Lunar News Network

Alternative Lunar Plan Proposed

The panel reviewing NASA's plans to return us to the Moon and then go on to Mars recently heard a proposal from within NASA that would dramatically change the plan. The alternative plan is based on the space shuttle hardware, infrastructure and personnel, and promises a cheaper and faster path to the Moon than the present Constellation program. This AP report provides all the details, but check out the amazingly negative way the report is introduced:

Like a car salesman pushing a luxury vehicle that the customer no longer can afford, NASA has pulled out of its back pocket a deal for a cheaper ride to the moon. It won't be as powerful, and its design is a little dated. Think of it as a base-model Ford station wagon instead of a tricked-out Cadillac Escalade. Officially, the space agency is still on track with a 4-year-old plan to spend $35 billion to build new rockets and return astronauts to the moon in several years. However, a top NASA manager is floating a cut-rate alternative that costs around $6.6 billion. This cheaper option is not as powerful as NASA's current design with its fancy new rockets, the people-carrying Ares I and cargo-lifting Ares V. But the cut-rate plan would still get to the moon.

From what I've read, the alternative plan (the Shannon plan, formally called the Shuttle-Derived Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle) has merit, but making the plan sound like a used car (that could be a lemon) hardly does NASA any favors. At any rate, you can learn more about the alternative plan in this YouTube video:

Introducing the Constellation Program

NASA provides an overview of the Constellation program in this video:

Obama Nominates NASA Chief

I've been trying to catch up on news and events after being away for the Memorial Day holiday weekend, and it appears that President Obama has nominated former astronaut Charles Bolden to be the next NASA administrator. I'm glad that Obama as finally moved to fill this important position, but I'm dismayed that they waited to announce this over the holiday weekend. It has long been the practice of governments (any administration really) to announce bad news late in the day on a Friday or over a weekend, so as to minimize the impact on public opinion, on the assumption that weekends will call the public away from the news, the internet, the TV, etc. As this is not bad news, I'm a bit confused about why the Obama team would announce this over a holiday weekend. Why not wait a few days and announce it during the week when the usual news cycle can fully explore the issue?

The CNET news report can be found here, and CBS News has a report here. This MSNBC video has additional details on the background of the nominee:

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NASA Budget Announced

The budget news out of Washington is not good. President Obama's budget proposal has put the entire Constellation program and the Vision for Space Exploration - Moon, Mars & Beyond - on hold. They plan to fund current operations, at least one more shuttle flight, and development costs for Ares and Orion, but the project review suggests that the future of the program may be in doubt. According to CNET News:

The Obama administration's fiscal 2010 NASA budget request includes $630 million in additional near-term funding for development of follow-on rockets and spacecraft needed for the agency's post-shuttle moon program, officials said Thursday. But most of the increase is from the administration's economic stimulus package, and projections through 2013 show a $3.1 billion reduction in overall funding for the program compared with 2009 projections. Unveiling NASA's $18.7 billion 2010 budget on Thursday, acting Administrator Chris Scolese said the Obama administration had ordered an independent review of NASA's plans to replace the space shuttle with a combination of manned and unmanned Ares rockets, Apollo-style Orion capsules, and lunar landers needed to establish research stations on the moon by the early 2020s. The new rockets are the central elements of what NASA calls the Constellation program.

This suggests to me that President Obama has not prioritized space exploration and that the ambitious program to return to the Moon and go on to Mars may be dramatically scaled back or even eliminated. Is it possible that the U.S. will no longer have a shuttle program or a next generation spacecraft ready to follow the shuttle? In this budgetary environment, I guess anything is possible.

Obama Ignoring NASA?

This report from the Orlando Sentinel details fears that the plans to return to the Moon are in danger:

NASA's plans to return astronauts to the moon are quietly being revised and are in danger of slipping past 2020. In meetings over the last few weeks at Kennedy Space Center, agency managers have told employees and contractors that they are delaying the first lunar launch of the Ares V rocket -- a cargo hauler slated to be the most powerful rocket ever built -- by two years. NASA's internal plans had called for Ares V to go to the moon in 2018, though the agency had announced a public goal of 2020. Internal deadlines are used by NASA to keep programs on track and to provide a margin of error for developmental problems. But because of growing budget woes, the agency is resetting its internal date to 2020. And privately, engineers say that means the public 2020 date to send humans back to the moon is in deepening trouble.

