Space

On Monday, the White House announced its proposed 2011 budget for NASA, which calls for major changes in the agency's direction. New Scientist takes a closer look at what the changes mean.

What exactly has the White House cancelled?

The new plan, if approved by Congress, would axe the Constellation programme, which has been developing rockets and other hardware intended to return astronauts to the moon by 2020.

What does the Administration want NASA to do instead?

It is proposing that the agency spend $7.8 billion over the next five years to develop potentially revolutionary technologies, like rockets powered by ion engines that could dramatically slash the transit time to Mars and orbiting fuel depots that could make human missions to the moon or beyond feasible with smaller, cheaper rockets.

During the same period, it plans to spend $6 billion helping space companies develop their own rockets and crew capsules capable of carrying NASA astronauts to the International Space Station. Funding for the space station would be extended by five years, to 2020, under the new plan.

How will astronauts get to the space station in the meantime?

Once the space shuttle completes its remaining five flights and retires at the end of this year, the only way for US astronauts to reach the space station will be on Russian Soyuz flights. NASA plans to buy seats on these flights to maintain access to the space station.

Does the new plan confine NASA astronauts to low-Earth orbit?

NASA says it wants to send its astronauts on more ambitious missions but so far has no specific destination or schedule for those missions. Agency chief Charles Bolden suggested on Monday that NASA prefers an option like the "flexible path" proposed by a blue-ribbon panel headed by former Lockheed Martin CEO Norman Augustine. That plan would see astronauts sent on a series of increasingly distant missions, including visits to asteroids and the moons of Mars.

What criticisms have been levelled at the new plan?

Michael Griffin, who championed the Constellation programme as NASA administrator under President George W Bush, told the Washington Post that its cancellation amounts to an abandonment of human space flight. "It means that essentially the US has decided that they're not going to be a significant player in human space flight for the foreseeable future," he said. And although he provided some funds during his tenure to encourage commercial rocket companies, he says they are not yet ready to start carrying astronauts into orbit.

What do supporters say?

Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin strongly backed the changes in a statement posted online, praising the focus on developing new space exploration technologies in particular. "We have already been to the moon," he wrote (pdf). "This program will allow us to again be pushing the boundaries to achieve new and challenging things beyond Earth."

Is this plan a done deal?

No. Congress passed legislation in 2009 requiring the President to get its permission in order to cancel Constellation. And the new budget that redirects NASA's efforts is just a proposal so far – it can't be implemented unless Congress approves it.

Is Congress supportive of the changes?

There has been fierce criticism from members of Congress, including some from the President's own party, representing parts of the country where thousands of jobs are tied to the Constellation programme.

"Leaving NASA with no detailed plan or timeline for exploring beyond Earth's orbit will cede our international leadership in space," said Congresswoman Suzanne Kosmas of Florida, a Democrat. "The President's proposal is unacceptable."

Another Democrat, Bart Gordon, who chairs the House of Representatives' committee on science and technology, has taken a wary tone. "We will need to hear the Administration's rationale for such a change and assess its impact on US leadership in space before Congress renders its judgment on the proposals," he wrote.

Has work on Constellation stopped?

No. The new budget won't take effect until the 2011 fiscal year, which begins in October. Until then, NASA will continue following the 2010 budget, which directs it to work on Constellation. "Our teams ... came to work yesterday and today and are working on Constellation," Douglas Cooke, NASA's associate administrator for exploration, told reporters on Tuesday.

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