Obama kills NASA's Human Arm - Private Sector Must Carry Torch

It is official. The American Space Program, a dream inspired by the likes of John F. Kennedy himself, has been killed today as a non-essential government expenditure. The Obama administration has announced that it will defund the Constellation Program, the follow-on Human Space Flight Program intended for lunar colonization. FoxNews reports:

The key elements of Constellation include the Orion crew capsule, its Ares 1 launcher, a larger rocket dubbed Ares 5 and the Altair lunar lander. Obama's top-line spending proposal for NASA is expected to increase slightly over the 2010 appropriation of $18.7 billion and would including some funding for an alternative means for transporting crews to and from the international space station

Facing a federal deficit of $1.26 trillion in 2011, Obama is proposing a three-year freeze on most non-defense discretionary spending, a move the president believes will save $250 billion over the next 10 years, Orszag said. In addition, the White House is proposing more than 120 program terminations, reductions and efficiencies that together are expected to save $20 billion in 2011, Orszag said.

While Obama is picking off major programs at $20 Billion a pop, he is still pushing an increased expenditure on the order of a trillion dollars. I digress.

As I stated in my previous post regarding the early reporting of this information, I applaud the cancelling of the NASA Human Space Flight division (though here I found it to be a bad idea). This is said as a former employee of Lockheed's Ares/Orion team. The program was a mess - extremely overbudget, attempting to make a horribly designed system work. We have Mike Griffin to thank for that - but we have NASA to thank for driving impossible requirements changes, making a state of the art system nothing more than a "larger Apollo" on an underpowered candlestick. We were heading the wrong direction... and instead of throwing money at a bad Government Problem - me, like any like minded fiscal conservative and libertarian should embrace the surrendering of a government agency to the free market.

Could Obama have simply directed the cancelling of Ares I and embrace Ares 5 as a multi-purpose Moon/Mars launch vehicle? Should he have? Or is this the motivation the private sector needs in order to begin the free market colonization of near and far space? Let's take a look at what is on the horizon:

1. Space X is within 1-3 months of the inaugural flight of the Falcon 9 - a private, green, and reusable launch vehicle built with the intention of human passengers. They are already in full scale production and have a launch manifest planned out to 2015 covering over 26 flights of varying payloads. SpaceX, owned by Google, has drastically reduced launch costs - estimated at a 90% cost savings over NASA programs, while focusing special attention on safety and reliability. This private sector innovator stands at the ready to take immediate ownership of NASA astronauts, and is slated to act as a launch platform for prefabbed/inflatable space infrastructure built by Bigelow Aerospace.

2. Virgin Galactic, though not able to attain full orbit, is nearing the end of their test flight phase for their sub-orbital commercial space vehicle. Private citizens, the first space tourists, can catch a ride on the ship for a mere $200,000. I am sure that full orbital trips will be just around the bend.

3. SpaceDev is working with Lockheed Martin and Boeing's United Launch Alliance in order to man-rate their Delta and Atlas launch vehicles. I wonder, however, if a collapse of NASA Humans Space Flight, if "man rating" will be a necessary regulation for future start-ups. This falls under the realm of "how congress reacts" - if a launch vehicle is safe, reliable, and has a great service record - what more do you need to 'over-engineer' the launch vehicle for human safety?

In short - this is the perfect opportunity for the private sector to shine. We can smack Obama around for cancelling the JFK Moon Dream, and chastise him for putting America behind the Chinese or the Russians (the only two countries in the world capable of currently launching humans to orbit - after our remaining three launches this year exhaust our Shuttle fleet). But what we are bearing witness to in our protest is the hypocrisy of our "cause" - that is, give up government bureaucracies - so long as you don't touch the things WE want you to keep. Obama should take notice of his own maneuver, and don't stop until Education, healthcare, identification and the like are off the payroll of the federal government.

We stand, dear readers, at the beginning of something grand. So long as private ventures see a profit or need in Human Exploration - it will be so. This is our opportunity to take the government to task and do it right! Instead of writing your congressmen, write the start-ups like SpaceX and ask what you can do to invest and help drive human space flight on a private level. In the mean-time, write your representatives and remind them to keep their regulatory paws out of what will be an explosion in private space exploration.

SUCCESS! Ares 1-X Successfully Test Launched by NASA! Space X Falcon 9 Ready to Steal the Show...

My congratulations to my former team mates on the Ares and Orion program. This morning marks the first successful major milestone in returning Americans to Solar System exploration. Though I have been critical of the Ares 1 concept and an open advocate for the Falcon 9, Jupiter or Ares 5 system, this success will provide a great amount of data allowing a more focused and better defined Orion program, and will serve to answer a number of necessary questions regarding the capabilities of the plagued design.




