Posted on February 14, 2010, at 6:21 pm .
Obama’s Move To End Constellation Prompts Industrial Base Questions
Space News
[Air Force Gen. Robert] Kehler said the president’s decision to do away with Constellation and foster new commercial space transportation services presents both opportunities and challenges for the Air Force.
“I’m not a glass-half-empty kind of guy on this one,” he said. “I think we’ve got some opportunity there to go work together with NASA and commercial to make sure that we are preserving the essential pieces of the industrial base we have to go preserve.”
Continue reading ‘Constellation Cancellation Presents Challenges, Opportunities for DOD’
Posted on February 5, 2010, at 6:02 pm .
ATK, which is already reeling due to cuts in defense programs and the pending end of the space shuttle program, stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars if President Obama’s new plan for NASA is approved. Space News reports:
In a conference call with investors, ATK Chief Financial Officer John Shroyer spelled out how much Ares’ cancellation would cost ATK — some $650 million would be removed from the company’s backlog — and said Ares and the rest of the Constellation program can only be terminated with congressional approval.
Continue reading ‘Ares Cancellation Would Blow $650 Hole in ATK’s Backlog’
Posted on February 1, 2010, at 3:41 pm .
ATK STATEMENT
February 1, 2010
The President’s budget proposal is the first step in a long process that will ultimately require Congressional approval. It is not clear why at this time the nation would consider abandoning a program of such historic promise and capability – with so much invested. We anticipate additional detail on the budget proposal’s impact on the nation’s space policy to unfold in the coming weeks as the Congress and industry are provided an opportunity to review these recommendations. Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle have expressed their concern over this apparent change in policy direction. NASA and its industry partners have made significant progress in Constellation’s development, culminating in the successful Ares 1-X test flight. Ares is meeting all major milestones. The Ares I launch vehicle is an innovative and now proven design with an overriding concern for crew safety. It is 10 times safer than any launch vehicle in existence or on the drawing board. NASA’s own Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel recently concluded that “The Ares I vehicle has been designed from the beginning with a clear emphasis on safety. To abandon Ares I as a baseline vehicle for an alternative without demonstrated capability nor proven superiority (or even equivalence) is unwise and probably not cost-effective.” In the weeks and months ahead we are hopeful that the Congress and Administration will work together to deliver a budget that supports a program that capitalizes on the investments the nation has made in the Constellation program, closes the gap in US capability to return to space, and best assures continued US leadership in space. We believe ATK will continue to play a significant role in America’s future space exploration.
Posted on January 31, 2010, at 7:33 pm .
Obama budget hits ATK, Bishop rips president
Standard-Examiner
On the day 420 of its workers were laid off because the space shuttle and Minuteman missile programs are ending, ATK Launch Systems got word that funding for the shuttle’s replacement, the Ares missile, has been cut from President Obama’s 2011 budget proposal. Ares is part of the Constellation program, designed to take humans back to the moon. Ares is the missile that would carry manned vehicles into space. The motor sections that drive Ares would be built at ATK in Utah.
Continue reading ‘Anger in Utah as ATK Lays Off 420 Workers’
Posted on December 12, 2009, at 1:47 pm .
Alliant Techsystems to cut 800 jobs
Deseret News
Tough times continue for Alliant Techsystems as the defense contractor and aerospace company announced on Thursday that 800 jobs would be cut from its Utah work force early next year.
It is second round of layoffs announced by the company this year.
Continue reading ‘ATK to Lay off Another 800 Employees’
Posted on October 14, 2009, at 1:10 pm .
ATK PRESS RELEASE
Alliant Techsystems (NYSE: ATK – News) has delivered a technological first to NASA: a full-scale, crew module structure made of composite materials. The Composite Crew Module (CCM) is a unique capsule design that has the potential to reduce the overall weight of future manned launch vehicles.
Continue reading ‘ATK Delivers All-Composite Spacecraft Module’
Posted on October 13, 2009, at 1:15 pm .
ATK PRESS RELEASE
Alliant Techsystems (NYSE: ATK – News), broke ground yesterday on a 25,000 square foot expansion of the company’s facility in Goleta, California. The expanded operations will support NASA’s human space flight program, as well as global weather satellites and possible future spacecraft missions.
Continue reading ‘ATK Expands in California’
Posted on October 6, 2009, at 5:54 pm .
ATK lays off 550 Utah employees
The Salt Lake Tribune
ATK laid off 550 of its employees, including 400 at its nearby plant. The pink slips didn’t come as a surprise — the company had announced in July layoffs were coming — but they were painful nonetheless.
Continue reading ‘ATK Lays Off 550 Employees in Utah’
Posted on September 27, 2009, at 3:05 pm .
Michael Bloomfield, vice president and program manager for Constellation systems at ATK Space Systems, makes the company’s case for continuing the Ares program on safety grounds:
Ares I was designed from the start with crew safety and mission reliability as key requirements. Multiple studies show that goal was achieved, with Ares I consistently rated tops for safety against any other option by a significant degree. This is no accident. A reduced part count combined with heritage human-space-flight hardware increases crew safety and decreases developmental and programmatic risk. Increased crew safety and mission reliability have the added benefit of reducing overall life-cycle costs. Expenses associated with a reliable human transport are less than for one that suffers intermittent catastrophic failures. That, in turn, facilitates commercialization of human low-Earth orbit transport. This is a rare win-win-win solution.
Continue reading ‘ATK Official: Commercial Vehicles Not as Safe as Ares I’
Posted on September 27, 2009, at 12:47 pm .
Ares concerns: If program is scrapped, hundreds of Top of Utah jobs may be lost
Standard Examiner
NASA’s next moon rocket, the Ares I, is scheduled to get its first launch pad test next month in Florida. But there are unanswered questions still hanging in the fall air regarding any U.S. space program that includes a future with the Utah-built Ares I rocket motor.
The answers to those questions could mean the survivability of at least 700 Utah jobs for ATK Space Systems, a company with three Utah locations.
Continue reading ‘Utah Could Get Hit Hard if Ares I is Canceled’
