Source: Constellation Program Managers

* NASA officials noted that even if they had complete freedom to stop spending on these aspects of the Constellation Program, they still would need to expend some amount of money for infrastructure and personnel costs to maintain program readiness. The officials did not provide a breakdown of these costs.

Members of the Utah congressional delegation met today with NASA officials at Sen. Orrin Hatch’s office to press the space agency to fully implement the 2010 NASA Authorization Act.

Hatch, Sen. Bob Bennett and Reps. Rob Bishop and Jim Matheson met with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Deputy Administrator Lori Garver to ensure that they are on board with complying with the law, which outlines payload requirements for a heavy-lift space system that, experts agree, can only be realistically met by solid rocket motors like the ones ATK manufactures in northern Utah.

“NASA has signaled an interest recently in possibly circumventing the law,” Hatch said. “My purpose in calling this meeting was to explain in no uncertain terms the Utah congressional delegation’s interest in ensuring that Utah’s solid rocket motor industry is protected. Though they assured us that NASA would comply with the law, some of their answers reaffirmed my suspicions that we need to keep a very close watch on the agency. I will continue with other delegation members to ensure the agency abides by the law and protects this industry that is so vitally important to our national security and northern Utah’s economy.”

“It’s clear that congressional opinion on this issue isn’t going to change as we work to advance the mission of NASA,” Bennett said. “I join my colleagues in admonishing NASA to strictly adhere to the law and use solid rocket motors in the development of the new Space Launch System. Such adherence is a major step in saving thousands of jobs in Utah and sustaining an industrial base critical to our national security.”

“Today’s meeting confirms that we are in a long-term fight over the future of NASA’s manned space flight program,” Bishop said. “While I appreciate Administrator Charlie Bolden and Assistant Administrator Lori Garver’s willingness to meet with us, I remain very concerned that NASA continues to delay the transition from Constellation systems toward the new heavy-lift program while they needlessly explore private start-up technologies that remain unproven, require more money and are unfit for human-rated space travel. During the meeting, I expressed my disappointment that both Bolden and Garver continue to slow-walk the plans required by the NASA Reauthorization Act. A vital component of our national security with solid booster production remains at high risk so long as the current Administration and its NASA advisors continue to ignore the existing proven and successful space and missile defense technologies in favor of systems that are still considered to be experimental. This concerns me greatly. When national security is at stake, there are certain risks not worth taking, such as abandoning our existing vital industrial base.”

The language Hatch was successful in getting inserted in the NASA Authorization Act does not require the new heavy-lift rocket to use solid rocket motors. But delegation members say the Utah experts they consulted say the legislation’s requirements for the heavy-lift rocket can only be realistically met by using solid rocket motors.

For example, the rocket must be designed from its inception to carry 130 tons. The heavier the payload the more likely the rocket will use solid rocket motors. The law also requires NASA to use, as much as practical, existing contracts, workforces and industries for the Space Shuttle and Ares rockets.

Utah’s congressional leaders sought further assurances that NASA will continue to fund ATK’s research and development work on civilian solid rocket motors until the new Omnibus Appropriations Bill is signed into law.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz provided the following statement:

“Utah plays a vital role in America’s leadership in space. I appreciate Administrator Bolden’s willingness to work with the delegation. It is important that NASA has a full, complete understanding of the NASA Authorization Act of 2010. The Congressional intent is clear. Congress directed NASA to utilize existing contracts, investments, and workforce in the design of the next generation Space Launch System. I will continue to push NASA to abide by the law and to maximize successful investments made in Shuttle and Constellation.”

Editor’s Note: Hatch is not a rocket scientist. And I’m guessing that no one else in the Utah delegation are either. Why they should be allowed to dictate to NASA what the requirements for a heavy-lift vehicle should be is absurd. Legal, but absurd.  We should built rockets to whatever mission we decide to do. And ones that are affordable to operate. The solid rocket motors are certainly proven, but their cost have helped limit our progress in space due to their expense.

