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"In conjunction with this RFI, NASA will conduct an open workshop tentatively scheduled for February 16-18, 2010 to bring potential users and providers of on-orbit servicing capabilities together with the NASA study team. The study team will present the notional mission definition process and the first draft of the notional mission suite. RFI responders will have an opportunity to present ideas, technologies and capabilities as well as forecast existing and planned spacecraft/observatories that would benefit from on-orbit serviceability. The study team will then finalize the notional missions based on the RFI responses and the presentations and discussions at this workshop."
The current planned architecture for Constellation, Ares 1 in particular, has no use. It is expensive, unsafe, and no more capable than existing launchers.
"Just a guess, but what else can he do but ask for a modest budget increase to pay for such studies?"
He doesn't have to do anything. This study effort is already paid for by an FY09 earmark. $20M, I think, which may or may not be followed up with an even bigger one in FY10. It very much predates the Augustine report. Congress has been telling NASA to do it for a long time. Both the authorizers, who talked this up in their last bill for NASA, and the appropriators, who wanted to dump some money in MD. Congress very strongly wants Constellation to be used for more than colonizing the Moon.
Another study......still going no where. I'm shocked!
Perhaps I am more negative than others in how I look at this.
I think that there is a tentative acceptance at NASA that Orion isn't going any further than LEO for half a decade, possibly more, and that it will not enter service until after ISS is retired and de-orbited. Something therefore needs to be hashed together to justify its existance. As well as this, I expect a lot of interest in ESA's proposed ATV-derived lab module as the destination for short-duration Spacelab-style science missions in LEO.
"The current planned architecture for Constellation, Ares 1 in particular, has no use. It is expensive, unsafe, and no more capable than existing launchers."
Who's talking about Ares I? They're talking about deep space crew vehicles and heavy-lift. Those are vastly more capable than existing systems. In fact, the assessment is about human and robotic systems in general (including operations in LEO), and not Constellation in particular. I think the title has been corrected in the latest version of the RFI.
The workings of NASA remind me of the movie - Ground Hog Day. If they restart enough times they will eventually find a solution and time will move forward again.
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Well, in light of the Augustine Report and Bolden's hesitancy in defining a new path for HSF this has got to be viewed as "encouraging". Assume that use of "current and future human spaceflight architecture" implies that notional missions needing HLVs, space tugs, etc. could be proposed?
Hope in addition to "on-orbit fluid transfer" the broader category of space fuel depots are fair game.This signals to me that when Bolden finally does reveal his new plan (and the 2011/12 budget request he owes the WH soon) it will basically be a bunch of similar "studies" on future CxP architectures, such as HLVs, revised Orion requirements, "flex-plan" missions, etc. to be conducted during the next year or so. Just a guess, but what else can he do but ask for a modest budget increase to pay for such studies?