anything offhand that
would prohibit us doing that more, but, you know, I think one
of the areas as it relates to robotics, when we talk about the
regulatory regime, you know, we hear in international fora
about the requirement under the Outer Space Treaty to provide
authorization and continuing supervision for activities that
are non-traditional and activities in general, but when it
comes to robotics servicing of satellites, some countries
around the world see that as very provocative.
And so creating a regulatory regime, which we're doing now
for the first time, where we can provide that authorization and
continuing supervision for those robotics activities and
ultimately give confidence to international partners and even
international competitors that this is not being something that
is being utilized for any kind of hostile purposes, that's, I
think, a key component for the robotics that I know that the
Commerce Department right now is moving out on under the
direction of Space Policy Directive-2 from the President.
Mr. O'Connell. That's correct.
Senator Capito. All right. Thank you.
The Chairman. Thank you very much, Senator Capito.
Senator Moran.
STATEMENT OF HON. JERRY MORAN,
U.S. SENATOR FROM KANSAS
Senator Moran. Chairman, thank you. Thank you both for
being here, Mr. McConnell and Administrator.
To follow up on the conversation you were just having with
the Senator from West Virginia, Senator Warner and I, the
Senator from Virginia and I are working on reintroducing our
Aeronautics Innovation Act designed to boost the attention and
resources and it really is hoping to provide a guide to NASA's
Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, and I'm happy to have
you--I think maybe you answered the question when Senator
Capito asked about what are the impediments, what can be done
to make some changes.
But we're working to make certain that the congressional
support for research in aeronautics is enhanced, not
diminished, and we look forward to working with you in that
regard.
Administrator Bridenstine, I'm mostly here to tell you
thank you for your visit to Kansas and to highlight something
for you. We'll have additional conversations about the
importance of STEM education when we have a budget
conversation, appropriations conversation, but I wanted you to
know that just a few weeks ago in my office was a student who
participated in our STEM event in Wichita, at which you spoke
and an astronaut spoke, and we rekindled his boyhood dream of
going to Mars and he now has decided that this is the career
that he wants to pursue.
I'd just point out that those efforts at NASA, your efforts
in particular in Wichita, but you and an astronaut have such a
capability of changing a person's life. I'm of the view we
change the world one person at a time and I want you to know
that we want to make certain that NASA remains that agency that
inspires another generation and highlighting just one student
who was affected by what you had to say, I wanted you to be
aware of that.
Mr. Bridenstine. Well, Senator, thank you for saying that,
and NASA has a long history and tradition of this. We have
employees that visit all kinds of museums and institutions as
we visited to do just that and that's ultimately how we create
that next generation of scientist, technician, engineer,
mathematician, and I'm proud to do that.
I would also say that trip to Wichita was transformative
for me. Understanding and seeing for the first time what a
digital twin is of an aircraft and now, you know, NASA is
actually--we have commercial partners that are using digital
twins of spacecraft.
In other words, we can stress the digital twin in a
computer model just as the spacecraft itself has been stressed
in space and the reason we do that is so we can make
assessments as to the health of the spacecraft and how long
it's going to last and whether or not we should fly it again,
those kind of things.
And so I will tell you, I enjoyed the trip very much. I
learned a lot and it has applicability that goes beyond
aviation and into space. I think that is why when we think
about NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration,
first A in NASA is Aeronautics, it is directly applicable to
what we do in space.
Senator Moran. I've tried to explain dual twin to many
people here in my legislative role and I may just start quoting
you, Administrator. Thank you.
I'm shuffling this morning between Defense Appropriations
and here. The Air Force is in front of our committee today and
the tremendous challenges we face in space and the defense of
our country. We need to make certain that we're doing
everything in the defense on the civil side of aerospace and
space for purposes of the safety of our country and the common
denominator there is attracting a workforce with talent, skill,
and intellect, and you play a significant role in that regard.
Thank you.
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Moran.
Senator Blackburn.
STATEMENT OF HON. MARSHA BLACKBURN,
U.S. SENATOR FROM TENNESSEE
Senator Blackburn. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and what a
pleasure it is to see you in this room, Mr. Bridenstine, and--
--
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, ma'am. What a pleasure it is to see
you in that role.
Senator Blackburn. I appreciate that. For those that don't
know, when he was a freshman member of the House, he was on the
hallway where I had my office. We had a lot of freshmen there
and it was like I was the chief mama in charge of helping with
all these freshmen.
You're doing such a great job and I think last week's
success was indicative of the energy that you're bringing. So
we appreciate that.
Mr. O'Connell, I've got a question for you specifically. As
you look at commerce and space and consider commercialization,
kind of a new frontier, let's talk about spectrum. It is
valuable, and I want to hear from you what you Commerce is
doing right and what they could be doing to make certain that
we do not waste any of this spectrum.
Mr. O'Connell. Thank you, Senator, for the question, and,
indeed, spectrum is one of the critical dependencies for both
space as well as the Administration's 5G strategy and so some
of the debates have been intense, they're deeply technical, and
what we have been concerned about with regard specifically to
the space industry is making sure that we're bringing the
proper data into the discussion relating to economic value of
either technical decisions or future applications.
Our worry on the space side, of course, has been that the
taxpayer has invested billions of dollars in capabilities
related to either world-class weather prediction, everyone's
ability to navigate leaving this hearing via GPS, and
Administrator Bridenstine's capability to beam back from
billions of miles away with fascinating scientific experiments.
And so we're really trying to make sure that the space
community is well advocated for as part of an overall
administration strategy on 5G.
Senator Blackburn. And I would add into that, you're
probably looking at drones and the commercial utilization of
drones?
Mr. O'Connell. Absolutely. There are both drones and then
there's a whole new class of----
Senator Blackburn. Satellites.
Mr. O'Connell. Underneath satellites, there's something
that are called high-altitude platforms, as well.
Senator Blackburn. Correct.
Mr. O'Connell. So there are a lot of things in that
vertical spectrum that have to be considered when we think
about spectrum.
Senator Blackburn. And it needs to be done in an orderly
process.
Mr. O'Connell. Yes, ma'am. Absolutely.
Senator Blackburn. And we will look forward to you all
coming back to us with some recommendations on that. You know,
as we work on the 5G issue, I continue to remind people this is
going to be as transformative as when we went from analog to
digital.
Mr. O'Connell. Yes, ma'am. Absolutely.
Senator Blackburn. And I think that our hopes are very high
for what this is going to do, but we've got to be mindful of
how we use and slice and pack that spectrum and not have any of
it going to waste.
Senator Moran. Absolutely. And under Space Policy
Directive-2, obviously there's a report that's coming due
immediately that you'll be made aware of on how we think about
the space component of that.
Senator Blackburn. Right. Absolutely. One question for you,
Mr. Bridenstine.
The public/private partnerships are going to end up being
more important, certainly for each of you, but I think for
NASA, as you kind of give it a new footing, if you will, and
kind of help it find priorities.
So I wish you would talk for just a moment about what we
could do to help you in that realm as we expand these public/
private partnerships and as you reprioritize the activity of
the agency and reshape that agency.
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, ma'am. So as you're aware, what we're
trying to do, where there are commercial marketplaces, we want
to be a customer rather than the owner and operator of
hardware, which, of course, is very expensive. So if we become
one customer of many customers, costs go down.
At the same time, we don't want to get in the position
where we are a customer and we have a single provider of
services because then we're going from having a government
monopoly to a commercial monopoly which isn't the right
approach either.
So we need a marketplace where we're a customer, there are
other customers, but also have numerous providers and those
providers compete on costs and innovation to do things that are
very similar to what they would do commercially.
So when it comes to low earth orbit, we are on the
International Space Station right now with commercial crew
capability almost. We've demonstrated at least a test flight at
this point, but we've been doing commercial resupply to the
International Space Station for a number of years.
This capability has driven down costs, it increases access,
and ultimately it will enable us to have, you know, basically
one customer of many customers. The engineering cost gets
spread across numerous different partners.
What we'd like to do, Senator, as we move forward, is
replicate that model for commercial habitation in low earth
orbit. So we talk right now about the International Space
Station, critical capability for the United States of America.
Using the Space Station in order to test commercial habitats,
we could create an entire commercial, you know, I guess, domain
of space exploration in low earth orbit where NASA is a
customer.
Then we can use the very precious resources that you give
us to go to the Moon where there's not yet a commercial
marketplace but there could be a commercial marketplace, given
the resources available at the Moon, namely the water ice that
we discovered back in 2008.
So when we think about this, we're looking at building this
architecture, a new paradigm, where we have commercial and
international partners side by side with NASA, you know,
accomplishing new things that nobody could do on their own but
collectively we can do all more.
So authorities to do that kind of activity would be very
helpful and I'm looking forward to working with you on that as
days go by.
