Policy Update (19 August 2025)

On 7 August 2025, the President signed an executive order (EO), Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking, that gives political appointees authority to “review new funding opportunity announcements and to review discretionary grants to ensure that they are consistent with agency priorities.” The EO states that grants “must, where applicable, advance the President’s policy priorities.” The EO also says that award preference should be given to institutions with lower indirect cost rates, and that “grants should be given to a broad range of recipients rather than to a group of repeat players.” For more information about the EO, we recommend checking out AIP FYI’s article. The AAS is working closely with the broader scientific community to evaluate the EO’s potential impacts and ensure that federal research policies continue to empower scientists to pursue discovery in service to society. 

On 13 August 2025, the president signed another EO, Enabling Competition in the Commercial Space Industry, to streamline the commercial license and permitting process for US space operators. This EO directs the Secretary of Transportation to “use all available resources to eliminate or expedite the Department of Transportation’s environmental reviews for, and other obstacles to the granting of, launch and reentry licenses and permits.” This EO also elevates the Office of Space Commerce, currently within the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, into the Department of Transportation’s Office of the Secretary. For more information, see this Ars Technica’s article by Stephen Clark. 

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released a new Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), which seeks comment on how the Commission should revise its rules and streamline the environmental review process to account for recent amendments made to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and upheld by the Supreme Court. Under the amended NEPA, the FCC proposes that satellite operations and space-based communications be excluded from NEPA because they are “extraterritorial activities” with effects located entirely outside of the jurisdiction of the United States. The AAS is drafting a comment to this NPRM, arguing that light pollution and radio frequency interference from satellites impact the US astronomical community and, therefore, fall under the scope of NEPA. The due date for comments on this NPRM is 18 September 2025. 

The AAS policy team is requesting input from astronomers, observatories, and night sky users worldwide regarding the potential impacts of Reflect Orbital’s proposed reflector satellites on astronomical research and night sky visibility. Reflect Orbital is a satellite company that plans to deliver reflected sunlight at night by building a constellation of reflectors in low Earth orbit. These satellites are expected to reflect ~0.8 lux (4-5x the brightness of the full Moon) to a ~5 km diameter beam on Earth's surface. The company has recently requested authorization from the FCC to launch their first satellite (with a size of 18 x 18 m) in 2026. Reflect Orbital intends to launch dozens more within the next two years and 4,000 satellites by 2030, with the goal of increasing daylight by four hours each day where they are providing service. We are collecting information about the scope and nature of potential impacts to help develop our response to their FCC filing. Please fill out our survey here. It should take no longer than five minutes to complete.

The AAS policy team has heard that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has recently released much of the FY2025 funding for NSF, NIH, and potentially other research agencies, however we are not yet sure if agencies have been able to disburse these funds. It is of the utmost urgency to ensure that obligated grant funds for FY2025 are released before Sept. 30, 2025, otherwise these funds get returned to the Treasury and will no longer be available. Please use this form to let us know if you have yet to receive funds for grants in FY25. We will contact those who respond to help connect you with your Congressional representatives and advocate for the release of those funds as soon as possible. All responses will remain confidential.

On 19 August, the AAS, along with over 90 other scientific, academic, and professional organizations, sent a letter to Director Michael Kratzios of the Office of Science and Technology Policy about our shared goal of ensuring that science serves the public good and is of the highest quality, integrity, and utility. This letter is in response to a previous Executive Order, Restoring Gold Standard Science.

As a reminder, the AAS is partnering with The Planetary Society, the American Geophysical Union, and other organizations for a Day of Action to Save NASA Science on 5-6 October 2025. Participants will hold congressional meetings on the Hill to preserve NASA Science funding for FY2026 and ensure that active science missions are not prematurely canceled. If you are interested in participating, please register here.  

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