ESA's crew vehicle study shapes up

Flight International ^ | 01/23/07 | Rob Coppinger

[KevinDavis]

The European Space Agency has begun hammering out strategies for working with an industrial consortium from member states on the joint Russia-ESA Crew Space Transportation System (CSTS).

Aiming to begin International Space Station (ISS) operations in 2012-14, with a circumlunar mission by 2016, ESA is conducting an initial 15-month, €16 million ($20.7 million) study to examine vehicle requirements. The study will not include a lunar lander.

[KevinDavis]

[AntiKev]

Look how long it's taken them to develop the ATV, with multiple delays etc. The Russians have a vehicle that will go to the moon and back, they just need the heavy-lift capacity to do it in one shot. RSC Energyia can do that, no problem, I'm sure that with the funding they would gladly bring Energyia back into production. My only doubt is that the Europeans actually have the budgets to put to space exploration.

The US should be funding NASA with a budget that is 1% of the federal budget. From: The GPO, NASA's projected budget is just about 16.3 billion for FY07 if I read the chart correctly. If I read the overall chart correctly, the federal budget it just over 2.7 trillion. If NASA has 1%, the extra 4 billion dollars or so would speed up VSE and probably close the gap between 2010 and 2012-14 when Ares I launches with its first crew. NASA needs to increase manned launch rates. Current projections see Ares launching only 4 times a year per vehicle. And that's without ISS flights.

Not that I'm hoping Elon or Kistler will fail, but NASA needs to have the excess production capacity to resupply the ISS AND go to the moon.