Making Space a Safer Place

“From satellite communications to rockets carrying humans into deep space, space debris is a massive threat to space operations.” - Sen. Hickenlooper, chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Space and Science

In March 2021, a large piece of space debris crashed onto a farm in Grant Country, Washington. To help fight space debris orbiting Earth, Sens. Hickenlooper and Lummis, joined by Chair Cantwell and Ranking Member Wicker, introduced the Orbital Sustainability (ORBITS) Act in September 2022.  With the ORBITS Act, demonstrations of debris removal technologies will give us the knowledge needed to clean up space. This legislation will keep our satellites and astronauts safe while helping to prevent future space junk crashes. The bill passed the Senate unanimously in December 2022 and the Committee will continue to work on this issue.

“There are more than 900,000 pieces of space junk passing over our heads every day, including abandoned Government satellites. This bill will jumpstart the technology development needed to remove the most dangerous junk before it knocks out a satellite, crashes into a NASA mission, or falls to the ground and hurts someone. We must continue to explore space, and we have to do it safely.” - Sen. Cantwell

Read More About the ORBITS Act

Advancing U.S. Space Exploration and Scientific Discoveries

The CHIPS and Science Act included the NASA Authorization Act of 2022, which, with the leadership of Sen. Cantwell and Sen. Sinema, includes the Artemis missions in U.S. law for the first time. The Artemis program plans to land the first woman and person of color on the Moon. The first uncrewed test flight of the Artemis program launched in November and traveled within 60 miles of the Moon’s surface. It successfully splashed down in December 2022.

Orion spacecraft captured the Earth rising behind the Moon
following its second close flyby above the lunar surface
as the spacecraft trekked toward home.
Photo from NASA

“Today’s launch lays the groundwork for landing a woman and a person of color on the Moon for the first time in history. It also shows that Washington state remains an aerospace industry leader, with workers at 42 companies from seven different counties contributing components for the Artemis missions. Today’s success is key to inspiring the next generation of STEM workers and to maintaining U.S. leadership in space, which is why we fought to authorize NASA and Artemis in the recently passed CHIPS & Science Act.” - Sen. Cantwell

The NASA Authorization Act approves extending the lifetime of the International Space Station (ISS) to 2030. Commercial space companies, research scientists, U.S. astronauts, students and international partners like Canada, Japan and Europe all benefit from the ISS. The ISS program is the premier destination for companies providing space transportation services, a platform for testing systems that will safely carry Americans to Mars, and a critical research platform, with more than 3,000 academic papers published annually in areas from cancer treatment to agriculture.  

Sen. Sinema worked to include the Planetary Defense Coordination Office in the law, NASA’s effort to protect the Earth from potentially dangerous asteroids and comets.

The CHIPS and Science Act also directs NASA to continue its research and development of new materials and manufacturing processes that will improve U.S. competitiveness in aeronautics manufacturing. It focuses on critical areas to ensure U.S. aerospace leadership, like advanced manufacturing and advanced materials, for investment at the National Science Foundation. Within the manufacturing sector, the aerospace and defense industry historically contributes the greatest amount to a positive trade balance and supports more than 2 million U.S. jobs.

Read More About the Artemis Program

Read More About CHIPS and Science & NASA Authorization