14 DAY TRIAL // Project Constellation is undoubtedly one of the most ambitious space programs ever devised. It was set up under then-President George Bush and aimed at developing new spacecrafts and delivery system to return humans to the Moon. But President Barack Obama proposed that the initiative be canceled, in favor of supporting the private sector. Given the harsh criticism the proposal got from Congress and the American public, Obama is now considering allowing for the continued development of the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle, one of the components of Constellation, Space reports.
According to high-ranking NASA officials, the president may be willing to propose funding for a stripped-down, unmanned version of the space capsule. This could help NASA recover some of the billions of dollars it invested in the Project over the past five years. The new version of Orion will be designed to act as a crew lifeboat aboard the International Space Station (ISS), in a bid to reduce American dependency on Russian-built Soyuz spacecrafts. The US President could make the announcement tomorrow, April 15. He is scheduled to speak in Florida, at a meeting held near the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), a facility that will be severely affected by the new space vision.
NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver also said that Obama would propose new funds for a new heavy-lift delivery system. Development of the new capability could be scheduled to begin in early 2015, Garver told space workers and experts gathered at the 26th National Space Symposium, held in Colorado Springs. Without these two proposals, critics say, the country would essentially be deprived of orbital capacities for years to come. With the three remaining space shuttles scheduled to be retired this September, NASA will have to rely on the private sector and the Russians for access to space, and many congressmen are not very fond of this thought.
“We will ask them [Denver-based Lockheed Martin Space Systems] to focus Orion for the government purposes on our unique requirement of crew escape,” Garver said. She added that Lockheed Martin could continue developing Orion on its own, if it applied for the $6-billion, 5-year funding program the 2011 budget proposal sets for funding private companies. “That would be a company decision on bidding for commercial crew technology,” the Deputy Administrator added.