Adam Smith calls Space Force outlines 'promising' Presented by Northrop Grumman

With help from Connor O’brien

QUICK FIX

— The big thaw? House Armed Services Chairman Rep. Adam Smith expresses new openness to emerging Space Force proposal.


— State of Space: The head of the Space Foundation is bullish on the outlook for the space sector but has some advice for “growing the roots” of an effective Space Force.

— Not in my backyard: Georgia residents organize to stop proposed spaceport they say poses too great a danger to people and property.

WELCOME TO POLITICO SPACE, our must-read briefing on the policies and personalities shaping the new space age in Washington and beyond — publishing each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Email us at [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected] with tips, pitches and feedback, and find us on Twitter at @jacqklimas, @bryandbender and @dave_brown24. And don’t forget to check out POLITICO's astropolitics page here.

IN ORBIT

'A PROMISING PROPOSAL.' The Pentagon’s emerging proposal for a Space Force that falls under the Air Force much like the Marine Corps is overseen and funded by the Navy may overcome key opposition on Capitol Hill, where skepticism about President Donald Trump’s call for a sixth branch of the military runs deep in both parties.

The new service would be commanded by four-star general and draw on thousands of Air Force, Army and Navy personnel now dedicated to space, according to three government officials with direct knowledge of the Pentagon’s legislative proposal that is now in its final stages. But in keeping with Acting Secretary of Defense Pat Shanahan’s desire to keep it lean — at least at first — the Space Force would not oversee a new Space Development Agency, which would reside within the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and leave much of the acquisition of space systems to the Air Force. Nor would it control its own military bases, they said.

"We can work with it,” House Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) tells us, calling the emerging outlines “a promising proposal.” He added: "That’s probably a good template to work off of, and then the devil is in the details. I believe that space needs to be emphasized.”

A ‘BIGGER TASK’ THAN MILITARY CAN HANDLE? Space Foundation CEO Tom Zelibor this week delivered his “state of space” address in at the National Press Club, predicting 2019 to be a “crossroads” for a $400 billion industry he said conducted 114 launches worldwide last year and “touches every corner, our infrastructure and way of life on the planet."

"Dozens of nations are operating in space," he added, "and the competition that all of those actors are generating is providing greater value to life on Earth every day."

But a key challenge is “how to grow the seeds of a National Space Force.” Zelibor cautioned that “protecting those capabilities is a bigger task than a separate military force or single command structure. It is a cross-functional team of talent from military, public and private sectors, with capabilities far beyond launch pads, control rooms, orbits and ground stations. The National Space Force I am talking about protects our national interests and infrastructures; creates new jobs and economic opportunity for more people; and secures our position as the lead pioneer of the space frontier.”

ASTRONAUT HEALTH WATCH. It’s no secret all those ambitious plans for human exploration in deep space won’t get very far unless major strides are made to protect the physical and mental well being of astronauts and space tourists during their long journeys. A NASA-funded workshop to be held next week at MIT, “Spaces in Space: Optimizing Behavioral Health and Cognitive Performance in Confined Environments” will “highlight opportunities to improve the well-being of astronauts and enhance their cognitive performance,” according to an announcement.

The two-day event, co-hosted by the Translational Research Institute for Space Health at Baylor University and the MIT Media Lab’s Space Exploration Initiative, will bring together psychology, neuroscience, ecology and AI researchers, along with interior designers, architects and entrepreneurs to try to tackle challenging health issues ranging from sensory deprivation to how to grow food in space. Register to watch online here.

ASTROPOLITICS

RISK TO PEOPLE, PROPERTY ‘TOO GREAT.’ Claiming it would pose an undue danger to residents, a grassroots effort is underway to try to kill a proposed spaceport in Camden County, Georgia, where the Board of Commissioners on Tuesday filed an application to launch commercial rockets over the Cumberland Island National Seashore and Little Cumberland Island.

“In the history of U.S. space flight, neither NASA nor the FAA have permitted a vertical launch over private homes or people directly downrange,” says Protect Cumberland Island, which estimates some 60 private homes lie in the proposed path of the rockets along the Atlantic coast. “Camden County’s proposal to launch vertical rockets over people and their homes is without precedent in the United States,” the group adds. “The risk to people and property from an exploding rocket is too great.”

“The prospect of total destruction.” Organizers cite an environmental impact statement that maintains rocket failures “are reasonably expected” to occur every 18 months. “It will only take one rocket failure to completely destroy Little Cumberland Island and the northern end of Cumberland Island,” the opponents argue. “What other community in America faces the prospect of total destruction every 1.5 years as a result of the actions of its own local government?”

INDUSTRY INTEL: ULA selected for Jupiter mission. NASA on Thursday chose United Launch Alliance's Atlas V rocket to launch its Lucy Mission, the first mission to study the planet's swarms of asteroids. “This mission has a once-in-a-lifetime planetary launch window, and Atlas V’s world-leading schedule certainty, coupled with our reliability and performance provided the optimal vehicle for this mission," ULA's CEO Tony Bruno said in a statement. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida in October 2021 on its 12-year journey to seven asteroids.

THE BOOKSHELF: Space 2.0. Historian and space journalist Rod Pyle is out this month with an inside look at the new space race with “Space 2.0” — published in conjunction with the National Space Society with a forward from Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin. Drawing on interviews ranging from “NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos, to emerging leaders in the private sector such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, Moon Express, Virgin Galactic, and many others, “Space 2.0’ examines the new partnerships that are revolutionizing spaceflight and changing the way we reach for the stars,” according to BenBella Books. Pyle recently spoke about the book here.

And just in time for Valentine’s Day, we’re intrigued by the new DC comic “Mysteries of Love in Space #1,” a collection of stories that apparently includes Space Cabbie’s love affair with his taxi's artificial intelligence program. Says one lukewarm review: “There's nothing in here that's groundbreaking or particularly inspiring, but there's a few stories that should make you smile while munching on chocolate this Valentine's Day season.”

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "This is an area that is important not only to our country, but to the world. And I know that other countries are doing more than we're doing. And I think that that's not good." — former Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, in a new call for congressional hearings into recent reported sightings by military pilots of unidentified flying objects.



READING ROOM

— Bring missile defense back down to Earth.

— The U.S. Space Force is overdue.

— The Space Force is no laughing matter.

— Pentagon space budget on upswing but for how long?

— The WIRED guide to commercial human spaceflight.

— NanoRacks completes 15th cubesat mission to ISS.

— China's mysterious space center in Argentina.

— China plans more than 30 space missions in 2019.

— Crew of Space Shuttle Columbia remembered on 16th anniversary of disaster.

— The polar vortex from space.

— Space changes the brain big time.

— How to plants grow in space?

— Hubble telescope accidentally discovers new galaxy.

— Apollo 10 commander visits Pentagon.

EVENT HORIZON

TODAY: CSIS holds discussion on the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Review.

TODAY: Lt. Gen. Arnold Bunch, the military deputy of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, appears at the Air Force Association.

MONDAY: SmallSat Symposium kicks off in Silicon Valley.

Follow us on Twitter Bryan Bender @bryandbender



Dave Brown @dave_brown24



Jacqueline Feldscher @jacqklimas