Preview of Official NASA Budget/Policy Events – 2nd Update

Keith's note: Places where you can expect to hear Charlie Bolden, Lori Garver, and others spell out what NASA's budget means - and what the agency will and will not be doing with that budget:

Keith's update: Late Sunday night NASA announced that the NASA budget press conference slated for 3:00 pm EST on Monday has been cancelled in favor of a dial-in media telecon at 12:30 pm EST. Instead of the original plan to give the media 2.5 hrs to review budget info before the press conference it would seem they will have no time to review it - so don't expect much in the way of informed questions - on a telecon certain to be overcrowded. According to NASA: "To dial into the news conference, news media representatives should call: 800-857-5728 or 1-630-395-0025 and use the pass code "NASA". A limited number of phone lines are available, so people are encouraged to call early. Replays of the teleconference will be available approximately one hour after the call ends. To listen to a replay, call: 866-431-2903 or 203-369-0952."

- 1 Feb: OSTP 2011 Federal R&D Budget Briefing: OSTP officials brief media and "stakeholders" at the AAAS from 1:00 to 2:00 pm EST. Webcast (registration required). Lori Garver will be there. Budget materials will be online at OMB at this point.

- 2 Feb: NASA event at National Press Club: Event starts at 10:00 am EST. According to NASA "On Tuesday, Administrator Bolden, Dr. John Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, will introduce new commercial space pioneers, launching a game-changing way of developing technology to send humans to space." Watch it live on NASA TV

- 3 Feb: Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee - Hearing: Key Issues and Challenges Facing NASA: Views of the Agency's Watchdogs: 10:00 am EST - hearing runs for two hours. You can expect Subcommittee Chair Rep. Giffords to pick up where she left off at a previous hearing wherein she will bash Norm Augustine and the Administration's plans to change the Constellation program - specifically Ares 1. ASAP Chair Adm. Dyer will be in agreement with Giffords for the most part but NASA OIG Martin will probably end up pointing to the OIG's previous work (and GAO's) which cast continual doubt about the pace and maturity of the Constellation program - as implemented by NASA.

- 11 Feb: 13th Annual FAA Commercial Space Transportation Conference 10-11 Feb: Bolden speaks from 8:00 - 8:45 am EST. This is the place, space fans, where the big picture will emerge. Hopefully it will be on NASA TV

- 12 Feb: The State of the Agency: NASA Future Programs Presentation: All day. Don't bother to RSVP - there are no more seats available. Watch it on NASA TV. NASA is only allowing some media (Space News and Nature) into the event (where they can ask questions) while other publications/websites are not being allowed to send representatives. I am told this has to do with seating limits. Duh. No one seems to have planned for media. Oh well. These events are held every year and tend to be rather bland and dumbed down. Mostly its like a low key high school reunion where retirees get generic updates as to what the agency is doing. However, given that this event happens the day after the AST event, lots of questions will be floating around - so it may be a little more peppy than it would otherwise be.

- 18-19 Feb: NASA Advisory Council Meeting: You will certainly see additional detail presented by Bolden and senior staff at this meeting - i.e. charts to back up previous public comments. Media may manage to grab Bolden et al in the hallway.

- 17-20 Feb: Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference: Lori Garver speaks on Thursday, 18 February. Given the high amount of commercial interest and participation in this event and some exciting presentations by others, you can be certain that more detail on NASA's commercial plans will emerge one way or another.

And, of course, there will be leaks in between all of these events 😉

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