The Candlestick, as Ares 1 is nicknamed, is a solid first stage booster with a liquid second stage and human capsule. The Ares 1-X was intended to test the feasibility of such a design as Americans desperately scramble to replace the Shuttle after the 2003 Columbia accident.

Ares/Orion is not alone in their success, nor in their quest to become the launch platform for American Space Flight. Space X is a private venture vying for a new direction in American Space Travel, where NASA and Ares/Orion (Constellation Program) is government run through subcontracts (Lockheed Martin).

Space X has successfully launched the Falcon 1, proving the key technologies necessary to propel their full size Falcon 9 launch vehicle into the running as America's next human launch vehicle. Flight testing is scheduled to be on the tails of today's Ares 1-X flight, sometime in the next few months. A successful Falcon 9 flight could divert attention and funding away from Ares, as the private venture is currently ready for full scale operations and regular flights. The Ares vehicles are not slated to test fly again until 2012, as current cuts to testing schedule are keeping the system on the ground.


Space X has also designed the Dragon, an automated/crew less cargo supply ship specializing in ISS resupply. The Dragon could easily be modified to carry human passengers, and is ready to be operational in mid 2010... a full 4-6 years before the Orion/Ares system is slated to be operational.



The government option, Ares/Orion, is extremely toxic for the environment, has been changed from a reusable system to a one time use "Apollo" system, is grossly over budget, and is horribly behind schedule... like any good government run program.

The Space X private venture is less expensive, cleaner burning fuel, mostly reusable, on schedule, and relatively on budget... evil capitalists!

My congratulations go out to the Ares 1-X team, many of whom are my personal friends and past co-workers (yes, I am a rocket scientist). However large of a hurdle the Ares 1-X launch was for NASA, it was an overdue milestone that is far behind the private sector's competition for ISS resupply, Human Space Flight, and Extra-planetary exploration.

I am always the advocate for further space development and exploration, but if I had to pick a winner in this race, it would be the Private Sector...

Congratulations nonetheless!

Ridiculous News On this Day: USA BOMBS THE MOON, President Awarded Nobel Peace Prize

On the very same morning that the United States targeted the Moon with a $79 Million 2.2 ton kinetic energy bomb, Oslo Norway announced that Obama, the President of the country who just attacked the moon, would be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

It was asserted by General McChrystal that Obama use a show of force to put the Taliban on their heels, and after weeks of internal strife, countless meetings on the matter, and public opinion polling, Obama made the call to attack the moon's southern pole.
The explosive event was seen by earth bound proletarians as they were making their way to the factories in the early hours of the morning. No military response has yet been detected from the moon, and the Taliban - lacking interest in modern astronomy or technology of any kind - was absolutely unaware of the event. No official response on the number of casualties, but it has been made clear that neither Bin Laden nor any Sr. Taliban or Al Qeada officials were injured in the attack.

Norway's response to the events of the morning was to grant Obama the Nobel Peace Prize, for his messianic ability to heal the world through touch, turn moon water into whines, and to remind him that the next time he is in Copenhagen, Denmark to just hop on a nice ferry and visit Norway too!

In other news, Obama refused to meet with 1989 Nobel Peace laureate Dali Lama, until he could meet with Imperialist Communist Chinese officials who claim the Dali Lama is a criminal for inciting revolutionary discussion over Chinese occupied Tibet. Obama stated that his snub of Mr. Lama was due, largely, to the fact that "the Chinese Government have my balls in a vice, and there is really nothing I could do to assist a criminal like the Dali Lama without the council of my rich Chinese pals."

Meanwhile, Obama is taking heat from pesky Americans who are concerned that his lack of pressure on Iran and the defunding of human rights watchdog groups are directly responsible for Iran's sense of empowerment and continued nuclear ambition. Israeli officials were left scratching their heads over the announcement of Obama's Nobel Peace Prize, and offered sincerest condolences to the citizens of the Moon after learning of their US bombardment.

Still, no official comment has been received from moon officials on the awarding of the prize, the snubbing of the Dali Lama, developments in Iran, or the recent attacks by the United States.

This story will be updated as new developments occur.
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Ridiculous News UPDATES -
1. The far left is mocking Obama's Peace Prize, stating "The Nobel Committee just turned themselves into a big joke. That is some powerful hopium they are smoking."

2. It appears that the lunar attack may have been repelled by the Moon Citizens. No clear evidence of debris clouds or impact were seen from earth. This may be an indicator that the Moon will, in fact, retaliate against the US.

