{"id":5276,"date":"2013-11-14T00:10:38","date_gmt":"2013-11-14T00:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=5276"},"modified":"2013-11-14T07:50:09","modified_gmt":"2013-11-14T07:50:09","slug":"space-policy-roundup-nov-13-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=5276","title":{"rendered":"Space policy roundup – Nov.13.13 [Updated]"},"content":{"rendered":"

The incoherence of NASA policy is on full display this week. On Tuesday morning and apparently on an distant planet, NASA and reps of \u00a0its biggest contractors held a choir meeting to sing the praises of the $3B per year SLS\/Orion program*:\u00a0Contractors Pitch SLS as Everybody\u2019s Rocket – SpaceNews.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday afternoon and back on earth, NASA and Robert Bigelow held a briefing to announce the findings of a study by Bigelow Aerospace<\/a> into the potential for commercial firms to contribute to NASA’s deep space activities. The report (not yet released publicly) finds that NASA must rely on commercial partners if it is to accomplish anything in deep space because of the agency’s falling budget:\u00a0Bigelow to press US government on lunar property rights – Space Politics<\/a><\/p>\n

Today NASA and its Commercial Cargo programs held a news conference<\/a> to hail the successful creation and operation of two rocket and spacecraft systems for less than half the cost of a single shuttle mission. The event included appeals to Congress to fully fund the Commercial Crew program.<\/p>\n

So NASA is draining its smaller and smaller budget away on Orion and \u00a0SLS (for which it cannot afford to build any payloads) and simultaneously it \u00a0is supporting \u00a0programs that create tremendous capabilities for a fraction of standard NASA costs. Truly a\u00a021st Century Schizoid Agency<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Stephen C. Smith also notes the contradictions on display:\u00a0One Way or the Other – Space KSC<\/a><\/p>\n

More space policy\/politics related items:<\/p>\n