White House commission says: Redo Ares, Keep Space Station!

William Atkins
Friday, 23 October 2009 19:18

Science - Space

The members of the Commission also recommend concentrating on manned missions to asteroids, the moons of Mars (Phobos and Deimos, thought to be captured asteroids), and Mars itself, with only a much more abbreviated plan for lunar missions.

However, in the five options provided by the Commision, one option is titled "Moon First," which preserves the plan to go to the Moon first, as a stepping stone to further more-distant solar system destinations.

In all the options recommended by the Commission, the ten members urge that NASA receive at least $3 billion more each year over the ten years of the 2010s.

They recommended even more money if the United States wants to get NASA pursuing all of its current plans.

Mr. Augustine reported, on Thursday, October 22, 2009, at a news conference that “The human space flight program the United States is currently pursuing is one on an unsustainable trajectory.” [Huntsville Times: “Cancel Ares I, panel says”]

Augustine continued to say that NASA "… is at a tipping point where either additional funds must be provided or the exploration program first instituted by President Kennedy must be abandoned at least for the time being." [Washington Post (10-23-09): “Manned NASA trips at 'tipping point' on funds”]

The final report by the Augustine Commission, entitled "Seeking a Human Spaceflight Program Worthy of a Great Nation," is available as a 15 MB pdf file.

In essence, the Commission states that NASA can implement a viable plan of manned space exploration over the next ten years, but in order to do this the United States must dedicate an extra $3 billion per year.

The Report concludes, "The Committee believes an exploration program that will be a source of pride for the nation requires resources at such a level [an extra three billion dollars annually for NASA's budget]."