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October 22, 2009 | 6
The 100-meter-tall Ares 1-X rocket was rolled out to the launch pad Tuesday morning at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The rocket, targeted to launch October 27, is a test vehicle for Ares 1, which would carry astronauts to orbit via the Constellation program, the next-generation spaceflight system designed to replace the space shuttle and expected to come online around 2015.
But the future of Constellation, and of Ares 1 specifically, is hardly secure. An independent panel convened by the Obama administration to review NASA's plans for human spaceflight is expected to deliver its full assessment Thursday, but a summary version released in September deemed NASA to be "on an unsustainable trajectory." The Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee estimated that Constellation won't send astronauts into orbit before 2017, two years later than is commonly projected.
What is more, the International Space Station, only now nearing completion, is at risk of being deorbited in 2016 on NASA's current budget. If the space agency chose to keep the station flying until 2020 without a budget boost from Congress, one way to recoup the cost, the committee noted, would be to scrap Ares 1 altogether and rely on commercial firms to launch astronauts into orbit.
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SteveMirsky @philipyam @dcastelvecchi @akuchment This incident must have taken place at the Sam Houston Institute of Technology
kahoakes Anyone seen/made any super cool science websites recently? Last chance to make it into my @sciencefocus column next month... kahoakes NASA Records an Explosion on the Moon So Bright You Could Have Seen It With Your Bare Eyes http://t.co/J4NwMajI4J
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6 Comments
Add CommentI hate this administration. Less than 0.8% of total federal budget is unsustainable? Go f yourself Obama.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have been following space flights since John Glenn and its Mercury ship, and have been proud of having been born in the USA since then, so it�s hard to believe that I'm losing the possibility of watching men's flight to Mars...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI hope private companies can help NASA, USA and mankind to continue space exploration.
Frank P. Smith, Chile
NASA is messed up and somehow it's Obama's fault?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisstew will not destroy USA, although he is a mental case!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOK I will defend NASA. They are under pressure from
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisforeign rocket guys. As institution maybe they moved
too slow to confront the future.
Real issue is not rockets -- yet issue is price of
rockets compared to foreign competitors.
This is getting a bit like European airbus and bong-ing.
Maybe NASA should have more private sector
contractors to compete on rocket competition and less government dependency.
Mark
look up Space X, a private company started by Elon Musk. I think he and a few others will be the future of space exploration. Space X has already tested a rocket that can make it to orbit. The future of space exploration isn't just science and learning about our past, which is the main focus of NASA. I think more great things will be accomplished when you have a for profit system that will bring better direct return on investment. Mining asteroids for precious metals, mining the moon for helium-3, space tourism, these will make space exploration more sustainable in the future.
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