Scolese Says Any Ares I Replacement Must Be Capable To Carry Out Full Lunar Return Mission
NASA today unveiled an $18.69 billion budget proposal that includes a major study of whether the Constellation Program spaceship development effort should be altered.
The review team will be led by Norman Augustine, former chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT], aided by others such as senior NASA staff members, according to Acting NASA Administrator Chris Scolese, who briefed news media today.
This is the first NASA budget produced for President Obama.
Among possibilities mentioned in recent months would be dropping the Ares I rocket that will take the next-generation Orion spaceship to orbit, and substituting a military-type rocket such as the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle.
Segments of the Ares I have been developed separately over years by The Boeing Co. [BA], Alliant Techsystems Inc. [ATK], and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, a unit of United Technologies Corp. [UTX]. Lockheed is leading development of the Orion space capsule.
On the other hand, the EELV is supplied by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed and Boeing.
President Obama and White House aides have expressed interest in how the switch in lifters might work.
Former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin objected to dropping the Ares I program after it has run for years, saying the EELV wouldn’t be fully equal to the Ares I in the moon mission.
Scolese was asked by Space & Missile Defense Report whether any Augustine review team recommendation to substitute another lifter for the Ares I would have a precondition that it equal the Ares I on the moon mission.
“Yes,” Scolese replied. Thinking about it further, he repeated, “Yes.”
In explaining the review, Scolese said that the Constellation Program for now will proceed without changes, including the upcoming Ares I-X test flight this year, saying it is incorrect to assume the Augustine commission will recommend changing Ares I, or other elements of the Constellation Program.
Scolese said he hasn’t had a chance to sit down jointly with Augustine, NASA officials and others who will be key to the review.
“We were requested to [study] human space flight capability,” Scolese said. The “blue ribbon team” headed by Augustine was his response to the request. The White House announced the Review of United States Human Space Flight Plans, which also will examine NASA development programs and possible alternatives, according to Scolese.
This should be “a quick review,” Scolese said. It is sound practice to review programs every two years, and it also is commonplace for a new presidential administration to want to review various federal programs, Scolese added.
While the Constellation Program spends $250 million to $300 million per month, that doesn’t mean money would be wasted during the time the review continues, Scolese said. To assume there would be waste, one would have to assume the Augustine team will recommend scrapping some parts of the Constellation Program, and no one can say that will be the outcome before the review even begins, Scolese explained.
The Exploration Systems program, including Constellation, would get $3.96 billion in the budget, still working toward the goal of an initial March 2015 initial manned space flight.
In the budget, it provides that the Ares I-X test still is set for late this year, and the launch pad abort test is set for November at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.
The budget also funds nine more space shuttle flights, including one to take the $1.5 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer experiment to the International Space Station. Scolese expects the flights to finish by the end of the fiscal budget year ending Sept. 30, 2010, using $6.17 billion budgeted for space operations. Those nine flights include the Hubble Space Telescope rescue mission that blasts off Monday. (Please see separate story in this issue.) After that, the shuttle fleet retires as previously planned. Also, reviewers will consider operating the $100 billion station beyond its current 2016 cutoff deadline.
NASA also will work to help stimulate private commercial space flight capabilities and demonstration of spacecraft that may support NASA cargo and crew requirements on missions to the space station. Companies likely interested would include SpaceX and Orbital.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter still is set for launch after Sept. 30.
NASA also will be able to support extensive science and aeronautics programs with funding in the budget, Scolese said.
However, while the Obama space agency budget would increase the total budget outlay by 5.1 percent in fiscal 2010, to $18.686 billion, thereafter funding remains at $18 billion and change through 2014. Critics say that isn’t enough, and there will be fiscal crunches hitting NASA as years go by, expressing concern for continued support of the Constellation Program.