Posted on 04/21/2009 10:03:51 PM PDT by zaphod3000
A National Aeronautics and Space Administration study warns that budget and technical hurdles will likely delay development of the replacement program for the space shuttle fleet beyond the agency's internal 2014 timetable.
The report is the agency's most pessimistic public assessment yet of its ability to meet its own deadline for delivering the new system of rockets and exploration vehicles, called Constellation. It identifies a $1.9 billion "shortfall between the available funding" and the amount needed to achieve initial launch by September 2014. Tooling for parts of Constellation, ground tests and wind-tunnel tests have been deferred or reduced in scope because of previous funding cuts, the report concludes. Those problems could be exacerbated, the report warns, by future funding constraints, posing a "high programmatic risk" to Constellation development.
In addition to the existing shortfall, the report says an additional $1.8 billion is necessary to reduce risks by assuring robust testing and integration efforts over the next five years.
SNIP
By casting doubt on Constellation's progress, the report may provide ammunition for lawmakers and others hoping to extend the life of the shuttle past its current retirement date of 2010. Extending the life of the shuttle could reduce the gap between the last shuttle flight and the initial operation of Constellation. Lockheed Martin Corp. is the prime contractor for the project.
SNIP
Still, the report highlights many of the same cost and schedule challenges that have been raised by NASA critics over the last few months. The study emphasizes that budget constraints since the program's start four years ago -- which some estimates peg at $12 billion less than initial projections -- along with likely future funding restraints, pose huge hurdles for the agency. .... NASA officials project the total cost for Constellation at around $30 billion.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
NASA has just gotten too big, its budget gets eaten up in administration costs. They should kill it, make a new agency that just focuses on research, and worry about things like safety concerns when they actually have a new launch system that needs it.
With all the funny money Obutt has been throwing around will he throw a few peanuts NASA's way? Nah, I'm sure he hates space exploration. Space exploration expresses national pride.
And has Oboma found a new NASA director to take the place of Griffin yet?
Hmmmmmmm.... he must be still look'n for the guy to take NASA apart.
It boggles my mind that they struggle to resurrect the Apollo program, even with new tech mixed in.
Kill NASA, provided the new one has the same budget or better, that is. I don’t trust Obama as far as I can throw a Saturn V first stage, but I still want the government space program to succeed. So far NASA isn’t accomplishing anything. They’ve made some progress with a workable scramjet, and their last prototype reached a speed of mach 10, so I wonder why they’re not trying to develop a space plane? Anyway, NASA could use a complete refitting, as well as the rest of our government for that matter.
I agree. NASA and NOAA is nothing but a mouthpiece for global warming propaganda. And James Hansen is still on the public dole, whether I like it or not, courtesy of the Gestapo known as the IRS.
Shut ‘em down.
N o
A ttainable
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A chievements
Once hopeful of reaching the moon myself some forty years ago, I doubt man will return there before I die.
One of the biggest disappointments in my lifetime, has been the Babylon effect at NASA. It’s as if the hand of God came down and confounded the management. How do you go to the moon six or seven times, and not return for over 35 years?
NASA did it by the numbers...
Good example. I wonder how many tax dollars were spend so that James Hansen could fake data on global warming. NASA also recently launched a satellite to study global warming (by comparing how the CO2 cycle differs from our theoretical models, as if that would prove anything), which crashed near the Antarctic. The crash thankfully saved a lot of taxpayer money.
Have you ever looked at a NASA or NOAA web site lately? It reeks with the stench of inescapable UN propaganda. And we all know of the corporate culture that killed the crews of the Challenger and Columbia.
Shut ‘em down.
Nice that the ‘Boma wants to turn our Health Care and Banking System into the same...
So NASA are essentially replicating 30-yr-old technology at about 50 times the cost of the original. I agree - shut it down.
And if we ever get serious about space flight, we know what to do: build the Delta Clipper for the humans, and Orion for everything else.
Actually there were a lot of resusable launch vehicle concepts underway around the time that the space shuttle was originally due to be retired, but it seems they were never seriously considered. It would have been nice if they were. And the Orion, do you mean the nuclear powered one or the service module using the Ares launch system?
Many people forget that manned spaceflight is just one of the many aspects of NASA’s operations. The developments made in space science are great achievements, especially with the range of space telescopes covering all wavebands shedding new light on the formation of large-scale structures in the Universe. The pictures which have come out of Hubble, Spitzer and Chandra alone inspire many thousands of children to study scientific subjects, which has very positive economic benefits down the line. Shut it down and you’re shooting yourself in the foot for generations to come.
I’m not suggesting shutting down space science or manned spaceflight, just the over-bloated bureauacracy that is preventing it. My suggestions don’t have any weight, however, so NASA will go on despite me. They may even lauch another satellite or two in my lifetime to justify a tiny fraction of their budget.
You could not be more accurate when you say nasa has gotten too big.
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