Senator Blackburn. Excellent. We look forward to it, also,
and I will say user fees funding needed research. That's always
a good platform that works.
Mr. Bridenstine. OK.
Senator Blackburn. Yield back. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. Thank you, Senator Blackburn.
Senator Klobuchar.
STATEMENT OF HON. AMY KLOBUCHAR,
U.S. SENATOR FROM MINNESOTA
Senator Klobuchar. Thank you very much. Welcome to both of
you.
You know what a leader the U.S. has been when it comes to
space and as you also know, we're facing competition from other
nations. China has planned to construct its own space station
in low Earth orbit, the China Space Station or CSS, and the CSS
may launch as soon as this year, and China's already begun
inviting other countries to apply to conduct experiments aboard
it. The European Space Agency is reportedly working with China.
How are NASA and the Office of Space Commerce planning to
ensure that the U.S. remains competitive in space explorations?
Mr. Bridenstine. Senator, we continue to move out doing
stunning achievements, going to the International Space Station
where we have our international partners already onboard, and
as we go to the next step, which is to the Moon, this time when
we go to the Moon to actually stay and that means using our
international partners, having them join us in our effort to go
to the Moon keeps them in our sphere, which I think is
important.
I can tell you right now, as the head of the agency, I meet
with our international partners regularly and they are very
excited about going to the Moon with us, which has never been
done before, where we go to the Moon with international
partners. So I think that's a critical capability to achieve.
So there are, I think, good stories to tell right now, but
you are right.
Senator Klobuchar. OK. Mr. O'Connell, along these same
lines, in your testimony, you highlight the need for strong
protections of U.S. intellectual property rights for cutting
edge space technology.
A recent study found that China's using foreign investment
as a means to transfer technology assessed at approximately
$300 billion a year. It's a clear threat to our U.S.
intellectual rights protections.
What's your agency doing to address this issue?
Mr. O'Connell. So may I respond first, Senator, to your
first question?
Senator Klobuchar. Sure.
Mr. O'Connell. We're in our advocacy work, we are actually
trying to understand the value of the ecosystem that will
support the space exploration that NASA has.
In December, we held a Space Investment Summit where
Secretary Ross was essentially asking what's the longer-term
investment climate for the space industry from even beyond
where it is now.
Just last week, we held a Space Insurance Summit----
Senator Klobuchar. And what do you think are the main
barriers to growth for the commercial space sector?
Mr. O'Connell. I spoke in my remarks about regulatory
efficiency, the extent to which companies need to come to
different places when they come to town for licensing.
We have an idea, a vision for something we call a one-stop
shop where companies come to one place at the office, ideally a
bureau at some point, where they can come to one place. We have
detailees from other agencies that can actually provide----
Senator Klobuchar. OK.
Mr. O'Connell.--authority on those issues.
Senator Klobuchar. All right. Do you want to quick do the
intellectual property because I have one more question?
Mr. O'Connell. Absolutely. So we're relying heavily on
NIST, another component organization in the cybersecurity
framework, and some of the things that they're doing in broad
cyber terms to apply that to space, as well, giving companies
notice of some of the challenges that we're seeing in the
market, as well as listening to what they're seeing in the
market when their systems are threatened or vulnerable.
Senator Klobuchar. Very good. I worked with Senator Heller
on the Inspiring the Next Space Pioneers, Innovators,
Researchers, and Explorers Act. That was our bill to authorize
NASA to encourage women to study in STEM fields and also a
different one we did together to make sure women researchers
can get their ideas into the commercial world. Both bills were
signed by the President in 2017.
Administrator Bridenstine, can you provide an update on
NASA's efforts? I know we've talked about public/private
partnerships, but how about efforts to increase the recruitment
and retention of women and minorities, something that's so
important, not just at NASA but in science as a whole?
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, ma'am. So NASA is very focused on
this. It doesn't take long to walk around the NASA Headquarters
in those areas that you mentioned and recognize that women are
underrepresented.
Senator Klobuchar. I think women are about half the
workforce but about 25 percent in NASA.
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, ma'am, that's probably right, and in
some----
Senator Klobuchar. As we learned from Hidden Figures.
Mr. Bridenstine. OK. And in some fields, it might even be
less than 25 percent.
Senator Klobuchar. OK.
Mr. Bridenstine. So----
Senator Klobuchar. No. It's 25 percent of STEM workers is
what they are.
Mr. Bridenstine. OK.
Senator Klobuchar. But NASA probably has even less but,
yes, keep going.
Mr. Bridenstine. We are making great advancement in the
science fields at NASA. We've had statistically significant
improvements in recruiting and retaining women in these fields.
When it comes to the engineering, we're not where we need
to be. We continue to make progress. Some of the things that we
do and we're doing every day, we have, you know, American
astronauts that are female and we're making sure that they're
getting out in the public and doing engagement with young
ladies.
At the same time, this month, this is a great story, we
have the first all-female Space Walk. So we're going to have
two women leave the International Space Station and do critical
work on the outside of the International Space Station.
Senator Klobuchar. And how about the minority front?
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, ma'am. So the same challenges apply
there and we are working diligently to increase their
representation, as well, through the same mechanisms, but I
think the big thing that we can do is continue to make these--
do these stunning achievements because that inspires everybody
and gets everybody more activated.
Senator Klobuchar. Well, thank you very much. Appreciate
it.
The Chairman. Mr. Bridenstine, on the engineering,
universities could help you there, too.
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. Thank you.
Senator Gardner.
STATEMENT OF HON. CORY GARDNER,
U.S. SENATOR FROM COLORADO
Senator Gardner. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you,
Administrator, for being here. Mr. O'Connell, thank you very
much for the testimony today.
I thank you, as well, for your recent visit to Colorado and
the Deputy Administrator, as well. We celebrated the 70th
Anniversary of the Last Space Physics Laboratory in Boulder,
University of Colorado, great partnership between NASA.
Colorado receives more NASA funding, I think, than any other
state in the country, and the work that we do.
We'd love to talk to you about a NASA center perhaps in
Colorado and the opportunities we have to continue engaging
Colorado in the aerospace and space front.
LASPA is, I think, the only sort of university research
control consortium in the United States that has sent products,
technology, equipment to all eight planets and Pluto. That was
a tough one for me to say, eight planets and Pluto, but things
change.
Thank you very much for being here, and, Administrator
Bridenstine, would you say that the United States is a healthy
commercial launch industry capable of launching all NASA
missions today?
Mr. Bridenstine. I would say we are very healthy. I would
also say that there's always room for more capacity. Sometimes,
you know, launches get--you know, we step on each other
sometimes. The different--you know, we've got the FAA that is
responsible for commercial launches and we've got NASA
responsible for its launches and NOAA responsible for its
launches and when you think about the DoD, they, of course,
have a whole lot of launches. So sometimes we step on each
other, but at the same time, we are a----
Senator Gardner. The commercial launch industry itself is
healthy.
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes,----
Senator Gardner. We've got lots of people there----
Mr. Bridenstine.--very healthy.
Senator Gardner.--to do this job. Are you familiar with the
requirement in current law that requires the use of commercial
domestic launch providers for U.S. Government-funded payloads
unless no such launch vehicle exists?
Mr. Bridenstine. I am aware.
Senator Gardner. It's my understanding, I think the
understanding of many of my colleagues in Congress, that
because NASA is paying for cargo delivery to the International
Space Station, those are taxpayer-funded missions that must be
flown by U.S. launch providers. Would you agree with that
assessment?
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes.
Senator Gardner. Yes. And I think we've got to strongly
enforce these provisions to make sure that we are ensuring that
that domestic competition remains strong. We're the only nation
in the world that can support multiple competitive large
commercial launch providers, just like you laid out.
We should not starve competition by shipping those
taxpayer-funded missions overseas to state-subsidized launch
providers. I think that's something we have to----
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, sir, and, Senator, I'll tell you I've
had that conversation with our international partners who are
very interested in launching basically spacecraft built in the
United States, commercial spacecraft on their rockets, funded
by the U.S. taxpayer, and I was very clear that that would
probably receive a lot of resistance in the Senate. So I might
have gotten ahead of you on that but we've had that
conversation already with our international partners and, of
course, and you know this, I will follow the law.
Senator Gardner. Yes. Thank you, Administrator Bridenstine.
Thank you very much.
As you know, Space Policy Directive-1 requires NASA to
return to the Moon. I think you've had some discussions about
that this morning already with commercial and international
partners.
You know, what are the broader challenges that as we look
at the Moon, as we look at the overall mission that ensure the
U.S. remains a leader in that exploration of space?
Mr. Bridenstine. So the key--I mean, I can't say this
enough. The key to making sure that we remain a leader is to do
stunning things, to do things that other nations can't do that
entices other nations to partner with us to accomplish those
objectives.
