{"id":7246,"date":"2014-04-07T18:29:35","date_gmt":"2014-04-07T18:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=7246"},"modified":"2014-04-07T21:13:07","modified_gmt":"2014-04-07T21:13:07","slug":"space-policy-roundup-april-7-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=7246","title":{"rendered":"Space policy roundup &#8211; April.7.14 [Update]"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">Today&#8217;s selection of space policy\/politics related links:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thespacereview.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Space Review<\/a>:\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thespacereview.com\/article\/2484\/1\" target=\"_d\">Dennis Tito\u2019s \u201cSpaceship to Everywhere\u201d may be a dead-end for NASA &#8211; Rick Boozer<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thespacereview.com\/article\/2487\/1\" target=\"_d\">What\u2019s in a code? Putting space development first<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thespacereview.com\/article\/2486\/1\" target=\"_d\">\u00a0Symbolism and substance in US-Russian space relations<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thespacereview.com\/article\/2485\/1\" target=\"_d\">Competing forums: an asteroid or the Moon?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thespacereview.com\/article\/2483\/1\" target=\"_d\">Europa on the cheap &#8211; Jeff Foust<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/spacenews.com\/article\/opinion\/40129letter-bolden-right-to-fight-pork-driven-policy\" target=\"_d\">Letter | Bolden Right To Fight Pork-driven Policy &#8211; SpaceNews.com<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Int. space issues:\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/bt.e-ditionsbyfry.com\/display_article.php?id=1680791&amp;id_issue=204257\" target=\"_d\">U.S. Should Take a Cold, Hard Look at Space Code of Conduct &#8211; Michael Listner\/Space News<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\" href=\"http:\/\/spacenews.com\/article\/opinion\/40127space-cooperation-a-vital-new-front-for-india-us-relations\" target=\"_d\">Space Cooperation: A Vital New Front for India-U.S. Relations &#8211; \u00a0Jaganath Sankaran \/\u00a0SpaceNews.com<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/spacenews.com\/article\/opinion\/40130editorial-uk-proposal-to-end-satellite-insurance-tax-is-right-thing-to-do\" target=\"_d\">Editorial | U.K. Proposal To End Satellite Insurance Tax is Right Thing To Do &#8211; SpaceNews.com<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>[ <strong>Update<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aviationweek.com\/Article.aspx?id=\/article-xml\/awx_04_04_2014_p0-677235.xml\" target=\"_d\">U.S. Suspends Defense, Satellite Exports To Russia &#8211; Aviation Week<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/americansecurityproject.org\/blog\/2014\/rd-180-the-jeopardized-russian-backbone-to-the-us-space-program\/\" target=\"_d\">RD &#8211; 180 The Russian Backbone of the US Space Program &#8211; ASP<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.newscientist.com\/article\/dn25375-cold-war-in-space-what-nasas-russia-boycott-means.html?cmpid=RSS|NSNS|2012-GLOBAL|online-news#.U0MHMKhdVtA\" target=\"_d\">Cold war in space? What NASA&#8217;s Russia boycott means &#8211; New Scientist<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.planetary.org\/explore\/space-topics\/space-missions\/mer-updates\/2014\/03-mer-update-opportunity-powers-up-in-cook-haven.html\" target=\"_d\">Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Powers Up in Cook Haven and in Fans&#8217; Minds | The Planetary Society<\/a>\u00a0&#8211; mostly about Opportunity rover science but also a discussion of funding for the project to allow it to continue.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/rescommunis.olemiss.edu\/2014\/04\/07\/library-a-round-up-of-reading-271\/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=library-a-round-up-of-reading-271\" target=\"_d\">Library: A Round-up of Reading | Res Communis<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Update 2<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.spacepolicyonline.com\/news\/mikulski-presidents-nasa-budget-request-just-advisory-will-work-to-get-more#.U0MHo9VStW0.twitter\" target=\"_d\">Mikulski: President&#8217;s NASA Budget Request Just &#8220;Advisory,&#8221; Will Work to Get More &#8211; SpacePolicyOnline<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/news\/nasa-missions-bid-for-extensions-1.14927\" target=\"_d\">NASA missions bid for extensions: Scientists must show projects\u2019 potential to secure funding. &#8211; Nature<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>]<\/p>\n<p>===<\/p>\n<p>I recently came across this interesting 1985 article describing a discussion of Shuttle launch costs during a Congressional hearing:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nss.org\/settlement\/L5news\/1985-pricing.htm\" target=\"_d\">L5 News: Shuttle Pricing and Space Development<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Commercial launch was in its infancy at the time and the new industry had to deal with the fact that NASA wanted \u00a0the Space \u00a0Shuttle to provide launch services for commercial satellites.