Ok, so quick recap: President Obama has not yet named the new NASA Administrator, who will have to make important decisions soon on whether to continue the shuttle program or move along with the Constellation program as planned, and lacking any direction, NASA will proceed on autopilot based on the Bush plan. I think that is an accurate recap of what is shaping up to be a very suspenseful, and no doubt stressful, time at NASA.

Orion Makes a Splash on the Mall

Many Americans who are not in the space community are getting their first look at the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle. NASA displayed a full-scale model of the vehicle on the National Mall yesterday so people could get up close and personal with the craft that will take us back to the Moon in 2020. Here is a roundup of national media coverage of the event:

CNN - Orion space capsule previewed on National Mall

Reuters - US unveils Orion spacecraft to take crew to Mars

Chicago Tribune - Preview of the Orion crew exploration vehicle

DVICE - Orion spacecraft mockup shows up in Washington

Aviation Week - NASA Prepares Orion Test

io9 - First Look at the Spacecraft That Will Take Humans to Mars

Wall Street Journal - Hard Times on Earth Inspire Some to Look to the Stars

Photo: Straits Times

NASA Trajectory

This MSNBC report reviews the history of the shuttle program, notes the age of the shuttle fleet, anticipates the Ares and Orion program, and concludes with the goal of returning to the Moon:

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NASA Budget Increases, Mission Unclear

 
I had a great deal of trepidation about the fate of the NASA budget leading up to the release of Obama's proposed federal budget last month. After all, in a time of great economic crisis and financial hardship, could the U.S. really afford to launch a major new initiative to return to the Moon and go on to Mars? As this report from New Scientist makes clear, Obama said yes, and refused to back away from Bush's ambitious Vision for Space Exploration:

NASA will stay on track to return humans to the Moon by 2020, according to an overview of President Obama's 2010 budget request released on Thursday. [...] But the budget request backs a plan developed under the Bush administration to retire the space shuttle by 2010 and develop a system to return humans to the Moon by 2020. [...] Under the proposed budget, the agency would receive $18.7 billion in 2010. Combined with $1 billion in funding provided in an economic stimulus package signed into law last week, NASA would get $2.4 billion more than it did in 2008. [...]The budget would also likely be a boost over 2009 funding levels. The agency's 2009 budget has not yet been settled. NASA has been operating at 2008 funding levels under a continuing resolution since October 2008.

In hindsight, I wonder if my trepidations was warranted? After all, dramatic cutbacks at NASA at a time when the shuttle fleet is being phased out would mean that the U.S., a leading spacefaring nation, would have to rely on other countries for access to space. That would have been untenable for national security reasons, to say nothing of national pride. Still, as this report from today's LA Times notes, the NASA budget increase does not mean that Obama has given NASA a new mandate and a clear focus:

During an interview, Obama said the first priority of a new agency administrator -- whom he promised to appoint soon -- would be "to think through what NASA's core mission is and what the next great adventures and discoveries are under the NASA banner." Until that happens, he said, the White House would delay any major policy decisions about the agency.

It would appear that the good news on the NASA budget has been overshadowed by Obama's reluctance to quickly appoint a new administrator, decide the fate of the shuttle program, and to commit to the Constellation program. I'm not sure what to make of it other than to note that my initial optimism based on the increased budget has now evaporated.

Looking Back

The Voice of America is offering a series of reports looking at the history and future of NASA (NASA Remembers First 50 Years of Manned Space Flight):

On October 1, 1958, the U.S. space agency NASA first opened its doors. Fifty years later it still has its sights on space exploration, new worlds and distant frontiers. In part one of a series, VOA's Paul Sisco takes a look back at NASA's manned space flight program.

I'm really enjoying all of these anniversary retrospectives.