Space Policy Directive-1, as you just mentioned, we're
going to the Moon. The President said go to the Moon. He said
go with commercial partners, go with international partners.
There are now more space agencies on the face of the planet
than ever before. We want as many of those as possible to be
with us under the constraints of the law, of course, and at the
same time, we're going to for the first time utilize the
resources of the Moon, the water ice that we 10 years ago
discovered is there in hundreds of millions of tons. So water
ice is air to breathe, water to drink, it's certainly hydrogen
and oxygen, which is rocket fuel. So it's all there in mass
quantities but we want to utilize it, and then, of course,
retire risk and take those technologies and capabilities to
Mars.
So what I can tell you is that as the head of the agency,
when I meet with our international partners, they are extremely
excited about partnering with us on these endeavors.
The idea that the next time we go to the Moon, yes, we will
have American astronauts there with American flags on their
shoulders, but it very well could be that we are there side by
side with astronauts from other countries with their flags on
their shoulders, American leadership.
So that ultimately is our objective, to provide that
leadership, to make sure everybody stays with us in our sphere
as we move forward.
Senator Gardner. Thank you, Administrator. Thank you for
your interest in the Space Symposium in Colorado, as well. They
do a phenomenal job and we just appreciate your participation.
Thank you.
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, sir, we'll be there next month.
Senator Gardner. Thank you.
The Chairman. Mr. Bridenstine, has our partnership with
Russia been a success?
Mr. Bridenstine. This is a tough question, and I understand
there's all kinds of trust, real challenges, geopolitical,
between our two countries.
This relationship goes back to 1975, the height of the cold
war. The Apollo Soyuz Program, when, you know, after Apollo 17,
we brought our astronauts home, Russia decided that they wanted
to partner with us instead of competing with us. So we moved
forward with Apollo Soyuz.
From there, we had the Shuttle-Mir Program and now, of
course, we've got the International Space Station Program and
Russia is very interested in partnering with us when we go to
the Moon.
What is fascinating about this relationship is that through
all of the turmoil from 1973, probably, when the project began,
all the way up until today, there have been terrestrial
disputes and challenges and geopolitical issues and yet it has
never spilled over--I wouldn't say never. I would say that we
have been able to work through the challenges in space, and I
think that's a unique capability. It's a unique channel of
communication.
The partnership that I have with the head of Roscosmos has
been strong. They've been very helpful to us when we take our
astronauts to the International Space Station on Russian Soyuz
rockets. So it has been a strong partnership but certainly I
understand it's unique but it's a good partnership for space.
The Chairman. Thank you very much.
Senator Blumenthal.
STATEMENT OF HON. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL,
U.S. SENATOR FROM CONNECTICUT
Senator Blumenthal. Thanks, Mr. Chairman.
I want to do exciting things in space and stunning things,
like Americans going back to the Moon. My interest right now is
on issues a little bit closer to Earth, aviation safety.
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, sir.
Senator Blumenthal. And as you are very much aware, NASA's
responsible for maintaining the system that includes reports
from pilots who encounter potential problems while in the air.
It's called the Aviation Safety Reporting System or ASRS.
It's a confidential voluntary non-punitive repository for
capturing confidential reports, analyzing aviation incidents,
safety data, dissemination of vital information.
You know that in the last day or so, there have been
absolutely killing reports about pilots reporting incidents in
the sky involving the Boeing 737 Max 8 during critical moments
of flight. They've been reported in the Dallas Morning News.
Last night on Rachel Maddow, very graphic and dramatic
description of some of these reports by pilots for one United
States incident in November 2018, a commercial airline pilot
evidently reported that during takeoff, the autopilot was
engaged and ``within two to 3 seconds, the aircraft pitched
nose down'' in a manner steep enough to trigger the plane's
warning system which sounded ``don't sink, don't sink.''
I'm asking you to make available to us all of those reports
that have been submitted to you. You can redact the names. You
can take out any identifying information. I'm asking you as the
Administrator of the system to make available to us in Congress
all of those reports from pilots. Will you do so?
Mr. Bridenstine. I'd be happy to do that.
Senator Blumenthal. How soon? Today?
Mr. Bridenstine. I don't know what the logistics are to
make those available, but----
Senator Blumenthal. As soon as possible?
Mr. Bridenstine.--as soon as possible. Yes, sir.
Senator Blumenthal. And you know that pilot groups have
complained that Boeing in fact did too little to ensure that
they and other airlines were aware of a new anti-stall feature
relating to softwares and sensors or knew how to turn it off if
it were malfunctioning or acting on faulty data.
I would like your view as to whether we should be asking
more of Boeing at this point in terms of information they have.
Mr. Bridenstine. I'll be honest, Senator. At this point, I
don't have enough information to make that determination.
Senator Blumenthal. But you want that information?
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, sir.
Senator Blumenthal. And will you join in trying to seek it?
Mr. Bridenstine. A hundred percent. I'm a pilot myself and,
of course, I have flown with automatic flight control systems
and autopilots. I've had autopilots malfunction and certainly
I've had----
Senator Blumenthal. Pretty scary, isn't it?
Mr. Bridenstine.--scenarios that are not good either. So it
is in our interests as a nation to make sure that our equipment
is safe and I'm committed to doing whatever is possible to do
that.
Senator Blumenthal. Would you have qualms about flying our
737 Max 8?
Mr. Bridenstine. I wouldn't.
Senator Blumenthal. Why?
Mr. Bridenstine. Well, I think----
Senator Blumenthal. Because someone else is the pilot
again?
Senator Blumenthal. Well, no, I don't know enough
information right now, but at this point in time, I wouldn't
say that I'd--I mean, I'm going to be flying, you know, in the
coming days and when I fly, if I'm on a 737 Max 8, I think I'd
be perfectly OK and it wouldn't bother me.
Senator Blumenthal. But passengers who may have qualms
should be able to choose another flight, wouldn't you agree?
Senator Blumenthal. Absolutely.
Senator Blumenthal. Without any charge?
Mr. Bridenstine. Oh, I don't know about that. Certainly
it's a free market out there and if people want to ride on a
different airplane, they should.
Senator Blumenthal. Well, I welcome your willingness to
share with us that information, that report because the
American public really deserves to know from the folks who are
closest to this problem, pilots who have dealt with these
petrifying scenarios, as you've termed them, incidents where
the planes just go out of control in effect, and the American
public also needs to know what Boeing knew, when they knew it,
and what they did as soon as possible on necessary corrections
because they have a public trust and so does the FAA and the
Secretary of Transportation.
Realizing that they're not within your purview, I welcome
your willingness to share with us your expertise as a pilot as
well as the information in the Aviation Safety Reporting
System. Thank goodness we have it.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
The Chairman. Thank you. Thank you, Senator Blumenthal.
And I think we can all acknowledge this is a pretty high-
profile issue and a very important issue. If you could just
follow up, Mr. Administrator, where does your jurisdiction
overlap with FAA and where are we on that?
Mr. Bridenstine. So the system that the Senator referenced
is an FAA program. It's done at Ames Research Center out in
California, the San Francisco Bay Area, and ultimately it's
administrated by NASA. We have NASA employees engaged in it.
It's an FAA system. It's an FAA program. It's funded by the
FAA.
The key to the whole thing is to get pilots to be willing
to share things that they might not want to share with the FAA
and that is why it's housed at NASA and, of course, I've been
familiar with the program as a pilot myself.
When it comes to malfunctioning autopilots, which I've had
in the past, you turn them off and you fly the airplane. I've
flown many hours without an autopilot.
As far as what caused these incidents, I would be very
reluctant to jump into prescribing some kind of blame because
there's not enough information at this point.
The Chairman. Well, thank you, and I was glad to know this
morning that the authorities had decided where to send the
black box and reportedly that's the United Kingdom, supposedly
the nearest location where the expertise existed, and I
certainly think I express the opinion of the entire Senate that
we get that information.
Mr. Bridenstine. I do. Senator Blumenthal, just point of
reference. What we have to do is make sure that pilots have a
place where they can share information that can be disseminated
to the world where they won't have retribution.
If people start feeling like their information is going to
be shared or that they're going to have some kind of
retribution, maybe they didn't do something perfectly right,
but we all are human and we all make errors. Pilots need to
feel like they have a place they can go to share information
where they're not going to be punished.
I just want to be really careful about how we go about
making sure that our pilots are safe because if we diminish
their willingness to do that, then we will be less safe, not
more safe.
Senator Blumenthal. And, Mr. Chairman, I welcome your
comment about the black box and about the most recent news.
I just want to make clear, I said before, let me repeat it,
you should redact the identifying information that would in any
way endanger the pilots' anonymity in making this report. I
agree totally. We want to preserve the protection against any
sort of reprisal or retribution. That is a very important
point.