ATK PRESS RELEASE

Data from the second successful five segment Development Motor (DM-2) test conducted by ATK and NASA show that the new motor performed precisely as designed, providing substantially higher performance and reliability than the heritage space shuttle solid rocket booster at a lower cost.

“These extensive test results confirm the ATK five segment Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) is ready for flight testing,” said Charlie Precourt, vice president and general manager of Space Launch Systems, ATK Aerospace Systems.  ”The five-segment first stage design was based on more than 30 years of safety-driven improvements on the shuttle program. The result is a higher performing, more reliable solid rocket motor, which equates to increased safety for crew and mission success for cargo.”

The 30-day findings from the August 31 ground test were compared to data collected from the first ground test (Sept. 2009) and the Ares I-X flight test (Oct. 2009) to develop a greater understanding of motor and material performance and first stage avionics. The data were also compared to ground test, flight, and post-flight data collected throughout the Space Shuttle Program.

Modifications to the motor include an added fifth segment, changes to the propellant grain, a larger nozzle opening, and an upgraded liner and insulation — all designed to meet performance requirements and increase reliability while lowering manufacturing costs.

“We were able to incorporate many design changes during the five-segment development that we identified during the shuttle program but were not able to make given the shuttle vehicle’s operations tempo,” said Precourt. “We also incorporated materials and streamlined processes that have been flight-proven in our commercial programs.”

Propellant grain changes included an additional fin to provide the necessary thrust profile at liftoff and changes to propellant angles at joints to increase structural safety factors. The ballistics data from DM-2 were exactly in line with predictions.

The new insulation and liner is made of environmentally-friendly material that replaces the obsolete asbestos-based insulation used on shuttle. Advantages include improved thermal properties and lower density, offering 10 percent or 2,000 pounds in weight savings, which allows for heavier payloads. Process improvements developed with the new green material have also yielded safety and schedule benefits. Results from DM-2 showed the new liner provided higher thermal protection than the shuttle motors.

New low-temperature O-rings enabled the elimination of joint heaters and the associated cabling and infrastructure. This lowers joints complexity, thereby eliminating additional failure modes, and saves 500 pounds in weight, while providing a stronger seal than previous O-rings.

A main objective of DM-2 was to test the new O-rings at cold temperatures. The motor was conditioned to approximately 40 degrees F., and flaws were introduced into the joints that allowed hot gases to potentially penetrate the insulation into the joint and thermal protection system where the O-rings are housed. Even under those conditions, the seal and thermal protection system on DM-2 performed as designed.

“We are very pleased with the initial data collected from DM-2,” said Precourt. “It shows the performance of the motor and components either met or exceeded our predictions.”

Thrust oscillation is another area where DM-2 results are significantly better than initial models predicted. Through combined DM-2, DM-1 and Ares I-X results, and with computational fluid dynamics analyses, NASA and ATK engineers have learned the behavior attributed to thrust oscillations in five-segment solid rocket motors is 30 to 60 percent less than previously predicted. Specifically, the DM-1 and DM-2 data indicate that this motor is very quiet, producing very low pressure oscillations.  Also Ares I-X showed that in flight, the overall structure of that configuration is less susceptible to excitation than previously expected.

The technical and material improvements to the motor, combined with new tools and streamlined processes, have enabled ATK to produce motors at a lower cost.

As the prime contractor for the five-segment motor first stage, ATK continues to perform on schedule and within cost to support NASA’s space exploration programs. ATK is currently maturing the first stage avionics, and will complete a critical design review in the fall of 2011.

No ATK vote upsets Bishop / Lawmaker: Congress needs to get moving to save jobs
Standard Examiner

A frustrated Rep. Rob Bishop left Washington, D.C., for Utah on Friday afternoon, taking time only to call the Standard-Examiner from the airport and lambaste House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for not holding a vote on a bill he thinks is the best compromise yet to save jobs at ATK Space Systems.

