Here is our list of space policy events for December 11-31, 2016 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in recess for the rest of the year.

During the Weeks

Congress has completed its legislative business for the year. Officially the 114th Congress ends at noon on January 3, 2017 when the 115th Congress begins, but no more legislative activity is scheduled between now and then.

With the holidays looming, few other space policy events are scheduled for the rest of the year, so this edition of “What’s Happening” covers through the end of 2016.

This coming week still has a few important events, most notably, perhaps, the annual American Geophysical Union (AGU) fall meeting in San Francisco. It begins on Monday, but today (Sunday), an associated public lecture is scheduled (it will be livestreamed) about how Mars landing sites are selected. In this case, it is the Mars 2020 landing site. The lecture is at noon Pacific Time (3:00 pm ET) and features a NASA astrobiologist (Michael Meyer), a CalTech geologist (Bethany Ehlmann), and a high school student (Alex Longo).

AGU will livestream 75 of its more than 1800 scientific sessions during the week-long meeting and NASA TV will broadcast several press conferences and other events in which the agency is engaged. Unfortunately, Tuesday’s Town Hall meeting on the status of the National Academies’ Decadal Survey on Earth Science and Applications from Space (ESAS) isn’t on either list.

Speaking of Earth science, on Monday morning, weather permitting (and the forecast isn’t very good), NASA will launch a constellation of eight microsatellites using Orbital ATK’s air-launched Pegasus rocket. The Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) will measure ocean surface winds in and near the eyes of hurricanes to improve hurricane intensity forecasts. NASA TV will cover the launch.

The Committee on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine will meet Tuesday-Wednesday at the Academies’ Beckman Center in Irvine, CA. Sessions on the first day are closed, but almost all day on Wednesday is open and will be available by WebEx.

On a completely different topic, the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance will hold a briefing on Capitol Hill on developing a space-based sensor layer for missile defense on Wednesday. Maj. Gen. Roger Teague, Director of Space Programs for the Air Force Acquisitions Office, and Richard Matlock, Program Executive for Advanced Technology at the Missile Defense Agency, are the speakers.

After that, the calendar is empty till the New Year begins. Unless some new events emerge, we will not publish a “What’s Happening” article until January 1. We wish all of you a happy and restful holiday season. (And we’ll still be here posting news stories as needed.)

The events we know about through December 31 are shown below. Check back throughout the weeks for additional meetings we learn about later and post to our Events of Interest list.

Sunday, December 11

AGU Public Lecture on How Do We Choose a Landing Site on Mars?, Room 102 South Moscone Center, San Francisco, 12:00-1:00 pm Pacific Time (3:00-4:00 pm ET), livestreamed

Monday, December 12

Launch of NASA’s CYNGSS mission, one-hour launch window opens 8:19 am (NASA TV coverage begins 6:45 am ET)

Monday-Friday, December 12-16

AGU Fall Meeting, Moscone Center, San Francisco (some sessions and press conferences will be livestreamed by AGU or NASA)

Tuesday, December 13

National Academies Town Hall Meeting on ESAS Decadal Survey, Room 2007, Moscone West, San Francisco

Tuesday-Wednesday, December 13-14

National Academies Committee on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space, Beckman Center, Irvine, CA (December 13 sessions are closed, December 14 sessions open and available by WebEx)

Wednesday, December 14