But as soon as possible, and my office will follow up with
you, I hope you can provide the complete set of reports. I
think it's important for Americans and the world to know about
the problems that pilots have encountered.
Mr. Bridenstine. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. And, of course, soon we'll be doing a hearing
on aviation safety.
Thank you, Senator Blumenthal.
Senator Sinema.
STATEMENT OF HON. KYRSTEN SINEMA,
U.S. SENATOR FROM ARIZONA
Senator Sinema. Well, thank you, Chairman Wicker, for
holding this hearing, and thank you to our witnesses,
Administrator Bridenstine, good to see you again, and Director
O'Connell.
As Ranking Member of the Aviation and Space Subcommittee, I
recognize the challenges we face as we try to maintain
America's leadership in space, and I look forward to working
with our Subcommittee Chairman, Mr. Cruz, and the whole
Committee on this important issue.
Our competitors across the globe continue to make
significant advances in space exploration and development and
we must address this challenge head on with strong bipartisan
solutions.
America's leadership in space strengthens our national
security, it creates good-paying jobs across the country, and
it spurs groundbreaking research and innovation.
In Arizona, NASA has a broad stakeholder community
comprised of industry, universities, and support service
providers, and I'm proud to represent a state that's home to
all of these actors: World View, Raytheon, Honeywell, Orbital
ATK, Vector, Arizona State University, and the University of
Arizona, and that's just naming a handful.
Our universities, working together with businesses
throughout the state, are pushing the space industry forward
and creating a highly skilled workforce. These partnerships
ensure America's able to remain competitive as we enter into a
new space race.
So my first question is for you, Administrator. Education,
we know, is critical to maintaining America's competitiveness
in space, both at NASA and in the new space economy.
Could you speak a little bit about the challenges that are
created by the aging workforce and retirements happening at
NASA and what role can universities, such as Arizona State
University, play to ensure that we're building a capable and
skilled work force?
Mr. Bridenstine. That's a wonderful question. You are
correct in identifying a very real challenge, which is--and
it's actually a good problem to have, I guess.
People love to work at NASA and when they work there, they
stay. I think our turnover is somewhere around 4 percent
annually and in fact in some key fields, like engineering and
science, it's less than 2 percent annually. So in a way, that's
really--that's good news.
We've been rated the best place to work in the U.S.
Government now for 6 years in a row. All of that is positive.
The challenge is, as you've identified, our workforce has aged
and we now have this bow wave of retirements coming.
So we do look to universities to support that next
generation of technologists, engineers, scientists that can
fill those gaps.
The University of Arizona, of course, right now has an
object in orbit around an asteroid in deep space called Bennu.
OSIRIS-REx is their mission, and it has been so far a very
successful mission, and we look forward to the day when they
bring home a sample from that asteroid, which will be the first
time in human history that that has happened, led by a
university, of course, in your home state of Arizona. That's a
big mission for NASA. It's a big mission for the United States,
a big mission for the world. The whole world is going to be
watching that, and it'll make the covers of every newspaper
when it happens. So that's, I think, an important capability.
Here's the thing that these universities do. Arizona State
University, of course, is top among them. Getting students
involved in the development and the research. So what we like
to do is we like to go to the universities, engage them in, you
know, their scientists, their engineers, getting involved in
these projects, and then those universities engage their
students in that activity.
When it comes to spectroscopy, Arizona State University is
tops, highly recognized around the world, and, of course,
because of that, they're on all kinds of missions that NASA
currently has underway.
We think about the Psyche mission, which is a big object in
the Asteroid Belt, a big steel ball, led by Arizona State
University. So universities partnering with a lot of those
industries that you just mentioned, to accomplish these
objectives inspires students and it gives them the training and
the background and the preparation to join NASA, and so this is
why this is a unique capability in the United States.
We have the best university system in the world and NASA is
a beneficiary of that capability. We want to keep doing those
kind of activities so we can have that pipeline flowing, but
you're right, we do have a bow wave coming. We have to have
people prepared and we're doing what we can right now with the
support of the universities to accomplish that.
Senator Sinema. Great. Mr. Chairman, I know I don't have
much time left, but I do want to follow up on a question around
a 2005 law that Congress passed directing NASA to detect all
near-earth objects that are a 140 meters and larger that could
threaten the Earth by 2020.
So scientists and engineers at the University of Arizona
have been hard at work for decades, long before Congress passed
this legislation, building the ground-based observing
infrastructure, conducting critical research, and cataloging
their discoveries, but we have reached our limits on what we
can detect using ground-based observations.
So my question for you is, can you provide an update on
what NASA's progress is toward meeting that 2005 mandate and
how would this progress accelerate with the addition of things
such as the NEOCam?
Mr. Bridenstine. Wonderful question again. So when we think
about that catalog, we assess that we have cataloged about a
third of those objects that are 150 meters or larger and that's
a very positive thing and, of course, as you mentioned, the
University of Arizona is at the center of those activities with
a network of sensors around the world.
But you're also right in the sense that sensing those
objects that are that small from Earth is becoming very, very
difficult.
We have right now in orbit a project called TESS, which is
looking for planets around other stars and it's, of course,
been a very successful mission already. It will continue to be
successful but here's what we have found. We didn't launch it
for this purpose but it has demonstrated an ability to detect
those objects that are a 140 meters or bigger in ways that we
didn't anticipate.
So we're taking that capability. As you mentioned, we're
going to learn from that and then put together the project, as
you mentioned, NEO, the Near Earth Object kind of project, to
put a satellite in orbit for the purpose of bringing down that
data so that we can finish out that catalog, ultimately to
protect the Earth.
At the same time, we have the DART Mission underway right
now, which is going to demonstrate that we can actually, if
there is a risk to the Earth, we can actually maneuver an
asteroid in deep space long before it becomes a risk to Earth.
I will say this. The evidence is clear that dinosaurs did
not have a space program. We do. Therefore, we need to be
prepared to do what is necessary to protect our planet and
Arizona has been fantastic in helping us do that.
Senator Sinema. Thank you so much, Administrator and
Director. Thank you for being here.
Mr. Chairman, my time's expired. Thank you.
The Chairman. Well, thank you very much, Senator Sinema.
Mr. O'Connell, can you briefly discuss these regulatory
issues, the risk of dual regulation that will hinder American
businesses, and a wide range of unfair practices in the
marketing, including subsidies, dumping of space products,
unfair provisions of space services, and other anticompetitive
tactics that you mentioned on Page 2 and Page 1 of your
testimony? What's the solution there?
Mr. O'Connell. Absolutely, Senator. On the dual regulation,
other countries are developing their own regulatory regimes as
they think about the strategic value of space and also ways to
capture their part of the space economy.
The risk is where, especially with friendly countries, we
want some sort of a partnership between American companies and
other elements in those other countries.
The Chairman. What needs to be done there?
Mr. O'Connell. Both--just we need to stay coordinated with
the other countries so that we're minimizing the regulations,
harmonizing regulations across the two countries so that
there's minimal impact on the businesses.
The Chairman. Short of treaties?
Mr. O'Connell. Absolutely.
The Chairman. OK. Well, keep us posted on what we need to
do there.
Mr. O'Connell. Yes, Senator.
The Chairman. Because you mentioned it early on in your
testimony and you redoubled.
Well, gentlemen, thank you so much for your testimony, and
I think people watching both here in Washington, D.C., and
around the country will conclude that we are very well served
and that we are on the verge of an exciting new chapter.
So I want to thank you all and I've got some words I'm
supposed to read here.
The hearing record will remain open for two weeks. During
this time, Senators are asked to submit any questions for the
record. Upon receipt, the witnesses are requested to submit
their written answers to the Committee as soon as possible.
We had 17 Senators attend this hearing today, 14 got to ask
questions. I think it was a very fine hearing.
And we conclude the hearing with our thanks to the
witnesses.
Mr. Bridenstine. Thank you, Chairman.
[Whereupon, at 11:52 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
Response to Written Question Submitted by Hon. Roger Wicker to
Hon. James F. Bridenstine
Question. Administrator Bridenstine, commercial satellite broadband
operators continue to build, launch, and operate increasingly high-
capacity satellites. Does NASA intend on greater usage of commercial
satellite communications to meet its communications requirements?
Please share your perspective on the importance of ensuring that
commercial satellite communications companies will continue to have
reasonable access to critical spectrum bands.
Answer. NASA's FY20 budget request initiates the Communications
Services Program (CSP) to begin purchasing commercially provided
satellite-based data relaying services to more efficiently meet future
needs. As an initial activity, the CSP will pursue opportunities that
will allow future NASA missions to deploy flight-qualified capabilities
for near-Earth users to get support from commercial providers. Over a
longer time horizon, the CSP will be responsible for the acquisition
management of the next-generation operational communications capability
as current Tracking and Data relay Service (TDRS) satellites and
explore opportunities that are mutually beneficial to NASA and
industry, and will develop an acquisition model for incorporating
commercial communications services into operations.