NASA Fights Bone-Loss

Living in space is dangerous to your health. Bone loss is one of the many health threats that astronauts face and NASA is working on the problem (CNN - NASA bone-loss test sends man to bed for 84 days):

Doctors working with NASA scientists believe that they may have a way to combat one of the greatest health dangers of space travel: bone loss. "We know that bone loss in space is an extremely significant problem. Astronauts lose about 10 times more bone every month than a postmenopausal woman on Earth loses," says Dr. Peter Cavanagh, former director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Space Medicine. Bone loss occurs presumably because astronauts don't get enough load-bearing exercise in zero gravity. Cavanagh says that their findings may later contribute to new treatments for the millions of Americans who suffer from osteoporosis.

I wanted to highlight the above text because it underscores the civilian and commercial benefits of this line of research. NASA will probably solve the bone loss problem with a combination of exercise regimens and drug treatments that help the body maintain strong bones. Longer-term treatments may focus on genetic manipulation to enhance how the body absorbs and stores calcium in bones. All of these treatments will have spin-offs that will benefit society at large.

NASA Group Photo

Take a look at this photo of past and present astronauts who recently gathered to celebrate NASA (NASA - Astronauts: Past and Present):

An all-star gathering of legendary American astronauts appeared in Cleveland Aug. 29, 2008 to celebrate NASA's 50th anniversary. John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon, Jim Lovell, veteran of two Apollo missions, and Kathryn Sullivan, the first woman to walk in space joined 15 other astronauts from Ohio.

That's quite an impressive gathering, I think they still have the right stuff.

Orion Delayed

More bad news to report (CNN -  NASA: Space shuttle replacement won't fly until 2014):

NASA has put off the planned launch of its next-generation Orion spacecraft for a year, a setback to efforts to fly a successor to its aging space shuttles, the space agency announced Monday. The Orion space vehicle in this artist rendering from Lockheed Martin's web site, won't see space until 2014. [...] a year later than NASA had planned to launch the first Orion, but still six months short of the March 2015 commitment date set by Congress. Program managers were hoping to fly the new vehicle much sooner than that to keep the gap between the last shuttle flight and the first Orion flight to a minimum.

I wonder if this is something that a new president can change? After all, with both McCain and Obama (a new convert) strongly supporting the program perhaps there will be more momentum. I'm worried though that past budget cycles are dictating what can be done and when, and even if a new president wanted to give NASA more money in the future, it may be too late to reverse these delays.

NASA Panel Raises Safety Issues

And now for some bad news (AP - NASA safety panel worries about moon ship design):

NASA is not properly emphasizing safety in its design of a new spaceship and its return-to-the-moon program faces money, morale and leadership problems, an agency safety panel found Monday.

The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel cited "surprising anxiety among NASA employees" about the Constellation moon program and said the project "lacks clear direction." Its 143-page annual report [PDF] specifically faulted the agency's design of the Orion crew capsule for not putting safety features first.

Officials in charge of the program, defending the design safety at a news conference, wouldn't say whether astronauts are among the worried employees. Astronauts would have to fly in the Orion crew capsule, with a first launch planned by 2015.

It's worrisome to see these concerns addressed so publicly in the press. Greater transparency is good, and accountability is good, but in an election season, it would be easy for a candidate or a new president to manipulate expert panel reports to an uninformed public and use it as a justification for cutting budgets and programs. I'm sure panels such as the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel have their own timelines, but would it have been at all impractical to wait until after the election is over to release their findings?

B-Day Wishes from BBC News

The BBC is wishing NASA a happy birthday with an audio slideshow (To the Moon and Beyond):

Nasa is celebrating 50 years of space exploration - which has taken the American space agency up into the Earth's orbit, on to the Moon, and deep into our Solar System. That journey has produced many iconic images - from the Apollo moon landings, to the space shuttle missions, and the colourful pictures beamed back from the Hubble Space Telescope. Here, space writer and historian Piers Bizony recalls some of Nasa's defining moments.

B-Day Wishes from Google

In one of its trademark logo makeovers Google is wishing NASA a happy birthday.