By Emelie Rutherford
Even though President Barack Obama signed the NASA policy bill into law, contracts with industry for the soon-defunct Constellation program will continue because Congress has not yet passed accompanying appropriations legislation for the space agency.
Obama signed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2010 on Oct. 11 with little fanfare. Congress presented the legislation to him on Sept. 30, the day before fiscal year 2011 started.
Though the measure essentially dismantles the Constellation program, launched by former President George W. Bush and intended to send astronauts back to the moon, existing contracts cannot be terminated and new programs cannot start until that a fiscal year 2011 NASA appropriations bill is signed into law.
Thus, current deals remain in place for Constellation, for which Lockheed Martin [LMT] has been developing the Orion capsule and firms including ATK [ATK] and Boeing [BA] have worked on the Ares I rocket.
Congress is in recess until after the November elections, while NASA and the rest of the federal government is operating under a continuing resolution that temporarily funds the government at FY ’10 levels until Dec. 3.
The NASA policy act, given final approval in Congress with the House’s 304-118 vote on Sept. 29, authorizes $58.4 billion in NASA spending from FY ’11 through FY ’13.
The new law supports immediate development of a heavy-lift rocket, to replace plans for Constellation’s Ares V.
NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver recently told reporters “the trade space continues to be open on what type of vehicle we will have” for the heavy-lift rocket, and one possibility is the Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) government-space-launch system developed by Lockheed Martin-Boeing joint venture United Launch Alliance.
The act Obama signed salvages aspects of Constellation.
It calls on NASA Administrator Charles Bolden to “continue the development of a multi-purpose crew vehicle to be available as soon as practicable, and no later than for use with (a new) Space Launch System.” It adds: “The vehicle shall continue to advance development of the human safety features, designs, and systems in the Orion project.”
In addition, for the new heavy-lift rocket, the new law calls for building on work done on Ares I and the retiring space shuttles. The measure says Bolden should use, “to the extent practicable,” Ares 1 components that use existing United States propulsion systems, including liquid fuel engines, external tank or tank-related capability, and solid rocket motor engines; and…associated testing facilities, either in being or under construction as of the date of enactment of this Act.”
The NASA authorization measure calls for helping to develop a commercial space transportation industry to carry crew to low-Earth orbit. NASA entered into contracts this year with five companies as part of this effort; they are Blue Origin, Boeing, Paragon Space Development Corp., Sierra Nevada Corp., and the Boeing-Lockheed Martin partnership United Launch Alliance.
Bolden on Monday called the newly signed bill “important bipartisan legislation that charts a new course for space exploration, science, technology development, and aeronautics.”
“As the 2011 appropriations process moves forward, there is still a lot of hard work ahead of us in collaboration with the Congress,” he said in a statement. “We are committed to work together with the continued wide public support for NASA, and the bipartisan backing of Congress. Today’s vote of confidence from the president ensures America’s space program will remain at the forefront of a bright future for our nation.”