Baffling letter from the Nobel Laureates, not that going back to the original FY2011 proposal is going to happen.
Griffin also criticized the 14 Nobel laureates who wrote a letter to Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., in support of Obama's plan. Gordon is the chair of the House Science and Technology Committee."It is unsurprising to find that a group of eminent university-affiliated scientists," Griffin said, "along with several former directors of NASA research and robotic spacecraft centers, would favor reallocating the NASA budget toward increased university research, technology development and robotic space missions instead of human spaceflight."
The Space Frontier Foundation and Space Access Society are calling for people to contact their representatives about the House bill.http://spacefrontier.org/2010/09/09/commercial-space-in-jeopardy/http://www.space-access.org/updates/bulletin090910.htmlThe claim is that in 24 hours or less, House leadership will decide on the agenda through the rest of the session. So we should ask them not to put HR.5781 up for vote but instead S.3729 (the Senate bill).For someone who knows more about this than me, or better yet is involved (51D are you out there??), what urgency is there to this call?The story was that staffers were working behind closed doors to reach some kind of compromise between the House and Senate, so that something could be enacted quickly. These reports make no mention of such a third option, but maybe they aren't in the know. Is it possible that the House has come all the way over towards the Senate and a House vote on S.3729 might pass?Perhaps more to the point, is there any reason that a House/Senate compromise couldn't emerge and be put on the agenda after the suggested 18-24 hr deadline?
If the House and Senate do not pass a compromise bill by the end of September, what about that one additional Shuttle flight?
Without an adopted (enacted) NASA Authorization bill, funding levels--and allocations--for NASA funding levels would likely be defined as a continuation of the 2010 levels and allocations among accounts, leaving the Agency in the status quo of uncertainty and lack of clear direction for the future; a potential disaster for the skilled workforce and the related capabilities that would be needed to embark on the immediate development of a heavy-lift.
If I understand this correctly...- Orion and AresI will be in service by the end of 2015. In 6mos, a SDHLV design will be selected and in service by the end of the decade.
If Ares I and Orion will be in service by the end of 2015, that actually is great news. Greater than Augustine commission's prediction - 2017.
IMO, Human Space Flight without exploration technology or even a lander is just shooting clowns from cannons. IMO, this bill totally kills any point of bothering with BEO HSF.