“We voted on virtually nothing, we moved nothing,” he said as background loudspeaker voices blared flight numbers. “That’s part of the frustration.”

Bishop is one of a number of congressmen from states that build rocket parts for NASA who are working to keep the Constellation moon rocket program from being taken out of NASA’s budget, as President Barack Obama’s proposed budget calls for.

Part of Constellation is the Ares rocket, whose motor is built at ATK Space Systems in Utah.

Read the full story.

NASA's Orion spacecraft

AEROJET PRESS RELEASE

Aerojet, a GenCorp (NYSE: GY) company, announced today that it successfully conducted a static firing of the third nozzle risk reduction motor in support of the Orion jettison motor, a critical component of the launch abort system (LAS) for NASA’s Orion crew exploration vehicle. This successful test firing validates several nozzle design changes implemented to enhance the safety and reliability of the jettison motor.

Today’s test was conducted under contract to Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and represents a collaborative effort between design teams at Aerojet, Lockheed and NASA. The third nozzle risk reduction test successfully met all test plan objectives, providing data to validate analytical models and demonstrate the increased robustness of the new nozzle design modifications. “Congratulations to the entire Orion launch abort team,” said Aerojet Vice President of Space and Launch Systems, Julie Van Kleeck. “Today’s test demonstrates increased margin in an already proven system.”

Orion’s jettison motor reliability was proven during the successful fully-integrated launch abort system flight test, Pad Abort 1, conducted at the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range on May 6, 2010.

Orion’s LAS is designed to pull the crew module away from the rocket to safety in the event of an emergency on the pad and during the initial ascent phase. Aerojet designed and manufactured the jettison motor, which is required on every mission to jettison the LAS away from the crew module for both nominal and abort scenarios.

Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor to NASA for the Orion spacecraft, which is being developed as the nation’s next generation spacecraft for future human exploration throughout the solar system. Aerojet is part of the nationwide Orion industry team led by Lockheed Martin, which includes five major subcontractors and an expansive network of minor subcontractors and small businesses working at 88 facilities in 28 states across the country. The Orion team is preparing for the spacecraft’s first orbital flight test as early as 2013.

Aerojet is a world-recognized aerospace and defense leader principally serving the missile and space propulsion, defense and armaments markets. GenCorp is a leading technology-based manufacturer of aerospace and defense products and systems with a real estate segment that includes activities related to the entitlement, sale, and leasing of the company’s excess real estate assets. Additional information about Aerojet and GenCorp can be obtained by visiting the companies’ Web sites at http://www.Aerojet.com and http://www.GenCorp.com.

A white-hot flame surrounded by red hot exhaust shoots from a recent test of the J-2X engine 'workhorse' gas generator at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. The workhorse gas generator simulates the flow path inside the actual J-2X gas generator that powers the engine's turbo machinery. Credit: NASA

PRATT & WHITNEY ROCKETDYNE PRESS RELEASE

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne successfully completed the latest round of tests on the workhorse gas generator for NASA’s J-2X rocket engine. With the first NASA J-2X engine far along in development, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is on track to begin testing in 2011 at Stennis Space Center. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) company.

“The tests verified that hardware changes made to the gas generator were effective in maintaining engine stability,” said John Vilja, J-2X vice president and program manager, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. “This is an exciting time, as we are one step closer to the first hot-fire test on the first new, operational engine developed for NASA since the Space Shuttle Main Engine.”

The gas generator produces hot gas which powers the engine’s turbo-machinery. It is based on the successful design used on the RS-68 engine system, which is used to power heavy-lift launch vehicles. The recent tests demonstrated that hardware changes and temperature uniformity of the hot gas produced by the generator met customer requirements before the first hot-fire tests.

NASA’s J-2X engine will be versatile to the varying needs of space exploration. It was developed with heavy-lift capabilities in mind, and could play an important role as a powerful upper-stage engine for future missions to low earth orbit, Mars or an asteroid. Not only will it burn liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, but NASA’s J-2X has the capability of being a technology demonstrator, namely as a test-bed for a liquid oxygen-methane engine. The heart of the J-2X is proven heritage technology that propelled the Apollo-era Saturn V rockets into space, incorporating state-of-the-art improvements.