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BREAKING NEWS UPDATE -

3. Tom at tomnation.com has just informed us that Lunar Citizen and Dreamworks Icon "Fishing Pole Boy" may be the first confirmed casualty of the US lunar attack. Dreamworks has released the following photo:


It appears that Fishing Pole Boy was last seen near the Lunar South pole, near the region targeted for the US attack. Lunar Officials led a massive search and recovery effort which was called off when fragments of a tackle box were located scattered about the southern lunar surface. Dreamworks will be releasing a statement about the loss of their beloved icon. No statement is expected from the White House, who has been very tight lipped about the incident. Fishing Pole Boy is survived by his father, the Man in the Moon, his brother, Mac Tonight, and his domestic partner, the MTV Music Award.

The Moon Will Never Look the Same

The question of lunar colonization has long been debated in scientific (and sci-fi) circles for decades, and has always rested on one conclusion - man cannot sustain life on the moon without water. World governments have spent billions of dollars trying to determine if there can exist some slight amount of water... in polar craters, in the regolith. Even the Apollo missions returned lunar rocks with the intent of searching for embedded water - the results were inconclusive.

The world has changed today... and the moon will never again look the same.

When early civilizations looked to the moon, they saw vast oceans on a nearby celestial body... and named them rightly.

It turns out that the entire surface of the moon contains, in some small amount, WATER. There may be more water hidden in the shadows of the polar craters, but the new discovery reveals, at least in some small amounts, that water exists on the entire surface of the moon.

The moon remains drier than any desert on Earth, but the water is said to exist on the moon in very small quantities. One ton of the top layer of the lunar surface would hold about 32 ounces of water, researchers said.

Water, as we all know, is the sustaining force for life as we know it. To consider a lunar colony, permanent settlement of the moon, one would have to plan a supply of water. With the discovery of any amount of water on the lunar surface our ability to simplify a self sustaining colony has just exponentially increased.

The simplest form of colonization considers "In-Situ" resources a necessary - that is, the ability to collect your resources for survival at your destination. To not have to bring water, even the short distance to the moon, could save us decades of slow growth due to required transportation.
I am a Mars Colony advocate, but taking advantage of lunar resources is a required step if human kind should ever decide to fight for a prolonged existence in the cosmos.

The next time you look up at the moon, think about a future where the half moon will play host to a night time display of distant city lights... Humans, en masse, living on other worlds. That reality just got a little closer today.

Is NASA wrong on the Moon/Mars Launch Vehicle?

NASA Director, Mike Griffin, is the father of the next moon vehicle. A design concept aimed at piecing apart the US Space Shuttle components into a series of launch vehicles aimed at returning the US to space after the retirement of the shuttle, and eventually back to the moon.

However, Griffin’s focus on the Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles may be the wrong path for the future of US space travel.

The Ares V, when complete, will dwarf the Saturn V in sheer size, yet will not allow for a single launch to aim for the moon. The Ares I will need to launch the crew in the Orion Capsule, which will dock with the Ares V upper stage (complete with lander), and the two will aim toward the moon. A complex ballet in space, made further more complicated by the Ares I development issues – most notably an acoustic envelope that exists in the early part of flight, causing vibrations that would kill the astronauts – a problem that NASA admits is part of dealing with new launch systems. The solution, says NASA, is reverse thrusters firing during launch… kind of the anti-booster. Leave it to the government to proceed with building a new launch vehicle that cannot launch without retro rockets used during launch – like building a new plane that cannot fly without anchors on it’s wings.

Since it’s inception, NASA has spent over $7 Billion on developing this new technology.

But is NASA wrong in scrapping the entire shuttle program? The shuttle itself is flawed, but the launch technology is proven, and perfected since the Columbia disaster. In fact, the changes made to the External Tank have improved flight safety and performance – for a program that has roughly ten flights left – sounds like a government fumble to me.

Enter the Jupiter DIRECT 2.0. When the Constellation Program was being conceived, there were a number of proposals to replace the shuttle. All incorporated shuttle technology, but none more so than the Jupiter Direct. The initial design proposal was questionable, and was cast to the side… however, a rogue group of NASA engineers (some of whom, no doubt, are working on Ares and see the unsolvable problems) may have fixed the issues with the DIRECT launcher.

The design uses the shuttle launch structure, minus the shuttle, placing a small engine pod attached below the tank and placing the payload above the tank. There is no vibration issue, no new configuration issue, and no expensive and time consuming development cost – it is the launch vehicle already in use.

However, NASA officials refuse to take a second look at the cost/schedule saving plan. They simply discredit the idea by citing the shortcomings of the DIRECT 1.0, claiming that there is no possible way that this design could be superior to the design which was chosen… sort of staying the course.

