Where is NASA Going? Rumors Fly

by Nancy Atkinson on January 27, 2010

The rumors are flying fast and furious as to details of NASA’s budget and future path that will be officially announced on February 1, 2010. The Orlando Sentinel says the Constellation program is dead: Obama and Congress are going to pull the plug on the Ares rocket and nix returning to the Moon. The Houston Chronicle says there is no way NASA will get a budget boost, especially not the $3 billion suggested by the Augustine Commission. New Scientists reports that Mars’ moon Phobos will be the next destination of human explorers, as part of the undefined “flexible path” — again suggested by the Augustine panel. Most interesting among the mix is a blog post by NASA’s Wayne Hale, who suggests NASA should get out of the human spaceflight business – and allow commercial space companies to handle hauling astronauts to space.

Some speculate this could be the end of America’s space agency as we know it — we might as well take the “S” out of NASA.

The Augustine Commission report last year said “The human spaceflight program that the United States is currently pursuing is on an unsustainable trajectory.”

But is ending Constellation, a program we’ve already spent billions on going to save money or our space program in the long run?

Or does NASA need a whole new direction and a whole new beginning.

Or is it an ending?

Enough speculation. The official word will come on Monday.

Discuss below, or chime in at this thread on NASAWatch, or this one at Space Politics.


Tagged as: Ares, Constellation program, NASA

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  • Craigboy

    Why do people act like radiation is an impossible problem, that there’s no way to protect against it?

  • SpaceNinja

    Thameron…

    Your last two sentences really struck hard. I hope everyone else can think about that for a bit.

  • Thameron

    Craigboy -

    My work involves radiation so I know a little bit about it. Part of the problem people have with understanding it is that ‘radiation’ is a catch all term sort of like ‘dogs’ including Great Danes and Dachshunds. Radiation is either charged particles (protons and electrons) which can be deflected by a strong enough magnetic field (like the one around our planet). Creating that field around a space ship would require energy and that means carrying a strong enough generator. and electromagnetic radiation (gamma rays and x-rays) which cannot be deflected by a magnetic field and which would require a hefty amount of mass to shield you from it. Mass means using lots of energy to get it into orbit and that means high cost.

    Another solution to this problem would simply be to genetically engineer people to be resistant to radiation like the waterbears. That solution is probably about as far away as the others.

    These problems are soluble with sufficient will and resources, but the evidence suggests (to me at least) that the will is not presently there to do so.

    SpaceNinja -

    I’ve have always been in the human space travel camp rather than robotic exploration. Robots going places is a curiosity satisfier for exogeologists. Humans going places is adventure. After all, would you be satisfied to send a robot to take your vacation in Tahiti for you?

  • http://www.spaceward.org CrazyEddieBlogger

    Thameron -

    I did the moon/mars trade-off sheet so many times in my head… I think Mars wins out.

    The moon is easier to get to, Mars is easier to stay on, and is a richer planet – that’s the bottom line.

    After s medium stay duration, you reach the break-even point where the cost of sustenance dominates the cost of transportation. As with all breakeven points, once you cross them, you never look back…

    Either way, Area I was a joke to begin with. We need a space program that is based on what made the US great – capitalism, innovation, competition… Ironic that Obama is pushing for exactly that, and the conservatives are pushing for a government program….

  • Nephish777

    First, Social Security is at least in theory financed separate from the rest the government. (At least until Johnson started using its “trust fund” to hide his budget deficit.) I am retired after working 30 years in Social Security.
    Second, this is a real great way to create jobs. Eliminate 100′s of employees will really increase the number of employed.

  • Dark Gnat

    It’s looking pretty bad for NASA and all of America. This is what happens when gullible people elect a person with no experience, who does nothing but read from telepromtors. People wer angry at Bush, and they certainly had reasons to be angry, but at least he wanted something from the space program.

    If these rumors are true, then I’m simply giving up on our government. It is out of touch and does not represent it’s people.

    I am hoping that the cancellation of the Ares/Constellation project is a good sign for Direct 2.0 or another program, but the outlook is dim.

