Senator Makes NASA Complete $350 Million Testing Tower That It Will Never Use

Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Phillip Swarts reports in the Washington Times that NASA is completing a $350 million rocket-engine testing tower at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi that it doesn't want and will never use. 'Because the Constellation Program was canceled in 2010, the A-3's unique testing capabilities will not be needed and the stand will be mothballed upon completion (PDF),, said NASA's inspector general. The A-3 testing tower will stand 300 feet and be able to withstand 1 million pounds of thrust (PDF). The massive steel structure is designed to test how rocket engines operate at altitudes of up to 100,000 feet by creating a vacuum within the testing chamber to simulate the upper reaches of the atmosphere. Although NASA does not expect to use the tower after construction, it's compelled by legislation from Sen. Roger F. Wicker (R-MS), who says the testing tower will help maintain the research center's place at the forefront of U.S. space exploration. 'Stennis Space Center is the nation's premier rocket engine testing facility,' says Wicker. 'It is a magnet for public and private research investment because of infrastructure projects like the A-3 test stand. In 2010, I authored an amendment to require the completion of that particular project, ensuring the Stennis facility is prepared for ever-changing technologies and demands.' Others disagree, calling the project the 'Tower of Pork' and noting that the unused structure will cost taxpayers $840,000 a year to maintain. 'Current federal spending trends are not sustainable, and if NASA can make a relatively painless contribution to deficit reduction by shutting down an unwanted program, why not let it happen?' says Pete Sepp, executive vice president of the National Taxpayers Union. 'It's not rocket science, at least fiscally.'"

Comments

Re:Duh - help his state out

[Trepidity]

It's a pretty big part of what MS does. Measured as a percentage of GSP (the state-level version of GDP), Mississippi is the 4th-largest net recipient of transfers from other states, which equal about 20% of the state's economy. The only three larger are South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida (a whopping 50% of Florida's economy consists of net transfers).

Tower to Nowhere...

[theodp]

...meet Bridge to Nowhere

Re:Tower to Nowhere...

[cold fjord]

Robbing the nation to provide pork to your constituents back home ...

I realize we have to flog Sarah Palin at every opportunity we get, but If you are talking Washington politics, which is where the money for those bridges was to come from, the "bridge to nowhere" was the baby of Ted Stevens and Don Young, not Sarah Palin. Sara Palin was a state official, not a member of Congress that had a hand in the funding.

Alaska's 'bridges to nowhere'

Two Alaska Republicans with clout in Congress, Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young, are pushing for funds that could send the Anchorage suburbs leapfrogging into those hinterlands.

Alaska 'bridge to nowhere' funding gets nowhere / Lawmakers delete project after critics bestow derisive moniker

Re:For safety of course

[Mr. Slippery]

How did the Saturn V ever get off the ground without such a rigorous test infrastructure as this?

May I introduce you to the Saturn V Dynamic Test Stand?

*all* Government contracts can be terminated.....

[PeterM from Berkeley]

At least any I've come across. Yes, the Gov't has to pay for work already performed, but it's a recognized fact that one Congress can't bind future ones to financial deals, and money to finish a particular contract may never arrive.

So by and large, as someone else pointed out, the Government has a clause in contracts allowing it to terminate the contract for convenience.

--PM

simple maths example

[fritsd]

Quadrupling is a 400% increase that would take 40 years at 10% via simple math, and even then it would be right.

No. Much shorter.

Simple math says:
(1+10/100)^y = 4 =>
log (1.10^y) = log(4) =>
y * log(1.10) = log(4) =>
y = log(4) / log(1.10) = 14.54 .
After 14.54 years you quadruple; after 15 years you would have a 418% increase.
Didn't they teach you exponentials and logarithmics in high school?

Re:Real inflation statistics from a reliable sourc

[vakuona]

You obviously need to learn some comprehension, as well as math.

The poster above was disputing the fact that inflation has been hovering around 10% because of what that would imply about the price level since 2000.

1.1^13 = 3.45. So not quite quadrupling, but that would be pretty close.

And a 300% increase does in fact correspond to a quadrupling (a 100% increase is a doubling etc.)

QED

Re:One senator can't do this alone ...

[dkleinsc]

but a lone senator can't keep a program funded

Sure he can. Here's how: Put a hold on all legislation going through his committee. Any senator can do this, and the effect is to gum up the works so much that the rest of the Senate can either do as the one senator asks, or not be able to engage in any legislative activity at all that relates to whatever committee he's on. The other senators will likely decide that it's easier to fund his pork project than to deal with the hold.