NASA will define the acquisition strategy for transitioning near-
Earth NASA users to suitable commercially provided services. This
acquisition strategy could include commercial service contracts, hosted
payloads, and/or public-private-partnerships. NASA expects to partner
with multiple commercial entities to phase out reliance on NASA-owned
and -operated systems. This will bolster American industry,
significantly reduce the cost of communication services to NASA, and
maximize interoperability between Government and commercial service
providers while promoting a diverse commercial market.
As the Communication Services Program expands NASA's use of
commercially provided communications serviced, the spectrum used to
support these services will become increasing important to the agency.
Electromagnetic spectrum is a valuable and limited natural resource
that all NASA missions require for communications, navigation, remote
sensing, and data services in the areas of Earth science, space
science, human space exploration, and aeronautical research. All forms
of wireless communication systems used by the U.S. Federal Government
or by commercial entities use the electromagnetic spectrum, so the
spectrum must be carefully controlled and coordinated. The Human
Exploration and Operations (HEO) Mission Directorate's Space
Communications and Navigation (SCaN) division is responsible for
ensuring access to portions of electromagnetic spectrum necessary to
support NASA's mission needs. In both the domestic and international
arenas, NASA continues to engage with the commercial sector to identify
more flexibility in the use of spectrum resources that will meet
mission objectives for the entire space community. SCaN will focus on
planned agenda items at the World Radiocommunication Conference in
FY20, and working within the U.S. Delegation, will seek to ensure
continued access to the RF spectrum supporting NASA's mission
requirements, the U.S. Government space interests, and the U.S.
commercial space community.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. John Thune to
Hon. James F. Bridenstine
Question 1. Administrator Bridenstine, you mentioned the importance
of international partnerships to NASA's missions, especially those
conducted in low-Earth orbit. Could you speak to areas where
international partnerships benefit and support NASA's satellite
operations, particularly when it comes to Earth observation operations?
Answer. The NASA Earth Science Division (ESD) engages in, and in
some cases pioneers, substantive partnerships and collaborations with
other Federal agencies, international agencies and coordination bodies,
and with private sector and commercial entities. For international
partnerships in particular, the collaborations provide mutual benefit
to all parties.
More than half of the on-orbit NASA Earth research satellites, and
a substantial fraction of the missions in development for launch over
the next four years, involve significant hardware collaborations with
international partners. A few examples include: the recently launched
Gravity Recovery and Climate Experimental Follow On with Germany, the
upcoming NASA-India Synthetic Aperture Radar mission, and the Sentinel-
6A/B ocean altimetry missions with the European Space Agency (ESA), the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the European
Commission, and the European Organization for the Exploitation of
Meteorological Satellites. Other parties in satellite mission
development and/or operations include the space agencies of Japan,
France, Germany and Canada. NASA ESD and ESA also coordinate activities
related to research and field campaigns, interoperable data systems,
and joint satellite mission activities through the NASA-ESA Earth
Science Joint Program Planning Group.
Question 2. Administrator Bridenstine, the next satellite in the
Landsat program, Landsat 9, is scheduled to be ready for launch in
December of next year. This date was confirmed in a report last year by
the Government Accountability Office, which determined that the Landsat
9 project was still on schedule for completion by December 2020. Are
there any updates or schedule changes that would lead NASA to believe
Landsat 9 will not be ready to launch on time?
Answer. The project continues working toward a December 2020 Launch
Readiness Date (LRD), 11 months before the Agency Baseline Commitment
for a November 2021 launch. The project's next major milestones, Key
Decision Point-D (KDP-D), is currently scheduled for December 2019.
______
Response to Written Question Submitted by Hon. Rick Scott to
Hon. James F. Bridenstine
Question. The space industry has long been an important and iconic
part of Florida's history and economy. In my eight years as Governor, I
worked to position Florida as a national and global leader in space
exploration by investing more than $230 million in spaceport projects,
which supported the creation of more than 1,100 high-paying aerospace
jobs since the end of the Shuttle program. Additionally, Florida's
Space Coast manufacturers and businesses continue to thrive due to the
investments we have made in the space industry.
Administrator Bridenstine, can you discuss any new programs and
infrastructure projects at Kennedy Space Center being built in
conjunction with our commercial partners and explain their return on
investment over the next year? How many new direct and indirect jobs
will these projects support? What are some ways we can continue to
bridge the gap between NASA and our commercial partners?
Answer. NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) recently executed three new
land leases, utilizing NASA's Enhanced Use Leasing authority, with
major commercial partners--SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Florida Power and
Light (FPL). Blue Origin's lease will allow for expansion of its
current Exploration Park facilities for the purpose of launch vehicle
design, manufacturing, assembly, processing, and testing; flight crew
and space flight participant training; public engagement and outreach;
and mission control and engineering activities. Likewise, SpaceX's
lease will allow it to build facilities for the purpose of hardware and
launch vehicle design, manufacturing, assembly, processing, and
testing; and launch control. FPL's lease will allow it to build a solar
farm that will serve the public utility grid.
NASA KSC also has numerous other agreements that allow commercial
space launch activities at KSC including SpaceX's operations at the
historic Launch Complex 39A, and Space Florida's agreement to operate
the historic Shuttle Landing Facility runway. Finally, NASA KSC,
through its Space Act Authority, enables commercial space activity by
making unique KSC resources and launch services available to its
resident commercial partners including SpaceX, Blue Origin, Boeing, and
United Launch Alliance (ULA). These partners could not operate or
launch at KSC without this support.
NASA's partnerships with commercial space and other compatible
industry partners have served as an integral part of the success thus
far in managing the challenges of maintaining and transforming the
Agency's aging infrastructure. NASA Centers such as KSC continue to
seek avenues for mutually beneficial engagement with the commercial
sector through agreements that align with and complement the Agency's
mission activities and support these infrastructure goals. A well-
functioning, efficient and cost-effective infrastructure is necessary
for the support of NASA's mission requirements, and is also important
for remaining relevant and attractive to potential partners who may be
considering relocation or co-location of operations, or investment in
development of unutilized real property. The availability of sufficient
resources for NASA to meet the challenges of sustaining its
infrastructure remains more critical than ever. NASA's FY 2020 budget
request includes critical new funding to address these significant
challenges with facilities at NASA Centers. This funding will be
important to enable NASA Centers to undertake the actions that carry
the Agency forward toward its infrastructure management objectives,
including replacing obsolete capabilities with facilities that meet the
demands of the missions of tomorrow.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Maria Cantwell to
Hon. James F. Bridenstine
NEOWISE. NEOWISE's goal is to identify comets and asteroids that
may potentially pose a threat to our world. However, there are concerns
that much of the data that NASA collected is inaccurate due to a
software bug that was not disclosed to public researchers for many
years, significantly setting back their efforts to advance the NEOWISE
mission. Additionally, there is a proposed mission to launch a new
telescope into space to support the program known as the Near-Earth
Object Camera (NEOCAM), which will cost about $600M. However, there's a
ground observatory, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), which
is nearing completion in Chile. LSST will accomplish many of the same
goals as NEOCAM, and will be up and running before NEOCAM's planned
launch. Needless to say, I have concerns about the management of this
program. I want to make sure that the best possible science is being
done on this issue, and that taxpayer resources are being used well.
Question 1. Can you address these concerns about a potential
software bug?
Answer. The NEOWISE science team, in 2011, discovered an
inconsistency in the mathematical model that was used to compute
estimated sizes of observed asteroids, based on the infrared energy
collected by spacecraft sensors. At times referred to as a ``software
bug'', in actuality this was a mathematical inconsistency in the size
estimation software used. The NEOWISE spacecraft, its operations, or
the infrared data it collected were not affected. Rather, this
pertained to a small percentage of the observed object physical size
estimates in the scientific analysis of the collected NEOWISE data.
Size estimates are affected by many different factors; this effect was
less than 6 percent, well within the estimated accuracy of
20 percent articulated by the NEOWISE science team. The
NEOWISE team corrected this issue for the 2011 thermal model, thus it
affected only some size estimate analyses that used data collected
during the WISE prime mission (Jan. 2010-Feb. 2011). The NEOWISE team
brought the issue to the attention of other researchers when updates to
their estimated sizes were published in the NEOWISE database in 2014.
Such corrections and updates are part of the normal scientific process;
this being one of several thermal model improvements made over eleven
years of project-work. Many other asteroid scientists have conducted
independent studies of asteroid sizes and validated the NEOWISE
results. NASA has no concerns regarding the efficacy of the science
team, the data or any future mission that could go forward based on
NEOWISE. In fact, experiences such as this confirm the invaluable
service of NASA mission science teams, and only serve to improve the
scientific results obtained by missions.