    Maybe we can convince Obama that NASA is really a mega-huge Bank and needs a bail out!

  • Spoodle58

    I just want to see some humans on Mars before I die.

  • Craigboy

    Global warming? Why the F would that be NASA’s new focus, one long term, due date goal? I am going to be so angry if this is true. That’s not even the purpose of the agency and instead of doing what the Commission he set up to do, he chooses to consolidate space exploration in the name of global warming research, when he could have taken funds from anywhere else. He choose to do it from an under-funded program. Fuck him and the white horse he road in on.

  • Craigboy
  • Andy F

    The problem is that most politicians today know the price of everything, and the value of nothing.

  • http://www.nancyatkinson.com Nancy Atkinson

    Thanks to the tip from Craigboy, here is an article pointing out that Obama can’t cut Constellation without Congressional approval. http://www.universetoday.com/2010/01/28/president-cant-cut-constellation-without-congressional-approval/

  • Blad Hansen

    Writing from outside the US and as one who has traveled quite a bit and reads the international press,
    I think I can say that NASA is the most admired and respected government agency on the planet bar none.

    Indeed what other government agency is loved or admired anywhere??

    Surely an administration that can mint trillions to pay off toxic assets and let bankers skim billions off the top for bonuses isn’t so lacking in the audacity of exploration that it would nickel and dime it’s stairway to the stars into extinction.

    I hesitate to second guess the viability of this or that program – there’s always some fat to cut.

    But please Obama say it ain’t true.

  • Hon. Salacious B. Crumb

    Most of these somewhat superfluous America’s programs logically have to be cut. Considering the massive debts the country has raised it no wonder. Hell. You currently can’t even make all the repayments on the borrowings!
    Lets see. Worst in the US is the real basic requirements of health and child care of some of the population are not being properly meet. If you incur a medical debt without adequate insurance you have a high probability of bankruptcy. Even worst is you decrease in life expectancy and increases in infant mortality. Unless you are working (with rising +10% unemployment too) and have adequate insurance, basic health care remains a luxury and not a real necessity. (Even those who are supported by government programs are supported only by “emergency services.” After seeing what happened to New Orleans under G.W. Bush shows how precarious that can be!)

    Really. So what is more important? Caring for the sick or going back to the moon? Most here seem happy to totally sacrifice the social responsibility of its government in favour of ‘feeling good’ in some esoteric venture of mostly propaganda dripping with almost xenophobic-like nationalistic pride.

    Constellation and Ares is a good idea – but perhaps again until the 2020s or 2030s. Get you economic house and social responsibilities in order before heading for more lofty places.

  • Astrofiend

    Thameron – I misread the tone of your post completely – my mistake and I apologize unreservedly for my misdirected attack.

    Indeed, as one commenter mentioned, your last sentences are a powerful argument against this horror of mediocrity and triviality that has overtaken the governments of the world in the past few decades.

    >peace.

  • Aodhhan

    HR 3288 is the ANNUAL appropriations for a few high level departments.

    Unfortunately this happens to end on September 30th, 2010. Around July/Aug of this year, a new one will be written/ammended and approved.

    President Obama can write in his next budget to allow this much money, along with cut this and that. To get any votes he needs, he just adds a few things into those representatives’ districts and BINGO… approved!

    As long as the Democrats own both houses, Obama has a good chance of getting whatever he wants.

  • Thameron

    Astrofiend

    Apology accepted. This form of communication leaves out a lot of the clues that we are used to and so misunderstandings are common.

    At issue there are two stories here. One is the story of a human race which did not spread beyond their planet to other planets and then to the stars.

    The other is a story of adventure, exploration and discovery where the human race did expand beyond their home into the greater universe.

    I like that second story better and while I understand that I will never have the option to board a starship I did hope that I’d see a human foot come down on Mars.

    It isn’t that it is impossible that gets me. It’s that it is possible, but people choose not to do it because they value war, sports and entertainment more that gets me.

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