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:

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:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

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.

Happy Election Day 2008

Happy Election Day to all the readers of Lunar News Network. I voted last month by mail, so now I'm just sitting back and waiting for the ballots to be counted. Since the polls have not closed there is time for one more election report, this one from the Orlando Sentinel:

The two men's policies, however, are more similar than they are different. Both say they will consider postponing the shuttle's retirement date and try to accelerate the development of its replacement, the troubled Ares 1 rocket that won't be ready for launch before 2015. Both also want to boost scientific research aboard the $100 billion international space station, and both question the Bush administration's decision to stop supporting the space station in 2016.

The report moves on from those points of agreement to note some of the more nuanced details of their respective space plans. I'm satisfied that both candidates have expressed support for NASA and the manned space program, whether the economic crisis and subsequent budget cuts will allow them to act on support that remains to be seen.

Obamanauts Rally Space Coast

According to this report in Wired News, Obama layalists are busy building support for their candidate along Florida's Space Coast:

Sen. Barack Obama's support for space exploration has earned him the support of advocates on Florida's "Space Coast" who call themselves Obamanauts. [...] The Obamanauts have compiled a head-to-head comparison of the candidates' stances on space, and are also encouraging pro-space voters to make calls to undecided Florida voters to encourage them to vote for Obama. [...] The biggest difference between the two campaigns when it comes to space may be their contrasting tones. Obama talks about restoring NASA as a source of inspiration and innovation for the nation and the world, while McCain talks more about power and dominance while hearkening back to the U.S. "victory over the Soviets" in the race to the moon.

I think it's interesting that many in the space community initially had an unfavorable impression of Obama because of his comments about funding education over the space program (as if the space program doesn't have an educational component) and that now these Obama supporters are actively trying to change that.

McCain Supports Space Program

Senator McCain has promised more funding for NASA and expressed support for the manned space program (Wall Street Journal - McCain Promises $2 Billion to Help NASA):

Sen. John McCain came to the space coast today and promised $2 billion to help NASA transition from the space shuttle to a new space vehicle. “I’ve always been a strong supporter of manned space flight and NASA,” he said in a community that is home to many in the field. “If I’m elected president I won’t cut NASA funds like Sen. Obama.” McCain aides noted that Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, had promised to pay for education programs by delaying the Constellation space program, which is meant to fill the gap to the next space vehicle, only to backtrack later. “My friends, we just saw the Chinese. We saw them in space,” McCain told an afternoon rally of about 2,000 people. “We’ve got competition. We’ve got to stay ahead. We will be the first nation to Mars.”

This report notes that McCain didn't mention how this would work with the across-the-board funding freeze he has also proposed. Still, the report is very encouraging, as is their evenhanded acknowledgment that Obama has promised $2 billion for the Constellation program. Could it be that both candidates will be kind to NASA?

NASA At 50

Come on people, let's keep focused on the future (AP - Is the Right Stuff Now List in Space?):

In some ways, the future is reminiscent of the moonshot days of the 1960s. The new rocket would have an Apollo-like capsule on top. Astronauts would first fly in that ship in 2015 but stay in Earth's orbit, with a moon landing by 2020. Once there, astronauts would build a base camp and eventually journey to Mars.

But, sadly, most of this AP report is rather disparaging, it's not a hatchet job, but it does paint NASA as old, tired, a bit lacking in focus. Let's hope they're wrong. The only thing in this report that has me really worried is this part about the current and soon-to-be budget environment:

The two presidential nominees and many in Congress say they want to keep the shuttle flying past the 2010 retirement date mandated by the Bush administration. But doing so would be costly, and given the current financial meltdown, big spending on NASA in the future doesn't seem likely.

I'm worried about that as well as funding for the rest of the Moon, Mars and Beyond program. In last week's presidential debate there was a telling moment when the moderator challenged both candidates to explain how the credit crisis would change their priorities, and neither of them had an answer. I'm worried that whoever wins in November, NASA may be part of that answer.

Obama Supports NASA

Here is some breaking news on the election front (Wired News - Obama Urges Support for NASA):

Sen. Barack Obama condemned the current administration's handling of NASA and called on Congress to take action before next Friday to protect the United States' access to the International Space Station. [..] Obama's letter is an important display of space leadership and judgment at a critical time for NASA. Let's just hope that Congress heeds the warning and gets the waiver through before recess.

