The Science and Space Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee held a hearing on NASA’s FY2011 budget request on February 24, 2010. A SpacePolicyOnline.com summary of the hearing is now available. Look on our left menu under “Our Hearing Summaries” or simply click here.
At a Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing yesterday, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden told subcommittee chairman Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) that his “superiors” agree that the eventual goal of NASA’s human space flight program is sending humans to Mars. Previously, Gen. Bolden has said that is his personal view, but this is the first time that he indicated White House agreement. Senator Nelson replied that Gen. Bolden had “made some news” with that assertion.
However, Gen. Bolden’s statement falls short of explicitly saying that human exploration of Mars is President Obama’s goal. In his opening statement, Gen. Bolden stated that the budget supports development of technologies to enable astronauts to “meaningfully explore the moon, asteroids, and eventually Mars — and Mars is what I believe to be the ultimate destination for human exploration in our solar system, at least under my administration.” Later, Senator Nelson asked if he had approval from his superiors to make that statement and Gen. Bolden replied that his remarks had gone through “every wicket” at the White House so “I assume I have approval to say that.” The exchange came after Senator Nelson said in his opening statement that NASA’s FY2011 budget request “gave the perception that the President was killing the manned space program” and that the President needs to “clearly state what [the] goal is — to go to Mars.”
Gen. Bolden went on to say “I can’t provide a date certain for the first human mission to Mars,” but that Mars will be the focus of NASA’s technology development. He cautioned, however, that “I don’t want 7th graders to think about Mars,” but to be inspired with ongoing NASA activities such as the continuation of the International Space Station (ISS). Ranking Member Senator David Vitter (R-LA) said that he disagrees — he wants young people to think about Mars because it will inspire them and his 7th graders would find the ISS “to use their language, ‘so last week.'” Gen. Bolden countered by saying that “I think you underestimate your kids” and that he hoped that programs like the ISS would keep children interested in staying in school, working hard, and eventually going to Mars.
Senator Vitter said he would fight with all his energy to defeat the “waste of time and money ” that would go into funding this “radical vision.” Chairman Nelson told him that “we’re going to have a chance, Senator Vitter, to perfect this budget….I remind you that the President proposes and the Congress disposes.”
Gen. Bolden was followed by a panel of four “outside witnesses”: former astronaut Robert “Hoot” Gibson, former Lockheed Martin executive Tom Young, journalist Miles O’Brien, and aerospace engineer Michael Snyder. A SpacePolicyOnline.com summary of the hearing will be available soon.
Key Issues and Challenges Facing NASA: Views of the Agency’s WatchDogs is a SpacePoiicyOnline.com summary of a February 3, 2010 hearing by the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee of the House Science and Technology Committee. It is availabile on the left menu under “Our Hearing Summaries” or by clicking here.
In a media teleconference held today, NASA announced that after several failed attempts to extricate the Mars rover Spirit from its Martian “sand trap,” the rover will become a stationary platform for further science exploration. The Mars rover team is now preparing to reposition Spirit to give it the best chance to survive the upcoming Martian winter.
“This is not a day to mourn Spirit. This is not a day of loss” said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters. Despite the fact that “its driving days are over,” the six-year-old rover will continue to make contributions to understanding Mars. As a reminder, he said that the rover program consists of two rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, and the latter is still mobile and positioned to make further discoveries in its trek between the Victoria and Endeavor craters.
John Callas, project manager of the Mars Exploration Rovers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), explained that the loss of functionality in Spirit’s right rear wheel represented “yet another setback” and efforts now are focused on repositioning the tilted rover towards the north in order to survive the fast-approaching Martian winter. The rover is powered by solar arrays and the Sun is in the northern sky on Mars during the winter. In the past, rover managers have adjusted to decreasing solar energy levels by pointing the rovers so their solar arrays face the Sun, but Spirit’s current position – tilted 9 south – means that decreasing solar energy levels may prompt the rover to assume a “low-power fault mode,” essentially putting it into hibernation. Callas explained that until the batteries are charged, the rover may wake up periodically, but will fall back into this inactive posture “like a polar bear hibernating.”
NASA also is concerned that the rover’s internal parts may not stay warm enough to survive harsh winter temperatures. When new, a Mars rover is designed to withstand temperatures of about -45 C. Unfortunately, Spirit finds itself in a situation where “there is no good guarantee that the rover will be able to survive.” To increase its chances, Ashley Stroupe, a rover driver at JPL, said that the focus is on maneuvering the rover to improve energy levels, increase its internal temperature, and thus reduce the time it will be in hibernation.
Meanwhile, Spirit can continue to study Mars from a stationary position as long as it has sufficient power. Steve Squyres of Cornell University, who is considered the “father” of the rovers, said that the current situation relaxes the “imperative to drive and allows us to do some science that we can’t do from a moving platform.” The three scientific initiatives he discussed are:
The possibility of this “groundbreaking” science convinces Dr. Squyres that “we got stuck here for a reason.” Welcoming the new phase of the rover’s mission, he said that “we’ve squeezed every last bit of science out of these rovers,” a strategy they hope to continue. To date, the missions have generated 91 papers in peer-reviewed journals and 407 abstracts at professional conferences.
