Constellation: January 2010 Archives

This is going way off my normal topic territory so I'll keep it brief but the comments on the blogosphere have piqued my interest in Congressional calculations and what it could mean for Obama's alleged attempts to can the Constellation programme

I guess it is pretty clear that the only members of Congress with a very strong interest in NASA's budget and Constellation in particular are those with districts that have voters employed by the space agency and its contractors

Considering how NASA repeatedly fails to get any significant Congressional support for its programmes - president George W. Bush's failure to get the budget increases he wanted when his party controlled Congress being a big example - it is this blogger's guess that the recent statements from politicians opposing the Obama spaceflight vision will see no follow through and no successful challenge

Clark Lindsey made a good point about "small government" (my words not Clark's) Republicans paradoxically voting in favour of a multi-billion dollar government programme and against something you would imagine they would support - privatisation of low Earth orbit access. So what would make Republicans do that?

Why would the Republican party decide to fight the Obama administration on the NASA battelfield when they can continue focusing on healthcare? It is a question I leave to the US bloggers out there who will be able to make the Congressional calculation better than this subject of a former colonial power

But if the Ares rockets are to be saved by Congress then I would imagine the Republican party leadership will have to decide to collaborate with their objective Democratic allies on the spaceflight issue and Fox news will be at the tip of the spear for that fight

Edward Crawley
Maria T. Zuber
James Garvin
Richard Garriott
Erika Wagner
David Thompson
James Crocker

June 11, 2009

Running Time: 1:39:22

Google alerted this blog to this video. Why it only appeared today when the lecture took place last June I don't know but just in case this is a web debut, enjoy...

MIT's web page with the video says "From satellite-enabled radio and TV to climate tracking, space has become a "ubiquitous capability in our lifetime," as Edward Crawley puts it. But he also notes there is uncertainty about the future of U.S. spaceflight, which closely follows the "cadence" of political elections. Symposium panelists both predict and suggest directions the nation's public and private space programs might take."

NASA Space Shuttle programme office manager (and shuttle derived heavy lift vehicle proponent) John P. Shannon can feel warm and fuzzy inside today if this New York Times article's (link care of Jeff Foust) claim of an in-depth technical exploration study comes true

In June 2009 Shannon speculated in an interview with this blog that the Review of US human spaceflight plans could result in a further study. In the same blog post this blogger pondered on the implications for the Constellation programme's Ares I crew launch vehicle and even used the word propinquity

A post-Augustine technical investigation could, paradoxically, ensure Ares I wins by default because by the time any such study concluded the maturity of the crew launch vehicle design and propinquity of the 2015 target date could close the book on other proposals

Is this going to see the big new vision annoucement?

The State of the Agency: NASA Future Programs Presentation   Sponsored by the NASA Alumni League with support from the AAS, AIAA and WIA   Friday, February 12, 2010 James E. Webb Auditorium NASA Headquarters   You are invited to a one-day presentation on the status of NASA's current and proposed programs.  The program will feature an overview by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, followed by presentations from NASA Mission Directorates and staff offices. Time will be allotted for Q&A. The session will conclude with a dialogue between Administrator Bolden and former Administrator Jim Beggs, the current Chairman of the NASA Alumni League.   Registration:  7:30 - 8:00 am Program Start:  8:00 am Lunch: 11:30 am - 12:30 pm (on your own) Program Conclusion:  5:00 pm

As the first week of February edges closer it would seem that the fiscal year 2011 NASA budget request, which all and sundry expected to reveal the new US human spaceflight vision, will do no such thing

This re-tweeted tweet care of the well informed Jeff Foust and this article in The Huntsville Times suggest that like the FY2010 budget, and its Review of US human spaceflight plans, the new spaceflight vision will be part of a second appropriations submission to Congress. In the FY2010 summary on page EXP-2 it said:

*Following the human spaceflight review, the Administration will provide an updated request for Exploration activities reflecting the review's results. FY 2010 and outyear funding levels for Exploration activities shown here represent the budget request if there were no changes to ongoing activities.

Oh well that didn't happen. This time around, rather than following anymore reviews, its probable that the "updated request" for FY2011 will come after that Congressional debate required for canning the Constellation programme - assuming the deliberations result in that

Hyperbola got the distinct feeling that this process could take a lot longer than anyone expected way back in October after a chat with NASA administrator Charles Bolden in Korea

credit: EADS Astrium / caption: Starting this year the Oriane-Ariane launch systems could be ready by 2019

NASA's Orion crew exploration vehicle (CEV) could be launched by the latest version of Europe's EADS Astrium Ariane 5 rocket by 2019 according to a French government funded study. The Ariane 5 Mid-Life Evolution (ME) variant, planned to begin operations by 2017, is capable of launching Orion for its missions to the International Space Station and the Moon