Panel: budgets don't match exploration plans
Posted: Fri, Aug 14, 2009, 11:24 AM ET (1524 GMT)
NASA's current exploration plans cannot be achieved on the current timeline without the infusion of an additional $50 billion over the next decade, and alternatives also require either additional spending or stretched timelines, a panel concluded Wednesday. The Review of US Human Space Flight Plans Committee, also known as the Augustine Committee after chairman Norm Augustine, discussed several approaches to NASA's exploration plans in its final public hearing in Washington. In order for NASA to achieve its current goal of landing humans on the Moon by 2020, the agency would need an additional $50 billion. Several alternatives the panel is looking at range from an ISS-focused option, a proposal that would push back the lunar return until later in the 2020s, and a "deep space" option that would defer lunar landings in favor lunar orbital, NEO, and Mars orbital missions. Those options, though, would in some cases still require several billion dollars a year in additional funding to implement. The panel is scheduled to deliver its final report to the White House at the end of the month.
NASA's current exploration plans cannot be achieved on the current timeline without the infusion of an additional $50 billion over the next decade, and alternatives also require either additional spending or stretched timelines, a panel concluded Wednesday. The Review of US Human Space Flight Plans Committee, also known as the Augustine Committee after chairman Norm Augustine, discussed several approaches to NASA's exploration plans in its final public hearing in Washington. In order for NASA to achieve its current goal of landing humans on the Moon by 2020, the agency would need an additional $50 billion. Several alternatives the panel is looking at range from an ISS-focused option, a proposal that would push back the lunar return until later in the 2020s, and a "deep space" option that would defer lunar landings in favor lunar orbital, NEO, and Mars orbital missions. Those options, though, would in some cases still require several billion dollars a year in additional funding to implement. The panel is scheduled to deliver its final report to the White House at the end of the month.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
Apex becomes billion-dollar company with $200 million Series D round
Posted: Sun, Sep 14 4:09 AM ET (0809 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Thursday, September 18
U of A spinoff AI waste company represents Canada in NASA’s recycling challenge on the moon
CTV — 10:44 pm ET (0244 GMT) Edmonton company hopes to help NASA combat space waste
Global News — 10:44 pm ET (0244 GMT) Asteroid 2023 CX1 and planetary defence efforts
SpaceQ — 10:43 pm ET (0243 GMT) Northrop Grumman successfully resupplies ISS after overcoming software glitch
Ars Technica — 10:42 pm ET (0242 GMT) Trump’s Golden Dome will cost 10 to 100 times more than the Manhattan Project
Ars Technica — 10:42 pm ET (0242 GMT) |
