Constellation Dead?

Kidchameleon

From Discovery.com:

Venus is just one of the possible destinations for a low-cost mission.
NASA/JPL/Magellan Project

NASA has named low-cost missions to Venus, the moon and an asteroid on a shortlist to become its latest space adventure, as the agency faces astronomical political pressure to cut costs.

The proposed probes -- to the surface of Venus, the moon and to bring back a piece of a primitive asteroid -- must all come with a price tag of less than 650 million dollars, a fraction of the cost of manned space flight.

The agency, in a statement Tuesday, said the winner of the competition will be announced in mid-2011, with the project to launch by the end of 2018.

NASA has faced growing pressure to cut its budget as the U.S. government's debt soars and as the United States buckles under the deepest economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The agency has also seen dwindling political support, with its White House and congressional paymasters reluctant to fund the type of expensive manned space exploration that saw the agency put 12 men on the moon.

A plan to return humans to the moon by 2020 came under withering criticism from a panel tasked by President Barack Obama to look into the future of space exploration, as the project's initial budget of 28 billion dollars exploded past 44 billion.

Against this backdrop, the agency is asking scientists to come up with low-cost ideas to further space exploration.



Does this mean were not going back to the moon, then on to mars. Are they going to stop developing the Ares rockets? If there still going ahead, how much of a delay can we expect?

iainmacl

No. This is separate unmanned project funding. The low-cost missions is part of an approach for solar system exploration. The manned programme is separate but of course under severe pressure given the costs involved. This report has just conflated all missions together in one short summary but its not that the cheap probes are the only thing funded as you can tell with the disparity in budget numbers.

Still plenty of scope for rival Irish moon-mission though if you're up for it. Would be cheaper than bailing out the banks. ;-)

Beeker

Kidchameleon wrote: »

Does this mean were not going back to the moon, then on to mars. Are they going to stop developing the Ares rockets? If there still going ahead, how much of a delay can we expect?

No decision taken yet! Ares still under development but may not survive. Return to the moon? Don't hold you breath:(
This year will tell a lot about the future of US manned spaceflight. It will continue but there will be a gap between the end of the shuttle prpgramme and whatever follows:mad: