Obama Backs New Launcher and

[thefinalfrontier]

President Barack Obama will ask Congress next year to fund a new heavy-lift launcher to take humans to the moon, asteroids, and the moons of Mars, ScienceInsider has learned. The president chose the new direction for the U.S. human space flight program Wednesday at a White House meeting with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, according to officials familiar with the discussion.NASA would receive an additional $1 billion in 2011 both to get the new launcher on track and to bolster the agency’s fleet of robotic Earth-monitoring spacecraft.

Read more...

[Waspie_Dwarf]

This story, although only 2 days old, is, unfortunately, already out of date. On Thursday spaceflightnow.com also quoted this story, but replaced it with this yesterday:

White House officials say President Obama has not yet made a decision on the fate of NASA's moon program, two days after an Oval Office meeting with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.

Obama and Bolden met Wednesday afternoon to discuss the space agency's work and the results of the Augustine commission, a panel of experts that submitted options in October for the future of the human space program.

A report by the online edition of Science magazine late Thursday said Obama plans to request a $1 billion increase in the NASA budget for 2011. The money would fund a new heavy-lift launch vehicle, and the agency's current Ares 1 rocket design would be scrapped in favor of commercial crew transportation services to Earth orbit, according to the Science report.

NASA and White House officials claim such reports are mere speculation, but they are providing no information on when a decision could be announced. The administration will file its fiscal year 2011 budget request in February.

Read more...

[thefinalfrontier]

Well go figure, universetoday reported it just the other way around,lol, Guess we will wait and see what comes of it,

Thanks for that article Waspie,

Regards;

TFF

Edit to add This article from universetoday, Seems there is some confusion in the ranks, lol, Below is just an exerpt from the story,

From universetoday

OK, I guess I was wrong yesterday when I said nothing happened during the meeting between President Obama and NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden. Science Magazine has now published this:

Edited December 19, 2009 by thefinalfrontier

[MID]

Scarier than hell for me to contamplate Obama making a decision in this matter...

A report by the online edition of Science magazine late Thursday said Obama plans to request a $1 billion increase in the NASA budget for 2011. The money would fund a new heavy-lift launch vehicle, and the agency's current Ares 1 rocket design would be scrapped in favor of commercial crew transportation services to Earth orbit, according to the Science report.

And by extension, Orion...?

If this is actually his thinking, who in hell is going to be able to provide commercial transportation for the astronauts who will be going into space?

I shouldn't even get started on this....

[thefinalfrontier]

Good to see ya MID, Seems a bit out there dont it, Alot of waste in that dont ya think?

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Scarier than hell for me to contamplate Obama making a decision in this matter...

And by extension, Orion...?

That's not my understanding. The rumours are that he wishes to continue the Constellation programme of manned exploraton and continue with a "heavy-lift" booster. The Ares I / Ares V approach was not popular amongst some (many?) in NASA. There is a rarely publicised alternative proposal called Ares IV. This is still shuttle derived like the Ares V but will be man-rated and will carry both the Orion and the Antares lunar lander into orbit on a single vehicle (a true Saturn V replacement).

One of the big worries about the current lunar plans involves the launching of the Antares into Earth orbit separately from the crew. Because the departure stage is cryogenic, any lengthy delay in launching the crew on board the Ares I would result in the Antares lunar lander being scrapped in Earth orbit and, with all due respect to NASA, on time manned launches have not been their strong point over the last 3 decades.

If this is actually his thinking, who in hell is going to be able to provide commercial transportation for the astronauts who will be going into space?

This is only to low Earth orbit, and it has always been NASA's long term thinking that, once the Constellation programme is ready for the Moon and then Mars, that commercial launches of astronauts into LEO would be used.

One proposal (as a stop gap until the Ares I / Orion is ready) is buying Soyuz vehicles from the Russians (rather than just buying seats on Russian flights). These would be American flights and would be purchased in the same way that some of the US components on the ISS would purchased from Italy.

NASA also has the Commercial Crew and Cargo Program (COTS). Orbital Sciences are developing the Cygnus craft and Space Exploration Technologies the Dragon. Currently these are both unmanned resupply vessels for the ISS, but NASA is currently providing $50 million for companies within the private sector to investigate commercial crew launch. I know that Space Exploration Technologies has a proposal for a manned version of the Dragon. The Dragon and it's Falcon 9 booster will have their first test next year. If successful, and if given the go ahead, the manned version could by flying before the Orion is ready, actually shortening the time that NASA is reliant on Russian launches.

I used toi think that manned spaceflight should be left to the like of NASA and Roscosmos. Now I'm not so sure. If NASA was free to purchase commercial flights to low Earth orbit it could allow the freeing up of time and money for NASA to do what it does best, pushing the limits of human exploration. With NASA able to abandon the Ares I, the Ares IV/V would become the centre of attention quickening the return to the moon.

Taking human launches out of government agency hands might also kick start the era of space exploitation that the shuttle was supposed to be for.

I shouldn't even get started on this....

Go for it, I'm always happy to hear your thoughts on the subject, even (especially) when your views differ from mine.

[DONTEATUS]

I think like waspie on the Space Race and public involvment! And also want to hear from your point of view Mid! We all respect your views.as I do yours and waspies. Very Good for the Grey matter to learn others points of intrest.

Looks Like we would all move towards a mutual Goal if the Two sectors were to work together.

And Who knows whats waiting to be discovered in the tech world?

Burt and his Bank are Flying Plastic Space ships for pennys I just Hope they dont Hit a wall!

[MID]

Well gang, there's actually no disagreement.

I certainly am hip to the idea of private sector involvement with NASA...for that matter , so is NASA.

I also feel that private sector involvement in reliable manned space flight is a long way off (I may be wrong, but I simply don't see the required progress happening anywhere near as fast as NASA's might).

As such, I question the idea of a Saturn V replacement, because the Saturn V was designed for a single purpose, lofting the Apollo package to the Moon.

Ares V is heavy-lift...it will launch Antares, of course, but it will also be capable of any other forseeable heavy lift missions. Ares 1 is an EO launcher, which would serve the purpose of several different missions, including crew exchange on the ISS, and lunar missions...among others yet TBD.

A Saturn V replacement would serve a lunar mission, but for EO applications, you'd have to fill her capacity to make her cost-effective.

There are many possible scenarios we might see in the future, and I certainly understand what Waspie's talking about, and agree that private sector involvement is an essential for future space applications.

What I really am concerned about here is not all that. I'm honestly going to say I'm concerned about Obama, and his decision-making process. The fact is, I am not confident in the man whatsoever, I don't like his policies, nor his politics and agenda for America. I have the feeling that a majority of Americans will be on the same page within the next two years, if they're not already.

This man makes me nervous about the space program's future. Hopefully, he'll surprise me...but I'm simply not confident in that outlook at the moment. That's really what my point was...