A production assembly crew lowers a full-scale Orion mockup onto the crew module holding structure during an assembly pathfinding maneuver at the Operations & Checkout Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Image Credit: NASA

LOCKHEED MARTIN PRESS RELEASE

Preparations for Orion’s first mission in 2013 are well under way as a Lockheed Martin-led crew begins lean assembly pathfinding operations for the spacecraft. The crew is conducting simulated manufacturing and assembly operations with a full-scale Orion mockup to verify the tools, processes and spacecraft integration procedures work as expected.

As the nation’s next generation spacecraft for human spaceflight, the Orion crew exploration vehicle is designed to support missions to the International Space Station and far beyond into deep space. The Orion spacecraft will be fully assembled and integrated on site in the Operations & Checkout (O&C) Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, a capability that provides significant time and cost savings.

“The unique benefit of this complete on-site operation is that we will build the spacecraft and then move it directly onto the launch vehicle at KSC, which saves the government transportation costs associated with tests and checkout prior to launch,” said Lockheed Martin Orion Deputy Program Manager for production operations Richard Harris. “This capability also facilitates the KSC workforce transition efforts by providing new job opportunities for those employees completing their shuttle program assignments.”

Dubbed the “the spacecraft factory of the future”, the O&C, underwent a two-year renovation effort led by Lockheed Martin with support from Space Florida and NASA. The collaborative effort created a state-of-the-art complex designed with the flexibility to support NASA’s next generation spacecraft fleet.

Orion Spacecraft on the Path to Future Flight – 2

Technical innovations incorporated into the O&C include 90,000 square feet of air-bearing floor space, paperless work stations, a portable clean room system, and specialized lifting/lowering and support tools that were designed by United Space Alliance (USA). Specially designed air-bearing pallets will enable a small crew to effortlessly maneuver spacecraft hardware across the factory floor. The building renovation also incorporated modern energy efficient HVAC and electrical systems which will further enhance cost savings for the life cycle of the facility.

With the help of an advanced crane that can position the spacecraft within millimeters of its target, the crew module, heat shield and service module will be integrated in tooling stations located on the O&C’s factory floor. These tooling stations are portable and will be moved to various Orion facilities around the country to provide low-cost and affordable vehicle processing on the Orion project.

The industry team supporting O&C tooling station operations include Lockheed Martin, USA and EMF, Inc. a small business based in Merritt Island, Fla., that built the tooling station and support pallets.

According to EMF Vice President Jeff Flick, the Orion program has been a “bright spot” in the space industry. “As a small business owner that supports NASA and the Department of Defense, I believe it is critical for our country to retain the unique skill mix of expertise that supports key national programs such as human space flight and defense initiatives.”

Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor to NASA for the Orion Project and leads the industry team that includes major subcontractors as well as a network of minor subcontractors and small businesses working at 88 facilities in 28 states. In addition, the program contracts with more than 500 small businesses across the United States through its expansive supply chain network.

NASA's Orion spacecraft

Constellation Program Proceeds with Orion Capsule EVA Testing
NASASpaceFlight.com

With the fate of the Constellation Program at this juncture of time all but a certainty, Program officials are, nonetheless, pressing ahead with testing of the Orion crew capsule design. Specifically, current testing on Orion’s design is geared toward EVA egress/ingress procedures and mechanics for the four person capsule that was supposed to serve as a replacement, later this decade, for the retiring Shuttle fleet.

Orion Capsule EVA Egress/Ingress Testing:

Throughout the month of September 2010 – the final month of funding for the Constellation Program under President Obama’s vision for the future of space operations in the United States – NASA has undertaken a series of EVA egress/ingress tests on a full-scale mockup of the Orion crew module in the large Neutral Buoyancy Lab (NBL) at the Johnson Space Center.

