By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including title IV of the U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act (Public Law 114-90), it is hereby ordered as follows:

Executive Order

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1.  Purpose.  The national and economic security of the United States depends on the reliable and efficient functioning of critical infrastructure.  Since the United States made the Global Positioning System available worldwide, positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) services provided by space-based systems have become a largely invisible utility for technology and infrastructure, including the electrical power grid, communications infrastructure and mobile devices, all modes of transportation, precision agriculture, weather forecasting, and emergency response.  Because of the widespread adoption of PNT services, the disruption or manipulation of these services has the potential to adversely affect the national and economic security of the United States.  To strengthen national resilience, the Federal Government must foster the responsible use of PNT services by critical infrastructure owners and operators.

During his State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Donald Trump urged Congress to fully fund NASA’s Artemis program to astronauts on the moon in 2024. The Administration will release its budget proposal for the 2021 fiscal year next week. We will finally get some idea of what the program will actually cost for the first time since the Administration moved the landing date up from 2028 last March. […]

Washington, D.C. (Ex-Im Bank PR) – President Donald J. Trump signed legislation today that reauthorized the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) for a historic length of seven years. The bipartisan legislation approved by Congress achieved two important goals: providing certainty to American businesses and workers that EXIM is fully open for business, and giving clear direction to focus on the economic and national security challenges from China. 

“I thank President Trump for making history today by signing into law the longest reauthorization of EXIM in the agency’s 85-year history,” said EXIM President and Chairman Kimberly A. Reed. “The legislation signed into law by the President also directs EXIM to focus on the important economic and national security challenges posed by China, which at my direction, EXIM has prioritized since my confirmation in May. I am proud to have the support of President Trump and Congress in this undertaking.”

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Nearly three years into Donald Trump’s term as president, NOAA might actually get a permanent administrator.

On Wednesday, Trump nominated Neil Jacobs to serve as the Department of Commerce’s under secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere, which is another name for NOAA administrator.

Jacobs is serving as acting NOAA administrator in his current position as assistant secretary of commerce for Environmental Observation and Prediction.

WASHINGTON, DC (House Science Committee PR) – Today, Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) sent a follow up letter to Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on the Department’s involvement in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) actions surrounding claims that Hurricane Dorian would impact Alabama. This letter follows up on the Chairwoman’s September 11 and October 10  requests for information. “To date, we have received no responsive materials from the Department that would address the items […]

Alan Boyle at Geek Wire reports that a private equity firm owned by a billionaire Donald Trump supporter that specializes n distressed companies is the new owners of Sttratolaunch.

Sounds about right. Stratolaunch has always been the indulgence of a billionaire. And it was certainly distressed.

President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has withdrawn from consideration for health reasons. Barry Lee Myers, 76, told The Washington Times that he has had surgery for and is undergoing chemotherapy treatments for cancer. Myers’ nomination to lead NOAA had languished in the Senate for more than two years since the White House announced it in October 2017. Opponents of the nomination said […]

WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — President Donald Trump, second from left, joined by Vice President Mike Pence, left, Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump and NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, right, speaks with NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir during the first all-woman spacewalk on Friday, Oct. 18, 2019, from the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. The first all-woman spacewalk in history began at 7:38 a.m. EDT with […]

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Joint Statement on Cooperation in Lunar Exploration

During their September 24, 2019, meeting at JAXA Headquarters in Tokyo, NASA Administrator James Bridenstine and JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa welcomed the ongoing engagement between their agencies to realize JAXA’s participation in NASA’s Artemis program and vision for the participation of Japanese astronauts in lunar exploration.