Report: Obama Decides on $1 Billion NASA Budget Boost and New Heavy-Lift Launcher? December 20, 2009
Posted by Nick Azer in : Ares I, Augustine Panel, Base Race, Constellation, NASA, Norm Augustine, Obama, U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee , add a comment
A report by the blog ScienceInsider quotes sources as saying that Obama last week decided, in a meeting with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, on his immediate direction for NASA: an additional $1 Billion in budget, a new heavy lift launcher to replace the Ares 1, and potentially a shift in mission destinations away from the Moon (!).
The Augustine Report (PDF) recommended as an option a manned flight to an asteroid instead of the Moon—as soon as the early 2020s–an option that, according to this new ScienceInsider report, has the White House “more intrigued” than a return to the Moon (which, with a scrapping of the Ares 1 rocket, would be delayed until at least the mid 2020s…much later than the potential manned asteroid landing, or even a landing on a moon of Mars).
With the Moon well within the sights of private space and numerous other nations, it would be perhaps redundant for NASA to have it’s own full-fledged lunar program. NASA skipping the moon, then, is not a death knell to moon colonization, and could be a shrewd choice with many major private space firms (SpaceX, Orbital Sciences, etc.) being American anyways.
Check out the ScienceInsider blog’s report for the full details. An announcement reportedly could come as soon as this week and as late as February, so stay tuned…
Augustine Committee's Final Report Delivered to President Obama October 24, 2009
Posted by Nick Azer in : Augustine Panel, Norm Augustine, Obama, U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee , add a comment
The Review of Human Space Flight Plans committee (led by Norm Augustine) delivered its final report to President Obama on Thursday (The same day I suddenly didn’t have electricity…couple days of chaos there, but I’m back ;) ), and while there weren’t a lot of surprises per se (a draft version was available before, etc.), it’s still sparked plenty of fresh debate.
“‘The premier finding is that the human spaceflight program that the United States is currently pursuing is on an unsustainable trajectory.” -Norm Augustine, as reported by the Houston Chronicle
The panel found that NASA would need at least $3 billion more a year to complete it’s current slate of missions—an increase that seems unlikely in this economic climate. As a result, this landmark panel should result in big changes in NASA’s plans, especially regarding launch methods (namely scrapping the Ares rockets) and the scope/destinations of missions.
A notable suggestion from the panel is regarding having private companies assist NASA by launching astronauts for them—”space taxis“. This is right in step with Obama’s campaign space plan (which suggested “amplifying NASA’s reach” with the private sector and “unleashing the genius” of private enterprise—see my full analysis), and something I believe Obama may have had in mind all along (and just needed the panel to confirm).
I’ll have a more detailed look at the plan and the reaction up here at Luna C/I soon :)
The Dog Days of Augustine? Panel Delivers Grim Outlook on Constellation Budgeting August 13, 2009
Posted by Nick Azer in : Augustine Panel, economy, NASA, Obama , 1 comment so far
The Obama-initiated, Norm Augustine-led Human Space Flight review panel has delivered a sobering, pessimistic take on the future of Constellation budgeting:
“The money available has declined considerably since the program began…On the other hand, the Constellation program has proven to be more difficult than it was thought to be. It will be difficult with the current budget to do anything that’s terribly inspiring in the human spaceflight area.” -Norm Augustine (as reported by the Orlando Sentinel)
The panel has concluded that at least an additional $3 billion a year would be needed for NASA to return to the Moon by 2030.
“We are on a path right now, for a system that requires [roughly] double the current budget just to operate. If Santa Claus brought us this [Constellation] system tomorrow, fully developed, and the budget didn’t change, our next action would have to be to cancel it.”- Panel member Jeff Greason (as reported by the Orlando Sentinel)
Considering the economic climate, $3 billion more a year seems extremely unlikely to me (and others), so it looks like reform to Constellation will be on the way, if not outright cancellation or replacement.
If not Constellation’s current path…what, then?
“As president, Barack Obama will establish a robust and balanced civilian space program… In achieving this vision, Obama will reach out to include international partners and to engage the private sector to amplify NASA’s reach. Obama believes that a revitalized NASA can help America maintain its innovation edge and contribute to American economic growth.” -Barack Obama’s campaign space plan
Going back to the economic climate, and Obama’s obvious personal and political motivations to have the recession turn around during his first term, having NASA “contribute to American economic growth” instead of leeching an additional $3 billion a year out of it may direct his next moves regarding the organization’s “revitalization”. (Which now seems like it could be a more dramatic change than was imagined before—with Obama certainly no stranger to the idea of change.)