According to the Joint EVA NBL Orion Mockup (JENOM) test overview document – available for download on L2 – “The primary purpose of [Test 8 of the EVA Systems Project Office (ESPO)] is to understand the Orion design implementation for the side hatch and internal layout.”

To accommodate this test objective, the Orion mockup’s exterior was constructed with OML, removable handrails, handrail mockups, functional side hatch, and an estimated HR from LIDS.

Read the full story.

Ares I-X lifts off from the Cape.

NASA’s Constellation Hallucination and the Congressional Money Drug
by Rick Tumlinson
The Huffington Post

In the coming weeks some in Congress will try to kill America’s future in space as they desperately work to prop up the tax sucking, pork eating dreamslaying monster known as the Constellation rocket program. Right now a bought and paid for cabal of hypocritical puppets in the House and Senate are trying to prop up this corpse of a dead end plan to go to the Moon and Mars that not only failed to deliver on President Bush’s promise of a permanent U.S. presence in space, but continues to eat the budgets of the very exploration it was meant to support.

Worse, in order to line the pockets of a few old space contractors, those who support what I call the Constellation Hallucination want to block President Obama’s plan to re-invigorate our space program that gets NASA back to exploring by kickstarting our commercial NewSpace transportation industry. With some democrats turning against their own president and so-called conservatives lying to their own constituents about the choice between their strangely socialist space agenda and the NewSpace frontier enabling Obama’s space plan, it is obviously all about the money — our money, and making sure it goes into the right pockets, not into opening space.

Those defending the status quo with hollow arguments that the president’s plan is destroying our space program have succeeded so far in confusing the public as to what this is all about, and made American enterprise look like the bad guys while defending a NASA human spaceflight status quo that has been a failure to launch when it comes to the dreams they have peddled us for all the decades since Apollo.

Read the full rant.

Space shuttle Atlantis lands on runway 33 at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility concluding the STS-129 mission. Photo credit: NASA Jack Pfaller

The Space Transportation Association conducted a panel discussion yesterday during which some quite divergent views were expressed over the future of NASA and the Obama Administration’s commercial focus.

The panelists were:

• Mike Griffin, former NASA Administrator;
• Scott Pace, director of George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute and NASA Associate Administrator for Program Analysis and Evaluation under Griffin;
• Bob Dickman, Executive Director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (speaking for himself)
• Gary Payton, a consultant and ex-military astronaut who was most recently Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force for Space Programs.

Jeff Foust of Space Politics reports that Griffin remains critical of the commercial approach favored by the White House. Griffin believes the House bill, which largely keeps intact the NASA-built Constellation architecture that he and Scott “Doc” Horowitz championed while at the space agency:

Griffin said that, given the chance, he would mix and match elements of the House and Senate bills. He said it was “crucial” to include the provisions in the House bill for the development of a government human space transportation system. “A crew launch capability which is not dependent on commercial interests or the state of international partner relationships is a strategic national asset and should not be sacrificed for lesser interests,” he said. He also called for retaining the safety standards for a crew launch system included in the House version.

Marcia Smith of Spacepolicyonline.com reports that Griffin said Congress should be very specific about the kind of heavy-lift vehicle it wants NASA to build:

Griffin told a Space Transportation Association audience yesterday that Congress must be specific in legislation about the capabilities of the new heavy lift launch vehicle (HLLV) or NASA may design a rocket too small to support human missions beyond low Earth orbit (LEO).  Any lack of specificity in law would be viewed by the Administration as an opening to do something else, he argued:  “It’s regrettable when Congress has to be the design bureau of last resort, but sometimes it’s necessary.”  Ordinarily, NASA administrators and almost anyone else outside of Congress bristle when Congress sets technical design parameters in law.

Pace expressed skepticism about the commercial sector’s ability to meet NASA’s needs and standards. He favors the House bill, which he believes has sufficient money to properly development a government system for sending humans into orbit.

