Transcripts For CSPAN NASA Administrator Bridenstine Testifi

CSPAN NASA Administrator Bridenstine Testifies On Future Missions July 11, 2024

Our part to reach out beyond our comfort zone, listen to others, lower the temperature, and find some common ground. Next nasa straight oher jim, testifies on changes at the agency due to the coronavirus pandemic. This is an hour and 40 minutes. Ziverbs is it would be helpful if the administrator would highlight how nasa is implements Lessons Learned from commercial crew development. In november of last year this committee passed the nasa authorization act demonstrating strong support. Legislation strongly supported nasas key science priorities, aeronautics research, plan terry exploration, and other initiatives. Today the administrator can provide an update on these missions and describe any major impacts on cost, schedule or operations caused by the pandemic. Nascar plays an Important Role in americas whole of government approach to securing the space do name. Great power competition in space is a reality. Chinas space ambitions are wellknown and the communist party has devoted resources to resources to military and Space Programs. Nasa signed a memorandum of understanding with the newly created space force to bolster collaboration on standards and best practices for Space Operations, Scientific Research and plan terry defense. The administrator may want to comment on the memorandum of understanding and where he cease opportunities for collaboration with the space force. Even with the years successes, Program Vulnerabilities remain. As the program progresses, we hould remain vigilant to protect partnerships, particularly those built around the International Space station nd low orbit research. Things like robotic Mars Missions should continue making ogress, maintaining focus on artemus and other missions require funding from congress. I look forward to the conversation with the administrator and turn to the Ranking Member for her remarks. Thank you, mr. Chairman, and thank you for the i beg your pardon leadership on the nasa reauthorization bill. Am pleased to join you nasas recent Economic Impact Analysis Shows in 2019, the agency generated more than 64 billion in outpresident. Nasa and the space industry, important in the state of washington where space activities account for 1. Billion of the economy. Thousands of washington jobs are dependent on this growing space industry. I say there is a reason we have the space needle. 2020 was a significant year for nasa. For the first time in nine years nasa astronauts launched to space from u. S. Soil. For the First Time Ever those astronauts launched on a commercial spacecraft marking the dawn of a new era for nasa. 2021 promises to be a bigger year. Two commercial providers will begin regularly carrying astronauts to the space station. 2021 will see the first launch of nasas space launch system which will return astronauts to deep space in a few years. I am looking forward to watching americans exit the lunar lander which will be built in the state of washington and step on the surface of the moon for the first time in 40 years. I am enthusiastic about the Artemus Program which will put the first woman on the moon. We need more than that womens first step. We need women and minoritys to be represented at every level of the program. I look forward to working with the chairman on all areas. Given the new rockets and spacecraft sfrauts will fly over the next decade, it is imperative they remain committed to safety. It must remain a top priority. For that to happen, they all must have insight into the design and testing of new spacecraft. A major safety issue for nasa the threat of orbital debris. Last week the space station was forced to maneuver away from a piece of space debris. In february the Committee Held a hearing. I called for increased investment in mapping of debris and improved Space Situational Awareness. Mr. Chairman, i know you are also committed to addressing this threat and i look forward to work with you on that issue. While the programs are often in the spotlight, the other missions and research are also critical to the country. Nasa satellites provide day to measure fires as they burn. I want to highlight nasas Space Grant Program. A consortium at the university of washington is doing work to engage High School Students and undergraduates in these areas of research and study, chie think helps us get the next generation of work force. The covid19 pick peck has inpacted many nasa programs as well as the people who support them, whether they are employees, contractors or researchers. I look forward to hearing how this committee might work with nasa to keep the program on track while keeping people employed. This is a challenge, but obviously we want to keep moving ahead. We look forward to your comments and testimony, administrator. Thank you for being here. Again, mr. Chairman, thank you for holding this important hearing. I think i heard the state of washington mentioned several mes in the senators Opening Statement. Clearly i should have mentioned in my Opening Statement the Important Role of the state of mississippi in all of the activities that we have planned, particularly the space center in hancock county, mississippi. So another this point, administrator, we have your prepared statement consists of seven pages in small type. Well enter that into the record at this point, and you are recognized for five minutes or so to summarize your statement. Thank you chairman and Ranking Member. It is an honor to be here. I want to start by thanking you for the support we received in the cares act, which ultimately enabled us to move forward on some of our very Important Missions. We call them Mission Essential functions of nasa. We needed that personal protective equipment. We needed the