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Narrowing the Space Flight Gap

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the drive-a-dump-truck-through-it dept.

MarkWhittington writes with an article on the AssociatedContent site, discussing the impending US space flight gap. Between 2010 (the end of the shuttle era) and 2015 (expected date for the launch of the Orion project) the United States will have little or no spaceflight capability. This is an obvious concern to some members of Congress and NASA. "Is all, therefore, doom and gloom? Not necessarily. Just over a year ago, NASA chose two companies for its Commercial Orbital Transportation Systems (COTS) program ... The goal of COTS was for the two companies to build prototype space craft capable of delivering crews and cargo to the International Space Station. A second phase of the COTS program would consist of a competition for a contract to actually deliver crews and cargo to ISS after 2010 ... Private industry may well come to the rescue and preserve American access to space, at least until Orion becomes operational."

2 of 128 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Monopoly? by WindBourne · · Score: 4, Informative
    1. Spacex.
    2. Spacedev.
    3. T/Space.
    4. Armadillo.
    5. New Shepard (hmmm, actually, that is the craft itself).
    6. Space Horizon.
    7. Scaled Compostites/Northrup (with sales to Virgin).
    And that is just a few of the players.
    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  2. Re:I just know this is gonna kill my karma... by tcolberg · · Score: 4, Informative

    The ban would not be permanent, but merely limited to the 2008 fiscal year. The point is not to keep NASA from Mars, but to force additional funding for what is currently an unfunded mandate. In 2004, when Bush announced his new space goals, NASA's budget was $15.5 billion. In 2007, the budget was only $16.3 billion. Adjusted for inflation, NASA's budget has been DECREASING despite having a mandate to undertake a new era of spaceflight. The Bush administration needs to work with Congress to dramatically increase NASA's funding levels.

    With this temporary ban on manned Mars exploration, it can be interpreted that the Congress wants NASA to maintain its current scientific missions, including robotics, without cannibalizing them in order to pay for development of the manned Mars mission.