Dickman disagreed, expressing confidence in the commercial sector. Smith reports:

Reviewing the 14 families of launch vehicles developed in the United States over the past 50 years, Dickman concluded “there is nothing magic about getting to LEO.  We know how to do it.” He believes NASA needs to focus on investing in revolutionary in-space propulsion technologies to dramatically shorten the trip time to Mars from months to days.  “We have to make the transition from what we’ve done to where we want to be 30 years from now.”

Payton, who until recently oversaw THE launches of defense payloads for the Air Force, lamented the gap in flights after the space shuttle is retired that NASA has been unable to close. However, he was not in favor of extending the program beyond next year, Foust reports:

“The shuttle program has killed 14 people in flight. I don’t know why you would ever fly another one,” he said. Payton, who flew as a payload specialist on a military shuttle mission in 1985, said that mission was worth risking the lives of astronauts, “but I’m not sure microgravity research warrants that.”

Testing firing of Orion's main engine. (Credit: Aerojet)

AEROJET PROGRAM UPDATE

Aerojet, a GenCorp company, under contract to Lockheed Martin, has successfully completed more than 20 injector tests for the 7500-pound thrust Orion main engine (OME) for NASA’s Orion crew exploration vehicle. The tests are a combination of checkout, development, and qualification that will anchor models and satisfy combustion stability qualification requirements. The OME is a pressure-fed, regeneratively cooled, storable bi-propellant engine that is a technically advanced, increased performance version of Aerojet’s flight-proven 6000-pound thrust space shuttle Orbital Maneuvering System Engine (OMS-E).

“Successful completion of this test series represents a major milestone in the OME development program and clears the way for further testing with the regeneratively cooled flight design chamber in 2011,” said Sam Wiley, Aerojet’s Orion technical director.

The injector has performed exceptionally well to date, verifying the engine’s combustion stability and additionally providing chamber wall heat flux and injector performance data to anchor mathematical models. All testing is being performed in heavy-weight combustion chambers specifically designed for these tasks. This early demonstration of the engine’s combustion stability at expected Orion operating conditions is being conducted to retire risk to the Orion vehicle.

The OME injector combines the reliability and combustion stability of the OMS-E injector with current Aerojet best practices in design and manufacturing to reduce process variability affecting injector performance and cost for the Orion program. The OME injector is a diffusion-bonded platelet device with the same injector element type, face pattern layout, and element quantity as the OMS-E, but with improvements in the injector body design and platelets to provide more uniform flow to the injector elements.

The current Aerojet platelet manufacturing capability results in significantly less dimensional variability than was possible for the OMS-E, enabling improved uniformity of propellants injected into the combustion chamber. The improvements in injection uniformity are also expected to result in improved nominal and minimum vacuum specific impulse for the OME.

The OME will provide thrust for events requiring large velocity changes such as Earth orbital insertion, translunar/trans Earth injection, Earth de-orbit, and emergency thrust for high-altitude abort scenarios. Orion’s engine complement also includes 16 25-pound thrust engines and eight 100-pound-thrust bipropellant engines for the Orion service module. Additionally, Aerojet supplies 12 160-pound-thrust monopropellant thrusters for the Orion crew module. Aerojet is providing all of the engines for the Orion spacecraft which is comprised of a crew module for crew and cargo transport, and a service module for propulsion, electrical power and fluids storage. Risk reduction testing of critical subsystems has been ongoing throughout Orion’s development phase to maximize mission success and crew safety.

Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor to NASA for the Orion spacecraft, which is being developed as the nation’s next generation spacecraft for future human exploration throughout our solar system. Aerojet is part of the nationwide Orion industry team led by Lockheed Martin, which includes five major subcontractors and an expansive network of minor subcontractors and small businesses working at 88 facilities in 28 states across the country.

ATK PROGRAM UPDATE

Alliant Techsystems (NYSE:ATK – News) and NASA will test the second fully developed Ares five-segment solid rocket motor, known as Development Motor-2 (DM-2). The five-segment rocket motor is an upgraded version of the Shuttle’s 4-segment booster, and has also been identified as a key element of NASA’s future Heavy Lift Launch vehicle.