ability to make sure that our crews could socially distance and do all of the things necessary to be safe. The cares act was really a part of that. We thank you for that. So nasa is really up to some really amazing things. The two of you highlighted them very well. Low earth orbit we are commercializing rapidly. We have been under way with commercial resupply now for a number of years. Now we are moving forward with commercial crew, which we are all very excited about. Demo two is complete. That was a test flight here at the end of the october. We are going to launch co2 one. We are going to have a full complement of four astronaut including one International Partner from japan. In is a very exciting time for the agency as we move rapidly to commercialize space. It is not just about commercial resupply and commercial crew. Bealso want commercial space stations themselves eventually. The International Space station has been an amazing asset for the United States. It still is and will be for years to come. But we all know a day is going to come when it comes to the end of its useful life. When that happens, we need to have funded the resources necessary to commercialize low earth orbit for habitation. We want to make sure that in the United States and with your help we can ensure that we have no gap in low earth orbit. We think about apollo, as much as we loved it, it came to an end. We had a gap of about eight years before space shuttle. When that retired, we had another gap of eight years before commercial crew. We want to make sure there is another gap to low earth orbit. As both of you have identified what, is happening in low earth orbit is his awesome as it is, pails in comparison when we land the first woman and the next man on the moon for the Artemus Program. We are going to the moon for a lot of important reasons, but the chief reason is because it accelerates our path to mars. We believe it is important for the first person to land on mars to be an american astronaut, and we want to make sure that when we do go to mars, we go with our International Part nerts. This is about american leadership. Of course what we just saw in fact yesterday, japan announced its biggest budget for its space agency in his history. In fact, it was a 50 increase over the previous year. That is a massive increase for a nation like japan. They are focusing it on the Artemus Program. They are focused on supporting us as we lead the world to the moon. I will say that that is not unique though. We have seen budgets coming from europe that are also increasing commensurate with the Artemus Program and nasas budget. A lot of exciting things in the future. Of course i am grateful to you, chairman, and Ranking Member, for the continued bipartisan support for these Important Missions for our country. With that, sir, i will yield back whatever time i have remaining and certainly open to any questions. Well, thank you very much. Ou recently announced that the artemus one mission will take place at the end of november of next year. Part of the role of my home tate of mississippi is the testing space launch system rocket engine. How is the green run testing progressing, and do you have a target date for the full duration hot fire test . Yes, sir. So the green run testing is progressing very well. This is the core stage of the f. L. S. Rocket. It is proving itself to be an extremely capable system. We still have a good bit of testing in front of us, including the full green run where we fire all four rf25 engines at the same time. That is going to be an amazing sight to see. Likely to happen in november. So we are moving rapidly towards that. We have had some challenges, of course, with some hurricanes. We have had some other challenges with covid. But we have also had some successes. So we are moving forward. We think that the green run test will be done in november, early november, and we also believe that this sets us up for the first launch of the s. O. S. System with an orion crew capsule in november of 2021. We are moving rapidly towards that. Do you think we are still on track to meet that november 2021 date . As of right now, yes, sir, we are. There are challenges for sure, and depending on how covid affects us in the months ahead, it could be more challenging. But i will say because this is a mission that is so unique, we do have margin in the schedule. We have reserve in the schedule and in the cost. Nasa does that for all of its missions. As of this point we have not determined that we need to move off of the november date of next year. Well, i have been very impressed with how nasa has moved forward on any number of target dates. Let me ask you about the continuing resolution. We are discussing a continuing esolution this week. Obviously that is never ideal, but the covid19 pandemic pretty much dictated that. This is a brief c. R. It doesnt carry on into next ear. You have spoken about the oblem of a longterm continuing resolution. Full, parise discuss the broader impacts, if we cant get our job done for november and december, what that would mean for your programs . The hardest part right now is that human landing system. That human landing system is right now what we are not funded to develop in its entirety. We are funded through what we call the base period. We have got the resources to go through basically february of 2021. And so between now and february f 2021, i think we are ok. But if we get to february of 2021 without an appropriation, that is going to put the brakes on our ability to achieve a moon landing by as early as 2024. It is important to get these appropriations. I will also tell you the sooner we get the appropriations, the higher the probability of success. We are very grateful. I know that the house and the senate are moving towards a c. R. Rather than a shutdown. We are very grateful for