News NASA's Future: The News and Updates Thread

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Aviation Week: Futron Study: U.S. Losing Ground In Space

 

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Aviation Week: Senators Disagree On Rocket Approach:

Senators who agree that NASA is taking too long to develop a design and procurement strategy for the heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) that Congress ordered last year cannot agree among themselves on exactly what that design should be.

At issue is what kind of power will be used in the strap-on boosters needed to get the SLS off the pad, pitting powerful senators from both sides of the aisle against members of their own political parties in a letter-writing campaign to the executive branch aimed at generating jobs for their constituents.

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Parabolic Arc:

• Hutchison: NASA Must Proceed With SLS Program NOW!
• Senators Disagree About How to Design NASA’s Heavy-Lift Rocket

Aviation Week: NASA Heavy-Lift Assumptions Questioned

 

[T.Neo]

"SLS must proceed now!"

Not because the USA needs a 130 ton capability... but because if SLS doesn't proceed in short order, Hutchison's voter base (and that of other people) will get angry. :dry:

It's horrible how terms like "law" can be used to boss people around according to some people's interests, even if those interests aren't very legitimate...

 

[Wood]

I saw this, and it actually made my head hurt...

"Is the answer to heavy-lift rocket cost issue bringing back Ares I?"

:facepalm:

 

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Parabolic Arc: NASA’s Budget Prospects Decay Further:

Already facing the possibility of deep cuts in its FY 2012 budget, NASA’s financial prospects have become increasingly bleaker over the past week on several fronts, including further reductions and large costs in two high-profile programs.

Last Wednesday, the Office of Management and Budget sent out a memorandum to all federal departments asking them to plan for reductions when preparing their FY 2013 requests:

Unless your agency has been given explicit direction otherwise by OMB, your overall agency request for 2013 should be at least 5 percent below your 2011 enacted discretionary appropriation. As discussed at the recent Cabinet meetings, your 2013 budget submission should also identify additional discretionary funding reductions that would bring your request to a level that is at least 10 percent below your 2011 enacted discretionary appropriation.​

NASA received $18.45 billion in the current fiscal year. A five percent reduction would put spending at $17.52 billion; a 10 percent cut would leave the space agency with $16.6 billion. It is not known whether NASA received “explicit direction otherwise” to ignore the budget guidance.

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Parabolic Arc: SLS Budget Analysis: Short-Term Cost Estimates Reasonable, Long-Term…Not So Much:

NASA has released the executive summary of Booz Allen Hamilton’s independent analysis of the Space Launch System (SLS), Multi-purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) and the required ground systems. The review says that near-term cost estimates are fairly reasonable, but that longer-term cost figures are overly optimistic and that programs reserves are insufficient.

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Spaceflight Now: Auditors to NASA: Don't trust your own cost estimates




NASA:
INDEPENDENT COST ASSESSMENT OF THE SPACE LAUNCH SYSTEM, MULTI - PURPOSE CREW VEHICLE AND 21^ST CENTURY GROUND SYSTEMS PROGRAMS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF FINAL REPORT

 

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Spaceflight Now: Shannon to review options for deep space exploration

CBS News Space: Shannon to review exploration options for NASA:

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden has asked outgoing space shuttle Program Manager John Shannon to carry out an independent assessment of competing options for eventual manned missions beyond low-Earth orbit, officials say. The review will include input from NASA's international partners to align "our efforts with the international space community," Bolden said in a letter to senior NASA managers.

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Bolden said NASA is not yet "choosing a mission plan that the agency is going to implement at this time. Rather, we are Identifying potential human exploration scenarios on the horizon, so that we can most productively guide our approved efforts in the near-term, while aligning our efforts with the international space community."

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Florida Today - The Flame Trench: Shuttle manager to review exploration missions

NASA: RELEASE : 11-280 - Space Agencies Meet To Discuss A Global Exploration Roadmap

 

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[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S503nFnu-EY"]NASA SLS panel - Mike Griffin wraps up - YouTube[/ame]

 

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SPACE.com: NASA's Astronaut Corps May Be Too Thin, Report Finds

Aviation Week: NRC: Shrinking Astronaut Corps Problematic

NewScientist: Wanted: astronauts for missions unknown

 

[N_Molson]

Rocket motor tested as NASA plots next phase of program

BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW

Posted: September 8, 2011

A stretched five-segment solid rocket motor sent a rumble across the Utah landscape Thursday, pushing engineers closer to completing the design of a next-generation booster to help propel astronauts on journeys deeper in space.

The DM-3 test firing occurred at 4:05 p.m. EDT (2:05 p.m. Mountain time) Thursday. Credit: ATK

But NASA and ATK, the rocket motor's contractor, are still mapping out the next step in the booster's development. Although the solid-fueled rocket could enter the next phase of testing next year, NASA has not given ATK the go-ahead for further ground firings.

Thursday's demonstration, called Demonstration Motor-3, was the the third test firing of the five-segment motor by ATK. NASA and ATK officials say the next step is to move from demonstration tests to qualification motors, which would lead to flight testing in a few years.

"Given the great success we've had on these three tests, I think we're close to calling the design good," said Charlie Precourt, vice president and general manager of ATK space launch systems. "If we're successful at that, we could be saving quit a bit of money for the government."

Each test firing of the rocket motor costs about $75 million, according to NASA.

ATK is developing the solid rocket motor under a contract with NASA. Initially designed as the first stage of the canceled Ares 1 rocket, the motor's purpose was retooled to be a strap-on booster for the Space Launch System, a heavy-lift vehicle that will haul 130 metric tons to low Earth orbit and facilitate human expeditions to asteroids and Mars.

