NASA issued a press release this morning announcing a 2 PM EDT teleconference today "about the next steps in implementing the agency's new exploration initiatives outlined in the new fiscal year 2011 budget."
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Deputy Administrator Lori Garver will lead the conference, and be joined by co-stars:
* Bill Gerstenmaier, Space Operations Mission Directorate Associate Administrator
* Edward Weiler, Science Mission directorate Associate Administrator
* Doug Cooke, Exploration Systems Mission Directorate Associate Administrator
* Jaiwon Shin, Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate Associate Administrator
* Bobby Braun, Chief Technologist
Audio of the teleconference will be streamed at www.nasa.gov/newsaudio. No word if it's be on NASA Channel or a video feed.
Did you read the piece by John Kelly, "Caveats on space plan can't be ignored", Florida Today, 04/05/2010? In particular he states that Obama's panel did not use the same criteria for evaluating Constellation and the commercial options. They did an analysis on the Ares rocket and the Orion capsule and concluded that it wouldn't be ready until 2018 - 2020. And what did they do to get the date for the commercial options? They ASKED the private companies when they would be ready and used those dates. That does not exactly inspire confidence in the report and the conclusions. Finally with the question of safety, it is not clear whether the commercial vehicles will have to meet the same standards that NASA specified for Constellation. If they do, expect the price to escalate. Kelly was kind in that he didn't accuse anyone of lying, but as a statistician, the old saw comes to mind. Figures don't lie, but liars sure can figure.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that Garver had a lot to say about who was on the commission, I think that they picked the members that gave them the results that they wanted. Look at Garver's background and the members of the commission. Most of them have ties to commercial efforts for space flight. If they can't give an honest evaluation of the options, then I wonder what other surprises they have in store for us. Don't be surprised if the commercial option costs more than Constellation.