Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the next TWO weeks plus a day and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in recess except for pro forma sessions.

以下是 SpacePolicyOnline.com 未来两周加一天的太空政策活动列表，以及我们可以提供的有关这些活动的任何见解。除备考会议外，众议院和参议院均处于休会状态。

During the Weeks

几周内

The year’s not over yet!  We still have one more BIG EVENT in 2023, the X-37B launch on Thursday. That’s all this week, though, so we’re including the first week plus a day of the New Year as the annual round of space-related conferences begins anew.

年还没过完呢！ 2023 年我们还有另一件大事，即周四的 X-37B 发射。不过，这就是本周的全部内容，因此我们将第一周和新年的一天包括在内，因为一年一度的太空相关会议重新开始。

The X-37B super-secret military spaceplane launch was supposed to happen on December 7, but slipped to December 10, December 11, December 12, December 13, and then a big delay to December 28 due to bad weather or technical reasons. Neither DOD nor SpaceX have been forthcoming about the technical issues, mentioning only the need for “system checkouts.” The X-37B program is a partnership between the Department of the Air Force’s (DAF’s) Rapid Capabilities Office and the Space Force. The Air Force and the Space Force both are part of the DAF.

X-37B超秘密军用航天飞机发射原定于12月7日进行，但推迟到12月10日、12月11日、12月12日、12月13日，然后由于恶劣天气或技术原因大幅推迟到12月28日。国防部和 SpaceX 都没有透露技术问题，只提到需要“系统检查”。 X-37B 项目是空军部 (DAF) 快速能力办公室和太空军之间的合作项目。空军和太空军都是 DAF 的一部分。

Designated USSF-52 (U.S. Space Force-52), this is the 7th flight of an Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) in the X-37B program so is also called OTV-7. There are two Boeing-built OTVs and each flight has extended mission duration significantly. The last flight landed in November 2022 after 908 days in space. That’s about two-and-a-half years. The X-37B looks like a small space shuttle, but does not carry astronauts like the shuttle did.

指定为 USSF-52（美国太空部队-52），这是 X-37B 计划中轨道测试飞行器 (OTV) 的第七次飞行，因此也称为 OTV-7。有两架波音制造的 OTV，每次飞行都显着延长了任务持续时间。最后一次飞行在太空飞行 908 天后于 2022 年 11 月着陆。这大约是两年半的时间。 X-37B看起来像一架小型航天飞机，但并不像航天飞机那样运载宇航员。

A technician walks to the U.S. Space Force’s X-37B uncrewed spaceplane after landing at Kennedy Space Center’s shuttle landing strip, November 12, 2022. Photo credit: U.S. Space Force

2022 年 11 月 12 日，一名技术人员走向美国太空军的 X-37B 无人驾驶太空飞机，降落在肯尼迪航天中心的航天飞机着陆跑道上。照片来源：美国太空军

This is the first launch of an X-37B on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy, although OTV-5 was on a Falcon 9 (the others were on United Launch Alliance Atlas V rockets). There’s lots of speculation about what X-37B will be doing with all the extra orbital energy it gets from that more powerful rocket.  The Space Force doesn’t share much information about what the X-37B does while in space, but did say this mission will include operating “in new orbital regimes” and “experimenting with future space domain awareness technologies.”

这是 X-37B 首次在 SpaceX 猎鹰重型火箭上发射，尽管 OTV-5 是在猎鹰 9 号火箭上发射（其他火箭是在联合发射联盟 Atlas V 火箭上）。关于 X-37B 将利用从更强大的火箭获得的所有额外轨道能量做什么，有很多猜测。太空军并未透露有关 X-37B 在太空中执行任务的太多信息，但表示该任务将包括“在新的轨道状态下”运行和“试验未来的空间域感知技术”。

There’s lots of curiosity about what all that means. COMSPOC, a Space Situational Awareness company, has posted speculative videos of two types of orbits the X-37B might fly: a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) trajectory like those of the previous missions that is essentially circular and takes about 90 minutes per orbit, or a Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO) where the orbit comes close to Earth (perigee) over one hemisphere, but then swings high (apogee) over the other hemisphere allowing the satellite to linger over that part of the world for hours instead of minutes on each orbit. HEO orbits are not uncommon, but would be a first for X-37B if that’s where it’s headed. Professional and amateur satellite trackers surely will be trying to find it once it’s launched. Hopefully that’ll be Thursday. Friday is a backup if needed.

