By Marina Malenic
Top leaders of NASA last week defended President Barrack Obama’s Fiscal 2011 agency budget from criticism that jobs will be lost if Congress agrees to terminate the Constellation manned moon-mission program as proposed by the White House.
“While there will no doubt be challenges as a result of canceling Constellation, the funding for NASA is increasing, so we expect to support as many, if not more, jobs with the FY 2011 funding the president has proposed,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden told reporters during a teleconference recently.
Those jobs may not, however, be concentrated in the manufacturing sector, according to Bolden.
“Taking the long view, investments in science and technology innovation have proven to stimulate job growth,” he said. “The new budget will support jobs in various scientific and engineering fields.”
Constellation is a Space Shuttle replacement effort made up of the developmental Ares I launch vehicle and Orion capsule and future Ares V heavy-lift rocket. ATK [ATK] has been the prime contractor for the Ares I first stage, Boeing [BA] has developed the Ares I upper stage, and Lockheed Martin [LMT] has been making Orion.
Bolden and Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said NASA remains on track to fly out the remaining Space Shuttle manifest of five flights by the end of this year. The FY 2011 budget provides the additional resources required to do so, according to Garver.
The end of the shuttle program in conjunction with the pending termination of Constellation puts the jobs of some 9,000 personnel working on those endeavors in danger, according to industry watchers.
Asked whether agency officials have been able to placate lawmakers’ concerns about potential job losses from ending Constellation and the lack of a future vision for NASA, Bolden defended the new plan.
“We think the president’s vision for space exploration, both human and robotic, is pretty dynamic,” he said. “What makes it different is that it’s funded.”
The Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee, a blue-ribbon panel led by retired Lockheed Martin CEO Norm Augustine, found last year that Constellation, begun during the Bush administration, was facing major schedule problems and had not been adequately funded.
Bolden also pointed to a significant increase in NASA’s top line under the FY 2011 proposal.
Bolden and Garver outlined the latest details of the president’s NASA budget for the next several years. Proposed new spending projects include:
- A $7.8 billion, five-year program to invent and demonstrate new approaches to spaceflight such as in-orbit fuel depots and rendezvous and docking technologies, and closed- loop life support systems.
- A $3.1 billion, five-year new heavy lift research and development program to develop new engines, propellants, materials and combustion processes, ultimately leading to innovative ways of accessing space to go beyond low Earth orbit.
- A $4.9 billion, five-year “broad space technology” program, including investments in very early stage and “cross-cutting” technologies such as communications, sensors and robotics, to include a flight demonstration program.
- An additional $3 billion over five years for robotic exploration precursor missions that would pave the way for later human exploration of the moon, Mars and nearby asteroids.
- A $50 million effort to further the commercial sector’s capability to support transport of crew to and from low Earth orbit. NASA has awarded Space Act Agreements to five companies for the development of crew concepts, technology demonstrations and investigations for future commercial support of human spaceflight.
The administration’s plan also supports space science research grants and dozens of missions to study the solar system.
“We’ll be sending a mission on the closest ever approach to the sun and enhancing our capability to detect and catalog near Earth objects that might pose a threat but can also help us understand the history of our solar system,” Bolden said.
He added that the proposed budget also provides expanded opportunities in two related areas: climate change and aeronautics. Over $2 billion in additional funds would accelerate the development of new missions to observe the Earth.
“We’ll accelerate the development of crucial satellites to improve our forecasting of climate change, focusing on the key unknowns in our ability to predict future climate impacts,” he said.
In aeronautics, Bolden said, NASA will focus on technologies and applications to reduce aircraft fuel needs, noise, and emissions. “These improvements to future air transportation will promote both the economic and environmental health of this country,” he added.