\u00a0The commercial guys did not have the clout to stop this government competition\u00a0(after the Challenger disaster, commercial satellite launch was taken away from NASA) but they pushed for NASA to at least charge enough to cover the cost of a Shuttle mission.<\/p>\n<p>In 1985 and in 2014, NASA implements a favored government agency technique when asked for the cost of its services: obfuscation. The most basic, straight-forward estimate of the cost of a launch is simply the annual cost of the launch program divided by the number of launches annually, plus some increment from an estimate of the amortization of the development costs. NASA always rejects this basic accounting method and insists that launch cost requires very complicated calculations\u00a0\u00a0by teams of accountants and analysts who must determine what\u00a0internal services, materials, etc are included. What eventually emerges from the agency is their famously fantastical marginal cost numbers that ignore program and development costs and instead only include estimates of materials, fuels, services, etc consumed during a launch.<\/p>\n<p>As\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.thespacereview.com\/article\/2484\/1\" target=\"_d\">Rick Boozer notes in today&#8217;s Space Review article<\/a>, NASA is giving an absurd $500M marginal cost number for a SLS launch. \u00a0The SLS program will cost tens of billions in development and require an annual cost in the $3B +range. NASA will be lucky to average one SLS flight per year. So even if development costs are ignored, an SLS flight will cost $3B+.<\/p>\n<p>Congressional hearings on NASA are always dominated by Congresspersons representing states and districts with NASA centers. Thus, today as in 1985, actual launch costs are ignored and NASA&#8217;s marginal cost fantasies are still treated seriously. Unfortunately, they are seldom called on this by the press or the space policy establishment.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">The total money spent on the Space Shuttle program was\u00a0<\/span><a style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.space.com\/12166-space-shuttle-program-cost-promises-209-billion.html\" target=\"_blank\">$209 B (in 2010 dollars)<\/a><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">\u00a0and thus the average cost of the 134 flights was $1.6B. NASA, of course, still claims a Shuttle flight cost below $500M.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>(It&#8217;s not just NASA that obfuscates to its advantage. The\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.spacenews.com\/article\/military-space\/39729gao-lack-of-eelv-pricing-transparency-could-hamstring-launch\" target=\"_blank\">GAO recently gave up<\/a>\u00a0trying to determine what an EELV launch costs the US Air Force. )<\/p>\n<p>===<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a video of a recent panel discussion event at the Marshall Institute in Washington D.C. with the theme :\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/marshall.org\/space-policy\/moons-challenges-and-opportunities-for-human-space-exploration\/\" target=\"_d\">Moon\u2019s Challenges and Opportunities for Human Space Exploration<\/a>\u00a0&#8211;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>On Tuesday March 25, 2014, the Marshall Institute and the Space Enterprise Council brought together a panel of experts to discuss the pressing scientific, technological and economic issues involved in human settlement on the Moon.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>The panel speakers are:<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>* Dr. Paul D. Spudis, Planetary Geology and Remote Sensing, Lunar and Planetary Institute.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>* Mike Gold, Director of D.C. Operations &amp; Business Growth, Bigelow Aerospace, LLC<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>* Dr. Haym Benaroya, Distinguished Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Rutgers University<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>Additional details at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/marshall.org\/events\/human-settlement-in-space-the-moons-challenges-and-opportunities\/\">http:\/\/marshall.org\/events\/human-settlement-in-space-the-moons-challenges-and-opportunities\/<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AEz2LUCA1iA?