What: Horizontal ground test firing of Ares DM-2

Date: Tuesday August 31, 2010

Time: 9:05 a.m. MDT

Where: ATK Aerospace Systems facility in Promontory, Utah

Test Objectives/Background:

• * A total of 53 design objectives will be measured through more than 760 instruments.
• DM-2 is a “cold motor” test. The motor will be cooled to 40 degrees F to measure solid rocket motor performance at low temperature, as well as to verify design requirements of new materials in the motor joints. These new materials will allow for the elimination of joint heaters that were necessary in the original 4-segment motor design. This will save significant weight, further reduce system complexity and simplify launch operations, while simultaneously delivering increased operating margins at lower ambient temperatures.
• Other objectives include data gathering on vital motor upgrades such as the new insulation and motor case liner and the redesigned nozzle which increase the robustness of the design.
• When fired, the motor will produce a maximum thrust 3.6 million pounds, or 22 million horsepower.
• The cases have all previously flown on the space shuttle, collectively launching on 57 missions.
• A public viewing area is available along State Road 83 North approximately 20 miles west of Corinne, Utah.

The Government Accountability Office has issued a report saying that NASA acted legally in its efforts on the Constellation lunar program. Congressional appropriators had called for investigation, saying that the Administration was illegally attempting to shut down the program in violation of a law requiring Congressional approval.

“CONCLUSION – NASA’s actions to date with regard to the Constellation program have not violated either the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 or the provision in the fiscal year 2010 Exploration appropriation that bars NASA from terminating or eliminating any PPAs of the architecture for the Constellation program.”

National Aeronautics and Space Administration–Constellation Program and Appropriations Restrictions, Part II
Government Accountability Office

Summary

This opinion is GAO’s second in response to a March 12, 2010 letter requesting GAO’s views on several matters related to NASA and its Constellation program. GAO’s earlier opinion, B-319488, May 21, 2010, found that NASA has not violated a restriction in NASA’s fiscal year 2010 Exploration appropriation on the use of Exploration funds to “create or initiate a new program, project or activity.” In this opinion, we responded to questions regarding whether NASA has obligated Exploration appropriations in a manner consistent with the Impoundment Control Act and whether NASA complied with a restriction in the fiscal year 2010 Exploration appropriation that bars NASA from using the Exploration appropriation for the “termination or elimination of any program, project or activity” of the Constellation program. GAO found that NASA has not violated the Impoundment Control Act or the provision in the Exploration appropriation concerning termination or elimination of a Constellation program, project, or activity.

Under the Impoundment Control Act, government officers must make budget authority available for obligation and expenditure unless the President follows procedures set forth in the Act. GAO found that, to date, NASA has not withheld Exploration funds from obligation and has obligated the funds at rates comparable to the rates of obligation in years in which NASA obligated nearly all available Exploration funds. GAO also found that NASA has not violated the provision in the Exploration appropriation that bars NASA from using the Exploration appropriation for the “termination or elimination of any program, project, or activity” of the Constellation program. A “Program, Project, or Activity (PPA)” is an element within a budget account. For annually appropriated accounts, the Office of Management and Budget and agencies identify PPAs by reference to committee reports and budget justifications. NASA’s fiscal year 2010 budget request lists five PPAs within the “Constellation Systems” category. NASA has continued to obligate Exploration funds to all five PPAs in amounts consistent with the allocations given in congressional committee reports and NASA’s public budget documents.

Full report

Alliant Techsystems Cries Foul as NASA Moves To Curb Constellation
Space News

Alliant Techsystems (ATK) says NASA is selectively applying a rarely used contracting rule in an effort to halt work on key elements of the agency’s Constellation program, a 5-year-old effort to replace the space shuttle with new hardware optimized for lunar missions that the White House has proposed canceling next year.

