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White House VP Kamala Harris unveils Space Priorities Framework

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Kamala Harris is the Vice President at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Nov. 5, 2021.

Taylor Mickal / NASA

On Wednesday, the first National Space Council of the Biden Administration will meet. Vice President Kamala Harris is set to discuss the White House’s policy on space.

The National Space Council was revived in the aftermath of two decades living under the former presidency. It met eight times during prior administrations and frequently accompanied executive orders like returning U.S. astronauts to the moon, cleaning up space debrisPlease see the following: making use of space resources.

Harris led Wednesday’s meeting. On Wednesday, the White House issued a document called The United States Space Priorities Framework. It gives an overview about how the Biden Administration plans to “develop and execute national space policy” and “strategic going forward.”

This framework states that the U.S. wants to protect and promote “data products and services from space”, which “enable American business and create American jobs across a variety of sectors such as transportation, logistics, manufacturing, finance, communications, and agriculture.”

In addition, the U.S. plans to freely distribute Earth observation data to “support both domestic as well international efforts to deal with the climate crisis.” The White House also stated that it will transfer “space situational information” services to an “open data platform”, which will be hosted and managed by the U.S. Agency. This is in order to increase spaceflight safety.

Space debris and military operations in space are top of mind. the Russian test of an anti-satellite weapon (or ASAT) last month. Russian military demolished a satellite that was no longer in use. It also dropped shrapnel into low Earth orbit, forcing astronauts to seek shelter at the International Space Station. Although the U.S. condemned the display, Russia still has not received a harsh rebuke.

According to the White House, “strengthening its ability to detect or attribute hostile acts within space” is what the U.S. intends to do. However, the U.S. will continue to engage diplomatically in space with other countries that conduct military testing in orbit.

On Wednesday, President Biden will sign an executive order to include five additional members to the National Space Council. These are Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and Secretary of Labor Martin Walsh. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack, Secretary for Agriculture Thomas Vilsack, Secretary to the Interior Deb Haaland and National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy.

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