14 DAY TRIAL // Under the new bill that was passed by Congress in late September, the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle project is severely underfunded, and risks losing its stamina, lawmakers in Colorado and officials at Lockheed Martin say.
They explain that the new fiscal year is crucial stage in the development of America's replacement spacecraft for the space shuttles. Funding must be kept at least at current levels in order for the program to go forward.
The goal here is to have the first Orion test flight by no later than the end of 2013. In order for that to happen, funds must be made available at previously decided levels, Lockheed experts say.
Orion was a part of the now-canceled Project Constellation, which also included the ARES I, IV and V delivery systems, the Altair Lunar Lander and the Earth-Departure Stage orbital motor.
Under US President Barack Obama's new space plan, the Orion would only become a stripped-down version of its former self, and will be used exclusively as a life boat for the six-astronaut crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
The situation is made even more peculiar by the fact that not even NASA is sure how to go about managing Orion. Some want for it to continue, while others would rather orient the agency towards new space vehicles.
The NASA authorization bill the Obama signed on October 11 awards $1.1 billion in fy 2011 for the five-year-long development of a spacecraft capable of carrying astronauts to the ISS and in missions beyond low-Earth orbit (LEO).
However, the document does not refer to the Orion space capsule specifically. But proposals by the Senate Appropriations Committee show that officials are still interested in the capsule.
Sen. Michael Bennet and Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colorado) signed an October 8 letter to Obama, in which they argued for the necessity of funding the Orion development program in full until Congress passes the 2011 NASA Spending Bill.
“Maintaining the [2010] level of funding at this crucial time – during which the federal government is operating under a Continuing Resolution (CR) – would continue to allow for an Orion test flight as early as 2013,” they wrote, quoted by Space.
All recently-passed, NASA-related bills “include language in favor of continuing Orion, not just as a crew rescue vehicle, but with its entire original mission portfolio, including service to the [ISS] and missions in Deep Space,” they wrote.