Further, NASA has funded an independent study by the National
Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) entitled ``Near
Earth Object Observations in the Infrared and Visible Wavelengths,''
found here: (https://www8.nation
alacademies.org/pa/projectview.aspx?key=51478). The investigation will
(1) explore the relative advantages and disadvantages of IR and visible
observations of near Earth objects (NEOs), (2) review and describe the
techniques that could be used to obtain NEO sizes from an infrared
spectrum and delineate the associated errors in determining the size,
and (3) evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of these techniques and
recommend the most valid techniques that give reproducible results with
quantifiable errors. The study team is well into the investigation with
the published report expected by early summer 2019.
With regard to the National Science Foundation (NSF) Large Synoptic
Survey Telescope (LSST), NASA and NSF formed a joint study team to
assess its potential contribution to the discovery of NEOs once LSST
becomes operational in 2023. The team, which included members of the
LSST science team, extensively examined the potential LSST capabilities
and published findings in a March 2017 paper, found here: https://
www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/joint_jpl-uw_whitepa
per_27mar2017.pdf. The effort was conducted in parallel with a NASA
Science Mission Directorate (SMD)-sponsored NEO Science Definition Team
(SDT) that provided a non-advocate technical report in September 2017,
found here: (https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/
2017_neo_sdt_final_e-version.pdf). The NEO SDT assessed performance of
current NEO survey assets and addressed options for optimizing the
effort into the future. The SDT found that by the early 2030s current
ground-based NEO search efforts will reach approximately 60 percent
completeness of the statutory goal of finding at least 90 percent of
NEOs greater than or equal to 140 meters. According to the joint NASA/
NSF study, the LSST would accelerate the discovery rate to
approximately 75-80 percent completeness of the goal in the ten years
of planned operations by NSF (i.e., by the mid-2030s), and would
improve this completeness by 1-2 percent for each year of additional
operations. LSST would not be expected to achieve 90 percent
completeness until well into the 2040s.
The NEOCAM mission concept has been studied for several years, but
has not been approved to proceed. NASA is currently assessing whether a
space-based survey capability such as NEOCAM is warranted. The SDT
found that a space-based survey capability could accelerate reaching
the statutory goal, and this capability also could provide a more
accurate estimate of sizes if it operated in the infrared wavelengths,
which cannot be done by ground-based survey telescopes.
Question 2. Will you commit to working with me and my staff to make
sure this important mission is being managed in a way that successfully
accomplishes its goals?
Answer. Yes, NASA is committed to the goals of our Planetary
Defense Program and would be pleased to answer any additional questions
you may have. The extent of NASA's current efforts is delineated at
https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefense/overview, and daily progress at
finding the NEO population can be tracked here: https://
cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/stats/totals.html.
Space Launch System--First Mission. You spoke about possibly flying
Orion on a commercial vehicle. I am concerned that pushing SLS further
out will kill the program. Furthermore, there are safety concerns
related to flying SLS for the first time with crew.
Question 1. What are the other options you referenced?
Answer. In March 2019, in an effort to ensure that NASA stays on
track for the launch of Artemis 1 by 2020, the Agency explored the
possibility of launching Orion and the European Service Module (ESM) to
low-Earth orbit (LEO) on an existing rocket, then using a boost from
another existing vehicle for Trans Lunar Injection. Among options
considered were launching on: a single Delta IV Heavy; two Delta IVs; a
Delta IV and a Falcon Heavy; and a Falcon Heavy with Interim Cryogenic
Propulsion Stage (ICPS). Although the preliminary assessment showed
that it might be possible to launch Orion on a single Falcon Heavy,
such a configuration would also pose significant integration,
procurement, and technical challenges. Therefore, the Agency determined
that the best option was to work to accelerate development of the Space
Launch System (SLS) to stay on track for an Artemis 1 launch in 2020.
We are continuing to investigate commercial options for later missions.
Having dissimilar redundancy (e.g., two launch vehicles) has been
proven important to long-term safe operations. Examples include: Soyuz
as a back-up to the Space Shuttle; Atlas V as a back-up to Antares.
Question 2. What can we do to ensure the Space Launch System (SLS)
is ready to launch Orion in 2020?
Answer. The NASA and Boeing teams are working overtime to prevent
ongoing delays to the launch schedule of the SLS from pushing the first
launch into 2021. On March 4, 2019, NASA's Human Exploration and
Operations (HEO) Mission Directorate chartered an assessment of other
activities needed to achieve a launch in 2020. After completion of the
HEO assessment, an independent schedule risk review led by the NASA
Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) will assess the proposed
new plan. NASA leadership will review the results of these assessments
in late spring 2019.
Question 3. Please explain the safety issues related to flying SLS
for the first time with crew and how the agency plans to mitigate those
risks.
Answer. NASA is not planning for the first flight of SLS to be a
crewed flight. The second flight of SLS will be the first crewed
flight, Artemis 2, and NASA is executing a multi-step integrated test
and training program to plan and execute this mission, and those that
follow, with minimum risk to crew and mission objectives.
In addition to extensive ground testing of hardware and systems,
NASA will test abort operations with the Ascent Abort test 2 (AA-2) in
June 2019. The Artemis 1 test flight will provide additional critical
data that will be used to validate the rocket design and refine mission
operations prior to the crewed Artemis 2 flight.
NASA has designed Artemis 2 to minimize exposure to orbital debris
before the Orion crew heads off for its trip beyond the Moon and back.
NASA is conducting extensive training for its astronauts and ground
crew that will enable coordinated responses to a host of contingency
operations.
Space Launch System--Program Cuts. I am surprised that this budget
cuts NASA's key exploration systems, SLS and Orion, leading up to the
first integrated launch in 2020. I am also concerned that NASA is
deferring development of SLS's Enhanced Upper Stage.
Question 1. How will these proposed cuts impact the planned once a
year launch cadence for SLS and Orion and the long-term goals of the
exploration program?
Answer. NASA's baseline plan has been to launch Artemis 1 in 2020,
followed by Artemis 2 in 2022, and the third flight in 2024 with
launches once per year thereafter. The FY 2020 Budget provided the
resources needed to achieve this launch cadence and the May Budget
Amendment added over $600M to keep the program on track. NASA is
committed to meeting the current launch manifest and is focusing
efforts to overcome core stage first-time production issues, which have
slowed efforts to procure hardware for the third flight and beyond.
While NASA is resolving near-term core stage production issues, risk to
the one-year flight cadence is being mitigated by funding long-lead
procurements. NASA continues to evaluate and work these challenges to
meet its manifest commitments, including the new challenge of landing
astronauts on the Moon by 2024.
Question 2. Why is NASA deferring development of the Enhanced Upper
Stage when this capability is needed to maintain robust and sustainable
deep space exploration?
Answer. The development of SLS core stage has proven to be more
challenging than previously anticipated. Therefore, the NASA and Boeing
teams are currently focused on completing the SLS core stage and
accelerating development of the launch vehicle overall in order to
ensure that we can fly Artemis 1 in 2020. EUS can be an important
future component of our cislunar and deep space capability, but it is
critical to complete SLS in the near-term and stay on track with the
launch of Artemis 1.
International Space Station. I'm disappointed to see the FY20
budget again includes the administration's proposal to end direct
Federal funding for the International Space Station by 2025. The NASA
Inspector General has called it ``highly unlikely'' that by 2025 a
private company will be able to take over significant portions of the
ISS or field a private replacement.
Question. Given China's plans to construct their own space station,
are you concerned about what would happen to our international
partnerships and U.S. leadership in space if we stop funding the ISS in
2025?
Answer. The Administration is committed to maintaining access to a
platform in low Earth orbit (LEO). NASA intends to transition from the
current Government-dominated model of human spaceflight activities in
LEO to a model where Government is only one customer for commercial
services. The Agency is increasing the breadth and depth of commercial
and international LEO activities. NASA will expand partnerships in LEO
to include new companies and additional nations beyond the ISS
Partners, including working with commercial partners to support
visiting crew.
NASA is leveraging the ISS Partnership to define technical
interoperability standards for exploration that will allow expanded
commercial and international partnerships in LEO and beyond. Our
partners are interested in participating in the Gateway and in
conducting activities on the lunar surface. While they are willing to
work with other nations, the United States remains the preferred
partner, given our existing leadership role and the capabilities we
contribute to human and robotic space exploration.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Edward Markey to
Hon. James F. Bridenstine
Space Exploration--World Leader. According to a 2018 Pew study,
almost 3 out of every 4 Americans believes that the United States must
continue to be a world leader in space exploration, and 4 in 5 say that
the space station has been a good investment for the country.