With an average yearly cost of $20 million, the question remains whether an upcoming NASA “Senior Review” in February will recommend continued operations for the now stationary rover. Senior Reviews assess whether operating missions are producing sufficient scientific results to warrant their continuing costs. Considering their popularity, it seems unlikely that the agency would decide to terminate either Spirit or Opportunity if there is any chance of scientific return. In the meantime, the Mars rover team will try to take advantage of the next three weeks to ready Spirit for the winter, which begins between March and April. If Spirit survives the winter, it will resume its scientific studies in the Martian spring between August and September.
A SpacePolicyOnline.com summary of the January 21, 2010 seminar on “Space Security Index 2009: The Status of and Future Trends in Space Security” is now available on our left menu under “Our Meeting Summaries” or simply by clicking here. Participants in the seminar were:
Obama Administration experts wrestling with development of a new U.S. space policy are divided into four camps according to SAIC’s Dr. Peter Hays. Dr. Hays supports the National Security Space Office at the Department of Defense (DOD) and spoke to a seminar on space security on January 21.
He described the four camps as those who believe that not much has changed since the 2006 National Space Policy was released and therefore no change in policy is needed; those who acknowledge that things have changed and believe we need to do better; those who argue for more international cooperation, partnering, development of Transparency and Confidence Building Measures (TCBMs), and leveraging commercial space capabilities; and those who want to increase DOD’s “less benign” capabilities.
The current deadline for releasing the new space policy is summer 2010, he said, while cautioning that the disparate points of view make meeting that deadline a challenge. As he noted, it took four years (2002-2006) for President George W. Bush’s national space policy to emerge. He also predicted that a “non-prescriptive” version of the congressionally required Space Posture Review would be released along with the FY2011 budget request to meet the congressional deadline (which actually has passed already – it was December 1, 2009), with the “bulk of the work” merged into a national space strategy that would be released after the new national space policy.
A SpacePolicyOnline.com summary of the seminar, including more of Dr. Hays’ comments, is available on the left menu of our home page (see Our Meeting Summaries) or by clicking here. The other speakers were Cesar Jaramillo of Canada’s Project Ploughshares, which spearheads production of the Space Security Index – the main topic of the seminar; Clay Mowry from Arianespace, Inc.; and Marcia Smith of SpacePolicyOnline.com.
A SpacePolicyOnline.com summary of the House Science and Technology Committee’s December 10, 2009 hearing on “Decisions on the Future Direction and Funding for NASA: What Will They Mean for the U.S. Aerospace Workforce and Industrial Base?” is now available on our left menu under “Our Hearing Summaries” or by clicking here.
After weighing three alternatives to address the hose problem on the Tranquility module (“Node 3”) that threatened to delay the launch of STS-130, NASA managers decided to assemble new hoses from parts of shorter hoses that were “previously certified and tested,” NASA reported today. That means the mission remains on schedule for launch on February 7. NASA also decided to accelerate development of a redesigned set of hoses based on the design that failed during pressure testing to serve as backup once the module is attached to the International Space Station (ISS).
Tranquility is the third of three “nodes” to be launched to ISS. The nodes essentially are connection points for other modules, although Tranquility’s main purpose is to serve as crew quarters. The hoses for the first two nodes (Unity and Harmony) were made by a different contractor and are working properly. NASA changed contractors for Tranquility’s hoses and they also are longer (14 feet) than those for the other two nodes.
The STS-130 crew comprises Commander George D. Zamka, Pilot Terry W. Virts, Jr., and Mission Specialists Nicholas J. M. Patrick, Robert L. Behenken, Stephen K. Robinson, and Kathryn P. Hire. Only four more shuttle missions remain after STS-130. The shuttle is supposed to be retired by September 30, 2010, the end of the current fiscal year, though many expect that it may need a few months of FY2011 to safely complete the remaining flights.
In a briefing held today at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, NASA officials discussed the January milestones for the International Space Station (ISS) in preparation for the installation of the Tranquility (or “Node 3”) module during the upcoming STS-130 space shuttle mission.
David Korth, Expedition 22 lead flight director, gave a walk through of the spacewalk that will be conducted by Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Maxim Suraev on January 14. The main objective of the almost six-hour-long spacewalk is to configure the Russian Poisk module, launched in November 2009, to serve as a vehicle docking module and as a backup airlock. The cosmonauts will also retrieve the last of three “biorisk” canisters installed on the outside of the station. On January 21, ISS crew members will move the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft from its current location — docked at the Zvezda Service Module — to Poisk. NASA TV will cover both events.
On a related issue, Pete Hasbrook, Expedition 22 increment manager, provided additional information on the steps being taken to address the ammonia hose problem encountered last week that could potentially delay the launch of STS-130. During testing, engineers found that the 14 foot long metal-braided hoses did not meet pressure requirements: “they saw the metal braids start to separate from the connector at the end of the hose.” Hasbrook reiterated that NASA has been considering all options to address this problem.
Over the weekend, NASA worked with the California-based company that made the hoses to “beef-up” the hoses to see if they can withstand the pressure. Alternatively, the Marshall Space Flight Center is looking into assembling “functionally equivalent hoses” from spare parts of those already used in the ISS. A third alternative would be to launch Tranquility as is on February 7 and fly replacement hoses up to ISS during a later mission.
NASA subsequently announced the rescheduling of STS-130 mission briefings in order to “allow more analysis of engineering data” with respect to the ammonia hose problem. Whether the launch date or the mission will be affected remains unclear.
A SpacePolicyOnline.com summary of the December 3, 2009 hearing before two subcommittees of the House Science and Technology Committee is now available. Look on our left menu under “Our Hearing Summaries” or simply click here.