NASA asserts the Constellation program is facing a potential $1 billion funding shortfall in the remaining four months of the current budget year because contractors have not accurately accounted for termination liability costs they could incur as a result of having to cancel orders, vacate leases and pink-slip employees if the program is shut down. But Magna, Utah-based ATK Aerospace, prime contractor on the first stage of the Ares 1 rocket — a key Constellation program element — says that historically, termination liability funds have not been included in contractor costs.

“NASA has chosen to create this funding shortfall by changing its decades-long management practice with respect to termination liability,” Brian Wagner, ATK director of congressional relations, said in a June 10 e-mail to lawmakers and staff. “ATK was specifically instructed on numerous occasions throughout the history of both Shuttle and Ares contracts not to account for termination liability costs in any accounting we have made for NASA on these contracts.”

ATK builds the giant solid-rocket motors for the soon-to-be-retired space shuttle, and variants of these motors would boost the Ares 1 and larger Ares 5 rockets.

Read the full story.

As you might have expected, the Obama Administration’s decision to invoke the Anti-Deficiency Act in order to shut down the Constellation program has not gone over real well with Congressional supporters of NASA’s human spaceflight effort. I’ll let the senior Senator from the Lone Star State explain it all:

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, today said NASA leadership was skirting the law to shut down the Constellation program after NASA leadership publicly announced a decision to reprioritize work on the program. NASA’s stated justification for these actions is the Anti-Deficiency Act (ADA), which prohibits spending funds beyond levels that are appropriated in a given year, or obligating the government to pay money before funds have been appropriated. There are a number of unanswered questions on whether the ADA would apply in this situation, and if it did, the recently passed Defense Supplemental legislation clarifies that regardless of any provision of law, work must continue on the Constellation program.

“While Congress considers the President’s Budget request, the Constellation program remains the law of the land and we have repeatedly affirmed that Constellation work should continue unless Congress approves a different program,” said Senator Hutchison. “For months, NASA’s leadership has claimed they are not working to subvert Constellation despite information to the contrary. This includes letters sent from the agency to contractors about their termination liability, internal direction given to agency personnel to give ‘lowest priority’ to spending that does not fit into the President’s proposal, and the recent reassignment of the Constellation program manager, who was reported to be working on plans to continue implementation of the program of record.”

“All of these are deeply troubling developments, but perhaps the most disturbing evidence that the Administration is motivated to subvert the Constellation program and effectively burn the bridge to the program is found in the timing of this public announcement and the argument used to justify it,” Senator Hutchison said. “Two weeks ago, the Senate passed a Defense Supplemental spending measure with language requiring NASA to continue work on the Constellation program unless Congress directs otherwise. This language clearly affirms Congressional direction that work should continue. This measure is expected to reach the President’s desk before the end of this month. The timing of NASA’s decision to push forward with these actions now, before this becomes law, rather than working with Congress to identify ways to mitigate uncertainty and allow workers to remain on the job is highly questionable.”

Senator Hutchison today received a letter from NASA Administrator Bolden outlining the decision and NASA’s justification. She noted that it further underscores the extent to which NASA has taken aggressive steps to move in a different direction without providing ample explanation or justification to Congress. The letter from Administrator Bolden contains language discussing the new “principles” to guide spending that are virtually identical to direction reportedly given by NASA headquarters in an email to the now reassigned Constellation program manager more than three weeks ago. The email with these operational instructions has been provided to the NASA Inspector General as part of the investigation Hutchison requested with Chairman Rockefeller into the reassignment of the Constellation program manager.

“At best, this demonstrates that, at least three weeks before briefing members of Congress about issues related to funding challenges, NASA’s leadership had already taken steps to implement a course that today leads to the loss of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of jobs,” said Senator Hutchison. “At worst, it shows an agency that is willfully subverting the repeatedly expressed will of Congress. In either case, the result is the same. The leadership of the world’s preeminent space agency has strained its credibility to the breaking point and something has to change.”

It will be interesting to see how this all pans out.