Recent developments, such as the ISS contracts given in January and the awarding of stimulus funds towards private space, could be steps in a stronger private ‘amplification’ direction than was anticipated before. Amplifying NASA with private space is the option that helps the economy the most (or at all), and with Obama’s future tied to the economy, it seems logical to me that we could be seeing even more along that path, now that Constellation has been rather grimly assessed by Obama’s review panel…
June 17th Human Space Flight Committee Meeting to Be Webcast June 16, 2009
Posted by Nick Azer in : Augustine Panel, Constellation, U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee , add a comment
The first meeting of the Human Space Flight (Augustine) panel reviewing Constellation will be webcast live, for those of us who can’t make it out to the event in D.C. The meeting will be held from 9am-5pm EST on June 17th (this Wednesday).
To stay even further involved with the panel’s goings-on, be sure to take part in their many interactive features, including their neat question submittal w/ public voting system feature.
Check back here on Wednesday and Thursday for coverage of all the significant developments that come from the meeting :)
Official, Interactive U.S. Human Space Flight (Augustine) Panel Site Launches June 6, 2009
Posted by Nick Azer in : Augustine Panel, NASA, U.S. Human Space Flight Committee, Vision for Space Exploration , add a comment
NASA has launched an interesting official site for the Norm Augustine-led Constellation review panel, called the U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee.
The site is notable for an array of savvy, unexpected interactive features:
- Submit comments or suggestions to the committee;
- A “Submit a question, get an answer” feature with a public voting system for question priority. So far, two “Top” questions have been answered (Update: significantly more answered questions can be found here), with others duking it out in the voting below to join them;
- An official Twitter feed (@NASA_HSF);
- Open public discussion of selected panel topics;
- An official Flickr gallery (where the image above of Dr. Leroy Chiao is from)’;
- A blog-esque news updates page;
- An RSS feed; and
- A method of emailing documents to the committee (email link).
The site also has other handy information, like detailed bios of each of the panel members.
It’s wonderful to have such a level of interaction available with this panel—we can all become a part of the process :) And I was excited by just Dr. Chiao’s open call for comments; this is a whole another level of participation compared to that. So check it out, jump into the topics discussions, and get voting on the good questions ;)
Augustine Panel Members Announced, Charter Signed; Public Meetings Set June 1, 2009
Posted by Nick Azer in : Augustine Panel, NASA, Obama , 1 comment so far
The Norm Augustine-led 90-day review panel for Constellation is now official, with the remaining panel members announced and the first meeting set.
Initiated by President Obama a few weeks ago, the panel was formed to see if more cost-effective alternatives to the current Constellation slate can be found.
The charter (PDF) signed by interim adminstrator Chris Scolese today identifies four primary goals the panel will look at, as well as two secondary goals:
a) Expediting a new U.S. capability to support utilization of the International Space Station (ISS);
b) supporting missions to the Moon and other destinations beyond low-Earth orbit (LEO);
c) stimulating commercial space flight capability; and
d) fitting within the current budget profile for NASA exploration activities.
Secondary goals: Examine the amount of R+D and robotic support needed to make missions more effective/affordable; and explore opportunities for international cooperation.
So that’s the framework with which the panel will be working under, with the first public meeting set for Wednesday, June 17th from 9am-5pm at the Carnegie Institution for Science in DC (Map).
Here’s a link-a-riffic look at the members of the panel:
- Norm Augustine, a former President and CEO of Lockheed-Martin and veteran of a number of space panels
- Dr. Wanda Austin, president and CEO of the federal research center The Aerospace Corp.
- Bohdan Bejmuk, chair, Constellation program Standing Review Board, and a former Boeing executive. The Standing Review Boards have had their fair share of controversy, though I didn’t find much info on Mr. Bejmuk himself.
- Dr. Leroy Chiao, a former astronaut and International Space Station commander. Follow Dr. Chiao on Twitter @AstroDude :)
- Dr. Christopher Chyba, professor of Astrophysical Sciences and International Affairs, Princeton University.
- Dr. Edward Crawley, Ford Professor of Engineering at MIT and co-chair, NASA Exploration Technology Development Program Review Committee.
- Jeff Greason, co-founder and CEO of XCOR Aerospace, and vice-chair, Personal Spaceflight Federation.
- Dr. Charles Kennel, chair, National Academies Space Studies Board, and director and professor emeritus, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego.
- Retired Air Force Gen. Lester Lyles, who garnered a lot of attention this year as a candidate for administrator of NASA (Charles Bolden was eventually nominated).
- And last, but certainly not least: Dr. Sally Ride, former astronaut and the first American woman in space; CEO of Sally Ride Science; and professor emerita at the University of California, San Diego. (UCSD is well-represented on this panel, with both Dr. Ride and Dr. Kennel! :) )
Keep an eye here for developments as the panel begins to meet…