As an Aerospace Engineer (and employee of the Orion Program), I have had my doubts with the Ares-I launch vehicle from the beginning, and these problems/solutions are reason enough to build doubt in the success of this vehicle. We will find ourselves with an inefficient launch vehicle with questionable safety, and a price tag nearing $50 Billion and 5 years of development. It was my opinion from the start that the Ares be scrapped in favor of an Atlas V or Delta V launcher, slightly modified for human rating. NASA would not bite, as some components (notably engine parts) are Russian in origin and they demand an all-American design. The Jupiter DIRECT 2.0 solves this problem and has minimal development cost.

Perhaps we, the grassroots activists of the net, take some action on an issue that is less a “limelight” issue, and more a Taxpayer Friendly obligation – write your Congressmen, write NASA, and write the candidates – ask them if NASA is on the right track with Ares. Ask them if it is prudent that we are scrapping the Shuttle launch system in favor of an unproven and unsafe launch system. Ask them if they should consider an alternative that keeps the current manufacturing jobs and processes in place, keeps our launch infrastructure in place, and requires less time and money for development overall. Ask them about Jupiter DIRECT 2.0.

Public Communications Office
NASA Headquarters
Suite 5K39
Washington, DC 20546-0001
(202) 358-0001 (Office)
(202) 358-3469 (Fax)

Space, and the private sector

Following the inaugural flight of Spaceship One, in which Branson's rocket plane officially won the Ansari X-Prize, congress went to work placing restrictions on the public exploration of space. The government controls were touted as public safety measures... because we don't want a crazy astronaut Farmer incident taking place now do we?

But recent events have taken place that cause me to wonder if congress wants a private sector in human space flight, or if the government's idea of human space flight is a series of non-exploration high cost missions. I am left wondering if the government entities that be do not wish for human kind to become a space faring civilization.

One example of this comes from one man's obsession with creating a new and useless lifting vehicle, with little to no advantage over the current lifting technologies. That man is Mike Griffin, head of NASA. His obsession is with the ARES launch vehicles. The development costs are astronomical (pun intended), and the program time for a new complex launch vehicle is on the order of a decade. So why the obsession?

Griffin is a self-proclaimed visionary... He often comes up with his own solutions to problems, and insists that his engineers make them work. A great example outside of the ARES vehicles is the last minute change in the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle's Launch Abort System (LAS). The LAS was having some minor engineering design issues, and instead of counting on the council of his highly skilled NASA engineers, Griffin took out a piece of scratch paper, drew some new design and said "Do this". It has been a hit to cost and schedule... but the army marches forward to his drum.

The Ares launch vehicle Ares I is a 5 segment solid rocket booster, with a small segment of liquid propellant and the Orion CEV aboard it. It is the first of two launch vehicles being designed for the over budget and behind schedule Moon Program. The problem: solid rocket motors vibrate at such an extreme frequency that without damping, Humans cannot survive, let alone the space vehicle riding on top. Once these vibrations were apparent in analysis, it was suggested that the costly ARES program be abandoned for a less costly and already existent Atlas V, from United Launch Alliance (a Boeing and Lockheed Martin joint effort). Little work would be needed to convert the once human rated launch vehicle back to a human launch vehicle... alas, Griffin has refused... opting instead to push forward with his legacy building candlestick.

Focus now on the private sector, where Bigelow Aerospace is planning on all but putting NASA out of business. Bigelow is listening to the reports on the Atlas V, and intend on using the launch vehicle to build their space hotel, and use the vehicle to shuttle space tourists to and from the inflatable space dwelling. Bigelow has survived, in spite of the increased rules and regulation from the US government when it comes to Space and the private sector. Other companies have not been so lucky... see Kistler Aerospace's issues with the K-1, and how they had to make a deal with Australia to launch as the US would not allow them to cost effectively launch in the US.

I give much respect to private space businesses. They are the explorers who are forging humanity onward into the next great frontier, much to the hesitation of the government.

Overregulation has done much to undermine the private sector in everything from plumbing to medicine... and now, before the industry has an opportunity to boom, the government is attempting to regulate the sector to death.

As good conservatives, we should all work together to end overregulation of private business by the government. We should support private space exploration, and demand that the government allow the start-up operations to research, develop, test, and fly without costly intervention by the bureaucracy of Washington. Without a private sector in the space exploration industry, we are left catering to the whims of whomever may be the visionary of NASA on any given day.