that, and i speak for the entire nasa work force when i say that. But i will also say that the sooner we can get an appropriation, the higher the probability of success to the moon landing as soon as 2024. That is the proceedings. What about the authorization bill . How important is it to pass an updated authorization bill . So in my view, very important. I was an authorizer in the house of representatives, and i can tell you what the authorization bill enenables me to do as administrator, allows me to demonstrate bipartisan support that is lasting. Appropriation bills are one year in nature and give us what we need to fund the programs. But an authorization bill this is a fundamental question i get everywhere i go as a nasa administrator. They ask how do you ensure this program doesnt get canceled. Nasa has had a history of getting programs developed and then canceled. The nswer is we need authorization that codifies the fact that we have Broad National support. I think we are there, but putting that into law really would be meaningful for the agency. Thank you very much. Cantwell . Thank you, mr. Chairman. One the things we hear a lot about as we change and innovate is the still level of the work fors in stem. We work very hard on Stem Education in the state of washington and want to work on it from a national perspective. I want to hear your thoughts on what else we need to be doing . What does that skill gap show . And the xplane flight. One of the things we are interested in is composites and continuing to the development of come posit manufacturing. We want to understand what you think we should be doing on that kind of technology for the future as well . Very good questions. Will 2011 you the transonic truss braced wing has me excited about the future of aviation. When but think about the value of nasa to the United States of america, a lot of people think about space, and the moon, and mars, and Robotic Exploration of the solar systems. But the aeronautics piece is probably the most impact to the american economy. This is a major export for the country, and we have been leading here for so many generations. Of course we had the challenge with the max8. We have had the challenge now with covid. And when we think about aeronautics, it is kind of right now it is being stressed significantly. But i think we have to as a nation take this opportunity and lead. And when i see lead. Hat transonic tyrus braced wing is the key. We are talking about the aspect ratio of a wing, making it longer and thinner. The big thing that does is it reduces induced drag, which is the drag you get from the lift created by the aircraft. Basically it spreads out the amount of downward thrust you get from the wing. It does increase what we call pair sitic drag from the wing, is hat parasitic drag reduced. You get a much more efficient aircraft. It drivers down the amount of fuel you have to use. It drives down the amount of Carbon Emissions and the cost to run. The challenge with that high aspect ratio wing, the challenge with that is it becomes long and thin, and so it doesnt have the structure to hold up a large body aircraft. I am a huge proponent of that. We have been advocating for that inside not just the agency, but inside the administration in general, and we are getting some tracks on it. Any support that you can rovide would be fantastic. So in this case, this is a come posit issue, and so we need more come posit r and d and more understanding on the come posit side . Yes. This is again very important. When it comes to stem, we need that next Generation Work force , and so we have got to be inspiring people at a young age. I think the best thing nasa can do for encouraging people to go into stem is inspire them and do these stunning missions like landing the first woman on the moon and those kind of activities. We are also very involved at the mission direct rate level like funding robotics, which is a capability that gets High School Kids and younger involved in robotics. O we do those things, direct impact to Nasa Missions. If you look at robotics on mars and robotics throughout the solar system with satellites and orbitters on other planets. There is a lot that nasa does and we need to continue to do for stem. I dont know what it is about material science, but we have been able to attract more women. Structural engineering may not have been something that initially appealed to them. We are having more success on the material science side. I dont know if that is a American League of chemical engineer and other things, but i think we should figure out how to put this challenge, as you said, to the youngest of americans as they are thinking about these issues. I dont know why this isnt a marriage of ideas given that you are talking about, again, fuel efficiency, american jobs, leadership, all of these things that would come from this. It is as exciting as the other missions, too. So thank you. Yes, maam. Administrator, the Ranking Member mentioned space debris, so let me lets drill down on that just a little built. Is the frequency were avoidance maneuvers increasing . Ust a short while ago nasa maneuvered the space station to avoid a pistons of space debris. That has happened three times this year. Is that increasing . Yes, sir. This year we have maneuvered the space station three times in or the to avoid orbital debris. That has not happened since 2015. Now in this year we have done it three times. So is that just a coincidence . I dont think this is a coincidence. I will also say in the last two weeks, or maybe three weeks at this point, we have had three potential conjunctions that made us very nervous. That was in the last two or three weeks. Apart from the maneuver that we actually had to make. Close calls . Yes, sir. We knew about them, b

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