House Mulls NASA's Deep Space Future Photo Credit/NASA Wise
The House Science and Technology Committee meets Thursday to do what the Senate Commerce Science and Transportation Committee did on July 15, consider a NASA authorization bill that attempts to settle differences between the White House and Congress over the future of human space exploration.
The House panel made its 99 page bi-partisan draft bill public late Monday. The final Senate version approved last week had not been posted on the Internet in final form as of Tuesday, though the committee and key members from both political parties provided summary details following last week’s closed-door session.
The White House, Senate and House versions all support future human deep space exploration with destinations including Mars and near Earth asteroids. President Obama’s proposed 2011 NASA budget cancels the agency’s Constellation back to the moon program, including the Ares I and Ares V (heavy lift) rockets.
Constellation’s Orion crew capsule would survive as a space station crew rescue vehicle under the White House spending plan.
The White House, Senate and House plans back an extension of International Space Station operations from 2015 to at least 2020.
The Senate version would add an additional shuttle mission to the orbiting science laboratory in mid-2011. Currently, two missions are planned prior to the shuttle program’s retirement — the last one launches in late February 2011.
The House and Senate versions would accelerate to 2011 development of a new heavy lift rocket for human deep space missions. The White House version would invest in new technology research and development before embarking on a heavy lift development program in 2015.
The House and Senate measures call for a NASA developed crew transportation vehicle, presumably similar to Orion, for deep space missions. The Senate version would make the capsule and the heavy lift rocket operational by 2016.
The White House strategy calls on NASA to foster a commercial space transportation industry that could transport astronauts as well as cargo to the space station.
The White House version sets aside $6 billion over five years to achieve a commercial capability by multiple providers. The Senate version invests $1.6 billion in new commercial capabilities over three years. The House measure would establish direct loan and loan guarantee programs to foster commercial space transportation development on a 30-year repayment schedule.
Both the House and Senate versions regulate the pace of commercial space transportation as a safety measure. The measures call on NASA to establish human rating standards and require potential commercial providers to demonstrate their reliability before obtaining NASA contracts.
The House measure envisions the NASA crew capsule and compatible NASA launch system as a backup to commercially provided crew services. However, the House version would prohibit NASA from contracting with commercial providers if the cost per seat exceeds the cost of using NASA spacecraft.
The NASA spacecraft and the new heavy lift rocket would undergo upgrades for deep space missions, as commercial providers begin to shoulder transportation to the space station, under the House measure.
The House bill instructs NASA to rely as much as it can on contracts, personnel and facilities established as part of the Constellation program as it moves forward.
NASA has spent about $10 billion on Constellation, an initiative that was cancelled after a White House sponsored blue ribbon panel determined it faced too many financial and technical obstacles to achieve its goal of returning U. S. astronauts to the moon by 2020.
The House, Senate and White House versions all call on NASA to pursue international cooperation in its exploration endeavors and seek more money for space station research.
The House measure, a five-year authorization bill, and the White House call for the same increased annual spending starting with $19 billion in 2011; $19.45 billion in 2012; $19.96 billion in 2013; $20.6 billion in 2014; and $20.99 billion in 2015.
The Senate version, a three-year bill, supports the same annual amounts in 2011, 2012 and 2013.