Barack Obama a Space Cadet on Space Issues

Our friends over at Spacepolitics.com have written an article about Barack Obama, and his plan to fund his socialized education plan by cutting the very thing that would drive innovation in science and technology, the US Human Spaceflight Programs. That is right! Barack Obama wants to stop sending US Astronauts to the ISS, the Moon, or any research for Mars. Well, at least until the end of his second term, and then some. He has suggested the transfer of all but $500 million (the cost to mothball the manufacturing capabilities) of NASA's manned space flight budget to his socialized education plan.

What he does not realize is that I would lose my job, as I work on Project Orion (the crew portion of the Constellation Program). As well, many aerospace companies who have invested hundreds of millions, if not billions, will be out of business and unable to just maintain a holding pattern until 2020. Business does not work that way... perhaps NASA could survive... but by that time we lose any hope of gaining technical expertise from any Apollo era engineers or astronauts, which has been a saving grace for the Constellation program thus far. To pick up the pieces in 2020 would mean that the US will be unable to launch a man into space for 10-15 years. We would not make it back to the moon before 2030-2040. And we will never make it to Mars.

If I needed one more reason to vehemently oppose Barack Obama as President, well, here it is!

A man with no foresight when it comes to the importance of the technological sector of the economy is little more than a buffoon.

Read the article below:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama released today the
education plan he would enact if elected. The full 15-page plan includes a variety of proposals, including reforming early education programs. The last section of the plan, titled “A Commitment to Fiscal Responsibility” explains how he would pay for these initiatives. The passage of relevance here: “The early education plan will be paid for by delaying the NASA Constellation Program for five years,” among other steps. According to MSNBC, Obama would leave in place $500 million/year for Constellation’s “manufacturing and technology base”, but would otherwise transfer the funding to the education effort. None of the campaign’s official statements or other media reports indicate any alternative measures the campaign would take to address what, on its face, would appear to be a five-year delay in the introduction of Ares 1, Orion, and the other main components of NASA’s current exploration
architecture.

(A potentially ironic item, depending on your opinion on the importance of Constellation: one other section of the Obama education plan is titled “Make Math and Science Education a National Priority”.)

The Republican National Committee has criticized the move to delay Constellation, The Hill reports, quoting RNC spokesman Danny Diaz: “It is ironic that Barack
Obama’s plan to help our children reach for the stars is financed in part by
slashing a program that helps us learn about those very same stars.”

This would spell disaster for the leader in world space exploration. And though there is a push for privatizing space, the industry has been held back so long that we are not able to pick up the pieces and send man to space privately right away. This would still leave the US without the means to send man to space.

This may seem like small potatoes, but when China and India are preparing for moon missions by 2020, we cannot delay our own efforts.

The problem with America is the lack of drive to speak out until it is too late... This is a case where it will be too little too late.

Write your local congressman, call Barack's campaign, call a talk radio show. Get the message out that sacrificing the Human Space Program is not an option.

The Implications of a Communist Moon Landing

It is a feat that only the United States has been able to accomplish: Landing a Man on the Moon.

Communist Russia failed, and since the great space race no one else has even tried.

In fact, the United States has been sitting in the Ivory Tower of space travel so long, that many fail to see the problem with China stepping ever so close to landing a communist on the moon.

When the US beat the Soviets to the moon, there was a lasting impression that only in a free society was man capable of achieving the impossible. Russia gave up their lunar ambitions, and within 20 years they ceased to exist as a communist led society.

Fast forward to the 21st century, where China is making all the appropriate advancements in their plan to permanently inhabit the moon. Today they will launch a lunar orbiter, proving that they have the capability to at least get to and orbit the moon. And with their space program cloaked in secrecy, they could be just a few years away from planting a flag of an oppressed people on the surface of the moon.

Remember, the US left a plaque on the moon which stated that our journey was for all men... the significance of this plaque was that it represented the heights to which free men could travel... and now that we are sitting idly by and watching, let alone providing help (Thanks Bill Clinton - Ass), and who knows what this could mean.

In fact, working on the current US moon program myself, I take issue that we are slipping schedule and focusing so much time and energy on the ISS. We are unloading a significant amount of time and energy on a way station that serves little to open the expanses of space to the next generation of explorers. I compare it to Columbus rowing a dingy around the harbor instead of sailing across the Atlantic.

When the US fails to dream big, we fail... period.

This is a case where the ambition of an oppressive entity is greater than the drive for being the best from a free society.

So perhaps this means that the America that existed just 50 years ago no longer exists. Are we no longer up to the challenge of proving the superiority of a Free Society? Are we even still a free society, or are we bogged down with suspicion and corruption... the legacy of freedom?

Think long and hard about what we are giving up in allowing China to have dominance in the new Moon Race... leave a comment... and perhaps, if you think the implications are as I have stated, give your government representatives a call and tell them to Make Space a Priority!