Panel Pitches Public-Private Partnership for Space Taxis

October 22, 2009

The presidential panel reviewing the U.S. space program sees little hope for NASA's Ares 1 moon rocket, though it found the program technically sound. The problem, the board said in its final report, is a question of timing.

To make up for budget shortfalls, NASA delayed development, postponing the rocket's debut until at least 2017, according to the advisory panel which was tapped to come up with options for the U.S. human space program.

By then, the International Space Station will have been removed from orbit, though the panel also recommended funding the station through at least 2020. Unfortunately for Ares 1, additional funding for station likely would delay Ares' debut another couple of years.

"I think there is argument that it was a sensible program to begin with. There is a real question as to whether it’s a sensible program today ," said space review panel chairman Norm Augustine. "The (schedule) slippage has caused a mismatch between what Ares 1 is needed for and what it’s going to be able to do.

"It’s very useful to be told that you’re on a track that you don’t have enough money to stay on, and we can continue down, but I think … a few years from now there will be a group back here saying ‘What happened?’" he added.

The favored option appears to be a public-private partnership, with NASA kicking in about $5 billion to jump-start development of commercially operated space taxis. The proposal is sure to rankle members of Congress representing districts that have work tied to the existing Constellation program.

The report was delivered on Thursday to NASA and the White House.

New NASA Rocket Arrives at Launch Pad

October 20, 2009

p> Four years and $350 million in the making, Ares 1-X -- NASA's answer to the retiring space shuttles -- is at the launch pad, with liftoff set for Oct. 27. 

1-X is really NASA's opening salvo in a bid to return astronauts to the moon. There's some competition for the job. Buoyed by the findings of a presidential-appointed space review panel, which is due to issue its final report on Thursday, commercial companies are game to take on the task of flying people into space, at least as far at the space station anyway. 

The symbolism of the shuttle Atlantis on one pad and the Ares 1-X on the other was hard to miss. The shuttle is being prepared for a station resupply mission in November, one of the last six flights before the fleet is retired. 

Astronauts assigned to fly on Atlantis were in town to participate in a practice launch countdown, but NASA bumped their flight a few days and rescheduled the dress rehearsal to focus on next week's Ares 1-X flight. The crew did some emergency evacuation training and spoke briefly with reporters at the launch pad, Atlantis behind them and Ares 1-X just north.

"In between this vehicle and that, we’ve spent quite a few years where we’ve had vehicles that are planned, vehicles that are on PowerPoint. We talk about doing it, but we never end up bending metal," said astronaut Randy Bresnik, one of the Atlantis crewmembers.

"Well there it," he said, pointing at Ares. "We built this vehicle. It's  ready to fly and that is just a pretty awesome thing for us, the American people, to see."

(Dreams, hopes riding on Ares 1-X test vehicle. Credit: SpaceflightNow.com) 

 

NASA's Plan B to Get U.S. to Moon

June 24, 2009

Here's a video of NASA's alternative vehicle for replacing the space shuttle fleet. You can read about the proposal on Discovery News. 

NASA Probe Reaches the Moon

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter fired its braking rockets early today to slip into lunar orbit, marking the start of a two-month commissioning period. A few more adjustments will be made to LRO's orbit in the coming weeks while scientists calibrate its instruments and get ready for a year-long mapping mission. 

Meanwhile, a companion spacecraft launched with LRO swung around moon for an instrument checkout. The LCROSS satellite, which is still attached to the launch vehicle's now-spent upper-stage motor, is in a long, looping orbit that circles around Earth's poles and the moon. Each orbit takes about 37 days to complete. 

The spacecraft is basically in a holding pattern until Oct. 9, when it will release the rocket motor on a path that will crash it into a crater near the moon's south poleLCROSS won't be far behind. The idea is for scientists to use LCROSS' sensors to study the plume of material excavated by the impact for signs of water. You can watch a video of the LCROSS flyby here:

(Credit : NASA) 

Launch logjam exposes NASA quandary

June 15, 2009

A reporter pal of mine once told me this story about an editor he worked with who was struggling to integrate facts with narrative flow in one of his articles. “Everything needs to be moved up,” was the assessment. NASA is taking the same attitude as it tries to share a tight four-day launch opportunity this week between two space program mandates: finish the space station and move on to human exploration of the moon.

Most days, any incongruity in NASA’s marching orders is hidden beneath a shower of good will, shared philosophy and common budgetary concern. So, for example, the Constellation program, which is spearheading the post-shuttle and station human space initiatives, was happy to give its shuttle brethren extra time on the launch pad earmarked for the new Ares rocket program so a second shuttle could be ready to mount a rescue mission if the Hubble telescope servicing crew needed a ride back home.

