President Obama has made his decision on the future direction of NASA,
including scrapping the Ares I rocket in favor of a new heavy-lift launcher to
carry astronauts beyond the moon. According to Science Insider, Obama made his
decision after a Dec. 16 meeting with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.
Obama will also ask Congress to increase NASA's budget by $1 billion in 2011
to accommodate the new launcher and to upgrade NASA's fleet of robotic
Earth-monitoring spacecraft.
NASA has spent almost $6.9 billion on its current plan to be back on the moon
by 2020 to establish a lunar outpost for future space expeditions, and the
agency continues to speed $300 million a month on the program. Former President
George W. Bush introduced the moon program in the wake of the 2003 space
shuttle Columbia accident.
But, shortly after taking office, Obama ordered an outside review of NASA's
program to return to the moon. The blue-ribbon panel of experts, led by former
Lockheed Martin CEO Norman Augustine,
conducted the review over the summer.
The Ares I-X is currently scheduled to become NASA's primary launch vehicle
after the space shuttle is retired at the end of 2010. The rocket is designed
to launch Orion spacecrafts into space for low-orbit flights to the ISS
(International Space Station) and, eventually, the moon.
According to Science Insider, Obama wants to abandon the Ares I
for a new heavy-lift rocket to be ready by 2018. In the interim, the ISS would
be supplied by a commercially leased spacecraft such as SpaceX's Falcon 9.
International partners would be asked to develop a lunar launcher while the United
States focuses on a program "to take
humans to the moon, asteroids and the moons of Mars," Science Insider said
Dec. 17.
"The decision is not going to make anyone gasp," the publication
quoted an unnamed source from within the White House as saying.
The Augustine review committee completed its work in September with the
conclusion that the U.S.
manned space program is underfunded with unrealistic goals.
"The U.S.
human spaceflight program appears to be on an unsustainable trajectory. It is
perpetuating the perilous practice of pursuing goals that do not match
allocated resources," the executive summary (PDF) stated. "Space operations
are among the most complex and unforgiving pursuits ever undertaken by humans.
It really is rocket science. Space operations become all the more difficult
when means do not match aspirations. Such is the case today."
The committee also said NASA's current plan to decommission the space shuttle
fleet at the end of 2010 was unrealistic and the fleet should be funded through
2011. The panel said the projected flight rate through 2010 is nearly twice
that of the actual flight rate since the Columbia
disaster.
"Recognizing that undue schedule and budget pressure can subtly impose a
negative influence on safety, the Committee finds that a more realistic schedule
is prudent," the report stated. "With the remaining flights likely to
stretch into the second quarter of 2011, the Committee considers it important
to budget for Shuttle operations through that time."
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