The motor's design is based on the four-segment booster from the space shuttle program. By adding an additional segment, the rocket generates more thrust during its two-minute burn. The motor measures 12 feet in diameter and stretches 154 feet long.

NASA has selected the design of the Space Launch System, or SLS, to include a hydrogen-fueled core stage, two strap-on five-segment boosters and a liquid-fueled upper stage. But the space agency has not publicly released details of the design, drawing the ire of lawmakers charging the White House is undermining the future of the U.S. manned space program.

"The program is being restructured and we expect some news not too far in the future," Precourt said.

At least for now, the agency is also withholding approval for the next step in the motor's development.

A NASA spokesperson said the next firing in the test sequence will be a qualification motor, beginning the process to verify a flight-like rocket booster is ready for launch.

The solid rocket motor is also planned to be the first stage for ATK's proposed Liberty rocket, a commercial launcher the company hopes will one day haul astronaut crews into orbit.

ATK probably has sufficient data from three demonstration firings to press on to the motor's critical design review, according to Precourt.

"We're looking into it in great detail to understand how it compares against [predictions] to see whether we're ready to freeze the design," Precourt said.

Fred Brasfield, ATK's vice president for the next-generation booster, said the first look at the test data looks great.

The DM-3 firing was designed to test the rocket motor with its pre-packed solid propellant warmed to approximately 90 degrees Fahrenheit. It follows tests that occurred at cold and ambient temperatures.

"We've bounded, if you will, the temperatures of the propellant on a given launch day," Precourt said, noting weather conditions can affect the rocket's performance.

Assuming NASA approves another test, Precourt said ATK could have another booster ready to fire in one year.

Edit : if someones knows a site that give the correct specifications for this booster, I'm really interested as I plan to use it in add-ons. The data that lacks is the burn time ; Astronautix says 110 seconds (seems short to me) while I saw up to 150 seconds on other sites...

 

[IronRain]

ATK 5 segment solid rocket booster DM3 test

 

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Parabolic Arc: Hutchison, Nelson Blast NASA Delays on SLS, MPCV:

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Bill Nelson (D-FL) issued the following statement:

“A just-completed, NASA-commissioned independent cost assessment by Booz Allen Hamilton found that development of the Space Launch System, Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and complementary ground system was feasible within authorized funding levels and timelines. This was expected; NASA experts had verified and re-verified estimated costs several times.

Rather than announce these results and move forward with development, the administration’s budget office has kept the independent cost report under wraps. Instead, a wildly inflated set of NASA cost numbers was invented, based on an imaginary “acceleration” of SLS development. Under these contrived numbers, which were leaked in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, development costs were forecast to increase to $57 billion – nearly double the amount that NASA and Booz Allen Hamilton agreed would be needed in the independent cost assessment.

No one has proposed to accelerate development. We and others have – repeatedly – demanded that the administration’s budget office simply follow the development plan that the President signed into law last year. It has been validated repeatedly, internally and externally (including the OMB requested Booz Allen Hamilton report), as a sound approach for going forward and maintaining our leadership in manned space exploration. Accelerated development is a convenient myth. The White House should proceed immediately according to the reasonable, achievable development timetable embedded in federal law, and preserve America’s pre-eminence in space.”

 

[dbeachy1]

O-F Staff Note: three off-topic posts removed. Let's please stay on-topic in this thread. Thanks.

 

[T.Neo]

O-F Staff Note: three off-topic posts removed. Let's please stay on-topic in this thread. Thanks.

What does and does not constitute "on-topic" in this thread? :shifty:

 

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What does and does not constitute "on-topic" in this thread? :shifty:

For example off-topic are comments about (quality of) content of this thread (and someone announcing here that stopped posting because of that), and replies to those comments, as also your reply to the O-F staff note and my reply to your post now.

Let's keep posting news and opinions to those news, and discussing NASA's future, and not comment about how bad or good this thread is (there is other way to rate the thread, anyway).

 

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Aviation Week: NASA Estimates It Can Test SLS In 2017 For $18 Billion

 

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SPACE.com:

• Obama Administration Accused of Sabotaging Space Launch System
• Scientists to Congress: Keep NASA's Missions to Other Planets Flowing

Parabolic Arc: Bill Nye Storms Capitol Hill With 20K Pro-Space Petitions


Universe Today: NASA Facing Astronaut Deficit

 

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Florida Today - The Flame Trench: NASA Unveils Heavy-Lift Rocket TODAY:

NASA will raise the curtain today on the long-awaited design of a super-sized rocket that will propel U.S. astronauts to an asteroid by 2025 and then missions to Mars in the following decade, senior Obama administration officials told FLORIDA TODAY.

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NASA:

• MEDIA ADVISORY : M11-194 - NASA Announces Major Decisions For Future Human Spaceflight
• RELEASE : 11-301 - NASA Announces Design For New Deep Space Exploration System
• NASA Announces Design for New Deep Space Exploration System

Parabolic Arc:

• NASA Announces SLS Plan
• Video: Charlie Bolden Describes the Space Launch System
• SLS Press Conference — Live!
• SLS Press Conference Set for Noon Eastern

SPACE.com:

• Future Exploration Destinations
• NASA Unveils New Giant Rocket for Deep Space Missions
• Photos: NASA's Space Launch System for Deep Space Flights

Universe Today: NASA Unveils Their New Launch System