Sometimes, though, where the rubber meets the road (or where the rocket meets the launch pad) the dance floor has room for only one. Pressed to make a decision about whether to proceed with a high-priority construction mission to the International Space Station or a high-priority moon mapping mission NASA, like a parent who doesn’t want to play favorites among its children, came up with a solution totally worthy of its engineering heritage: reducing the issue down to a numbers game of how to get the most launch opportunities out of the four-day window.

NASA Getting Face Time With Obama

May 07, 2009

Never mind that the Obama administration still hasn’t filled the top job at NASA. Acting administrator Chris Scolese said he’s been to see the president three times last month.

“I think that's an indication that NASA is something that this administration really cares about,” Scolese told reporters on Thursday at a press conference to unveil the agency’s 2010 spending plan.

It looks good from the outset, with a $2 billion boost from stimulus funds. But that tails off sharply in the out years, leaving the agency’s moon exploration initiative short more than $3 billion compared to what NASA projected in 2009.

The whole effort may be moot. Upstaging the budget  was the news that Obama wants a top-level independent review of the country’s human spaceflight program, which may not bode well for NASA’s shuttle replacement.

Norm Augustine, who headed a similar study nearly 20 years ago, was tapped to head the review committee, which is scheduled to report back by August.

Apparently everything is on the table, including extending NASA’s involvement in the International Space Station, which currently is funded through 2015, the Ares-Orion space transportation system being designed to replace the retiring space shuttles, and NASA’s plans to land astronauts on the moon.

"You can expect a new administration coming in wants to understand where we're at and is this the best way to go forward," Scolese said.  "Clearly if we're on the wrong path we should change. If you're asking me  do I think we're on the wrong path, no, I don't.”

Scolese said NASA will continue development of its Ares 1 rocket and Orion capsule during the review. However, contracts for initial work on the heavy lift Ares 5, needed for lunar transport, as well a lunar vehicle, will be put on hold pending the results of Augustine’s review, added Doug Cooke, who oversees the agency’s Exploration programs.

(Acting administrator Chris Scolese. Credit: NASA) 

Budget Watchers Nail NASA

April 18, 2009

The Congressional Budget Office published a report this week with a fairly bleak forecast that NASA will meet a 2020 target date to return U.S. astronauts to the moon, as part of the new U.S. manned space program called Constellation.

Based on past experience, NASA’s programs end up costing bout 50 percent more than original estimates. The agency currently maintains reserves to cover cost overruns of about 25 percent, the report found.

 So without additional funding from Congress, the shuttle replacement vehicle likely would not be ready to fly until late 2016 and the first mission to the moon delayed from 2020 to 2023, the CBO said.

Cost overruns also will force NASA to scale back its robotic program as well, with 15 fewer missions occurring through 2025 than what the agency has planned.

The outlook is even more dire if NASA is ordered to keep the space shuttles flying, past 2010. Proposals to keep flying the shuttle until the new Orion ships are ready so far has not struck a chord with the Obama administration. The CBO calculated that for the United States to maintain its ability to put astronauts in orbit through the transition from the shuttle to Orion, keep the space station operating past 2015, and keep the new spaceships and rockets on track for a 2015 debut would require a 25 percent annual increase in NASA’s budget, up to about 23.8 billion.

A second report on NASA from its safety watchdog group reitered its support for retiring the shuttle as planned upon completion of the space station.

“Continuing to fly the Shuttle not only would increase the risk to crews, but also could jeopardize the future U.S. Exploration program by squeezing available resources (and, in the  worst case, support) for the Constellation program,” wrote the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel.

 

 

 

 

 

Reality Check

August 12, 2008

The United States’ first chance to cut some time off a planned five-year hiatus in launching people into orbit is over.

NASA told us yesterday it’s giving up on flying a crew aboard the new Orion capsules until September 2014 at the earliest. With the shuttle program shutting down in two years, the agency had hoped Orion would be able to fly crews to the International Space Station as early as 2013.

But the agency needed more money and fewer technical problems to make that happen. In a conference call with reporters on Monday, program managers said the accelerated development scheduled was officially off and that contractors on the program will be notified to slow their pace to match available funds.

"The window of opportunity for us to accelerate (the program) is closing. In fact, this summer with the re-alignment of our schedule, it's closed," said Jeff Hanley, the program manager for NASA’s new exploration program called Constellation.

Uncle Sam will be counting on its good friend (except for this week) Russia to ferry crews to and from the space station until Orion is ready to fly. Course, Congress hasn’t given its official blessing to that plan by lifting a trade embargo slapped against Russia to protest trade practices with Iran that presumably helped Iran develop nuclear weapons technology.

Seems like a good time for China to make a pitch to be our space taxi service. Judging from all the sky-walking and zero-g simulations during the stunning Olympics opener, they’re definitely in the market.

Caption: Not so fast. NASA rendering of Ares rocket leaving the launch pad.