Orion Internals – $ing = Cuts

Orion Internals – $ing = Cuts

"At issue is the federal Anti-Deficiency Act that requires all federal contractors to set aside a portion of their payments to cover costs in case the project is ever cancelled. "New NASA calculations say contractors are $991 million short of what they must withhold - and the agency has ordered the companies to find that money from the roughly $3.5 billion they're budgeted to get for Constellation projects this year. "In a letter to Congress released Wednesday, NASA Administrator Charlie Boldensaid: 'Given this estimated shortfall, the Constellation program cannot continue all of its planned ... program activities [this year] within the resources available. Under the Anti-Deficiency Act (ADA), NASA has no choice but to correct this situation.'" NASA contractors had hitherto expected NASA to cover termination costs for Constellation. The Obama space budget proposal allocates over $2 billion for that purpose. The immediate effect of the order is that all but certain parts of the Constellation program that are slated to be preserved under the Obama space plan will be effectively canceled. Those parts of Constellation that would remain "--include advanced technology work on the Orion space capsule, the J2X rocket engine that was to power the Ares I second stage and any hardware that could be used for other programs."

Harlem space cadets, be prepared for a space landing, with Obama killing NASA and the manned space program. This program has already been in trouble. When George W. Bush introduced his Vision for Space Exploration in 2004, to "pay" for it without increasing NASA's budget, the serious work on the replacement vehicle for the Shuttle and its launch rocket was not to be funded until money was "freed up" with the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2010. So from the very beginning, and by design, there would be at least a couple of years' gap when the thousands of highly skilled workers at the Kennedy Space Center would having nothing to launch. Because the Bush Administration never came up with the money to keep the development of the new vehicles on track, NASA estimated it would be at least 2015 before its new craft could fly, three years later than originally projected. Lay-offs in the Shuttle program began last year, as all the hardware had been delivered for the remaining five flights. Although there had been thousands of lay-offs projected during the "no flight" interregnum, with up to 7,000 at the launch center in Florida alone, to mitigate the job losses, NASA has been moving design and engineering manpower from the Shuttle program to the new Orion spacecraft and Ares rocket. Now, with the proposed cancellation of the Orion and Ares programs, there will be tens of thousands of lay-offs — manpower that will not be "recaptured" in the future. Lockheed Martin stated today that the cancellation of the Orion spacecraft will eliminate 400 jobs at its company. However, it will affect 4,000 jobs in total, at more than 500 companies and hundreds of suppliers across the country. The bipartisan Alabama congressional delegation vows to fight the cancellation, as 2,200 jobs are at stake at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, where people have been "killing themselves for four or five years" on the Ares rocket project, according to Center Director Robert Lightfoot. This is a horror show, due to Obama and his British masters.

The Augustine Panel also made it clear that the estimated $145 billion cost to return to the moon by 2020 would not be possible given NASA's $18.7 billion yearly allowance for all operations. According to a new report by Space News, it appears that the Ares 1 launch vehicle and the Orion crew capsule may be put on the chopping block. President Obama is not expected to give NASA the $1 billion increase in its yearly budget that had been hoped for to help further develop the Ares program. President Obama's 2011 budget for NASA aligns closely with the recommendations of the Augustine Panel. The budget calls for the the use of commercial spacecraft and rockets to carry astronauts into space instead of relying on the behind schedule, cost-overrun Ares program. Another Augustine Panel carryover is the decision to bypass the moon and instead gun for near-Earth asteroids and onward to Mars.

Orion Link – Mars

Mars diverts the resources needed to achieve nuclear propulsion

Anderson 5 (Eric, writer @ Albany Times, “NASA to shelve nuclear propulsion project (NASA kills Prometheus)”, 9/14/5, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1484198/posts) JPG

The plan to send a manned space mission to Mars apparently doomed research on nuclear propulsion being carried out at Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory. KAPL employees were told late last week that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was ending the $65 million program to develop a nuclear-electric propulsion system as it reorders its priorities. The Prometheus project, as it is called, will undergo a "substantial reduction," KAPL officials said this week, in part so money can be spent on developing the Crew Exploration Vehicle that will be used to send humans back to the Moon and to Mars. NASA and the division of the U.S. Department of Energy that oversees KAPL "have mutually agreed that NASA's reprioritization of work and reduction in funding for the Prometheus Program do not support continuation of the partnership for the development" of the nuclear-electric propulsion system, KAPL officials said in a written response to questions from the Times Union. KAPL hired 150 engineers and other staff as it began research on the $65 million project in March 2004. Now, said Anne LaRoche, a KAPL spokeswoman, work will be brought to "an orderly conclusion." She said it's not clear how many people might lose their jobs. "KAPL is working on an appropriate approach, in keeping with corporate policy, for reducing overall staffing levels," LaRoche said. NASA spokesman Michael Braukus said the work that already has been done will be stored in NASA's archives. Niskayuna Town Supervisor Luke Smith said KAPL had alerted him that "NASA had changed their priorities." KAPL's main focus has been researching and developing nuclear propulsion systems for naval vessels. The facility is operated by Lockheed Martin Corp. under contract with the U.S. Department of Energy and it has a $460 million budget, not including the NASA work. Total employment at KAPL's plants in Niskayuna and in West Milton is 2,700, including 1,500 engineers.

Directory: 2011
2011 -> Enterprise Network Management iPost: Implementing Continuous Risk Monitoring at the Department of State
2011 -> Voices of the Old Sea Norman Lewis
2011 -> Malevil Robert Merle
2011 -> The Elephant Keeper’s Children Peter Hoeg
2011 -> January 1: Ecstasy zZz January 2: King of Anything Sara Bareillis
2011 -> Tracks, Mixes, Masters, and More!: Analyzing Preservation Priorities for Multitrack Recordings
2011 -> Department of Electrical Engineering 2011 Annual Report
2011 -> Jv packet •Mars Colonization Affirmative •Mars Colonization Negative
2011 -> Asian Pacific Mathematical Olympiad(apmo)
2011 -> Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) omb no. 1024-0018

Download 0.9 Mb.

Share with your friends: