Aeronautics and advanced air-breathing propulsion money to be reallocated to pay for space exploration
Large areas of NASA's aeronautics and advanced air-breathing propulsion research work have been decimated as a result of a record number of cuts earmarked by Congress and funding reallocations to pay for President George Bush's new space exploration plan.
Worst hit is aeronautics research into advanced vehicle concepts; 21st century aircraft technology; long-term alternative propulsion and fuel cell development; and next-generation launch technology.
The casualty list includes virtually all advanced air-breathing hypersonic propulsion concepts being studied for third-generation launch vehicles, including the X-43C demonstrator and RTA turbine-based combined cycle engine, as well as the ISTAR rocket-based combined cycle project and the RS-84, the first reusable hydrocarbon staged combustion liquid rocket engine being developed by Boeing Rocketdyne. The cuts therefore effectively mark the end of the Hyper-X hypersonic research vehicle effort which, coincidentally, was expected to make a second attempt at a Mach 7 run with the X-43A on 27 March.
Although cuts were forecast, the scale of the attack on the aeronautics and "quasi-aeronautics" air-breathing work appears to have caught many at the agency off guard. The Moon-Mars mission, which is aimed at landings by 2020, is earmarked for $12 billion over five years, $11 billion of which will come from funds previously allocated to other NASA projects. NASA's budget for fiscal year 2004 is expected to be around $15.4 billion, with $86 billion expected over the next five years.
The air-breathing and rocket engine budget cuts are a fall-out of the cancellation of the Orbital Space Plane and Next Generation Launch Technology programmes, both immediately sidelined by NASA's new mission priorities. Both are being "closed out" as the newly formed Exploration Systems Enterprise takes over and begins planning for Project Constellation and the Crew Expedition Vehicle required for the future lunar and Mars mission initiative.
GUY NORRIS / NASA DRYDEN FLIGHT RESEARCH CENTER
Source: Flight International
