Polaris
Stories from Payload’s weekly space policy newsletter, Polaris.
Italy Seeks More Cooperation With US Industry on Space
Teodoro Valente, the president of the Italian Space Agency, was in DC last week on a mission to look for additional areas of cooperation between the Italian space sector and American space companies.
China’s Pursuit of Space Superiority Through Soft Power
Beijing is increasingly using its space ambition to build a global coalition of international partners in orbit, according to a Pentagon report released last week.
Bill Spotlight: Space Force Legacy Guardian Recognition Act
Congress is trying to make sure troops who contributed to national security space missions before the Space Force existed are recognized as honorary members of the service.
Space Force Team Reps US at Lachs Space Moot
Three Space Force officers represented the service on the world stage in a new way last week: as the North American team at an international space law competition in Azerbaijan.
FCC Fines Dish Over Satellite Left In Orbit
The FCC has enforced consequences for the first time on a company that failed to stick to its deorbit plan, the agency announced yesterday.
Rep. Eric Sorensen on Space Travel, Safety and Shuttle Ties
A space leader on Capitol Hill is looking at how to eliminate gaps between the agencies that oversee human spaceflight over concerns about maintaining the highest safety standards. Rep. Eric Sorensen (D-IL), the ranking member of the House space subcommittee, pointed out the multitude of groups that have a hand in regulating spaceflight, from the…
Americans Lobby Congress on Planetary Science Priorities
Joseph Diggs, a science teacher in Anne Arundel county, MD, was doing a different kind of educating (and in a much grander classroom) on Monday. Diggs was one of 130+ people who traveled to DC for the Planetary Society’s Day of Action, during which people lobby their representatives to support scientific exploration of the cosmos.…
A Busy Fall on Capitol Hill
As lawmakers settle back into DC following the August recess, Congress is facing a long list of space to-dos—but not a lot of time to tackle them. Members have a little over two weeks to tackle three major priorities with deadlines at the end of September: passing a fiscal 2024 funding bill, deciding whether to…
One-on-One with Richard DalBello
The process of moving the nation’s space traffic management mission from DoD to the Commerce Department has been slow—but Richard DalBello told Payload that’s very much on purpose. “There was an idea present when we started that somehow this would be simple,” DalBello, head of the Office of Space Commerce, said. “This is tremendously complicated….…
Hiding In Plain Sight
The UAP craze that enveloped DC this summer has officially gone mainstream. At last week’s Republican presidential primary debate, Chris Christie fielded a question about whether he would be honest about the existence of aliens if he’s elected to the nation’s highest office. “The job of the president of the United States is to level…
Bill Nelson is Spreading NASA’s Message Abroad
What do Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Argentine President Alberto Fernández have in common? They all met with NASA Administrator Bill Nelson this summer. Nelson is embracing—and elevating—his role as the nation’s space diplomat, and his long history on Capitol Hill means he doesn’t clam up when…
The Space Command Saga Continues
The Alabama delegation has a clear message for those celebrating last week’s decision to keep US Space Command in Colorado: don’t pop the champagne cork just yet. Next chapter: For some lawmakers on Capitol Hill, the Biden administration’s decision to reject DoD’s original decision to move the command to Huntsville, AL marks the loss of…
Lawmakers Propose Recognition for Mercury 13
Astronauts like Sally Ride and Judith Resnik made history by shattering the glass ceiling to space, but a bipartisan group of lawmakers says it’s time to recognize the group of women who made the first cracks. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), Young Kim (R-CA), Haley Stevens (D-MI), and Debbie Lesko (R-AZ), the four co-chairs of the…
