This year, the old NASA shuttles take their final voyages to the last frontier. However, as the US is facing a record-breaking deficit, it seems the curtains have dropped for its space program with the budget cuts spelling an end to the Constellation project.
“At the core of the push to the Moon was the Constellation program. Designed by NASA to replace the space shuttle, it has already cost the US taxpayer close to $US7 billion and is several years behind schedule.
In October, the first test flight of the fledging program, the Ares 1-X rocket, successfully launched into the Florida sky.
But that success was overshadowed by the release of the Augustine Human Space Flight Review Committee’s report released at the end of 2009. The committee, which included former astronaut Dr Sally Ride, recommended sweeping changes the way NASA managed its human spaceflight program.” (source)
With the US forced to retire their ageing fleet, it will rely mainly on Russia for its access to space for the near future. However, this does not mean NASA is down and out, although their ambitions will be downgraded and reconfigured. Taking a more financially realistic perspective, rocket development and commercialization will form the main pillars of NASA’s new policy. According to Ars Technica, NASA’s new role in space exploration will be mainly R&D based.
It seems NASA is under the knife in general. Facing limited financial resources, it needs to cut jobs to make space exploration fiscally sustainable. Job cuts are likely at least in Louisiana and Florida, creating a sense of betrayal in both states. However, despite the initial backlash, there are voices of support being heard. For example, astronaut legend Buzz Aldrin has supported Obama’s new policy:
“The truth is, that we have already been to the Moon – some 40 years ago,” says Aldrin. “A near-term focus on lowering the cost of access to space and on developing key, cutting-edge technologies to take us further, faster, is just what our Nation needs to maintain its position as the leader in space exploration for the rest of this century.” (source)
Clearly, there are winners and losers in every story. While this may be an end of an era for NASA as it steps down, perhaps irreversibly, from the center stage of space exploration, other players will take its place. Interestingly, one of the winners of this story may be Canada. Claude Lajeunesse, a CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada feels Obama’s new budget will bring business opportunities for Canadian companies. Likewise, China is a probable winner.
The definite winners of this story, however, are private companies. According to NASA’s Chief Administrator Bolden, five companies will share $50 million in federal stimulus funds to jump-start the commercialization of human spaceflight (source for below).
“Blue Origin, the sometimes-secretive rocket venture founded by Amazon.com billionaire Jeff Bezos, will receive $3.7 million. The eight-year-old company has been testing rocket prototypes for suborbital flights at its Texas spaceport, but this is the first firm evidence of its orbital aspirations. NASA’s money will go toward the development of a launch escape system and a composite crew module for structural testing. “We are pleased to be selected by NASA as a member of the CCDev team,” program manager Rob Meyerson said in a statement. “Blue Origin continues to work patiently and step-by-step to lower the cost of spaceflight so that humans can continue exploring the solar system.”
The Boeing Co. - which is the prime contractor for the space station and a partner in the United Space Alliance, which runs the shuttle program for NASA – will receive $18 million for development of a seven-person crew capsule for travel to and from the space station. One of Boeing’s partners in the project is Nevada-based Bigelow Aerospace, which has launched two inflatable space modules into orbit and would help design the crew capsule.
Paragon Space Development Corp., an Arizona-based company that specializes in life support systems for spacecraft, would get $1.4 million for the development of an air revitalization system. One of the company’s many projects is to build a “Lunar Oasis” mini-greenhouse that would be sent to the moon aboard a privately funded lunar lander.
Sierra Nevada Corp. would receive $20 million to aid in the development of a space plane known as the Dream Chaser. Through its subsidiary, SpaceDev, Sierra Nevada has worked on microsatellites as well as the hybrid rocket engines used on SpaceShipOne and SpaceShipTwo.
United Launch Alliance, the Boeing-Lockheed Martin venture that offers Atlas and Delta expendable rockets, would get $6.7 million. The U.S. military has been using the Atlas 5 and Delta 4 for years, but they’ve never been approved for sending humans into space. NASA still has to establish a procedure for certifying that commercial rockets are safe for human spaceflight – and industry executives said they were starting to work with the space agency on the all-important safety issue. NASA’s money would go toward developing an emergency detection system for ULA’s rockets.”
It seems NASA is reverting to its original mandate: “With the dramatic changes ordered by the Obama administration, NASA is going back to its pre-Apollo 1959-60 roots, when it was a research-and-development powerhouse more than an engineering factory, said Harry Lambright, a professor of public policy at Syracuse University” (source). There is certainly a lot of pressure for the companies to get it right. Should they succeed, there is a substantial fee involved, but should they fail, the repercussions for the companies, and the US, transcend economic matters.
Despite NASA’s newly found entrepreneurial streak, space travelling has thus been a game between states. During the Cold War and the Space Race, between the Soviets and the Americans, and after the Cold War, an international project between the Europeans, Americans and Russians. However, new players have emerged since. Japanese, Indian and Chinese space programs have become more ambitions in the last decade. And while NASA relies on a risky new move that may or may not bring results in the medium or long term, especially Indian and Chinese space programs are likely to continue on their previous, successful tracks. It may just be that China is the space power that takes the next symbolic step. For China, the moon is an obvious target, and they could be there in 2020.
INFOBOX: 21st Century Space Race (source)
• China was the third country to launch its own manned space missions in 2003 and is now talking of a space station by 2020. Beijing is also in early stages of planning a lunar mission.
• India began satellite missions to the moon in 2008 and plans to send its own astronauts into space by 2016. Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian in orbit in 1984 on a Soviet mission.
• Russia will taxi US astronauts to the international space station when the space shuttle programme ends. It plans a missions to Mars, but going to the moon seems a lower priority.
• The European Space Agency concentrates on partnership in the international space station and at present has an eight strong astronauts corps. It has recently – but before Obama’s announcement – talked about grabbing a seat on someone else’s moon mission.
• Brazil is behind in the space race but is hoping to relaunch a unmannned programme on hold since a launchpad disaster killed 21 people in 2003. It also plans a new generation of satellites to monitor agriculture, territory, deforestation and mineral rescources.
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