14 DAY TRIAL // The American space agency is currently in a very tricky spot. Funding for its newest approach on space exploration – Project Constellation – is coming under increased attack, and a panel commissioned by President Obama to analyze its activities pushes for more private involvement with space flight. As we were telling you recently, an independent review panel showed that, while the ARES I rocket under development at NASA is centered around astronaut security, the vehicles developed by corporations such as SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp. have still to prove themselves as viable alternatives.
The annual report that the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) released in January 22 showed that NASA should not, under any circumstances, renounce the ARES I vehicle in favor of spacecrafts developed by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) or OSC. According to the experts of the panel, the private space ships are still a long way away from meeting the American space agency's safety standards, in terms of handling astronauts. Now, following the release of the document, SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk is stepping out to defend his company, and its interests.
“I have to say I've lost a lot of respect for the ASAP panel. If they are to say such things, then they ought to say it on the basis of data, not on random speculation,” the official said. He argued in a statement that SpaceX has devised all of its space vehicles, including the Falcon 9 rocket and the Dragon capsules, in accordance with the human-safety guidelines that NASA made available. The two spacecrafts “meet all of NASA's published human-rating requirements, apart from the escape systems. They've spent almost no time at SpaceX. They've not reviewed our data. They have no idea what our margins are, and what is and what isn't human-rated,” Musk stated, quoted by Space.
In addition to the arguments he brought against the ASAP, the SpaceX CEO also lashed out at the ARES I rocket, saying that, unlike his Falcon 9, the vehicle is still many years away. “The Ares 1 is a paper rocket that's far off in the future. Falcon 9 is a real rocket, most of which is at Cape Canaveral right now,” he said. According to SpaceX documents, the delivery system is scheduled to launch on March 3 from Florida, but that launch date is likely to be moved back.