Question. Can you guarantee there will be absolutely no
interruption of American scientific research in low-Earth orbit if NASA
funding of the International Space Station ends after 2024?
Answer. The Administration is committed to maintaining access to a
platform in low Earth orbit (LEO), so NASA has no concerns about
interruptions to international partnerships, U.S. leadership, or
scientific research related to the ongoing commercialization of
activities in LEO. NASA recognizes the importance of maintaining
continued operations and U.S. leadership in low-Earth orbit (LEO). The
Agency is working to transition its work in LEO, including our
international partnerships, to be based on commercially-provided space
station services that help enable deep space exploration and private
sector expansion in LEO. To support this transition, the International
Space Station (ISS) will focus near-term activities on supporting
commercial industry as well as meeting Government requirements in LEO.
In parallel, NASA is creating a focused effort aimed at long-term
American operations in LEO independent of the ISS.
It is also important to note that NASA is conducting scientific
research in LEO and beyond through over 60 operating robotic missions
managed by the Science Mission Directorate, including several science
instruments on the ISS focused on Earth Science and Astrophysics
research.
NASA Budget Cuts and Existing Projects--In a hearing last year, you
said, ``We are committed to studying planet Earth at NASA.'' I am
disappointed to see that the President's Budget yet again cuts valuable
Earth Science funding. It proposes to eliminate funding for two
projects expected to provide critical new data for understanding
climate change and the health of our planet: the Plankton, Aerosol,
Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission and the Climate Absolute Radiance
and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) Pathfinder project. In that same
hearing, you said, ``CLARREO and PACE are, because of the laws passed
by this body, they are being built as we speak.''
Question 1. Are both these missions still currently under
development, despite the Administration's stated intention to cut
funding for these programs?
Answer. Yes. PACE and CLARREO-PF are still proceeding as planned in
accordance with the appropriated budget in the FY19 Consolidated
Appropriations Act. CLARREO-PF's Preliminary Design Review (PDR) will
be held in May 2019, and its Key Decision Point C (KDP-C) is scheduled
for July 9. PACE's PDR will be held in June 2019, and its KDP-C is
scheduled for August 15.
Question 2. Do you agree that it is important to maintain the
United States' leadership in Earth Science at the same time as we seek
to keep our leadership in the deep space race?
Answer. Yes. The President's Budget Request for FY20 provides for a
strong program that will continue NASA's and the country's leadership
in spaceborne Earth observations, Earth system science, and space-based
applications. NASA's Earth Science activities transform measurements
and understanding into information products that are used widely to
build national resilience, provide societal benefit, and improve lives.
The budget request continues full operations of NASA's fleet of 22
Earth observing research missions in low-Earth orbit, geostationary
orbit, Lagrange-1 orbit, and on the International Space Station.
Statement from Past Year. In a hearing last year, you said, ``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.''
Question. The CLARREO mission was originally recommended in the
2007 Earth Science Decadal. Do you stand by your commitment last year
to follow the recommendations of the decadal surveys?
Answer. Yes. The decadal surveys play a leading role in
articulating the consensus-driven priorities and needs of the
scientific communities we serve and in setting the goals of NASA's
Earth Science Division (ESD) satellite mission development. However,
the decadal survey is not the sole source of recommendations. The
decadal survey recommendations must be balanced with other priorities
and constraints, including budget assumptions set by the
Administration. The last two Earth Science decadal surveys have assumed
budgets that were significantly higher than were eventually
appropriated. In order to address these recommendations under
constrained budgets, ESD is leveraging partnerships, work and ideas
from the non-governmental and private sectors, as well as emphasizing
competition.
Uranium. A recent white paper from the Los Alamos National
Laboratory (LANL) advocated for the use of weapons-grade, highly
enriched uranium (HEU) to fuel reactors to provide energy for space
flight or on planetary surfaces. This would break longstanding U.S.
policy to avoid the use of this uranium in non-weapons applications and
it might make projects harder to fund and complete, compared to the use
of low-enriched uranium (LEU). It also contradicts the findings of
several NASA presentations and fact sheets from preceding years.
Question 1. Is NASA reversing its position on the U.S. policy to
minimize the use of HEU in civilian nuclear applications? If yes, why?
Answer. In coordination with DoE, NASA is in compliance with U.S.
policy relative to the use of HEU for space applications.
Question 2. Has NASA explored using low-enriched uranium and, if
so, why was this deemed an unacceptable alternative?
Answer. NASA continues to review and evaluate various nuclear
technology options, including those that would employ either highly
enriched uranium (HEU) or High Assay Low Enriched Uranium (HALEU). The
Agency is presently evaluating two different nuclear reactor technology
applications for space: (1) nuclear surface power, and (2) nuclear
thermal propulsion. The use cases for space fission system technologies
being developed by the two projects are significantly different from
each other which may lead to different implementations.
Surface power systems, initially with power levels of perhaps a few
kilowatts scaling up to several tens of kilowatts, would be delivered
to lunar or other planetary surfaces on a lander that has very limited
payload capacity. After deployment, the system would be expected to
operate continuously for many years. Long-lived, continuous day and
night power sources on the lunar surface are essential to promote in
situ resource utilization-based propellant production, and to deliver
enough power to support human surface sustained presence through
multiple day-night cycles. The total mission power to meet near term
needs is expected to be less than 10 kilowatts, potentially growing to
tens of kilowatts for larger-scale implementations. In this power
class, HEU systems offer a considerable mass savings compared to low
enriched uranium (LEU) systems. Generally, the mass advantages of HEU-
based systems relative to LEU-based fission power systems become
significantly reduced at power levels above 100-150 kilowatts. As
requirements for surface power systems are finalized and more detailed
studies are completed, NASA will be in a position to select the fuel
type to best support its missions.
By contrast, a Nuclear Thermal Propulsion system, with a reactor
power level of several hundred megawatts, could be used for the main
propulsion of a large spacecraft, executing a few high-performance
propulsive maneuvers with run times of several minutes to a few tens of
minutes. A NASA use for a nuclear thermal propulsion system could be to
depart one planetary body (for example, Earth) and capture into orbit
around another (such as Mars). NASA's Nuclear Thermal Propulsion
project, which has adopted a high-assay low enriched uranium-based
reactor design, is addressing key technical challenges related to
developing an efficient propulsion system for deep space transit.
Question 3. Since a likely consequence of NASA's use of HEU fuel
would be to increase foreign countries' use of HEU fuel and thereby
increase the risks of nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism, has
NASA included such national security costs in its evaluation of HEU
fuel? Please provide any estimates, if so.
Answer. We recognize that the use of HEU would come with
significant costs for security and could also raise broader
nonproliferation concerns.
As DOE will retain ownership of the HEU consistent with the Atomic
Energy Act, any work done in support of design, fabrication, and
transportation will fall under existing security postures at DOE sites.
Regarding security costs at the launch location, NASA conducted a
Nuclear Power Assessment Study in 2014 that examined the security costs
for processing an HEU reactor at the Kennedy Space Center in
preparation for launch. That study estimated approximately $30M (non-
recurring) infrastructure investments and $40M (recurring) for a 9-
month campaign that included the required security posture at the
launch site. It should be noted that this study utilized conservative
assumptions given the specific reactor design was not finalized,
including the quantity and form of HEU. As the reactor designs and
mission plans mature, NASA will continue efforts with DOE and other
Federal agencies to develop a security plan with acceptable
performance-based security measures, leveraging to the extent practical
existing security programs to minimize security costs where
appropriate. These assessments will be factored into the ultimate fuel
reactor design decisions.
Question 4. Will using HEU mean that fewer commercial and academic
partners would be able to participate in conventional space launches?
Answer. While LEU-based systems may facilitate the use of
commercial and academic partners to lead the reactor development, an
HEU-based reactor development would likely include both commercial and
academic partners in support roles. In either case, NASA and DOE would
oversee the development for any system employed in a NASA application.
For example, NASA has delivered a number of scientific missions
employing nuclear power using commercial launch services, most recently
the Mars Science Laboratory in 2011. This rover is successfully
operating on Mars and was developed with a variety of international,
academic and commercial partners. We anticipate future spacecraft,
including those using fission-based reactors as their power source,
would continue to support commercial and academic participation in
providing scientific instruments, technology and launch vehicles.
Question 5. If yes, has NASA calculated the increase in cost that
would come from excluding most potential commercial and academic
partners in its valuation of HEU fuel? Please provide any estimates, if
so.
Answer. Commercial and academic partners would be included in
either LEU or HEU reactor developments, as stated above.
Question 6. As you know, facilities using and storing HEU must meet
higher regulatory and security standards. Has NASA conducted any
studies or estimates of the potential security, administrative, and
regulatory costs associated with NASA's potential use of HEU? Please
provide any estimates, if so.