Yes, let's hope.

Candidates Positions on Science

Science Debate 2008 sent a series of questions to the candidates to find out where they stand on issues of science and technology. McCain's answers can be found here, and Obama's answers can be found here. HT: A Vote for Science

Remembering 9-11

I wasn't going to make a post today, but then I thought, what better day to celebrate the spirit of discovery that the space program represents than 9-11? Our advanced technological civilization gave us man on the Moon and space probes that are now outside our solar system. We are expanding the reach of humanity as far as we possibly can. Our enemies are steeped in a fanatical movement that looks to the past instead of the future, they are fearful and challenged by modernity. Our intellectual openness expands the frontiers of knowledge and our engineering genius gives us the tools to exploit that knowledge, and it's by using these strengths that we will ultimately prevail in the fight against the cave-dwellers of al-Qaeda.

NASA Politics

Things seem to be getting tense between NASA and the White House, private e-mails are being leaked to the press (TMCnet - NASA administrator decries White House 'jihad' to end shuttle program):

In a remarkably candid internal e-mail to top advisers obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, Griffin lashed out last month at the White House for what he called a "jihad" to shut down the space shuttle, expressed frustration at the lack of funding for a new moon rocket _ and despaired about the future of America's human space flight program. [...] NASA on Friday confirmed the authenticity of the e-mail, which offers a rare insight into Griffin's views as the agency faces its greatest challenge since the end of the Apollo era and perhaps in its 50-year history. Griffin wrote his e-mail in response to messages from advisers encouraging him to call off the retirement of the shuttle. In the e-mail, Griffin says he fully expects the next president to order NASA to continue flying the shuttle, even though he considers the aging orbiter unsafe and consuming money needed to design and build his Ares moon rocket and Orion crew capsule. He acknowledges that the shuttle will remain _ for the foreseeable future _ the only means to transport U.S. astronauts to the international space station.

I'm not sure what to make of this, but I do hope that the next occupant of the White House will be able to preserve both the shuttle program and Ares/Orion funding.

Dueling Space Policies

I've been watching the national political conventions and reading about them on the net. I could be wrong here (so please correct me if I'm wrong), but it would appear to me that the only reference to the U.S. space program during the Democratic National Convention or the Republican National Convention was a brief reference to the Apollo program by Senator Kennedy during his speech to the Democrats last week. Perhaps it's merely the case that they are not talking about it in prime time, but they are talking about it and including it in their national platforms? To get to the bottom of the mystery of the missing space policy I refer you to The Space Review, where Jeff Foust reports (Space policy heats up this summer) on the policy statements made by both campaigns as well as a recent debate on space issues by representatives of the campaigns.

McCain & Obama's Space Policies

Thank you to the Planetary Society for publishing a side-by-side comparison of the candidates views on space policy.

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?

Obama Revises His Position

Now that the U.S. presidential election has moved into the general election we are getting less space related political news than we did during the primaries. As we previously noted, Barack Obama has said that he would cut the NASA budget and divert the savings to fund education initiatives. Here is one recent report about Obama's campaign visit to Florida in which he voices support for NASA and dramatically updates his views on funding the Constellation program and narrowing the gap between the end of the shuttle program and the Orion program (Spaceflight Now - Obama vows NASA support during visit to Florida):

Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic candidate for president, held a town hall meeting near the Kennedy Space Center today and vowed strong support for NASA, saying he favors at least one shuttle flight beyond the 10 missions left on the agency's manifest. Obama also said he would work to close the gap between the end of shuttle operations in 2010 and the debut of the Orion spacecraft that will replace it and said earlier reports that he would divert money from NASA's next manned spacecraft to education were unfounded.

[...]

"I know it's still being reported that we were talking about delaying some aspects of the Constellation program to pay for our early education program," he said. "I told my staff we're going to find an entirely different offset because we've got to make sure that the money that's going into NASA for basic research and development continues to go there. That has been a top priority for us. This is an administration that's been anti-science. Whether it's on stem cell research, whether it's on climate change, they have rejected science. I want to reverse that trend, I want us to be a science-based society and I want us to invest in science."

While this is not a ringing endorsement of the Moon-Mars-Beyond program it does signal a major policy shift by Obama towards strong support for NASA and a smoother transition from the shuttle era to the Constellation era if he wins. Is this just political maneuvering or does it reflect a true change of heart?