Avi Blizovsky
In the photo - the assembly of the X-38 escape vehicle at the NASA facilities in Houston. Photography: Avi Blizovsky (during the preparation of the film about Ilan Ramon)
Direct link to this page: https://www.hayadan.org.il/spaceplane.html
NASA is preparing to invest $2.4 billion over the next four years to design a space plane to transport astronauts between Earth and the International Space Station.
In its 2003 budget request, NASA officials requested a framework budget of $6.6 billion to complete assembly of the basic space station. This will bring the American share of the investment in the space station to approximately 25 billion dollars.
The exact cost of the space station, a project that began during the Reagan administration, is an issue that has not yet been settled between NASA and Congress. After NASA claimed that the operation of the station would reach more than 600 million dollars a year, Congress limited the budgetary allocation to 25 billion dollars. Sean O'Keefe, NASA Administrator and former US Budget Office official was appointed to the position of NASA Administrator when he received clear instructions to control the costs of the space station and other projects.
O'Keefe described the program under which NASA is requesting; Complete the completion of the main parts of the station by 2004, allow for the extension of the life of the shuttle fleet, complete the development of a space plane and continue to develop reusable spacecraft to replace the shuttles in the future.
The new budget will not exceed the fixed framework of 15 billion dollars, but it will include a redirection of budgets.
O'Keefe said his plan involves a systematic approach to NASA's spacecraft activities, rather than running each component of that system as a separate program. All the components are interconnected, O'Keefe said.
The budget includes 1.6 billion dollars to upgrade the ferries so that they can operate by 2012, with the possibility of an extension until the 15.2s; $6.6 billion over the decade to add to the system a fifth flight per year per shuttle. Today, the budget limits four shuttle flights per year, so almost all flights are allocated to the construction of the International Space Station. The additional flights could be used to speed up the train to the station or to perform additional tasks that are not possible now. 2006 billion dollars by 2 to finish the basic assembly of the space station. This includes the completion of NODE 1.8 - a corner component made in the USA to which American and Japanese components will be assembled. NASA sees it as an important component, says O'Keefe; $2.4 billion to support physical and biological experiments aboard the station; 2015 billion dollars for research and development of technologies needed to build a space system that will replace the shuttles. This money will be used for the long-term efforts to develop a vehicle that is completely reusable and will be able to fly often, without the need for complex preparations like in shuttles. O'Keefe cannot estimate the final cost of such a tool. According to NASA, the first vehicle will be able to fly in 2.4; 2004 billion dollars to complete by 10 the design of a space plane that may be used to transport people to and from space. According to O'Keefe, the design is not yet certain, but it is a reusable tool that will be launched using a disposable rocket. It will be able to carry 2008 people. The start of operation of such a tool is expected sometime between 2010 and XNUMX.
Several members of Congress complained that the crew size on the space station was limited to three, the maximum number of people who can fit into a Russian Soyuz spacecraft used as an escape vehicle. Because maintaining and operating the station requires full-time efforts from the three crew members, Congress says, very little scientific experimentation is done in the station's billion-dollar rocket lab. An independent space plane could allow more people to live and work on the station and conduct more research.
For news on CNN
https://www.hayadan.org.il/BuildaGate4/general2/data_card.php?Cat=~~~373671927~~~9&SiteName=hayadan
