The National Space Council, an office handling space-related policy, is talking with various agencies on policy to mitigate orbital debris, Space News reported Thursday.

This engagement responds to the Federal Communications Commission's proposal of requirements that include large fees satellite operators would have to pay for potential damages and failure to appropriately dispose of decommissioned satellites.

FCC now considers putting off and reviewing majority of these proposed regulations.

Michael O’Rielly, FCC commissioner, said in an April 23 meeting that U.S. regulations must not impose more expenses compared to those of other countries.

Scott Pace, the space council's executive secretary, said he accepts FCC's move to reconsider the regulations of concern.

“I think the commission is interested in trying to make sure that we don’t place undue burdens, but that at the same time we provide incentives for ensuring that the space environment remains sustainable for the long term,” Pace stated.

The Department of Labor (DoL) will begin to search for partnerships within industry to address challenges in processing unemployment benefits amid the current health crisis, the department reported Thursday.

Gundeep Ahluwalia, chief information officer (CIO) of the DoL, told the publication in an interview that Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia is working to establish a “response team” that will manage the department’s systems that may be overwhelmed during the pandemic.

Ahluwalia added that his office is working with the U.S. Digital Services as well as Federal CIO and 2020 Wash100 Award winner Suzette Kent in efforts to provide support to states in need of assistance with their unemployment systems.

The DoL is developing a plan to ensure that systems are "more organized over the next few years," Ahluwalia stated. The DoL’s systems, which are designed to handle over 200 claims per week, are now processing up to 1,200 claims every half hour, according to Ahluwalia.

“We built a network of vendors,” Ahluwalia said. “So can IBM come in? Can we bring in KPMG? Can we interact with Microsoft, Amazon Web Services? All these partners who have wonderful relationships not only at the federal level but also with the states. We tried to bring all of them together to help out.”

NASA is awarding six U.S. universities roughly $2.4 milion in funding under the Artemis Student Challenges with the aim of generating student interest in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, as well as in the Artemis mission, the NASA-led spaceflight program whose goal is to return humans to the moon.

The awardees are University of Hawaii – Honolulu and University of California – San Diego, each of which will receive $500 thousand; University of Washington – Seattle, which will receive $499.9 thousand; University of Colorado – Boulder, which will receive $499.3 thousand; and University of Alabama – Huntsville and University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign, each of which will receive $200 thousand, NASA announced Friday.

The recipients will use the funds to produce learning resources about technologies that will be used in the Artemis mission and create hands-on learning opportunities related to CubeSats and the Great Lunar Expedition for Everyone LunaSat platform, whose aim is to send tiny spacecraft to the lunar surface and take measurements there. Competitions will also be conducted involving the development a lander free flier and the performance of exploration missions using a rover.

NASA’s Office of STEM Management handles the Artemis Student Challenges with help from the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, the Space Technology Mission Directorate, the Science Mission Directorate and the agency’s chief economist.