Discussion Budget cuts ahead for NASA & ESA?

[Orbinaut Pete]

It looks like NASA could be in line for a 5% budget cut!!! :OMG:

SpaceRef: "OMB Memorandum: Identifying Low-Priority Agency Programs".

Official OMB letter (PDF, 75.8 kB).

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It seems as though the global economic recession has finally caught up with ESA as well. :thumbsdown:
Germany is defiant though – so it still looks good for the development of a crewed ATV! :thumbup:

Spaceflight Now: "ESA needs to 'tighten the belt' amid budget crisis".

BBC News: "German space escapes budget cuts".


And, on a somewhat related note:
BBC News: "ESA chief Jean-Jacques Dordain set to continue in role".

 

[Urwumpe]

Would be stupid anyway to save money on ESA, since ESA is only distributing money. What a country pays for ESA, is spend by ESA inside this country. ESA only coordinates the efforts. And spending less money for the local spaceflight industry is not really the goal currently...the goal is more annoying as many people as possible for saving no money at all.

 

[IronRain]

I heard there are also plans that ESA is going to the moon (by 2020). Is this true?

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

I heard there are also plans that ESA is going to the moon (by 2020). Is this true?

Heh, I highly doubt it!

 

[AirSimming]

Heh, I highly doubt it!

Me too (if at all = unmanned, i.e. by the mighty probe). You hear such "news" almost each month these days. China wants to go the Moon, India wants to go to the Moon... heck, even me wants to go to the Moon! :lol: The sad reality is that nobody will got to the Moon. Not within this decade, and I also doubt that this would happen within the next decade.

As for ESA: budget cuts? What do they want to cut? ESA already gets little budget, although they are rather productive with it :thumbup:

 

[Urwumpe]

The Aurora program still exists... :shifty:

http://www.esa.int/esaMI/Aurora/

---------- Post added at 06:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:30 PM ----------

What might be interesting in this context:

In the current issue of "Strategie & Technik" (June 2010) is an article by "brigade general Thomas Reiter" as board member of the DLR, about the present state and the outlook for the German space program, as member of ESA.

 

[SiberianTiger]

Come on, the USSR could develop space industry from scratch, send the 1st satellite and man to space, and almost make it to the Moon when it still wore patched pants (and had no free gas & oil yet). How much panic a routine financial crisis like the current one may spread?

 

[Urwumpe]

yes...but what does that say about Russian spaceflight... i mean... just compare USSR motorcycles and European Motorcycles... even the British motorcycles are better than Stalins revenge.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

(Updated thread title & added the following to first post):


It looks like NASA could be in line for a 5% budget cut!!! :OMG:

SpaceRef: "OMB Memorandum: Identifying Low-Priority Agency Programs".

Official OMB letter (PDF, 75.8 kB).

 

[SiberianTiger]

yes...but what does that say about Russian spaceflight... i mean... just compare USSR motorcycles and European Motorcycles... even the British motorcycles are better than Stalins revenge.

I see your point about bikes, but what are you comparing to what in the area of spaceflight?

 

[Urwumpe]

I see your point about bikes, but what are you comparing to what in the area of spaceflight?

Progress vs ATV? Ok, the ATV came later and has the bigger phallic launcher, but the docking port of the ATV is from the Progress. :lol:

 

[T.Neo]

It looks like NASA could be in line for a 5% budget cut!!!

Like NASA needs more of those... :dry:

 

[Urwumpe]

If they would do a 5% budget cut on the DoD, they could fly to Mars!

 

[ar81]

Where will the money go? It will not be spent in space exploration, but in Afghanistan.

Business Insider: Here's Proof That Deficit Hawks Are Killing The Recovery

Deficit-cutting fever has also struck the Senate – except when it comes to the military, of course. Last night the Senate okayed a $60 billion war-funding bill for Afghanistan. So far this year, the Afghan war has cost more than the war in Iraq, in part because the infrastructure in Afghanistan is so much more primitive than in Iraq that our tax dollars are needed to build it so troops and tanks can move more easily over the terrain. But spending on road-building in Afghanistan does little to boost the American economy.

What will happen to unemployed NASA personnel?

Huffington post: Unemployment Benefits Lapse Causes Panic And Confusion For The Jobless


Huffington post: Disturbing Job Ads: 'The Unemployed Will Not Be Considered'

Bad news: Some companies are ignoring all unemployed applicants.
There are about 5.5 people looking for work for every job available, according to the latest data from the Labor Department.

And here comes the irony...

Huffington post: Bernanke Warns Congress Not To Cut Spending, Cautions About 'Fragile' Recovery

Bernanke referred to the nascent economic recovery as "still pretty fragile" and cautioned that the economy "may need more assistance."

It seems it is time to go to UK...

BBC: Strategy to grow UK space sector

The UK space industry can become a much bigger global player, employing thousands more highly skilled workers and being worth over £40bn a year.

BBC: Aerospace investors eye engines for growth

 

[AirSimming]

I think that Russian technology often is underestimated. As said previously, it was Russia which put the first satellite and human into earth orbit (and the first woman before any Gemini flight :lol. And Soyuz is called (at least by ESA) to be the most successful and most relaible manned system, which I think is true. What I like especially is Russian commercial aircraft like the Tupolev from the moment I had a closer look (there is a professional freeware addon for MSFS by the way: http://www.fs-proteam.com/products.html?op=one&id=16&pw_patt=catalog&sop=2). Beside some other differences, I don't know a Boeing or Airbus aircraft that is equipped with a landing gear that enables landings on grass and other unpaved runways intentionally :thumbup: And last but not least, the Russians still hold the record of the biggest aircraft ever build and flown (the A380 is not, like some people wrongly think).

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

It seems it is time to go to UK...

Yeahh, UKSA is going to become the new NASA!

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

BBC News: "ESA chief Jean-Jacques Dordain stays in post".

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Jean-Jacques Dordain tells the BBC's Jonathan Amos how he wants to see the ESA and European space policy change during his third term.

BBC News'/Jonathan Amos' "Spaceman" Blog: "ESA chief launches his third term in Oxford".

 

[Ghostrider]

Come on, the USSR could develop space industry from scratch, send the 1st satellite and man to space, and almost make it to the Moon when it still wore patched pants

That was a long time ago and a different generation. Back then, people had initiative and courage. Nowadays people would douse themselves with gasoline, set themselves on fire and jump from a building out of desperation if their iPhone doesn't turn on.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Uh-oh, the crunch has started!

Spaceflight Now: "Europe hopes to rescue Galileo from budget crunch".