Answer. The possession and use of HEU falls under the Atomic Energy
Act and, as such, DOE would retain ownership and custody of special
nuclear materials. The development, testing, and transportation of a
HEU power system would be conducted at DOE controlled locations that
already possess the necessary security posture. As stated above, the
2014 study provided an initial estimate of the cost to security HEU at
the launch location and NASA would work with DOE and other agencies to
refine that estimate once the reactor design is finalized.
Question 7. Will you commit to providing my staff more information
about why NASA proposes to use HEU and how it reached this decision?
Answer. NASA continues to review and evaluate various nuclear
technology options, including those that would employ either highly
enriched uranium (HEU) or High Assay Low Enriched Uranium (HALEU). NASA
is committed to supporting the Committee's oversight.
______
Response to Written Question Submitted by Hon. Roger Wicker to
Kevin M. O'Connell
Question. Mr. O'Connell, page 2 of your written statement notes
that the Administration ``proposed elevating the Office of Space
Commerce to the bureau-level within the Department of Commerce'' and
also that Space Policy Directive-2 calls for the Department of Commerce
(DOC) to undergo a reorganization to better promote space commerce. On
December 20, 2018 the Senate passed the Space Frontier Act (S. 3277) by
unanimous consent. Section 308 of S. 3277 created a Bureau of Space
Commerce within the DOC headed by a Senate-confirmed Assistant
Secretary. Please provide the committee with your perspective on the
potential benefits of elevating your current office to a Bureau-level
within DOC.
Answer. The global space economy is growing rapidly. Numerous
sources estimate the global space economy with revenues of
approximately $400 billion, with the United States claiming over 50
percent of the market. As the market grows to an estimated $1 trillion,
or possibly as high as $3 trillion by 2040, we want to ensure that the
United States positions itself as a leader in market for both economic
and national security reasons.
As mentioned in my testimony, I assumed leadership of the Office of
Space Commerce within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration in July 2018. Given the strategic importance of this
industry to U.S. economic and national security goals, I have been
proud to reengage the office. However, I have found that the office's
success is constrained by the current organizational structure.
Elevating of the Office of Space Commerce (OSC) to the Office of
the Secretary as proposed in the FY 2020 President's Budget would
address three critical needs:
Create a Platform from which to Promote the U.S. Commercial
Space Industry: This effort is consistent with the
Administration's reestablishment of the National Space Council
and emphasis on space, especially its desire to harness the
innovation of the U.S. commercial space sector.
Leverage the Entire Department of Commerce: Putting OSC
within the Office of the Secretary improves our ability to tap
into the many different talents and expertise of Department of
Commerce on behalf of the U.S. commercial space industry. This
coordination is critically important as we continue to engage
with industry, advocate, implement the Administration's Space
Policy Directives, and deepen our understanding of the space
economy.
Improve Debate: The leadership of OSC within the Office of
the Secretary allows for more equal footing for economic and
commercial issues within interagency discussions and debates.
The Department has already taken a number of steps to elevate the
profile of our commercial space activities and leverage the expertise
from across the Department.
This elevated platform has fostered partnerships between the Office
of Space Commerce and various bureaus within the Department. We
continue to work, for example, with the International Trade
Administration, which advocates internationally for space companies,
and the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), which regulates
commercial space export licenses. In April, BIS and the Office of Space
Commerce hosted Export Control Industry Day, a public meeting to
discuss the National Space Council's ongoing review of space export
controls and the new rule-making activities. Additionally, OSC
collaborated with the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration to produce the Space Policy Directive-2 (Streamlining
Regulations on Commercial Use of Space)-mandated report, Driving Space
Commerce Through Effective Spectrum Policy, on the importance of space
spectrum and updated national and international policies.
Furthermore, OSC is working with the National Institute of
Standards and Technology to develop standards for mitigating space
debris and space congestion. We also are working with the Minority
Business Development Agency as it administers grants in support of
space commerce, and the Economic Development Administration, which
promotes grant opportunities to commercial space companies that support
regional development. Elevating the Office of Space Commerce to Office
of the Secretary, however, would provide the opportunity to strengthen
these partnerships.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. John Thune to
Kevin M. O'Connell
Question 1. Mr. O'Connell, your testimony highlighted the
importance of commercial and intergovernmental partnerships to
sustaining U.S. leadership in operational Earth observation. One of
these partnerships is the Earth Resources Observation and Science, or
EROS, facility--located in my home state of South Dakota--where NASA
and USGS coordinate to provide critical remote sensing data used for
numerous applications, including flood mapping and agriculture.
Based on the success of EROS and similar partnerships, do you have
any suggestions for ways the Federal government can promote or improve
these intergovernmental partnerships?
Answer. During the early 1990s, I worked with the Earth Resources
Observation and Science (EROS) Data Center in connection with the
declassification of the CORONA national security archive and
experienced firsthand the importance of intergovernmental cooperation
in ensuring the U.S. government's efficiency in creating new or
modernizing government programs. Partnerships like the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)-U.S. Geological Society
(USGS) EROS project that you cite are a good example of government
agencies coordinating requirements, leveraging current operations, and
minimizing infrastructure to perform a shared government mission. These
are exactly the principles that the Department of Commerce is adopting
as it undertakes its portion of the space situational awareness/space
traffic management mission in partnership with the Department of
Defense and other Federal agencies. The National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) also participates in the USGS/EROS
led Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation (JACIE) activity. An
annual workshop showcases the work done by five government agencies--
NOAA, NASA, USGS, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and the
U.S. Department of Agriculture--and industry/academia partnerships to
evaluate commercial sources of remotely sensed data and their ability
to support Federal science needs. This year's theme is ``The Rapidly
Evolving Remote Sensing Industry.'' JACIE is a model for Government
collaboration with the commercial remote sensing industry representing
complementary roles in the larger Earth observation enterprise.
Question 2. As a follow-up, what can be done by the Federal
government to encourage commercial sector partnerships that promote the
U.S. as the first choice of location for satellite companies?
Answer. Under Space Policy Directive-2 (Streamlining Regulations on
Commercial Use of Space) and Space Police Directive-3 (Space Traffic
Management), the Department is undertaking a wide variety of efforts to
advocate for the U.S. commercial space industry, including efforts to
remove impediments to economic and technological growth. Deregulatory
efforts in areas like spectrum, remote sensing, export controls, and
others reflect our keen understanding of the intensely competitive
global space market and the need to continuously adapt regulation in
order to keep America as the ``flag of choice'' for commercial space
operators.
One key role we will be investigating, based on industry input, are
the many dimensions of the U.S. government's role as a customer. The
U.S. government retains tremendous buying power in the commercial space
market. When the government works with the commercial sector,
particularly with smaller and upstart companies, it allows these
companies to experiment and innovate in a variety of areas, generally
at a fraction of the cost of traditional government programs. This
mechanism is one of the many that we will be promoting is the public-
private partnerships.
______
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Maria Cantwell to
Kevin M. O'Connell
Space Policy Directive-2. NOAA is required to make a determination
on commercial earth observation licenses within 120 days, but for years
the department has failed to meet that deadline--sometimes going years
over the deadline. The president's second space policy directive tasked
the Department of Commerce with consolidating the department's space
programs and advocacy within your office.
Question 1. How have things improved since the department's space
responsibilities were consolidated in your office?
Answer. With the Administration's leadership and the Department of
Commerce's emphasis on implementing the 2017 interagency Memorandum of
Understanding, ``Concerning the Licensing and Operations of Private
Remote Sensing Satellite Systems,'' the average processing time has
been reduced from 213 days in 2014, to an average of 61 days in 2018.
However, the
Department of Commerce's responsibilities regarding commercial
space activities are not consolidated. We believe that elevating the
office to the Office of the Secretary, as proposed in the FY 2020
budget, will result in continued improvements to the licensing process.
Question 2. What more needs to be done?
Answer. Elevating the Office of Space Commerce (OSC) to the Office
of the Secretary as proposed in the FY 2020 President's Budget would
address three critical needs:
Create an Elevated Platform from which to Promote the U.S.
Commercial Space Industry: This is consistent with the
Administration's reestablishment of the National Space Council
and emphasis on space, especially its desire to harness the
innovation of the U.S. commercial space sector.
Leverage the Entire Department of Commerce: Putting OSC
within the Office of the Secretary creates the ability to tap
into the many different talents and expertise of Department of
Commerce on behalf of the U.S. commercial space industry. This
is critically important as we continue our roles of advocacy,
implementation of the Space Policy Directives, industry
engagement, and the deepening our understanding of the space
economy.
Meaningful Debate: The leadership of OSC within the Office
of the Secretary allows for more equal footing for economic and
commercial issues within interagency discussions and debates.
[all]