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today&#8217;s selection of space policy\/politics related links:\u00a0 The Space Review: Dennis Tito\u2019s \u201cSpaceship to Everywhere\u201d may be a dead-end for NASA &#8211; Rick Boozer What\u2019s in a code? Putting space development first \u00a0Symbolism and substance in US-Russian space relations Competing forums: an asteroid or the Moon? Europa on the cheap &#8211; Jeff Foust Letter | &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=7246\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Space policy roundup &#8211; April.7.14 [Update]<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-space-policy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-1SS","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":497,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=497","url_meta":{"origin":7246,"position":0},"title":"Dennis Wingo: Expanding a vision of space beyond NASA","author":"TopSpacer","date":"February 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Dennis Wingo recently posted an essay about the need for a space policy that went beyond the usual Space polic =NASA policy paradigm: Space Abhors a Policy Vacuum: The NRC Report and The Need for a Broad National Space Policy -\u00a0 Moonandback. In this follow-up, he emphasizes the need to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Space Policy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Space Policy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5386,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=5386","url_meta":{"origin":7246,"position":1},"title":"Space policy roundup &#8211; Nov.22.13 [Update]","author":"TopSpacer","date":"November 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Obama administration released their official national space transportation policy document yesterday: National Space Transportation Policy - The White House (pdf) New national space transportation policy makes modest, not major, changes - Space Politics Commercial Spaceflight Federation Hails Innovative\u00a0National Space Transportation Policy - CSF U.S. Issues New Space-Transportation Policy -\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Space Policy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Space Policy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3904,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=3904","url_meta":{"origin":7246,"position":2},"title":"Space policy roundup &#8211; July.11.13","author":"TopSpacer","date":"August 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"A selection of recent space policy related items: Space Policy Events for the Weeks of August 11-23, 2013 - spacepolicyonline.com Bolden: asteroid redirect mission not going to \u201csave the planet\u201d - Space Politics John Kelly: NASA needs its swagger back - Florida Today The top 10 reasons for the US\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Space Policy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Space Policy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5805,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=5805","url_meta":{"origin":7246,"position":3},"title":"Space policy roundup &#8211; Dec.23.13 [Updated]","author":"TopSpacer","date":"December 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Some space policy\/politics related links: Space Policy Events for December 23 - 31, 2013 The Space Review: Arrival of the \u201cNew Era\u201d in US space policy Can \"Gravity\" attract attention to the orbital debris problem? A legal regime for lunar peaks of eternal light 2013: the space race goes East\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Activism&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Activism","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2254,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=2254","url_meta":{"origin":7246,"position":4},"title":"Space policy roundup &#8211; May.12.13","author":"TopSpacer","date":"May 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Republican candidate for governor of Virginia is not keen on tax breaks for commercial interests such as the ZeroGravity, ZeroTax policy for space businesses in Virginia: ZeroGravity, ZeroTax Exemption Becomes Gubernatorial Campaign Issue in Virginia - Spaceports Blog --- Various articles dealing with general space policy and the SLS,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Space Policy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Space Policy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":248,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=248","url_meta":{"origin":7246,"position":5},"title":"In-definitive national space policy","author":"TopSpacer","date":"January 27, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Jeff Foust reports on the \"Lost in Space\" panel discussion on space policy (see earlier post) at Rice University : In the search for a \u201cdefinitive\u201d national space policy, no definitive answers - Space Politics","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Space Policy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Space Policy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7246"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7250,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7246\/revisions\/7250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}