NASA cancels Constellation Moon Program

US President Barack Obama has cancelled the Constellation Moon program and confirmed that the US will now turn to the commercial sector for low earth orbit human spaceflight.
President Obama’s 2011 Budget marks a clear shift in direction for NASA away…

US President Barack Obama has cancelled the Constellation Moon program and confirmed that the US will now turn to the commercial sector for low earth orbit human spaceflight.

President Obama’s 2011 Budget marks a clear shift in direction for NASA away from a return to the moon and towards an increased focus on the development of new technology that will allow deep space travel.

The agency will be given a funding boost of US$6bn over the five years from 2011 to 2015. Total budget for this period is US$100bn.

The shift in NASA policy has clearly been heavily influenced by the recommendations of former Lockheed Martin CEO Norman Augustine’s Review of Human Space Flight Plans Committee. The flexible path to developing new space technology was one of the key conclusions of the review when it was delivered late last year, as was the establishment of a strong commercial sector.

In his presentation of the 2011 Budget, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said: “NASA will accelerate and enhance its support for the commercial spaceflight industry to make travel to low-Earth orbit, and beyond, more accessible and more affordable. Imagine enabling hundreds, even thousands of people to visit or live in low-Earth orbit, while NASA firmly focuses its gaze on the cosmic horizon beyond Earth.”

The cancellation of Constellation, which comprises the Ares-1 all purpose rocket that was also set to serve as the Space Shuttle’s replacement, and the Ares-5 heavy lift vehicle, is the most radical part of the budget.

Constellation was initiated by former president George W. Bush in 2004, and was envisaged as a new Apollo program to fly US astronauts back to the Moon by 2020.

The project has had US$9bn poured into it, but has been beset by difficulties. The killer blow was the Augustine Commission’s conclusion that the chances of it even coming close to its original targets were totally implausible, and that any continuation would actively harm US space development.

“Key milestones were slipping,” said Bolden. “The program would not get us back to the moon in quick enough time or at an affordable enough cost. As we focused much of our effort on getting back to the moon we were neglecting the technology that would allow us to go beyond.”

NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said: “The Augustine Commission made it clear that that we would not have got beyond LEO until 2028 and we would not have even been able to fund the moon lander after that, so we have not lost the moon, we have gotten the Solar System back.”

USS$2.5bn of the NASA Budget has been set aside for the facility and close-out costs caused by the cancellation of Constellation.

The direction NASA is taking is exemplified by three new initiatives outlined in the new budget – US$7.8bn will be allocated to a program focused on the development and demonstration of new technologies to reduce the cost and expand the capabilities of future exploration missions. This includes research into the kind of in-orbit refuelling and fuel storage capabilities that are critical to enhanced deep space travel.

A further US$3.1bn will go towards work on new heavy lift propulsion systems; while US$3bn will fund a range of robotic precursor missions.

Another major aspect of the budget is the commitment made to the International Space Station. NASA now aims to support an extension of its lifespan till 2020. The Space Shuttle has also been granted US$600m in funding to ensure that it completes its remaining five scheduled missions, even if that means its retirement slips by a year to 2011.