[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

=======================================================================

                                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







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       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

                              ----------                              


                       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.

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