MAIN ARTICLE: NASA warns of job losses.
At a time when America is bleeding jobs is our future in space the place to lose them?
Poll Results: Yesterday's poll "International Space Race or simple competition." showed how some members think America should proceed. Scroll down for the results.
Star Trek: In the News. Chris Pine talks to the Associated Press about J.J. Abrams' Star Trek
Yesterday's Comments: "Can you imagine the first zero-g S&M club? The mind boggles at the possiblities" - Ferris Valyn
Today's Poll: Should Obama add the 2 billion to the current NASA budget?
In today's Houston Chronical, Stewart Powell reported that NASA Chief, Michael Griffin, warned that if the NASA budget doesn't get an increase jobs are going to be lost:
NASA chief warns of layoffs if funding levels frozen
"WASHINGTON -- Outgoing NASA administrator Michael Griffin warned today that the space agency may have to lay off an unspecified number of contractors on the back-to-the-moon Constellation program if Congress continues to freeze NASA spending below the $17.6 billion requested for this year by the Bush administration.
Griffin told reporters at a breakfast sponsored by the Space Foundation that continuing funding of the space agency at the level specified in a temporary budget resolution would force the personnel cutbacks."
The Space Transportation System (STS) or more commonly refered to as the Space Shuttle currently employs about 17,000 contract and direct employees. The Houston paper also points out that the Johnson Space Center in Houston employs another 20,000 workers.
The STS is currently scheduled to be retired in 2010 once the International Space Station (ISS) is completed. This was part of President Bush's Vison for Space Exploration that outlined a new mandate for the American space program.
Some of those workers would tranfer over to the Space Shuttle replacement, currently, the Constellation program. The Constellation system will be two seperate launch systems. The first is the Ares I, (refered to as "the stick") which will launch the new Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) currently called Orion. The second launch system is the Ares V heavy lift vehicle which will launch the lunar lander named Altair. The Area V will beable to lift 207 tons. This is a huge increase over the Apollo era Saturn V that could lift 130 tons.
There has been a growing controversy over the Ares I, including: Thrust ocillation problems, not enough lift capability or the that the Orion is overweight and even that the rocket could crash into the launch stand on takeoff. Recently it was suggested there was a faster and less expensive option then building the new Ares I (see "Should NASA use Military Rockets for Astronaut launches?", 'Americans in Space', Dec 31, 2008)
DECSIONS FOR THE NEW PRESIDENT:
The Chronicle reported that Griffin outlined four problems facing President Elect Obama in the early monhs of his administration.
"- Whether to spend money to fly the extra shuttle mission required to ferry the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the orbiting international space station, a priority voiced by Congress.
-- Whether to continue shuttle operations beyond scheduled retirement of the fleet in 2010 at a cost of roughly $3 billion a year for two shuttle flights a year.
-- Whether to extend operations of the orbiting international space station beyond 2015.
-- Whether to speed delivery of the Constellation project by one year to 2015 at an estimated additional cost of nearly $4 billion."
I would like to see the Alpha Spectrometer launched but not to continue funding the Shuttle. Estimates range as high as 15 billion dollars to keep it flying until the Constellation system is ready in 2015.
Late in the campaign President Elect Obama pledged an additional two billion for NASA but that would not show up in the current funding unless congress added it.
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Ferris Valyn has a new diary on space policy;
Becoming Spacefaring: Integrated Space Policy
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I was considering an article on commercial heavy lift options and wrote to SpaceX about the Merlin2 upgrade that Musk briefly mentioned:
"Thanks for your interest in SpaceX. Media requests and questions go directly to me, so you are on the right track.
Unfortunately, we are not releasing any information on a potential Merlin upgrade at this time."
Thanks again and good luck!
Cassie L. Kloberdanz
They are not talking so no luck on that front.
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NellaSelim has a diary today about SpaceX: How To Build A Rocket from Scratch (note- large images)
POLL RESULTS:
Yesterday's poll "International Space Race or simple competition." had a lower then average turnout but members were pretty clear on how America should proceed. 66% of the members taking part, in the poll, thought "America should work with other countries with space capabilities." with 22% believing "America shouldn't wait but go it alone.". 11% expressed no opinion.
STAR TREK: In the News.
Chris Pine on J.J. Abrams' Star Trek
"Chris Pine, who plays Kirk in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek, talked to The Associated Press about the May 8 opener.
"For Kirk and Spock, it's charting their lives to a small extent from boyhood and their first encounter, which is a bit contentious, to kind of the beginning of the relationship we all know," Pine said."
YESTERDAY'S COMMENTS:
"Is that picture for real? Astronauts in shorts? Is that for real? Do they have tanning beds on the ISS? Or are they getting enough Vitamin D through sunlight ... ?" - CornSyrupAwareness
Bill White provided a link for the MIT response to James Oberg's opinion of their reasons for space flight. Space Review
TODAY'S POLL:
Other NASA Diaries on DKOS