人们对这一切意味着什么感到好奇。太空态势感知公司 COMSPOC 发布了有关 X-37B 可能飞行的两种轨道的推测视频：低地球轨道 (LEO) 轨迹，类似于之前的任务，基本上是圆形的，每个轨道大约需要 90 分钟，或高椭圆轨道 (HEO)，其中轨道在一个半球上接近地球（近地点），但随后在另一个半球上高处（远地点）摆动，使卫星能够在世界的该地区停留数小时，而不是几分钟。每个轨道。 HEO 轨道并不罕见，但如果这是 X-37B 的发展方向的话，这将是 X-37B 的首个轨道。一旦它发射，专业和业余卫星跟踪器肯定会试图找到它。希望那是星期四。如果需要的话，周五是备用。

The New Year starts quietly, but will quickly get busy.

新年悄然开始，但很快就会忙碌起来。

Congress remains in recess until the week of January 8 even though they have all those FY2024 appropriations bill deadlines looming, not to mention the supplemental for Ukraine/Israel aid and border policy. As a reminder, agencies in four of the 12 regular appropriations bills had their funding extended to January 19 and the other eight to February 2. The Department of Transportation, including the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation, is in the first group. DOD, NASA, and the Department of Commerce are in the second.

尽管 2024 财年拨款法案的最后期限即将到来，国会仍处于休会状态，直到 1 月 8 日这一周，更不用说乌克兰/以色列援助和边境政策的补充了。需要提醒的是，12 项常规拨款法案中有 4 项机构的资助期限延长至 1 月 19 日，另外 8 项机构的资助期限延长至 2 月 2 日。交通运输部，包括美国联邦航空局商业太空运输办公室，属于第一组。国防部、美国宇航局和商务部位居第二。

The first week of 2024 does have a couple of events that we know about already.  The Mitchell Institute holds its first Schriever Spacepower Series webinar of the year on January 5 with USSF Lt. Gen. DeAnna Burt, Deputy Chief of Space Operations for Operations, Cyber and Nuclear. She and the Institute’s Gen. Kevin Chilton (Ret.) will discuss “the state of space operations and initiatives to assure continued access to and use of the space domain in the face of increasing kinetic, non-kinetic, and cyber threats.”

2024 年的第一周确实有一些我们已经知道的事件。米切尔研究所于 1 月 5 日与美国海军陆战队负责作战、网络和核能力的太空作战副局长 DeAnna Burt 中将共同举办了今年首届施里弗太空力量系列网络研讨会。她和该研究所的凯文·奇尔顿将军（退役）将讨论“太空作战的状况和举措，以确保在面对日益增加的动能、非动能和网络威胁的情况下确保继续进入和使用太空领域。”

On Saturday, January 6, NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program Analysis Group (ExoPAG) begins a two-day meeting in conjunction with the winter meeting of the American Astronautical Society (AAS). The AAS meeting starts on Sunday, January 7, and runs through Thursday the 11th. They’re meeting in New Orleans. We’ll have more on that next week.

1 月 6 日星期六，美国宇航局系外行星探索计划分析小组 (ExoPAG) 与美国宇航学会 (AAS) 冬季会议一起开始为期两天的会议。 AAS 会议于 1 月 7 日星期日开始，一直持续到 11 日星期四。他们在新奥尔良见面。下周我们将有更多相关内容。

In the meantime, enjoy the X-37B launch, which will be webcast by SpaceX beginning 15 minutes before launch. Note that the launch window is open for 4 hours. The nominal launch time is 7:00 pm ET, but could be as late as 11:00 pm ET. Following @SpaceX on X is the easiest way to keep up to date or check SpaceX’s website.  We’ll be following it, too, of course @SpcPlcyOnline.

与此同时，请欣赏 X-37B 的发射，SpaceX 将在发射前 15 分钟开始进行网络直播。请注意，启动窗口开放 4 小时。名义启动时间为东部时间晚上 7:00，但也可能晚于东部时间晚上 11:00。在 X 上关注 @SpaceX 是了解最新动态或查看 SpaceX 网站的最简单方法。当然，我们也会关注它@SpcPlcyOnline。

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate and a joyous New Year!

祝所有庆祝的人圣诞快乐，新年快乐！

These are the events we know about as of Sunday, December 24. Check back throughout the weeks for others we learn about later and add to our Calendar or changes to these.

这些是截至 12 月 24 日星期日我们了解到的事件。请在接下来的几周内查看我们稍后了解的其他事件，并将其添加到我们的日历中或对其进行更改。

Monday, December 25, 2023

2023 年 12 月 25 日星期一